in the series 1899 from Netflix, work Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar responsible for this phenomenon Dark, a mystery is a set of clues. When the liner “Kerberos” begins to receive signals from the missing ship “Prometheus”, a cycle of small horrors will begin. Not only because of the inexplicability of the event, but also because it seems to lead into the terrifying expanses of what reality can be.
Nonetheless, 1899 it doesn’t make things as simple as an imminent catastrophe riddled with the premise of the inexplicable. The script, which is a brilliant exercise in the intelligent and conscious use of hidden information, does not waste too much detail.
At the same time, he manages to make questions that come up little by little more important than the answers. As Kerberos crosses the ocean from Europe to America, it becomes clear that something is pulsing at the bottom of the darkness of the serene sea. But much more than that, the quality of the impossible, which the series shows in subtle hints, is close, terrifying.
Is what caused Prometheus to disappear and then appear supernatural, the result of some inexplicable scientific delusion, improbability? May be 1899 tried to explain his darkest moments, the script was predictable. But this is precisely his decision to build something completely new from a seemingly meaningless event, the most ingenious decision in his storytelling.
Series 1899 he is neither willing nor attempting to go through a long and exhausting journey to secure the background of his conflict. What he really wants is to endure something completely new, that lack of intelligible data, which he achieves with brilliant and precise execution.
What is hidden in the sea and in the darkness of the night
As if that wasn’t enough, the Kerberos team is full of secrets, or at least half-truths. Captain Eyck (Andreas Pietschmann) knows that the mystery may be related to his own ship. A lot of other things that seem to worry – crazy? – a large part of those who travel with him. Little by little, the ship also becomes the scene of incomprehensible worries that spread like an infection beyond classification.
So much so that the restlessness of oneself they are about to cross a strip of unexpected dangers obsessed with the captain. There are enough hints, but the script shows them with such care that each chapter 1899 be a set of clues. Does what happens at sea affect the terrified passengers and crew of the Cerbero?
In the end, Eik must face terrifying visions. From the future? From past? The plot is not immediately clear, and the dark background surrounding the officer becomes as opaque as the threat to everyone under his command. The first clear realization that the circumstances surrounding Prometheus (or his sudden appearance) also represent something more than a marine accident.
History shows that Eik must fight as best he can, and with almost no tools, against the unknown. “I stopped recognizing the sea as soon as we found the lighthouse,” he explains in a low voice. Are the signs of Prometheus a trap, a line leading to a monstrous place? 1899 he analyzes danger and the unknown as a trap about to close and engulf those who approach its terrifying limits.
Disturbing Secrets 1899
At the same time, passengers begin to experience their own horror. Maura (Emily Beecham) suffers from a father image that caused her to flee England. Especially when in context 1899 it reaches the category of a terrible nightmare.
On the other hand, Daniel (Aneurin Barnard) uses the information as a thread of tension with the rest of the people around him. Much more when he seems to have a better understanding of what is going on in Kerberos, the reflection of Prometheus.
The series creates a web of interconnected events from which it skillfully manages to pull off an unsettling dialogue about concurrency. Are both ships destined to go through the same fate? In this case, what exactly happened to Prometheus? As the plot gets twisted, the horrors in Kerberos intensify. When the captain is turned into a stranger and the passengers are confronted with inexplicable visions, all indications are that something is waiting at sea. Which? Answers to questions become trails to an inevitable destination, ever darker.
Yes Dark distinguished himself by using time as a stage, 1899 builds the same sense of urgency, but through the fabric of reality. What is really happening on the high seas, in the solitude of an ever darker sky?
There are no signs other than tragedy at hand. But, without revealing its true nature and, in fact, avoiding by all means to show the possibility of any clear hint of an answer. Undoubtedly, the greatest triumph of the series, which manages to surprise even with its seemingly simplest plot twists.
