1899: The Ship - Review of the pilot episode of the Dark makers' Netflix series

Created: 11/21/2022, 3:00 p.m

1899 © Netflix

With “1899”, the Dark makers are presenting a new mystery thriller whose pilot episode is full of enigmatic symbolism, mysterious images and moments of goosebumps.

But is that enough? 

The year is 1899. It has been four months since the luxury liner Prometheus disappeared on the open sea.

Newspapers are still puzzling over what happened to the cruiser, her crew and fellow passengers when sister ship Kerberos, commanded by Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann, Dark), receives a mysterious radio message from the missing ship.

Despite the protests of his snooty first-class guests, the captain has the ship turned around.

When he reaches the Prometheus, he heads over to the Prometheus with the young doctor Maura (Emily Beecham, Into the Badlands), the stoker Olek (Maciej Musial) and the stowaway Jerome (Yann Gael).

The ship shows signs of destruction and appears abandoned.

But suddenly something knocks on the door of a sideboard from the inside.

Maura opens the piece of furniture and a mysterious boy comes out, who hands her a black pyramid.

It's a strong start, and one in which the team of writers Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese (both "Dark") and Spaniard Dario Madrona play big.

Because the mystery that the Writers Room builds up in the debut episode is like the labyrinth of the Minotaur, to stay with the metaphor.

That Maura was imprisoned in a Victorian sanctuary, i.e. an insane asylum, is evident.

But what secret surrounds the otherwise quite likeable Larsen, or the Japanese girl Ling Yi (Isabella Wei) and her maid Yuk Je (Gabby), the episode leaves just as open as that of the other protagonists.

You can read how it goes on and whether you should take a look at serial junkies.de.