TV Review: 1899 (2022)

1899 (2022) created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar

A large ship, the Kerberos, is sailing from England to America in 1899. It's out in the middle of the Atlantic when it gets a strange message on its wireless. The communication is a set of coordinates not far away. The same company that owns the Kerberos lost a ship, the Prometheus, four months earlier. The captain and some of the crew thinks it might be the Prometheus, though there is no identification or request for help with the message--just the coordinates. The captain orders the crew to sail to the location, even though that will slow down the trip considerably. The passengers are not excited about the change of plans, especially the second-class passengers below decks who are desperate to get to America.

The story actually starts with what seems like a nightmare or a memory of Dr. Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham). She is in some sort of asylum, trying to get out only to be dragged back in. She wakes up in her bed on the boat. She whispers to herself "I am not going insane" as she starts her day. Many other passengers and even the captain have similar nightmare experiences. They are all leaving some complicated or difficult situations behind. The passengers are an international melange, with a French couple, a pair of Chinese women, two male Spanish traveling companions, and the below decks Low Country folk (in addition to the thousand or so other passengers who are unnamed and fill the background). The crew is a mix of Germans (from the company that built the ship) and English (from the company that bought the ship). Once the Kerberos finds the Prometheus, the situation only gets stranger, more confusing, and more perilous.

The show is a descendant of Lost, the popular series in which an airplane crashes on an island where many mysterious things are slowly revealed, both about the island and about the marooned air travelers. The first few episodes of 1899 focus on specific characters. Literary references and "big ideas" play a roll in the unfolding plot. The mysteries keep building till just over halfway through the eight episodes. Episode five has some explanations in it, but viewers are left uncertain about who is telling the truth or what is really going on. As the show proceeds, it gives a lot more detail and more to think about, especially about the nature of reality, memory, and choice. The final episode explains quite a bit but still leaves things open, either for viewer interpretation or another series of episodes. I would definitely watch another season.

The show is made by the same creators as Dark, the German Netflix show about a small town dealing with weird time travel issues. I really liked that show and this is thematically and visually similar.

Recommended, especially for Lost fans. 

Currently (December 2022), the series is only streaming on Netflix.

TV Review: Dark Season 3 (2020)

Dark Season 3 (2020) created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese

As if things were not complicated enough on this show, an alternate reality is introduced quite early in this season. Another world has all the time travel and scheming and heartache, but no Jonas. The one moment of time travel where a character goes back from 2019 and winds up as the father of Jonas does not happen. So the set of characters has almost doubled and their lives are somewhat different. The new world has a lot of mist and different hairstyles, so viewers have plenty of clues for which world they are seeing. The cross-reality interaction makes for even more interesting (and confusing) drama. The old folks, Adam and Eva, are still trying to manipulate events to what they think is their advantage, though even that falls apart under the weight of what's going on. I don't mean to be cryptic or unclear, that's just the way this show is.

Intellectually, the show is very ambitious. It deals with the inherent problems with time travel--paradoxes loom large, coherent narrative is in peril, characters intentionally lie (though sometimes they are genuinely mistaken), and viewers can wind up in just as much confusion as the characters they are watching. Toward the end, a character says that what he knows is just a drop and what he doesn't know is an ocean. Reality is far too big for any one person to grasp, let alone try to control. Such ambitions are the path to madness and destruction, even when one is trying to save sanity, people or the world. This insight is very important and easily forgotten. The characters do express some metaphysical nonsense, like being trapped in an eternal cycle of repeating events but that is easy to write off as their limited worldview. I was worried during the last episode that the show creators couldn't bring all the shaggy bits of the plot to resolution. They do find an ending that is satisfying and results in a better world.

The production values remain high. The special effects look good. Each episode in this season has a song montage toward the end which is used very affectively in the final episode. The series looks and sounds great.

Recommended.

TV Review: Dark Season 2 (2018)

Dark Season 2 (2018) created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese

See my review of Season 1 here.

The world of the show has expanded, or at least the timespan has. The time travel that was mostly restricted to 1953-1986-2019 (with one jump ahead to 2052 as a teaser for season 2). This new season has had a lot of time in 2052 and 1920. 2052 is an apocalyptic landscape where the people are nomadic and living outside the danger limits set around the shutdown nuclear power plant (or did it have an accident?). In 1920, a secret society (led by Adam and his henchman Noah) is plotting to stop the time travel by whatever means necessary. Characters move back and forth in time and in motivation. Also, the identities of some characters are revealed, showing how many of the people in Winden are interconnected, with relationships looking like a soap-opera on steroids. 

Those interconnections are delightfully challenging to keep up with and often bring out tragedy and suffering for everyone. Adam seems like a villain since his secret society is killing people. But he's trying to stop the apocalyptic event (or at least all the time travel), which presumably will save a lot of people. He views time travel as evil and Time as his enemy, which amazingly does not sound preposterous in the context. The show is full of philosophical soul-searching by all the characters. But then there are so many twists and reversals; many of the characters are dishonest with each other in order to get what they want. They all struggle with a sense that they are not free to choose what they will do--future selves tell them they have no options but to go through the cycle of events. More than enough characters are sympathetic and engaging, making me keep hoping for the best.

Highly recommended, if you are into time travel existential horror.

Currently (September 2021), this is only available streaming on Netflix.

TV Review: Dark Season 1 (2017)

Dark Season 1 (2017) created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese

In the small German town of Winden, two children go missing. They were out wandering in the forest but no fairy tale creature took them. The body of a young boy turns up but he is neither of the two missing children. The investigation and the tension in the town bring up a lot of old memories, especially from 33 years ago when some children also disappeared under unclear circumstances. That story is blended with the contemporary story, so viewers see the characters in 2019 and 1986, when many of the characters are children or teenagers. The plot is painstaking and heartbreaking and very mysterious.

The plot is very intricate, dealing with multiple generations of the same character and interwoven storylines (you know, how real life is more complicated than usually shown). The filmmakers do a fine job keeping the time periods apart, though I had a little trouble remembering which kid from 1986 was (would be?) which adult in 2019. Early on, some characters start traveling between times which is not as hard on the viewers (on the other hand, the characters have a hard time dealing with the displacement). The time travel is always both interesting and perilous for me. I'm a bit of a stickler for logical coherence. This plot is satisfyingly coherent, though it does require viewers to pay a lot of attention. I like that in a show. Trying to resolve free choice and determinism is a challenge for both characters and viewers.

The tone is fairly dark (as the title might suggest). The children-in-peril element is too much for my wife but not me. Some injuries, both physical and moral, are rough to watch. The pervading sense of doom puts into question whether the story will have a happy ending or not, which generates a lot more suspense and investment. I found myself wondering how things would work out, if indeed they would. The show has a cliffhanger ending, so I guess I'm glad I waited a while before starting it.

The show is currently (August 2021) only streaming on Netflix, with two more seasons already made. I am sure to watch them.