The first episode of Sirens mostly coasted on vibes. Devon whirled into town in a flurry of messy rage like Pigpen on a bender; Simone strode around like she owned the place; Michaela glided throughout with the eerie elegance of Nosferatu floating six inches off the ground. We could assume Devon is right that something’s not quite right in Oz. But outside of Michaela’s terrible boundaries as a boss, we didn’t get much concrete information about who this lady is or what she’s trying to do. Thankfully, “Talons” gets more into the muck of things.

This goes pretty literally for Devon, who decides to snorkel from Ethan’s boat to the Cliff House’s beach as if a thousand security cameras won’t immediately spot her. Undaunted, she drips her way into Simone’s suite to confront her. There, everything the first episode implies about the sisters’ history comes spilling out into the open, albeit in the dead of night in Simone’s comically enormous closet.

“I worked really hard with the designer on the layout,” Simone huffs when Devon points it out. But she’s got less of a comeback to Devon’s points about Michaela’s inappropriate behavior. “Friends don’t control and isolate you,” Devon points out. “Friends don’t kick your sister out like trash.”

Perhaps unfamiliar with the concept of brainwashing, Simone insists that it was her idea to kick Devon out. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been!” she claims. “I love this island. I love who I am here.” Devon couldn’t be less impressed. “You spray underwear with lavender mist,” she scoffs. Not especially dignified behavior for someone who worked so hard to get into Yale Law — an accomplishment Devon takes some credit for, to Simone’s extreme annoyance.

As the sisters keep stepping on emotional land mines, director Nicole Kassell adopts a shakier handheld-camera style that underlines Meghann Fahy’s and Milly Alcock’s rawer performances. It also makes clear that this version of Simone isn’t the one doing sexy yoga with her boss on the veranda before breakfast. (When will she realize she’s low-key in love with Kiki?) This messier Simone, the one with “a little fight” in her, is the one she’s trying to forget. She doesn’t fit in Michaela’s seamless world, so she can’t exist inside of it. Devon, sporting the “tacky” sister tattoo Simone removed, is too firm a reminder of what she’s trying not to be.

It’s a tough fight to watch, but I love it. And yes, full disclosure: I’m an older sister, so of course I’m going to understand Devon’s perspective just a little bit more every time. But the scene lets both get their licks in and makes clear that both of them did the best they could under terrible circumstances.

Since they’re both pretty much yelling at the top of their lungs, it’s only a matter of time before Kiki interrupts their “little predawn sister spat,” as she puts it. Unwilling to let Devon take her pet blonde back to Buffalo, Michaela tells Jose to call the cops, who love the lady of the manor and promptly throw Devon in jail to cool off.

As her gala gets closer and Devon burrows deeper into the house’s orbit, Michaela’s ominous serenity cracks into something a bit more human. First, she realizes that her beloved assistant has been keeping secrets. This is obviously unacceptable, given that she’s so dependent on Simone for emotional bolstering that she routinely spends the night in her bed. (Seriously, is this show ever going to go there, or do the AO3 lesbians have to do everything?)

Lying inches from Simone’s face, Michaela asks why she’s never mentioned her sister. “She makes me sad, Kiki,” Simone replies, sleepily. “I didn’t want to be sad here.” Michaela, still bothered, asks what else she doesn’t know. Simone insists there’s nothing else to share; Michaela doesn’t buy it.

The next morning, Michaela’s husband, Peter (none other than Kevin Bacon), returns, full of compliments but obviously disengaged. Irritated, she goes down to visit Devon in jail. Unbeknownst to her, though, Devon has been getting a whole lotta interesting information on Kiki from her drunk cellmate (comedian Cat Cohen, in a bit of pitch-perfect casting).

Apparently, Michaela’s reputation in town extends beyond “bird rescuer” to “shady stepmom and potential murderer.” Jocelyn Kell, Peter’s first wife/the mother of his kids, has allegedly not been seen since Michaela entered the picture. Drunk Girl is adamant that Michaela murdered her in cold blood by pushing her off that cliff she loves so much. She obviously has no proof, but Devon doesn’t need (or especially want) any to be all in on Michaela the Murderer. It’s a pretty big bomb to drop midway through the second episode instead of the premiere. But now that we and Devon are armed with this bit of vague information, we might actually be getting somewhere.

The other useful bit of info Drunk Girl shares is that she once was in a cult (NXVIM, obviously), but got out after her father pretended to join and pried her out of its clutches. This gives Devon an idea: If she plays along with Michaela’s schtick, she can maybe stick around long enough to convince her sister to leave. It’s a great twist for TV-drama purposes, but an otherwise terrible half-baked plan. As a thirsty viewer, though? I’ve got no notes.

When Michaela shows up at the jail, she reminds Devon she’s got more power than she ever will. This includes real sway over the cops, who immediately told Michaela that Devon was arrested in Buffalo just the other day for resisting arrest and a DUI. “You threw a Four Loko at a cop and called him ‘a little bitch’?” Michaela asks, eyebrow raised. “Sounds like me,” Devon says. But she’s clearly both rattled and ashamed.

Michaela says it’s time to go back to the ferry and ne’er return. Devon counters with her own proposal. “Or you can accept my apology for bad behavior and give me another chance — as your guest.”

It’s hard to tell exactly how smart or dumb Michaela actually is (sorry, but being an attorney once does not automatically a genius make). She’s rightfully skeptical of Devon’s motives, but ultimately can’t resist the challenge of molding Simone’s surly sister into a more palatable shape.

Now, I’d argue that “palatable” is subjective, and that Simone embracing the careless brattiness of the negligent rich is anything but, especially when she has that wretched megaphone in hand. (If the grounds crew who lugged those chairs up and down the beach stairs for a bird funeral don’t eventually throw one of their bosses over the edge, I will personally canonize them all as saints.) But Michaela likes what Michaela likes, and so when Devon gets back into her guesthouse to become an undercover acolyte, she grits her teeth and puts on the neon Lilly Pulitzer dress waiting for her.

As the house gets ready for a Vanity Fair shoot, Jose shows Peter and Michaela security footage of Simone deactivating the cameras late at night to get in and out of the house undetected. Michaela immediately connects the dots from her creeping assistant to Ethan’s nearby house and is disappointed and infuriated. “She’s just his type,” she seethes. “Twenty-five and just here for the summer.”

Simone, listening at the door, gasps in horror. Judging by the force of her reaction, I’d say she’s not just devastated by the idea that Ethan may have professed his love to other 25-year-olds, but that her precious Kiki would reduce her to nothing more than a seasonal hire. Do their shared chewing gum and sexts mean nothing?!

As Simone spins out and Barnaby’s funeral gets underway, Devon keeps trying to track her sister down. (Her muttered “I’m always looking for this bitch” is very funny, ten comedy points.) Devon’s worry only intensifies once she snoops in Simone’s bathroom and confirms she hasn’t been taking her prescribed Klonopin. Devon doesn’t find her in the house’s crow’s nest (drink every time there’s a bird reference on this show!) (Just kidding, save your livers.) But she does stumble upon Peter, hiding out and smoking a joint. He seems more amenable to joking around with her than his wife, but unfortunately, Devon’s “undercover” act is terrible. Once she clumsily asks if he has any kids (“with a previous … first marriage, or …?”), and if his ex-wife is “alive — right?,” he quickly clocks her intentions and splits.

Soon thereafter, Devon watches Michaela give Barnaby’s eulogy. It’s so incredibly goofy, but Julianne Moore’s a master who can still make Michaela’s pain feel visceral. She then reins it back in as Ethan, whale tie on and goofiness dialed up to 11, comes over to say hi. He accepts Michaela’s invitation to take a walk “to the cliff,” not realizing that he’s replaced Devon at the top of her shit list. She couldn’t possibly be leading him there to push him off. That would be way too obvious … right?

In any case, Devon doesn’t get to find out. Jose finds her and whisks her back to the house — not to punish her, but because he’s found Simone, sobbing her eyes out on the floor. As Devon curls herself around Simone to soothe her, it’s hard not to remember her earlier words to Michaela: “Sisters say mean shit all the time. They’ll claw your face off. But no one knows you like a sister, and no one loves you better.”

Bread Crumbs

• Michaela seems to think Devon and Simone’s mother got killed by a drunk driver, but Devon’s reaction seems to indicate … not so much?

• Why does every employee on this show keep their ringers on? You have a notoriously finicky boss; please lower my blood pressure for you and mute that shit.

• Shout-out to Lauren Weedman, who plays the private chef here but is welcome on my TV in any and all forms, especially as the mayor of Las Vegas on Hacks.

• Bill Camp brandishing a fire poker while Josh Segarra yelps, “I was prom king, man!” Very good.

• In my head, Cloe, Lisa, and Astrid are the Beauty and the Beast triplets by way of Suburgatory. I love them.

• Ethan obliviously singing “Hey, Mickey, you’re so fine” while Julianne Moore uses the full power of her withering glare toward him … never say Glenn Howerton is not a professional.

• “Of course they’re bad people. Look at their house.”

 If Devon can play along with Michaela’s schtick, she can maybe stick around long enough to convince her sister to leave.