As Dark, the story begins with a nightmare. In this case, that of Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham, Best Actress Award at Cannes for her role in Little Joe).
We are on October 19, 1899, when this young English doctor studying the brain, is suddenly awakened from sleep after dreaming of her father. The latter stood straight in the darkness of a gloomy corridor, watching two men embark him against his will without grumbling. Psychiatric hospital style and Flight over a cuckoo’s nest. “I know what I saw, I’m not crazy. What have you done to my brother? Where is he ? He was aboard the Prometheus. He knew what you were doing on those ships. I do not remember anything. What did you do to me”screams the young woman before waking up soaked.
From bad dream to reality there is sometimes only one step. On his wrists: traces of bonds. At his feet: a press clipping reporting the disappearance of the Prometheus for four months. And, then, a letter from his brother that would not reassure the most serene person on Earth. “I know what our father did. Join me in New York. Trust no one.”
The anguish is all the more palpable as at the time of reading these lines, Maura is in the cabin of another boat. Commanded by Captain Eyk Larsen (the charismatic Andreas Pietschmann who played Jonas in Dark), the Kerberos is owned by the same company as the missing ship. The huge liner sails at full speed towards the same course in the middle of the dark waves of the Atlantic.
The young woman and her companions in misfortune – migrants, poor and rich, on their way to America (the cast is international and the dialogues in their original version) – will receive a message from the missing cabin and must, by force things, to get tangled up on a thorny question: What happened to the 1423 passengers of the Prometheus?
As disconcerting as “Dark”
Fans of the excellent series Dark have been eagerly awaiting the return of Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar for two and a half years. They should not be disappointed by 1899, for what we could see: six episodes out of the eight in total. The couple of German showrunners signs a new series of choral, addictive and disconcerting SF. By using, of course, in large part, the same tricks as the previous one.
Before boarding the Kerberos, you have to make sure you can withstand, like in Winden, the agonizing music, the creaking doors, or the omnipresent whispers à la Lovecraft. Do not, either, be aquaphobic or deficient in vitamin D (where is the sun, where is it?), fear strange children at the Sixth Sense, intrusive memories, unexplained disappearances or unexpected “hello” of supposedly dead people. On the contrary, you have to love the signs to be decoded, open trapdoors to parallel worlds, and back and forth in time.
Corpses in the closet
Although their ideas may sometimes be eccentric, Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar never fall into ridicule, like The revolution… Shot on a colossal virtual production set (The “Volume”), this series is as dense as Dark. A great thrilling script puzzle. Every time we think we’re going to drop out, the creators cleverly add a little grain to grind to the mill of our curiosity.
Each episode focuses, in part, on a character (like The Playlist on the Spotify saga) and begins with one of their nightmares allowing viewers to discover the corpses hidden in the closet. “Everyone is fleeing from something else why would they leave?”, asks, one of the travelers cynically. Are you really sure you want to board?
1 899 – Fantasy series – The Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar – Screenplay: Jantje Friese – Avec Emily Beecham, Andreas Pietschmann, Aneurin Barnard – Netflix 8 x 60′ available on 17/11.