1899 - Season 1

Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese previously brought us the acclaimed Dark, but now it's the turn of 1899, a dark and mysterious story that takes place on board a ship. A ship where nothing is what it seems. It is 1899 and the ship 'Kerberos' is on its way from Europe to America with a diversity of migrants, each with their own reason for being on board. Earlier, the sister ship 'Prometheus' of the same shipping company mysteriously disappeared. However, the Kerberos receives a strange message from the missing ship. When they manage to trace the ship and it turns out to be empty, except for a trapped boy (Fflyn Edwards, The Snow Spider), the tone for the series is set. Especially when it turns out that a stranger (Aneurin Barnard, Barkskins) has snuck aboard the Kerberos during the search of the Prometheus.

And that tone is dark and mysterious, let there be no doubt about that. Everything in the series exudes mystery. From the things found on the Kerberos, the symbols we see passing by, the communication from the shipping company with the Kerberos, to the personal intrigues of the people on board the ship. With regard to the latter, it must be said that the fact that there are many different nationalities on board and that they all speak mainly in their mother tongue (and do not always understand each other) definitely contributes to this.



The captain of the ship, Eyk (Andreas Pietschmann, Dark) tries to keep everything running smoothly, often with the help of Maura (Emily Beecham, Into the Badlands), who in turn mainly wants to know what happened to her brother – who was aboard the Prometheus – has happened. And both the crew and the passengers are becoming increasingly restless because they see their journey to America evaporating into thin air. In a Lost-like fashion, in each episode, we learn more about the background of some of the people aboard the ship.

In my opinion, the choice of music deserves an honorable mention. The music during the episodes, but especially the songs at the end of each episode, is perfectly chosen and almost seems to be written for the episode you are currently watching. A wonderful example of the added value that music can offer to a series. And in addition to the choice of music, the acting performances are also excellent (something that undoubtedly partly has to do with the fact that much is spoken in the native language) and the series looks beautiful.

Everything in the series exudes mystery. From the things found on the Kerberos, the symbols we see passing by, the shipping company's communication with the Kerberos, to the personal intrigues of the people aboard the ship.

I understand that Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese have indicated that they see 1899 as a series of which three seasons are needed to complete the story. I had hoped this would happen, because I really enjoyed this first season. Unfortunately, the series was canceled after one season. After Dark, they once again succeeded in creating a story in which I was captivated from the first to the last episode, where I turned out to be wrong several times and I preferred to see the next episode immediately to keep myself immersed. And of course also because each episode resulted in new questions.

And the latter also says something about the complexity of the series. It is not a series that you can just follow on the side. The story is complex and you have to keep a close eye on who is who and what role he/she plays in the whole. Not everyone is a fan of that. Given the many hints that are given and twists that take place in the plot, I can imagine that many have already watched the series several times in order not to miss anything and the internet is already full of theories about what will happen next. However, as I mentioned before, there will not be a 'next' - for now. A shame that we will not get an answer to all the questions we may still have about this series.