An entire art form exists only for making a fantastic mystery show. Considering how many mystery box episodes there have been over the years, it might be challenging to strike the right balance between entrancing your audience and keeping them interested in the main idea while providing some answers without giving everything away. When Dark first aired in 2017, it managed to alter the television time travel landscape fundamentally. Given the fierce competition that is faced, that is undoubtedly no simple accomplishment. The top players in this field, from Twelve Monkeys and Legion to The OA and Lost, each brought something fresh to the table; Dark accomplished the same and then some.
What’s more, it caused people to sit up and pay notice. Each next season of Dark deepened its mystery before finally tying everything together surprisingly. So how can one move past that in the future? That is the dilemma that 1899, a new television programme from Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, 2 of the great minds behind Dark, must contend with. Although it is said that this is a German series, the multilingual cast in charge of it alternates among Cantonese, German, Portuguese, English, and more.
Sincerely, that alone makes this show deserving of praise. Finding a show that embraces and examines all these other languages and cultures is refreshing.
However, the diversity makes perfect sense and isn’t merely present to pad the statistics. This diversity can be seen in the group of European immigrants who board the Kerberos steamship as it departs from London. They have made up their minds to start over in New York. The Prometheus, a migrant ship that has been abandoned in the ocean for months, is encountered by the Kerberos along the way. The mystery grows more sinister, unsettling, and horrifying as they delve deeper inside this strange ship. A seemingly straightforward journey quickly becomes much more as each passenger starts to doubt the nature of reality.
It’s lovely that Dark’s look and 1899’s atmosphere are so similar. There is a vast range of songs to choose from for the mini-musicals that play after every episode. The lyrics make sense of what is happening and were deliberately chosen to enhance the images. And it’s incredible to realise that this movie was almost entirely filmed on a large stage instead of on location. Although a few scenes feel out of place and jarring, especially later in episodes 5 and 6, the visuals look fantastic. Even while it’s not as awful as Thor: Love and Thunder, it is still apparent.
Fantastic and an excellent addition to the mystery novel, 1899 is a television series. In many ways, it resembles a jumble of inspirations that were knitted together with the essence of what rendered Dark a brooding and compelling film. You shouldn’t miss this programme, and once you’ve finished watching it, you’ll be itching for season 2!
