I watched all eight episodes of the Netflix sci-fi thriller drama 1899, all over to its advanced and irritating ending. And I’ve questions. Extra questions, even, than the primary ship within the present, the Kerberos, has bizarre triangle symbols.
Warning: Spoilers for 1899 forward.
The present begins as a seemingly simple interval piece a couple of spooky steamship heading from London to New York in 1899. Each one of many passengers, we quickly study, is mendacity about their previous, operating from a secret or passing themselves off as somebody they are not. Normally the entire above. Which may have been sufficient of a narrative for some showrunners, however 1899 hangs a pointy proper flip into Misplaced and Westworld territory, and shortly viewers are attempting to untangle time journey. And dimensional pathways. And simulations. And transferred consciousness. This present would possibly as nicely be Star Trek.
Mates ask me if they need to buckle in and watch 1899. My reply is form of wishy-washy. Possibly? It is good, however not as satisfying as I wished it to be. A whole lot of that has to do with the numerous unanswered questions the present flings at viewers, then simply form of … leaves on the market.
Creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar advised Deadline they’d like 1899 to be a multi-season present, if rankings are adequate. So perhaps a few of these questions will probably be answered in a 1899 season 2, however till then, they’re going to play in my thoughts just like the numbers from Misplaced, or the maze from Westworld, or the image from Sport of Thrones, or … you get the image.
Is Elliot alive in the actual world?
Elliot, the mysterious boy discovered on the equally mysterious Prometheus, turned out to be the son of Daniel and Maura. He’d died of an sickness and his sensible mom desperately creates the simulation the place she will preserve him alive. It definitely appears that he’d be useless in a second season, however something can occur on this world, so perhaps there will probably be resurrection? Or Maura can return in time and discover a treatment for no matter sickness Elliot had?
Fflyn Edwards performs the mysterious boy Elliot in 1899.
Netflix
What’s Ciaran’s deal?
Ciaran is Maura’s brother. At first we’re led to consider he went lacking on the Prometheus and that Maura is looking for him. However finally, it seems it is Ciaran who’s operating the simulation, retaining his sister and father captive. He leaves Maura a word for when she lastly wakes up, however a second season must introduce this mysterious sibling so we are able to discover out why he is completed … nicely, any of the issues he is completed.
What’s Undertaking Prometheus?
Maura lastly wakes up in a brand new location, a spaceship that is crusing by means of house in 2099 as “Undertaking Prometheus,” with 1,423 passengers and 550 crew. We all know barely something concerning the so-called “mission. But it surely’s listed as a “survival mission,” so maybe Earth has been destroyed or is about to be and these individuals, just like the migrants aboard the Keberos, are looking for a brand new homeland.
Is that this spaceship a brand new simulation?
So we finish with Maura on the spaceship, and, as a result of she used the brand new keys (her wedding ceremony ring and the colourful pyramid toy as a substitute of the black one) we’re assuming she’s in actuality now. However who is aware of? This might be one other simulation, with the actual actuality nonetheless on the market.
Is the black virus Virginia had curable?
Virginia Wilson touches a black metallic substance that is rising and spreading all through the Kerberos. It jumps to her physique, turns her hand black, and seems to unfold up her arm to her neck and the facet of her face. She’s in a position to stroll round with it but it surely does not appear like she will bend that hand. (Sport of Thrones followers will see a resemblance to greyscale, that collection’ lethal situation that makes flesh stone-like.) Henry, Maura’s father, and her husband, Daniel, check with it because the “virus,” making it appear as if a pc virus is crawling by means of the simulation’s code. Did Daniel trigger it along with his determined makes an attempt to sort things? Wherever it got here from, it is obtained creepy bodily results, and it will be fascinating to see if a model of it makes it to season 2.
Anton Lesser portrays Maura and Ciaran’s father, Henry, who performs a complicated position within the present.
Netflix
Why was the simulation set in 1899?
It makes for a cool interval piece, with geishas and gents and cosplay. But when we assume Undertaking Prometheus is the precise actuality, and 2099 the precise date, why would the entire simulation happen on a ship again 200 years earlier than that? As talked about above, it does create a pleasant parallel with the immigrants fleeing their homeland for a brand new world, simply as we presume the passengers on the spaceship are desperately in search of a protected place to land.
We’d even have a solution for this one. Showrunner Jantje Friese says the present creators favored 1899 as a result of it is on a threshold of a brand new century, stepping from old style days to a brand new future. “There was one thing fascinating about precisely that second in time,” Friese advised Netflix weblog Tudum. “What occurred in that interval is that modernism clashed with outdated beliefs. Extra scientific-oriented pondering began [influencing society] when you nonetheless had very spiritual beliefs [also prevalent], and people two issues pulled on one another, outdated and new.”
Did the Kerberos passengers lose their recollections?
So the Kerberos passengers can die after which their recollections are reset to allow them to begin over in a brand new model of the simulation. However as the primary season ended, passengers weren’t useless. Some (all?) of them are on Undertaking Prometheus. Will they one way or the other bear in mind their steamship lives? Will we meet all of them once more as individuals of 2099 if the present will get a second season?
What’s with 1011, inverted triangles, pyramid toys?
There have been quite a few unexplained symbols within the present. Maura’s ship cabin and the creepy injection room had been each numbered 1011, and that quantity reappeared typically, as did the inverted triangle image and a pyramid toy. Present creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar addressed these within the Netflix Tudum weblog, too. Seems they beloved the thriller of a pyramid or a tetrahedron, and say that form has a job in simulations and digital realities.
“The reoccurring triangle image itself represents the component earth,” Friese stated, in what looks as if an apparent nod to the ending and the passengers fleeing Earth. The room quantity 1011 was meant to trace at binary code, which could give a clue the ship was a pc simulation. But it surely’ll be fascinating to see if these similar numbers and symbols reappear within the spaceship, or if new ones sprout.
What are the shiny inexperienced bugs?
Mechanical inexperienced bugs are used within the present to crawl underneath and unlock doorways, generally create doorways, and in a single case, lead Maura and Elliot to the ship’s captain, Eyk. We all know that in life, Elliot had a inexperienced beetle he referred to as Alfred and his mom, Maura, advised him to not preserve it trapped. Looks as if Maura created the bug, maybe so Elliot would have his pet at all times, however some extra particulars concerning the bugs could be welcome. There is definitely symbolism there, because the very bug Elliot wished to maintain captive is opening doorways and releasing individuals.
Did we actually want that sexual assault storyline?
Danish character Tove could be very pregnant, and we study that that is the results of a rape that came about in entrance of her dad and mom and brother. It is perhaps essentially the most horrific scene within the present, and there appears to be no cause for this taking place to her besides that every one the passengers have horrible pasts stuffed with secrets and techniques. Because the present ends, she hasn’t given beginning. Will she even be pregnant if she’s a part of the brand new present? Will the child ever be born? What concerning the different passengers’ pasts — will all of them be reset? A few of them might be a whole present on their very own, together with Ling Yi disguising herself as a geisha after by accident killing her pal, and the mysterious duo of Ángel and Ramiro.
