The Storm – As the seventh episode of 1899 begins, Maura (Emily Beecham) has sex with Daniel (Aneurin Barnard). He asks her to never forget that he loves her while Maura wishes this moment would last forever. Daniel reminds her that it is in her memory and she told him that one’s whole reality is all right there. He admits he listens to the things she says although he doesn’t always agree because reality is more than neurons firing around in your brain. Daniel believes reality is the things going on outside of your brain. They discuss her theories a bit more before she gets up because she is starving. Again, Daniel asks her to never forget. When she steps out of the room, Daniel hears the system initiating shutdown. He steps outside and finds Maura’s outfit laying on the ground with her father’s building in the distance. When he wakes up in the mental hospital, he bangs on the door and calls for Maura.

He yells that the shutdown has started so they don’t have much time before everyone will die again. Daniel begs her to give him the device, but Maura begins walking in the other direction. After the intro, Maura climbs back onto the ship and notices that it is storming. On the ground, she sees Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. She goes onto the deck and removes her necklace. Tove (Clara Rosager) worries that they’re going to capsize. Clemence (Mathilde Ollivier) recommends warning the others in the engine room. Virginia (Rosalie Craig) seems ill as she tells the others that they need to find the captain and Maura. They leave to search for Maura and the others while Virginia stays behind. She looks at her hand and notices how it has changed colors. Daniel decides to try something. He removes the metal panel and climbs past a bunch of wires. Maura runs into Sebastian (Tino Mewes) who hasn’t seen the captain or the boy. After a brief conversation, she enters the bridge and talks to Virginia who was hoping she could tell her what is wrong with her hand.

When Virginia begins worrying that she is going to die, Maura tells her otherwise and encourages her to think of it as a bad dream. Maura runs off after thinking that Eyk could be back in his memory. Sebastian finds a hidden device that shows him a blueprint of the ship and the people on board. He tries to use it to locate the boy. Maura goes into Eyk’s memory and enters his house. Sara Larsen (Alexandra Gottschlich) approaches her to find out what she wants. The system glitches as Sara begins asking if she is lost and well over and over. Maura flees the house while Daniel enters a different world. He sees a cross on the ground before climbing into the well in front of him. Henry Singleton (Anton Lesser) watches him on a monitor. Ramiro (Jose Pimentao) and Anker (Alexandre Willaume) argue about God as another cross is on the ground beneath them. Although they have lifejackets, Anker believes they’ll freeze to death instead of drowning. As they continue deeper into the ship, Iben (Maria Erwolter) asks Tove what she wants with these people since he is not a priest and she is a wh0re.

Iben believes this is God’s choice, but Tove denies that and refuses to accept that she is carrying his baby. After Tove tells Iben that she is crazy, Anker encourages Tove to continue without them. He agrees to pray with her. Maura makes it back to the ship and ends up in Eyk’s room. Daniel enters another world where he finds Olek’s postcard on the ground and a trail of blood. He climbs into another shaft that he finds moments later. Lucien (Jonas Bloquet) has trouble working because his hand begins shaking again just before Tove and the others arrive. Angel and Franz (Isaak Dentler) learn what is going on and how no one is on the bridge. He tells Olek (Maciej Musial) to take the helm and navigate straight into the storm. They’ll also have to keep the engines running and close the bulkheads. Tove agrees to help. Ling Yi (Isabella Wei) tells Olek that she goes wherever he goes. Maura looks at the device and puts it back in her pocket before entering room 1013. When she moves the bed, she finds a picture of herself on top of the shaft door.

Once she climbs in, she ends up in the house that she was in with Daniel earlier. She begins remembering things from the past including sleeping with Daniel. Then, Maura finds a picture of herself with Daniel and the boy. Daniel makes it to the gravesite before uncovering it, opening it, and climbing the ladder inside. He apologizes to the boy (Fflyn Edwards) and says he tried to get there as fast as he could. Daniel admits they’re shutting it down, but he was right when he said they’ve never gotten this far before. Although mom doesn’t remember, Daniel thinks they can get her out so she can end the loop once and for all. The boy, Elliot, tells him that he has to find the code and Maura should know where it is. Daniel needs to find his device so he can stop this. Elliot gives him a ring before saying she will wake up this time. Sebastian finds out where the boy is hiding before sending a message using the device. Olek and Ling make it to the bridge and quickly try to steer the ship. Daniel gets back on the ship and tries to find Maura.

He finds her picture and the shaft that she likely entered. He enters the house, sits down next to Maura, and apologizes for her having to find out this way. She learns that the boy’s name is Elliot and he is their son. She thinks that is possible because the doctor said she couldn’t have children, but he says that is a false memory. Daniel thinks she doesn’t remember it because she wanted to forget it. She wanted to get rid of the pain and that is why she doesn’t feel anything. Daniel thinks she remembers. As he starts kissing her, Maura remembers certain things from her past. She doesn’t want to believe it. Daniel tells her that they’re all trapped in here. He reminds her what she said about never knowing whether the stimuli in their brains are caused by reality or just by a construct of one. Daniel explains that this isn’t real since it is just a simulation before urging her to remember and wake up. Otherwise, there will be nothing to wake up for and her consciousness will be trapped in here forever. When the siren goes off, Daniel says they have to get her out of there before it restarts.

Olek and Ling continue working together to keep the ship afloat. Henry watches as Virginia falls to the ground and grabs the letter written to her. He gets the message from Sebastian confirming he knows where the boy is hiding. While Sebastian goes after the boy, Daniel and Maura return to the ship. Daniel tells her that they’re shutting down the simulation and the only way out is to use an override code. She has to remember where it is on the ship. A code can be anything including a switch or key. Maura finds a key in her necklace and reveals that she got it with the envelope. Daniel promises that she’ll wake up this time. Lucien says Clemence’s name before having a seizure. Jerome and Clemence try to carry him back to the cabin to get his medicine. Angel tells Ramiro that it is up to them. Daniel finds the device that Sebastian used earlier and connects the one Maura has to it. He says everything will start again once they flush them out. This run will go into the archive with the others, but it’ll be different because he’ll anchor them to it. That way, they will go through the same port.

It has happened dozens of times with every simulation running for eight days. None of the ships have ever reached their destination. Once he finishes that, he explains that they need to get to Elliot. Ling hears her mother calling for her. She runs outside and tries to approach her mom with Olek following her. When she gets knocked down by the waves, Olek rushes over to help her before saying she will not die today. He ends up getting knocked overboard instead. Jerome and Clemence carry Lucien back to his back although it looks like it might be too late. Angel gets trapped when something heavy falls on top of him. He tells Ramiro that he never understood why he fell in love with someone like him. He thinks Ramiro is better off without him, but Ramiro quickly says no. He passes away. Franz and Tove struggle to shut the door while Anker tells Iben that they have to go. She believes this is God’s wish for her so she doesn’t want to go. Franz tells Tove to stay away before sacrificing himself to save her.

Anker refuses to leave Iben so they will end up drowning together. Sebastian takes Elliot and the pyramid to Henry. He tells them that they always die because they can’t get rid of their emotions. Henry explains it is human nature’s ultimate flaw and what makes them weak. Daniel finds that the shaft door is missing and he doesn’t know where it is. Over the intercom system, Henry tells them they’ve come far this time but they’ve still failed again. The reprogramming won’t help so everyone will die and take part in the next simulation. Henry offers to give Maura her son in exchange for the key. Daniel promises to fix this before giving Maura the ring. Henry opens the top of the pyramid and reveals a keyhole. He tells Sebastian that the Kerberos will be moved into the archive. Maura will bring him the key and this will finally come to an end. The pyramid has “wake up” engraved on it. Ling is still alive when the ship enters the vortex. Eyk drinks alone. When he goes outside, he finds himself surrounded by other ships.

He watches as the Kerberos sails out of the water and stops nearby. The surviving passengers walk out and look at him.

 

1899 Review

1899 has gotten marginally better later in the season although this episode possibly threw away most of everything that happened prior. The finale could potentially take things in a completely different direction though and I somewhat suspect that to happen. Still, it could be argued that everything that happened before this was negated since the trip is just going to start over again.

While there were some good revelations during this episode, it wasn’t hard to predict some of them, especially that Maura and Daniel were together and Elliot was their son. It wouldn’t even be a surprise if the deceased characters are brought back to life and this might’ve been mentioned previously. The concept of Maura and the others being in a simulation is neat, but there are too many questions remaining and not enough has been done to explore the motives of the characters.

Henry’s actions must be explored a lot better in the finale to prevent the character from feeling over the top. The character relationships remain a highlight of the series even if viewers don’t have a deep relationship with the characters. The character deaths so far have been impersonal, but that might be contributed to the fact that they’re not gone forever. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of 1899 can be found on Reel Mockery here. Have you found our site beneficial? Consider supporting our work by following this link.