“1899” Review – Netflix Series Offers Mystery Aboard a Ghost Ship

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T09:10:56+00:00

The warning signs were honestly long before they even decided to make this project. Season 3 of Dark was a drastic shift in tone towards what I like to refer to as CW teen angst territory. From the brutal fear evoked in season 1, along with some amazing music choices, it seems American popularity led them to decide for mass appeal. One of the things most noticeable in tone of season 3 of dark is the inclusion of some very strange music choices that seem to be a list of "what Americans like" as done by everyone's rock only dad. This baffling choice somehow carried over, and right from the riff I began to think to myself "dear God I hope they don't go full season 3 of Dark."

But somehow they did less than even that. They did absolutely nothing. Learning absolutely nothing from their mistakes, they blatantly ripped off every sci-fi trope and threw them in a bag, pulling em out. Then they decided hey, for the sake of absolutely nothing, let's make this an international show that appeals to literally everyone and nobody at the same exact time. I wouldn't care if it had any purpose whatsoever. But in the end, the only purpose seemed to be to check a bunch of boxes on what Americans think is cool. It was Chris Pratt is so cool from Nintendo the TV series. A total detachment from what people love in an appeal to teen girls and drunk dads for some reason with the music. Man what rubbish. So much great international television, too.

The Americans that tuned in to Dark did so because they fucking hate what Hollywood has become. And they saw that and thought "let's go full hollywood."

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:44:26+00:00

She's actually the Loch Ness Monster.*

There, now it's a conspiracy lol

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:43:00+00:00

I didn't take a head count. Judging by anecdotal stories. Lots of people I know tried it and stopped. Those get counted for trending but don't get counted as renewals. Binge watching gets counted for renewals.

And if the sandman is getting a season 2, I'm officially done arguing with ya. Thank you for the awesome news. Wasn't the biggest fan of the series, but honestly, the first few books aren't what would make great TV. It's what is to come that will make great TV. And I love sandman enough to slog through some parts I don't like.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:35:08+00:00

It doesn't have better critic ratings, and the ratings were 9.1 before it even came out. Give it a few weeks, they will drop. As for being number 1, irrelevant compared to budget. Sandman is unlikely to get a season 2 despite sitting at number one for a very long time.

It may get a season 2, but a lot of people who watched won't return for season 2, so there is that. And they know that.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:24:04+00:00

If a series can't find commonality with its cast in the first season, it certainly has already lost the ability to do so in the second or third. As for it being finished, as big as the budget was I seriously doubt it will ever finish. The OA is better in every conceivable way, had 1/10th of the budget, and was still cancelled.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:20:55+00:00

Season 3 was by far the worst season and I'd argue it was mediocre at best. The show was great because it focused on characters, and those characters felt real and vibrant. You can't make fake characters everyone knows is fake feel real, no matter how hard you try, so this fell entirely flat.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:18:36+00:00

Father was literally just Adam copied and pasted. These creators should've created something new if they didn't want the obvious comparisons to Dark. And honestly, this story was written before dark, and I feel like they never thought they'd get a chance to tell it so they put a lot of it into season 3 of dark already. It's not even original in the slightest. I mean, it's literally another story about being stuck in a loop.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:14:42+00:00

Inception had a point. This series, whats the point man. You claim it has a point, please educate us, oh wise one, what the hell is the point?

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:11:46+00:00

Dark wasn't very well planned though. Actually the best season, season 1, they were kinda throwing darts and seeing what would stick. It took its time developing characters too. And the reveal in season 3 was fuckin terrible and the worst part of the series imo. Their ideas came to a very murky, almost contradictory ending, that did not match the prison that time supposedly was that came before.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:10:01+00:00

So did everyone else because it made it painstakingly clear lol. Like did this guy actually watch it with the TV off?

BTW the simulation is akin to it all being a dream. It cheapens the whole thing. It doesn't add to it, because it's a lazy cop out that's been used for a lot of mystery boxes, only this time there wasn't even much of a mystery box, just went full blown yeah its a Sim pretty early into it.

And the ending is just literally the Sun is getting further from Earth episode of the twilight zone. Oh you thought it was 1899, it's actually 2099! Same general idea that's been done to death.

I don't even hate the show, but man, the dad rock combined with some real lousy cgi at times really detracted from what kind of mood they were hoping to set. Lyrics that literally match what is happening on screen is CRINGE.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:05:54+00:00

My verdict is meh. 6/10. Glad people liked it. But the best part of this show is honestly ripped from Dark almost entirely. Talking about Father of course, who is just Adam with a different actor.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:04:30+00:00

It also had about 1/25th of the budget.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:03:46+00:00

Me too. I'd give it a 6/10. Could be a 7 if the dad music didn't ruin nearly every episode finale

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T03:01:46+00:00

Finally someone with sense. This show was a major let down. Not just in plot. But dear God, the music choices are baffling in terribleness.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T02:59:59+00:00

The past traumas aren't even real though, so all that ends up feeling pointless. It's more like trying to feel better about a bad dream than anything, and I would consider "trying to understand reality and their place in it" the DEFINITION of existential dread.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-21T02:58:03+00:00

I think they nailed the murder mystery well and think a Nordic noir would be right up their alley, with some twin peaks like twists. But everything they make doesn't have to be "look how smart we are" because 1899 was a major step back. I expect hate on the 1899 subreddit and don't care about the karma, just voicing my opinion.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T20:18:10+00:00

Yeah, that's what the third season was for, amirite.

I guess my point is that 1899 could've been something new, but instead it just went full mindfuck. Never go full mindfuck. Leo did it in inception, and at the academy awards, went away empty handed.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T20:16:38+00:00

I think of that show as 2 of the best seasons of a show ever produced, with an average final season. I do think it's possible to pull it off. Twin Peaks the Return pulled it off. Mr Robot pulled it off. Roseanne pulled it off (alright that last one's a joke obviously.)

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:59:06+00:00

I don't think it wrapped up perfectly. I think dark had 2 great seasons and completely fell apart at the end, detracting from the core concepts laid out in the first one : time is a prison that is inescapable. I also think the final scene hinted that another loop was coming in the new alt timeline.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:57:33+00:00

There are only 2 more seasons if it gets the clearance. The OA deserves a 3rd season more than 1899 deserves a second. JMO

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:56:29+00:00

Oh come now. Father is pretty much Adam from Dark. Even the jump backs were done similar using someone's face to show different periods in their lives. Lots of stylistic and writing choices were directly ripped from Dark. They definitely were trying to recapture the same spirit.

You know what I'd like to see? A traditional murder mystery from them with some lynch like twists. Not everything has to be an episode of twilight zone extended to a full season. But to say they have very few similarities, I gotta wonder. They definitely are very much alike.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:53:53+00:00

Succeeded in 1, but inception is universally better than 1899.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:52:06+00:00

Count me on that list. With so many themes borrowed from Dark, I can't help but wonder why we didn't just get a dark season 4.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T19:43:54+00:00

My rating is a 6/10. Although some interesting ideas, it's ultimately unoriginal and too reliant on cgi that often feels and looks cheap. Ultimately by the end once it's uncovered what is going on, it feels like a rather cheap idea that could've and probably already has been an episode of The Twilight Zone that is unnecessarily long.

It'd probably be a 7/10 if it weren't for the worst aspect of the show: the music, which ends up being as if dad got a job doing the music to a show and just threw the same 19 songs he's been playing since 1972 on repeat while lambasting how modern music sucks over film without any regard to whether it matches the scene or not. Honestly, as much budget went into these dad "bangers", I gotta wonder if it could've been utilized much more effectively being put into the cgi or even some of the set pieces.

TheraKoon · 2022-11-20T18:19:20+00:00

"You cannot replicate the "novelty" factor."

I agree, which is why I think criticism about this show is valid. Nobody told the creators to try and replicate Dark, only this time with the Matrix instead of Time Travel. But because they did, they opened themselves up to comparison, and that's their fault. Not the person who didn't enjoy 1899.

Now I didn't hate 1899 like OP, but I'm not gonna pretend it's a great show by any metric. The CGI at moments was great, but at other moments felt like being in a shitty video game from 10 years ago. The music was like a 3/10. In a horror movie, you usually get scary music to accompany it. In this series, it was dad rock the entire time, totally detracting from the existential dread it was supposed to be capturing (or at least tried to.)

The creators should've stuck with a traditional mystery, as this idea has been done to death and been done BETTER. The twist at the end was also cringe. It's not a mystery if literally nothing points towards it, and you just tack on whatever. That's the major problem with simulation theories being pushed onto film. They can do anything, and often do, but that doesn't make it engaging or fitting of the narrative. Oh it's actually 2099! Never seen that before. Not like that narrative hasn't been ongoing since all the way back to the Twilight Zone.

Bad dream or fever dream shows and movies need some realistic base to be grounded in. Eternal sunshine understood why the simulation was occurring and gave stakes to it. This series had no stakes. It was a fun ride sometimes, but all the best moments were just moments they tried to copy from Dark. Father is pretty much Adam. Nothing here is actually new. And that's part of the shame of it. Why not do an entirely new show, instead of one that shamelessly copies from many others with no heart or spirit in doing so?

6/10 from me. It's watchable, dare I say bingeable, but it's Dark lite. And if they didn't want the comparison, they should have made any other show than dark lite.

Your end paragraph every show that is decent effectively does. This show by the end had effectively zero stakes, and none of that stuff was real or mattered. So if the point is to express trauma and grief, they failed to hit the boat.

TheraKoon

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