1899 is a Wild, Wacky, Wonderful “Show”

The Netflix show with a rockin’ score…
and so (so so so so so so so so) much more!

by Ryan Buynak

After interviewing Randy Randall of the band No Age, and having a blast reconnecting (and time traveling) with him (again, cuz he was among the guests on the live episode in LA) for the podcast, I repaired to watching the relatively new Netflix show, 1899. Along with my anti-solipsistic steely-eyed compatriot and a retroactive wish for a seatbelt, I went down the rabbit hole, followed the yellow brick road, and ventured past the dark side of the moon (wink, let it be known these parentheticals are either spoiler alerts or alternate realities). 

Skip Intro

From Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar, the creators of Dark (which we freaking loved), 1899 is nothing and everything of what I could write right here. Unless you have seen it, literally nothing can prepare you or encapsulate this adventure, so we will dance around it like Bowie at a ball in Belize on the back of a big blue ball, hanging from the collar of a clever cat named Orion (wink). 

What starts off as a period piece about passengers on a boat quickly descends into horror, then does a 180 degree turn and goes full-on science-fiction, and then teases a type of morally-based, inward-looking, triangle-filled Turing test. Again, it is hard to summarize this program. 

The Characters (Not what you think)

A bunch of “strangers” traveling from London, England to New York City on the coal-powered steamship Kerberos, while another ship called the Prometheus that’s been missing for four months suddenly appears, leaving everyone in a very difficult place. We aren’t using names, because it doesn’t matter, nothing matters so here we go…

Redhead Lady Doctor is looking for her brother, who she thinks was on Prometheus, and Hot Middle-Aged Jonas is still mourning the deaths of his wife and daughters. The deep ensemble includes a madame and a sex worker, a dude we were calling Strawberry Blonde Beard (who may be a metaphor for Jesus), another dude we shall call Fresh Blood Face, and the rest of the ship’s “red shirt” staff. Plus, ya got Priest Stache and his Armie Hammer lover, Coaly Boy, Epileptic Frenchie, Black Hunk, Preggers and Preggers Creepy Dutch Mom, Wet Guy & Weird Kid, Surprise Old Maestro, and all of their varied motivations and languages that demand attentive viewing. And all of this is before the series takes a hard turn into sci-fi, travels through a gravity-defying hole in the ocean, and ends up in a place that feels like Inception, Strange Days, The Matrix, Westworld, The Terror, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were thrown into a centrifuge, spun down into their core essence, and then tossed into a BlendJet to be drank by St. Elsewhere's snow-globe-holding autistic boy 200 years in the future.

The Music (Not your usual sci-fi/supernatural soundtrack)

Mirroring the character arcs and tense action is a stirring score and soundtrack, which features some popular, hugely atmospheric songs.

The theme song heard over the title credits of every episode is a cover of the Jefferson Airplane song White Rabbit, performed by Eliot Sumner and developed by Ben Frost. The song was first released in 1967, and draws on imagery from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It has previously been heard across a whole host of film and TV projects, including Platoon, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Sopranos, Stranger Things, and (wink) the trailer for The Matrix Resurrections. Another crazy musical-Matrix-y sidenote is Sumner being the child of mega-musician Sting and actress Trudie Styler.

​​Each episode of 1899 signals its conclusion with a collection of anachronistic classic rock songs and other pop hits from the '60s, '70s, and '80s that seem to be in stark contrast to the show's overall tone and mood. These bold choices are representative of how the show is really making a go at setting itself apart within the supernatural space.

For Episode 2, entitled "The Boy," the choice was "Child in Time" by Deep Purple. Another detour was to wrap up Episode 4's "The Fight" to the familiar "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. In Episode 5, entitled, "The Calling," Black Sabbath's "The Wizard" is aptly chosen as they all seem to be under some sort of trance that might be cast by a wizard and include the lyrics, "Never talking. Just keep walking. Spreading His magic." Similarly, in 1899's eighth and final episode, "The Key, David Bowie's "Starman" from his titular 1972 album gets the honor of being the final outro of the series as the curtain is finally pulled all the way back, and the show's true nature is “revealed.”

Is any of this real?

There is one major philosophical theory put forth in 1899: Plato's allegory of the cave, in which people watching shadows on a wall perceive that to be reality. Will we never know if the stimuli in our brains are caused by reality or simply by a construct of one? Are we in our own Matrix where everyone else is a computer program or are all of us in a kind of collective Sims-style Matrix? Does the Alien franchise not exist in this universe? What the hell is going on with those bugs? Did we really need that horrific sexual assault storyline? Will there be a Season Two of 1899 (aka 1900, lol)? Netflix has not confirmed or greenlit a second season yet, but it is inevitable, right?

The Beginning of the “Conclusion” of the Start

Maybe we are in a simulation and this show is just a joke from the Creator(s) poking fun at how dumb we are, which proves our theory that we are in the Matrix and Ron Perlman is not real (#IYKYK). However, I think that this life is real, because pain is proof. Think about it. If we were in a simulation, wouldn’t the Creator(s) want us to never question reality or desire an escape, so why not make it all happy to keep people/subjects/fuel sources/whatever narrative you choose…happy. Don’t give us a show as a clue into existence!

Who the hell knows where this show is gonna go?!? Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if, at the end of the last episode of the “last” season, Pete Davidson hops out of a cake, says he’s gay, and that this whole thing (him banging all these super hot, super famous chicks) was a bit, and then we all wake up and it is 2016 and none of this (Trump, the Pandemic, the rise of Instagram Reels) ever happened.