Get ready for a big mystery because 1899 it is now streaming on Netflix. The eight-episode series is multilingual and features a cast of characters from around the world, traveling from Europe to America to start new lives. As the show progresses, we learn more and more about each passenger and what their motivations are. Many of them are hiding secrets and need to reach their destination to start over. But that proves difficult when they find another steamer in the middle of the ocean called the Prometheus, which has been missing for four months.
The first episode of 1899 does a great job of setting up the central plot and introducing us to the many characters. We even get to the Prometheus in the premiere, which only leaves more questions than answers when we see what’s left of the ship.
BIG spoilers ahead for 1899 on Netflix.
The central characters of 1899 worth paying closer attention to are Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham), a woman traveling alone in search of her missing brother who she believes may have been on the Prometheus, the captain of the Kerberos ship Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann), who lost his wife and daughters in a house fire and a mysterious man named Daniel (Aneurin Barnard) who appears at the end of episode 1. He is introduced as a shadowy figure who jumps into the Kerberos and acts as one of the passengers, but he has ulterior motives which we find out at the end of the series.
When Daniel and Maura first meet on the boat, Maura mentions that he looks familiar, but they never introduce themselves. Daniel knows who Maura is, but he remains a mystery to us viewers. We see him lurking around the ship and even carrying a suspicious green beetle that he lets loose under rooms. In one scene, we even see he has a picture of Maura he’s looking at.
Who is Daniel from 1899 and is he really Maura’s husband?
While Maura and Eyk are investigating through the hatch in his room, Daniel appears and reveals that he knows more than he lets on. On top of that, he says he and Maura got married 12 years ago! Maura has no idea what he’s talking about, but he suggests that her memory has been erased somehow, saying that she must remember.
As we learned in the final two episodes of 1899, the whole thing is actually a simulation. None of what they are experiencing, including Prometheus and Kerberos, is real. Maura and Daniel created the simulation so they could keep their dying child, the mysterious little boy named Elliot (Fflyn Edwards), alive. But since Maura no longer has all of her memories, she just doesn’t remember anything. Daniel informs her and says that her brother has taken over the simulation, but they want it to end. Each loop lasts eight days and they don’t have much time to get back to reality.
Daniel ends up hacking the simulation’s mainframe and reprogramming everything to regain power and be able to return to reality. Before he does, Maura asks if he’ll be there when she wakes up, and he says he always will be. He finishes the simulation and Maura wakes up in a spaceship in the year 2099. Although Daniel isn’t there, she receives a message from her brother that says “welcome to reality”. Maura must now deal with her new surroundings and figure out what to do now that neither Daniel nor Elliot is with her.
But is like that 1899 ends, so we don’t know what she’ll do next. Fingers crossed 1899 is renewed for a second season so we can continue this twisted and amazing journey.
you can transmit 1899 on Netflix right now!
