Fans of puzzle box TV shows are in a good place. There are lots to talk about between the Yellowjackets plane crash and the big hole in Outer Range. There is a new addition to the ever-growing list. The eight-episode long series packs a lot of mysteries and is an ideal binge. I had a lot of fun trying to fit the pieces together.
The creators of the German series Dark are the same people who created 1899. 1899 has a lot of languages. The ship is carrying a group from Europe to the US in 1899. There are a newlywed French couple, a brooding German captain, a Spanish priest, a Chinese mother and daughter, and a child. It's an ensemble affair, but at the center of it all is a woman who can't practice medicine because she's a woman.
The characters don't have a lot in common at first, aside from the fact that they're running away from something, and they're all hiding an important secret. In the same way that the early days of Lost gave you a glimpse into who a certain character was, each episode opens with a glimpse into who they are. 1899 doesn't want to be a character study. Things get very weird very quickly.
A story about a group of people stuck on a boat has a lot of mysteries. The ship came into contact with the Prometheus, a boat that sank four months earlier. It would make Stephen King proud if there were ghosts and a fog. Characters with lost memories, unclear motives, and even a mutiny are some of the characters. The true reality of 1899 was tamer than those early reveals.
It takes a long time. The scale of the show is not obvious until the last few minutes. You get a lot of clues and mysteries before that. This is a show that you will want to pay close attention to, partly because you won't want to miss important details but also because the dialogue is in multiple languages. The camera wants you to notice the number of a room cabin or the text in a letter.
The show is more fun when you follow the small and strange details that lead you to that point. You will be able to spot triangles and pyramids soon. I can confirm that despite being a puzzle box narrative enthusiast, I still found myself frequently unable to figure out where the show was heading, which was refreshing. When I thought I knew everything, there was a strange new twist.
There are a few things that aren't normal. The show ends each episode with a classic rock song, which feels completely out of place amidst the harsh industrial score. The characters love to speak in front of people who don't know what they're talking about. These monologues aren't bad, but it's hard to believe the other passengers wouldn't comprehend a single word It is a pretty grim story with very little humor and one particularly disturbing depiction of sexual violence.
It is a show that is fun to talk about even if you don't like the ending. I told everyone I knew to watch, so I could swap theories with them. One of the best things you can do is ask your friends why one of the crew members won't heal.
There is a movie called 1899 onNetflix.
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