Netflix 1899

[IndigoErth]

Any of you guys check that one out yet?

One of those shows where I don't feel like I can even say much of anything about it without spoiling it. Just that it's a bunch of people are on a ship, presumably in the year of the title, headed to America, and then things get...weird. And keep on getting weirder.

Really keeps you watching and guessing at what the heck is going on. There is deceptively a lot to it, and no wonder after later reading that it's by the makers of Dark. So sad damn Netflix supposedly cut it off after one season when the makers had planned 3 -- I still have so many questions!

Spoiler:

Only warning... really best to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen it and have any interest.

Spoiler:

Questions including...

Was the boy ever actually real? Think his mother mentioned a miscarriage, so did his parent create the "first simulation" of the child's room to pretend he existed? But once we see the very end...was none of it ever real? Not the kid, the mental hospital, or other people's memories?

What was even the purpose of the simulations? Were they really stuck in a loop or did their minds only believe it. How did two people have consciousness that it was a simulation? And what is the point of needing out of it at that point in time.

What is the black stuff made of? Looks like carbon...? The same stuff that powered the ship as coal and kept life aboard it alive. But why was it untouchable. Why does it encroach on the ship and threaten lives.

IF all the other people listed as passengers are on the space ship, why did they jump off the boat while the remaining small group did not? What is special about them that they are all still together in one room at the end.

Suggested it to my mom and rare that she will binge a whole series in one sitting, even a short one like this (8 eps), but she was glued to it the entire time. It has such a good pacing and so much mystery that it keeps you watching.

Spoiler:

She's always suggested I watch the movie Prometheus, but I've never come across it on tv or Netflix. When she randomly after a few episodes of this series just threw an idea out there that maybe they're on a space ship I had to bite my lip and laughed out loud after watching the end with her.

Never seen that film, yet now I want this show to be connected to it.

Definitely consider it if you enjoyed Dark. About equal as much crazy, but a little easier to keep up with.

[Andrew NDB]

I did watch all of this a couple of weeks back and more or less enjoyed it. It had a very strong and engaging beginning. And I, too, LOVED Dark. Super inspiring and original and man, what a mind f***. I would highly recommend that show to anyone. I truly didn't expect it to grab me the way it did but boy, it did.

But...

Spoiler:

... as I've said elsewhere, while the first few episodes of 1899 are very strong and I was definitely intrigued with the mystery of "what's really going on?!" it does seem that the writers got high on their own supply and wanted to out-Dark their audiences. Personally, I don't think they needed to. I think it should have all been left a nice compelling mystery in the Bermuda Triangle with a ghost ship and people on board the main ship with different alignments and missions and interests have it be about how it all interacts along with whatever's going on on the ghost ship. And the cause could be something fantastical, whether it's supernatural or sci-fi, just not this onion peeling of layer after layer as the show did.

Instead, it keeps trying to outsmart the audience. It's never content to be any one thing and as soon as you think it's one thing, it's already become something else. Which ordinarily I'd applaud, but here you have whole swaths of characters they built up who are literally swept away probably with the idea that "No worries, we'll get back to them next season."

Well, that's not going to happen now. They should have told an air-tight first season.

Still, I was entertained and everybody involved is super talented. A nice fix of a sort since Dark concluded.

Also, I'm kind of OK with the ending as a series finale. If you treat this as a long-form movie, the whole thing actually works. Which is probably what it would have been best served as.

[Roseangelo]

This is on my radar to watch eventually, as I also loved Dark, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.