#she will go back to ryn and her tribe to tell them what shes going to do.

[alexia-the-great]

katrina i trusted you why would you do this

[persephoneofhades]

Dear GOD the whole scene with Ben and Ryn at his place is SO BAD and is so telling about how dysfunctional their relationship is that neither one of them thinks about anyone other than each other while making these decisions.

It makes NO SENSE to dispose of the stem cells like that.

They turned Ben, a FULL BLOWN HUMAN, into someone who can grow gills and webbed hands in the water.

WHY WOULD YOU NOT GIVE THEM TO ROBB? REMEMBER ROBB? THE MERMAN WHO STAYED ON LAND TOO LONG TRYING TO CLEAN THE OCEAN AND NOW CANNOT TRANSFORM BACK INTO A MERMAN? MAYBE HE COULD USE SOMETHING LIKE THIS???

Neither of them is taking into account that Ryn and Maddie are STILL TOGETHER. This was established JUST last episode in the cabin, why would Ryn NOT include Maddie in the discussion about whether she’s going to stay on land or not?

And while Ryn certainly is allowed her choice as to whether she will become human or stay mermaid, her staying on land WITH HOPE takes that choice away from Hope FOREVER. And what about Ryn’s tribe? They’re DECIMATED and they need their Alpha now more than ever, neither of them even brings them up and what would happen to the tribe if Ryn just... abdicated her role as Alpha.

They are both being SO incredibly selfish in this scene, it’s INSANE.

And it goes against Ryn’s whole philosophy, the whole message this show has been preaching, that the land and sea don’t HAVE to be divided and in fact SHOULD be connected for the betterment of all. The whole scene, the whole EPISODE, acts like the situation is entirely black and white: either one of them has to give up their home to be together or neither do and the relationship ends. This show has never been about black and white scenarios, it just hasn’t.

[minachar28]

Bryndie/Polymarine

S3 is really good BUT also frustrating!

BEN - Serious why do smart people act so damn STUPID? The mermaid’s body should have had a good lock on it. He shouldn’t be disrespecting Ryn’s people like that. He’s doing the same thing the military did to Donna... He injecting himself rapidly so he can jump in the water to help Ryn fight?? Wasn’t the experiment suppose to be about his mom?? He nedds to use his head and tell Ryn & Maddie what he’s been up too. Ben was addicted to Ryn’s song & I’m pretty sure he’s gonna become addicted to the stem cells if he don’t stop/

Maddie - Come on girl you KNOW better. S3 got Maddie acting OOC & weird ever since she been around Robb. Once AGAIN she leaves/misses an important moment to go to him.... Someone she literally just meet/don’t know well enough. FOR WHAT? Their date could have waited. Ryn just gave up her baby but Maddie leaves to hang Robb. Then instead of listening to Ben (who actually was right this time) she takes Robb to the warehouse where the group hid the mermaid several times. Girl STOP. You’re supposed to be the reason, level-heading in the group. I get being mad at Ben & wanting to have things not mermaid related BUT the Robb stuff is ridiculous. Now she either got to risk and tell him the truth or find a way to lie about a damn body in the freezer. I wonder is this well connent to the scene in the S3 trailer of Ryn attacking Robb in front of Ben & Maddie. 

Ryn - Sweetie I know you just became a mother but you basically put the whole Tia situation on the back burning. You’re the tribe leader/queen yet you left your them awhile ago & stopped training AFTER Tia almost killed you. Ryn mentioned Tia like she was an afterthought instead of the huge threat she is. Cami only lived because because Tia wanted to send her a message.  

Robb - IDK. Even outside of being a huge Bryndie shipper something feels a little off with Robb. Like it might be too goo to be true that he’s this good guy out to save the world. He COULD be but he could also not be. He just meet Maddie yet now he’s always there. 

Levi & unnamed merman/baby daddy - I KNEW MERMAN RAISED THEIR OFFSPRING! I called it after I saw the promo. Merman are basically submissive/subservient in the water. So they do what’s considered (to some) what human women do on land. 

Katrina - I kinda knew she was gonna side with Tia BUT I’m still holding on to hope that she’s either trying to trick her as a double agent OR she’s gonna turn good in the end. Ryn’s tribe is her true family.

Xander - trying to better his life and stay loyal to his friends. Sticky situation but besides that talk with Maddie in the car he’s been pretty on point this season. 

Overall Ben is a damn fool, Ted needs to actually have a conversation with Ryn before he jumps to conclusions, Helen needs to tell the group about he talks with Ted, Maddie need to stop acting OOC. Bryndie need to be on the same page. Ryn needs some serious back up. Eliza, Levi & Cami better not die! Bryndie better be endgame. 

[fastlikealambo]

OKAY MER FAM LET’S TALK SIREN

I love seeing ryn come into her own human life,cooking,shopping,figuring things out for herself, it was really cute.

maddie’s reaction was justified but it still hurt to see my thruple on the outs.

still don’t give a shit about calvin nor janine. they are so underdeveloped that the proposal felt empty. janine has had no  real characterization in the last two seasons so calvin’s speech was meh because in my opinion, the writers haven’t given us a reason to really care about janine. her and calvin both come across as filler characters,we don’t know about their backgrounds or ties to bristol cove so it’s just like “oh maddie,ben,and ryn are offscreen doing something let’s stick calvin,janine, and xander in a forgettable bar scene.”

so xander wants to be a police officer. and you did this..for what?  again,xander is a case of uneven writing. one second he hates and wants to kill mermaids, the next he’s helping them,now he’s keeping an eye out for them, it’s fine to have change his mind and be on team mermaid but it’s just so sloppy that makes me dread his scenes which sucks because I think ian verdun is a good actor. xander’s just so..boring.

I love that bad bitch katrina  spied for ryn,she’s always been such a wildcard character that I got nervous when she came on screen but it was cool to see her and the colony square up to protect ryn. also xander’s hot obviously queer police academy partner should totally come to bristol cove and fall in love with katrina, just sayin.

absolutely loved seeing  helena get her ghost on with sarge,still sad they didn’t do more with their relationship before sarge had to go. tbh i’m not really interested in her and ben’s dad side story,it’s kinda boring and sidelines helen who is such an interesting character that she outshines ted. even though it wasn’t my favorite, I liked her hybrid storyline much be than her teaming up with ted.

so let’s talk about tia. I mean mark me down as scared and horny but there’s something about her as feels..idk generic villain of the week (don’t tell her I said that.} and a tad monotone.  she’s like if winter solider was a mermaid and I’m not feeling it. it was good of the show ( and painful for me) to see ryn outmatched i by tia to establish she’s going to be around for a while and won’t be easy to beat. something about this season so far feels very much like breaking dawn with all the different tribes of mermaids which I love and I know through tia we’re going to see the lore expand. ALSO THEY STOLE HER  SONG THROUGH BASICALLY A MERMAID LOBOTOMY? fuck them humans up for that sis.

so that leaves me with polymarine. yall know I will go down with ship, my aquatic thruple is always at their best when they communicate with each other. I HATE THE NEW GUY IN MADDIE’S LIFE WITH  A PASSION AND DEAR GOD I HOPE THIS ISN’T A SET UP FOR CHEATING. PLEASE DON’T MAKE MADDIE A CHEATER.  yes I understand that on  basically all tv dramas couples make up and break up but this is one of the very few positive depictions of polyamory on tv that I really don’t want to see stupid love triangles. it’s also a little out of character again in my opinion for maddie to stay the night with that guy,given what’s going on back home. I know polymarine will make their way back to each other but if I have to wait fifteen episodes and watch maddie flirt with this fool i’m gonna get bored. ALSO THIS DOES NOT MEAN JACK SHIT FOR RYN/BEN SHIPPERS, RYN/BEN ARE NOT CANON AND THE SHOW HAS COME OUT MULTIPLE TIMES SAYING THIS IS A POLYAMORY COUPLING. HUSH UP.

till next week!

[siren-theories]

The question of children

Note: ICYMI here is an updated post with all my analysis/thoughts so far.  DIsclaimer: The following includes spoilers of up to and Including Episode 309 “A voice in the dark”. This post was prompted by the following question:

Thank you very much for sending that one in.  I have to admit that this is a question I have asked myself many times, mainly driven by the parallels of Ben, Ryn and the story of the Pownall massacre. And Episode 308 has given those thoughts new form as they exchanged vows at the end of Episode 308. After all, children quite often follow such vows in human relationships. But children are quite a hassle for a TV show. Child actors are problematic to work with and once they exist, they often only waste screentime while bringing very little to the plot. And as they grow up, there is the question of time - having child actors more or less forces the show to use time in a linear manner as the child actors grow up. Though Siren already left itself a loophole with Hope and her growth spurts, this is still problematic for a show that has covered a period as short as a few months in three seasons. (I really need to update the timeline post soonish). 

  A). Can they actually have a child together?

We know that Sirens and humans can have children together as evidenced by the whole existence of Helen and the hybrid cult. 

However, we do know that Ryn has struggled with fertility issues before, which was a major plot point of the later half of Season 2. I do believe however that the fertility problems were mostly related to the males of her species. As the tests showed in Episode 213 “The Outpost” there was nothing wrong with Ryn herself 

(Leave it to the always body-positive Ryn to be proud of such a fact). 

And as soon as they could isolate viable sperm from the male, fertilization of her eggs was no issue at all in Episode 215. Biologically, there should be nothing preventing her and Ben having a Baby.

B). Will they have a child together?

With Ryn was not being in her mating drive during the recent episodes, we probably can rule out any pregnancy as a result of those scenes OP mentioned (unless her change into a human has progressed much further in those episodes, which is possible but IMO very unlikely). However, what happens when her next mating drive occurs? I think this can be safely answered within the context of the previous scenes in the show. There were multiple scenes in Episode 213 where both Ben and Ryn clearly exhibited signs of wanting to have children with each other and one scene in particular where they both had to force themselves not to do so within that episode.

And in 308 Ryn clearly states her wish for having a family with him, during the kitchen table discussion.

Ryn: “I will live on Land. With you.” Ben: “On land. You mean, stay human?” Ryn: “Yes. Here. Together. Human.” Ben: “What about Hope?” Ryn: “She can be with us. As a family.” Ben: “I can’t ask you to do that.” Ryn: “It is my choice. When it is time, I will be human with you.”

After figuring IVF works there is also no reason for Ryn to have more pureblood children just for the sake of her species considering there are plenty of willing alternative candidates (this would also be much better for the future genepool of her tribe).

So therefore, I do believe there is a high chance of them having more children, possibly as soon as Ryns mating drive kicks in again. By now you probably already figured out what the persistent qualifier “more” is referring to. I believe that for all intents and purposes they already have a child together - Hope.

C) Hope as their first child

While Ben is not the biological father, this is no hindrance to Hope being their first child. After all, under the law of many first-world nations Ryn would also not be considered the biological mother since she did not conceive Hope, nor did she carry or give birth to Hope.

Siren is no stranger to these constellations - after all, the best father figure in the whole series, Dale Bishop, is Maddie’s stepfather.

(Sidenote: Contrast how awesome Dale is as a father with Ben’s parents and Maddie’s mother. The show makes the point very early and very often that biological relations are not what determines who your “real” parents are,)

And for all intents and story-telling purposes, Ryn intends for Ben to be Hope’s father. This was signalled multiple times this season, even as early as Episode 305 and seems to be a role Ben wants to take up as well. 

In Episode 305, Ryn returns with Hope to land after her first transformation. And the very first thing she does onscreen is to hand Hope over to Ben in a manner very reminiscient of a mother handing over her child to its father.

(They look very much like a family in that scene, don’t they?) Then, we had Ben saying that he already views her like his own daughter in the same Episode. (Sidenote: rushing into things is a steeple of their whole relationship so this was in character for them).  

Ben: “It’s weird man. Feels like she’s mine. I*m going to help raise her.” Ryn of course also expressed the wish for Hope, Ben and herself to be a family in Episode 308:

Ben: “What about Hope?” Ryn: “She can be with us. As a family.”

And with Hope’s reintroduction in Episode 9, this dynamic was reinforced multiple times - especially and crucially from Hope’s side. And even more important was that Hope’s actions were completely unprompted by Ryn. 

1. Despite Ryn saying in Episode 305 that Hope will not remember her time as a baby, it is shown in Episode 309 that she does remember Ben, signifying the close bond the two already have

Episode 305:

Ryn: “When we meet again, you will be grown. You will not remember this time with me. So I will remember for us both.”

309: 

Hope keeps glancing at Ryn and Ben Ryn: “She remembers you. From when she was a baby.” 

2. And of course, later in the same episode Hope seeks physical contact with Ben - the image projected here is one of Family again.

And Ryn is again very happy about her daughter doing this. For whatever reason there seems to exist a strong, reciprocal bond between Hope and Ben already. 

So as it stands right now, Hope already is their (first) child in my opinion. The writers IMO could not have made that any more clear, especially not with those scenes in 309. 

Assuming she survives the finale (which I very much wish for), I would argue that any other children during the run of the show will be unlikely from a storytelling and logistics perspective. Even should Hope not survive (or have another prolonged period of absence for whatever reason) I do not think there will be another child shown onscreen. In addition to the usual problem with children in tv there is another one in play here: As strapped for screentime as Siren is, I would assume the writers do not intend to introduce further children unless they serve a dramatic purpose. 

D) Children and the Pownall family arc

One such arc where a Baby might prove beneficial for dramatic reasons however is the Pownall family arc.

As I have written at length before, there are parallels between Ryn/Ben and Charles Pownall/his unnamed siren. And the Pownall massacre happened in part because Ben’s ancestor and his siren failed to raise their child together.

("Seperated from her child, his mermaid lost her mind and went back to the water, never to return. Infected by the song and her abscence, Charles lost his senses. He gathered his crew, trapped the mermaids in a cove and slaughtered them.”)

As such, from a storytelling perspective, It would be very dramatic and enjoyable for Ben to have a child with a Siren and hopefully not mess up raising her. Therefore, should Hope not survive the season the odds of them having (another) child onscreen would increase dramatically in my opinion.

If Hope should indeed die, maybe it will not only be Ben repudiating the mistakes of his ancestor, but maybe also Ryn showing that she is stronger than the unnamed Siren. Maybe she would survive and heal after the loss of a child precisely because she has humans standing by to help her?

(And yes, I would think that would include Maddie). However, I do think Hope will survive. Anything else would be just too cruel to Ryn and also a bit odd considering how much screentime was invested in Hope’s “creation” in Season 2.

Either way, while a child would add drama, it is also not necessarily a conditio sine qua non for the story of the Pownall family. And IMO Ben’s attachment to Ryn is already strong enough (cf their "wedding vows” in 308). Therefore, a child would not be needed to prompt him to chose Ryn over his family (a choice he also already made in Episode 215 and which you can read more in detail about in the previously linked post).

Conclusion:

Do I expect them to have more children onscreen, over the course of the series? Probably not, given the above arguments. 

Do I expect them to have more children in the future (including a hypothetical time period after the series finale)?

After the series ends (and assuming some kind of happy end for them) they would probably increase their family as early (or as often) as Ryn’s mating drive and other factors permit. At this point in the story, they clearly want to have a family together and there would be nothing to stop them from enlargening their already existing family should they so choose. 

So I would tentatively argue that yes, they eventually will have more children.

[persephoneofhades]

minachar28 replied to your post “minachar28 replied to your post “If Maddie and Ben never get together...”

I'm gonna point out that "coming onto my post" comment makes little sense on social media. Your post was public for the world to see so getting comments (even those you disagree with) comes with the territory. I looked up #Polymarine and found your post. On to your new post - I can see you point but you also missed some of mine. Bryndie was heavily entwined in the frabric of Siren. From Day 1 there were hints, then clear signs then they officially happened. Now its being dropped like it meant nothing. You seem to mainly be a Raddie fan (I may be wrong) but even they are slowing being put on the back burning. It becoming all about Bryn. I can see with this is all going. Sure Maddie in a interesting storyline with Ben & Ryn for now but how long will that really last? Maddie will be forgotten/left behind/out of the loop before long. As part of the main couple she gets to be a real lead. Bryndie is beautiful & their story can last but only if the writers don't give up on them. Relationships are up & down/not always perfect so the conflict isn't a bad thing but this extra distance will most likely get unnecessary. As for possibly dropping the show - if enough people stop watching then Siren will get cancelled which isn't helping anyone. Ben leaving Ian to drown was messed up but did you missed the point that Maddie would die? That was also a main reason Ben didn't save him which he should have told her instead of making look like it was just about protecting the merpeople. I'm not saying Ben was right but see how the merpeople was gonna be hunted down and enslaved/experimented on/killed. Ben had reasons. I'm all for Maddie having separate things outside of the mermaid stuff but that could still happen with her bring part of Polymarine. Obviously we can disagree but I needed to explain my point. In my 3rd comment I meant without Ben & Ryn. Also meant the Byrndie could last if the writers don't give up on them. Wasn't trying to start an argument just replying back.

You can point out that my post is public and it is and I have no issues with people responding to it, but you can also choose how you respond to it. Being negative on a post where I was trying super hard to be positive and telling me that you think the show is RUINED? Didn’t feel so good. I’m always up for discussions and debates about a show I’m this passionate about, I really am. Just... maybe try to keep it to discussion topics and not plain and simple bashing.

Okay, so responding to this with the perspective of having now seen episode 8, I’m... starting to turn towards the side of “this is total BS, Maddie’s being sidelined and it’s AWFUL and Polymarine may not last and I hate it.” There are quite a few moments in episode 8 that just... very visually represent that difference (Maddie getting a cheek kiss and then Ben immediately afterwards getting a lips kiss, Maddie not standing/sitting next to Bryn at the wedding, etc).

So like... yeah. I mean, you’re not wrong that I’m partial to Raddie over Bryn, for sure, but I did like Polymarine at least equally as much as I liked Raddie. And I didn’t HATE Bryn, they’ve definitely had some cute moments in the past, though I’m liking them less and less as this season goes on because they seem to be getting portrayed as more and more dysfunctional. But I have a whole post somewhere detailing why I think Polymarine perfectly represents the whole theme of balance and how the three of them together work beautifully to represent the two things each of them is always having to balance within themselves and how each of them works to balance the other two. Polymarine obviously does not exist without Ben and I have absolutely loved Ben in earlier seasons and really rooted for him. It’s just this season that they’ve made him less likable which has, in turn, made his relationship with Ryn somewhat less likable, too.

What I think you were missing earlier is that while I guess I didn’t necessarily disagree that there were some bad signs, I was trying REALLY FUCKING HARD to stay positive about it and see it in a better light, in a way that wasn’t indicative of this show I adore becoming a shitshow that drops some spectacular polyamorous rep with a beautiful wlw relationship and sidelines the main Black woman. I really really REALLY did not want to believe this show would do that, I’ve been working SUPER FUCKING HARD all goddamn season to try to come up with theories about why Ryn and Maddie have been getting a lot less affectionate scenes than Ryn and Ben have been getting, about why it was important for Maddie to have her relationship with Robb and (this is what my original post was about) why Maddie being with Robb didn’t actually cancel out the polyamorous rep or the wlw relationship since as far as we’ve been told, Ryn is still dating two people, which makes Polymarine still a polyamorous relationship, even if it’s a V instead of a triangle. And Maddie having feelings for Robb and maybe starting to date him means that Maddie is ALSO dating two people, turning that V into a Z. Or an N. Whichever letter you prefer. Which was UNHEARD of polyamorous representation. So while I definitely love Polymarine, I was not against the show exploring the different ways polyamorous relationships can happen, the different forms they can take.

After episode 8, though, I’m... really despondent. I’m losing some of my faith in this show doing right by us, doing right by these characters. Robb’s gone, Maddie definitely got sidelined in this episode both narratively and visually. None of that spells anything good. It’s like 3am so my mind is coming up with wild conspiracy theories about how some of what we’re seeing are more hallucinations in Ben’s mind, that the season 2 finale wasn’t a one-off, but FORESHADOWING. I’m tired, I’m upset, I’m kinda angry right now, so I’m probably MASSIVELY off-base, but it’s literally the only thread of hope I have left right now so I’m going to hang onto it until the show rips it out of my hands.

As for dropping the show, it didn’t sound like you were getting much out of it and I’m a proponent of not watching shows that don’t bring you joy. It’s not your job to try to keep a show from getting cancelled if you don’t like it anymore, even if other people do. I’ve dropped SEVERAL shows because they weren’t making me happy anymore, so like I said, no judgment on my end if this show just wasn’t doing it for you anymore. Personally, I wasn’t just sticking around for Polymarine or for Raddie, I was sticking around for Ryn and her baby, Ryn and her tribe, for Helen, for Xander, for the environmental message, for the beautiful theme of balance being the key to everything. There was (and hopefully still IS) so much in this show that I love and I 100% would stick around to watch this show for a while probably even if Polymarine stayed a V, or a Z. I might have problems if Maddie got sidelined and removed from Polymarine entirely, but up until this episode, that hadn’t entirely happened. This episode removed almost EVERYTHING that I enjoy about this show from the environmental message (all three of them agreeing to use the sonic cannon despite its known impact on all marine life), the message about balance (either Ben or Ryn has to give up their home to be together or they have to break up and go their separate ways but no in-between option) to Maddie’s role in the narrative and her relationship with Ryn AND Ben to Xander possibly DYING. So quite honestly, if the show continues the way it has in this episode, I’LL probably consider dropping it, because this isn’t the show I fell in love with.

Okay, so addressing your question about if I recognized that Maddie would have died if Ian had been allowed to live. NO. I don’t recognize that because it ISN’T TRUE. Did you forget the whole fact that this was a HALLUCINATION Ben had in which he mischaracterized both Xander and Calvin MASSIVELY and was working on some majorly incorrect information? We were told, point blank, that Ian could not have revealed ANYTHING without some solid physical proof, it’s why he was trying to kidnap Ryn. Without her, his article was DEAD. Had Ian lived, they probably could have forced him to give up his attempts given that they’d just SAVED HIS LIFE. We have NO IDEA what might have happened if Ben had let Ian live. But I HIGHLY doubt that it would have automatically FOR SURE meant Maddie’s death. The whole thing was a nightmare scenario based on Ben’s paranoia and very little else. Ben didn’t have “reasons”. At least, none that were actually REASONABLE. While Ben probably SHOULD have told Maddie about his hallucination, the reason he DIDN’T is because admitting to having hallucinations means he’d have to admit the reason WHY he was having hallucinations: namely, that he re-addicted himself to the Song. Nothing Ben saw in his hallucination is a worthwhile excuse for letting another human being drown when Ben could have saved him. Nothing. It helps us UNDERSTAND why Ben did what he did, sure, because it shows us just how not in his right mind Ben is, how far gone he’s become now that he’s listened to the Song again. But it doesn’t exonerate him or excuse the fact that he killed a man.

I think we have a very different definition of what “being part of Polymarine” means. For me, Polymarine is the relationship between the three of them (at least for now) and the three of them are still connected through Ryn. Just because Ben and Maddie aren’t dating EACH OTHER doesn’t mean that Polymarine isn’t still a relationship that exists, it just exists as a V instead of a triangle, as I mentioned in the original post you replied to and have mentioned in my replies a few times now. Maddie is still dating Ryn and her involvement in Robb wasn’t (for a while) taking her away from the main narratives. She was SUPER involved in the earlier episodes that dealt with the hybrids and the baby. In fact there was an entire episode in which Ben spends the whole time with his parents while Maddie runs around with Ryn, helping her train, helping her read, taking her to the hybrid doctor to deal with the cramps, following her to the ranch to find Meredith, etc. For a while there, in the beginning of this season, it definitely did not feel like Maddie was going to get sidelined just because she needed space from Ben or because they introduced Robb. I have been holding onto that hope those episodes gave me up until now. But while I agree that I’d prefer Maddie have side storylines AND continue to be involved in the main narrative, I think that’s exactly what was happening in the early episodes.

So look, am I starting to believe that all of the people who have been crying out in the tags that this season’s been a sign that Maddie’s going to be sidelined and the show is going to let go of the part that made it the unique and beautiful, might be right? Yes.

Am I still desperately trying to cling to what little hope I have that there’s something we AREN’T SEEING HERE that can turn this around in the 11th hour?

Also yes.

[siren-theories]

Siren-human cohabitation before the Pownall massacre

NOTE: The following is a theory. It is an argument based on evidence by the show but has not been confirmed by the writers or any episodes of the show.  

Obligatory TL, DR: I believe the show depicts  Sirens having regular contact with humans (at least with the Haida) up until the time of the massacre.

One of the biggest questions that arise out of Freeform's Siren is when exactly human and mermaid paths diverged. Biologically speaking the Sirens and Humans are closer to each other than Horses are to Zebras. Whether they share a common ancestor or whether Sirens evolved directly out of the human species is an imposisble question to answer due to a lack of evidence, though I favour the latter theory given the close similarities between humans and sirens.

Just for how long did the two species coexist peacefully together after the biological divergence though? This is the main question of this post and although we never get an explicit answer I do believe there are several scenes in the show that allow us, the viewers, to form an opinion about this subject. 

Evidence 1: The Siren Song

The mere existence of the Siren Song is by itself a strong piece of evidence for continued Siren-human interaction as the Song itself only works when in proximity of humans. 

As Donna demonstrated in Episode 101 “The Mermaid Discovery” the more powerful and more harmful "defensive" variant can be sung even when there is no visual contact with humans (she sang it from inside the hold of the north star in the premiere). The less harmful "love" variant can only be sung when in visual contact (and close proximity) with a human, as confirmed by Ryn in Episode 203 "Natural Order". 

Ryn sings to Ben in Episode 101 “The Mermaid Discovery”. 

Evolutionary changes in human or near-human species take a lot of time, especially when such a change manifests in different body physiques. This is especially true regarding such complex changes (in this case changing the vocal cords and surrounding area to be able to use so many frequencies). This alone tells us that they had enough prolonged contact with humans to develop these abilities. Furthermore this also suggests a very close, maybe even an originally symbiotic relationship between humans and Sirens because otherwise there is no reason such an ability would ever be favoured by evolution. 

Evidence 2: Cave paintings

Further evidence of a harmonious, maybe even symbiotic earlier relationship arrives in episode 207 "Entrapment". In this episode Katrina leads the group to a cave where they discover cave paintings made by native americans and the Sirens. Eliza (who seems to be the groups intellectual), Levi and Frank help Helen translate them.

The cave paintings in Episode 207

According to their translation, the original message was: "We live here in harmony, tribes of land and tribes of sea"

And after all, it would make sense that those that evolved into Sirens would stay close with their human cousins and that this continued even after different societal structures had formed in the two tribes. Did this cohabitation continue into a timeframe close to the time of the arrival of US settlers in Bristol Cove? I would argue that it did, based on the following. 

Evidence 3: The Haida knew how to help hybrids

In Episode 110 "Aftermath" Helen reveals her ancestry to the Trio, namely that she is the last descendant of the daughter of Charles Pownall and "his" mermaid. She explicitly mentions how the British settlers did not know how to deal with the Baby being born in mid-transformation. Charles then brought his baby to the Haida people, who helped the Baby complete her transformation. 

Helen dropping some knowledge in episode 110

The question though is how the Haida knew how to deal with this? It might have been simple trial and error based on what Charles would have told them. Yet I find this unlikely considering that it was a life-threatening situation that would not allow for a slew of experiments and that time was most likely in short supply.

A more logical explanation would be that the Haida of Bristol Cove knew about hybrids precisely because they had interacted with the sirens before. Charles' daughter probably was not the first hybrid either given that Sirens and humans were literally living together (see above). I would therefore argue that the Sirens probably lived with (or at least had regular contact with) the haida right up until the time the British arrived. Otherwise, it would have make no sense for the Haida to help a hybrid born from a British man and people they had no contact with. Nor would they have had any reason to pass on such knowledge of how to help hybrids complete their first transformation in the first place. 

Evidence 4: Eliza can diagnose human medical problems

In Episode 212 "Serenity" Ryn decides to get help for Ben and Maddie. She eventually returns with Eliza, the mermaid healer. After placing some resonating chrystals in their hands she hums a few tones at them and then immediately (and accurately) diagnoses both the problem and prescribes the cure.

(Eliza the sonic brain scanner hard at work in Episode 212 “Serenity”)

When I first saw this scene, I was so impressed with Eliza and how routine this seemed for her. If you would ask any human doctor today to diagnose a brain problem in a near-human species he would probably tell you that he is not qualified to do this and that you should go to a specialized vet. Yet for some reason Siren physicians are able to do so. Not only do Siren healers have knowledge of human anatomy but they also have knowledge of the effects of the song on humans. This knowledge must have passed on to successive healer generations even after the massacre as Eliza was not alive back then (the oldest merm we have seen so far was Frank and he was not hostile at all against Ben or humans and thus most likely not involved in the massacre). Again, it makes no sense to pass this knowledge on unless it occupied a significant and useful part within their reportoire of their medical knowledge.

[A caveat: It might be that Eliza only knew the problems with the brains because human and Siren brains have a similar structure. Yet this does not explain why she knows the problem with the song's effects as the song is a feature reserved only for the human-siren interaction.]

Evidence 5: The massacre itself

A human-made depiction of the massacre from episode 102 "The Lure"

The mere fact that fishermen armed with with harpoons, primitive nets and ships that were unable to go faster than ~14 knots (20 km/h) were able to slaughter many Sirens is unbelievable on its own unless one assumes special circumstances. 

Sirens can run as fast as a deer on land, break steel bars with one hand, swim faster than sharks in the ocean and have a unique defence mechanism that can turn humans into thralls that are entirely at the mercy of the Siren that is singing the song. Plus the massacre by all accounts happened on the water where Sirens enjoy even greater advantages than on land over humans. 

The only way the whole story of the massacre makes sense is if the Sirens and humans were in close proximity and if the Sirens did not consider humans a threat, thus allowing surprise attacks to work. Which would in turn require the Sirens being used to a human presence in their lives. Maybe there was a long history of cooperation with (some) fishermen. After all, how else could Captain Pownall not only gather more fish than anybody else but also have regular contact with "his" mermaid? 

This of course would also mean that the Pownall Massacre not only dealt a severe blow to the Siren population (maybe even one they never recovered from) but also ended hundreds, maybe thousands of years of cooperation and cohabitation. 

Based on the above evidence I would therefore argue that Sirens had regular contact with humans (at least with the Haida) up until the time of the massacre.

Speculation: It would not surprise me if there are more hybrids besides the hybrid cult we see on the show. There might even be pureblood siren families who have lived for decades and centuries among humans and have gone undetected for all this time. 

As always, feel free to drop a comment, rebuttal or additional information / different interpretations. Thank you for reading.