The Key – As the finale of 1899 begins, Elliot (Fflyn Edwards) runs over to his mother Maura Franklin (Emily Beecham) to show her the beetle he caught. He wants to put the beetle in his a case, but Maura doesn’t think he’d want to be trapped in a prison like that. She admits he won’t get to watch him grow. One day, he’ll be a grown man and she’ll have to let him go too. Elliot reluctantly lets the beetle go before telling his mother that he’ll live with them forever. In the present, Elliot finds himself in a dark world as he begins yelling for his mother. Maura tells him to wake up. When he does, Henry Singleton (Anton Lesser) believes his father has already told him all about him. He probably left the bit off about why they’re really there. Henry shows him a live video of the passengers as he claims they came on the trip because they decided to forget their past.

Now, they’re all stuck in here as well. Henry tells him that his mother has fooled all of them, but she is the only person who can get them out of there. If Elliot is brave enough, Henry can show him the truth. After the intro, Eyk Larsen (Andreas Pietschmann) climbs back onto the ship and rejoins Maura and the remaining passengers. He wants to know who he is and how he got back on the Prometheus. Eyk is shocked when Maura reveals Daniel is her husband and the boy is her son. Maura comes clean about her father owning the ship company and possibly making them forget why they’re here. Although their world has rules that cannot be bent, nothing in this world follows any rules of logic. She tells everyone that this isn’t real and it is only a magic trick, but Virginia thinks that is ridiculous. Maura questions if she remembers how she boarded the ship. Virginia thinks she does but quickly begins second-guessing herself.

While Maura thought it was just about her, she isn’t sure about that now. She shows them her letter and says it is about all of them. As the others pull out their letters, Maura says they’re all here for a reason. Eyk questions if Daniel is working for her father and whether he is the reason they’re here. Maura believes Daniel (Aneurin Barnard) is trying to help get them out of there. Daniel is busy working on the equipment while pleading for it to work. Henry tells Elliot that the brain is a very complicated construct. Although they try to forget the things they don’t want to remember, they can never delete them entirely because they’re part of who they are. Henry says it is time for Elliot to remember before making the mental hospital appear in the distance. He explains that his truth lies behind those walls. Elliot is told there is no reason to be afraid because this isn’t real. Virginia refuses to take another step until Maura tells them what is happening.

The last thing Maura can remember before waking up on the Kerberos is finding the envelope in front of her door. She believes her brother sent it and the key was in it. Even though she isn’t sure how she knows her father made her forget what happened and who she is. Maura believes whatever the key opens will help her remember and get them out of there. Ling Yi (Isabella Wei) believes her mother was right when she said they should’ve never gotten on the ship. Now that everyone is dead, Ling doesn’t want to stay on the ship. Virginia agrees that they should put the lifeboats down and get off the ship. When Maura claims none of this is real and it is only happening in their minds, Virginia doesn’t think she can believe that. Virginia and Ling prepare to leave and invite the others to join them. The others end up going with them, but Eyk stays behind with Maura who thinks he believes her.

They check one of the cabins and notice that the shaft is missing. They remove the wood panels only to find metal. Maura looks at the ring before going into another room and climbing into the shaft. They enter Daniel’s memory and find pictures of him with his wife and son. Maura confesses that she doesn’t remember any of it. Eyk questions whether Daniel’s memory would be an illusion as well. They begin discussing what Elliot said about the creator and whether it could be her father. Eyk asks if there is a pattern to it. Maura mentions how memories are stored in different areas of the brain, yet they’re all connected through neural pathways. She suggests this could be an imitation of the brain and the different areas are connected to each other. When they remove a wall panel, they find a bunch of cables and a flashlight. Daniel gets the equipment running as another piece is lowered from the ceiling.

He uses a cable to connect the handheld device to it and continues working. Virginia, Ramiro, and the others find themselves trapped by the black substance. As they begin running away, Ramiro and Ling get separated from the group. Clemence begins wondering if the doctor was right. Tove (Clara Rosager) just wants to get off the ship. Virginia and Tove run while Jerome (Yann Gael) tells Clemence that they should find the doctor and captain. Henry tells Elliot that their senses are reacting to the same triggers even if they delete memories in the simulation. Although his mind might not, his body still remembers what happened in that room. Henry takes him inside, sits him in the chair, and says he’ll show him the truth. While Elliot may believe his mother is trapped here, it is actually his prison instead. Elliot is given an injection in his neck. He wakes up in the chair just in time to hear Daniel tells Maura that she can’t stop him from dying.

When Elliot tries to speak to them, they cannot hear anything he says. Daniel says they have to let him go even though Maura isn’t sure she can. She tells Elliot not to be afraid because he’ll forget that this happened. Maura says it is the only way for them to be together before injecting him in the neck. When he returns, Henry explains that he is trapped in this simulation so his mother can keep him alive. Elliot doesn’t believe it and suggests Henry planted that in his brain. Maura found a paper on Plato’s cave allegory in his study when she was Elliot’s age. Henry thinks she was too young to understand the abstract concept Plato was suggesting. She read it repeatedly and the thought ended up turning her world upside down. Maura questioned how they know if anything is real if what Plato argues is correct. Henry asked her if that is what God was. She thought it would go on endlessly since you could question who created God.

Maura and Eyk make it to Tove’s memory and find Ada’s doll. Henry says this is like a doll’s house and it was built for Elliot who doesn’t want to believe him. There is a way out of here and Maura has to key. Henry shows Elliot the keyhole hidden in the pyramid. Daniel works and it seems he makes some of the doors on the ship disappear. The black substance begins chasing the other passengers. Daniel creates new doors for them so they can escape into other memories. Tove and Virginia enter the trench where Lucien and Jerome were previously. Ramiro finds a cross on the ground before saying this can’t be true. Sebastian (Tino Mewes) tells Henry about Daniel hacking into the mainframe and possibly trying to change the architecture of the simulation. Henry worries he is trying to wake her up without giving them the key so they’ll be trapped there forever. Sebastian is tasked with finding her and retrieving the key.

Ramiro pulls up the box in the well and hears Ling inside. He drops it after panicking while Ling runs into Olek’s memory. She sees his postcard on the ground. Henry says Daniel is spreading the virus across the whole program. Then, Ramiro hears Angel in the well. Ling opens the door so Olek can get out. Olek walks away from her and uncovers another shaft. Ramiro climbs into the well while Ling goes after Olek. Henry tells Elliot that his father is a fool because he will destroy the entire simulation. He tries to turn Elliot against his father by telling him that he’d always choose his mother over him. Maura tells Eyk that their memories are all connected as they step outside of the mental hospital. Eyk wonders how her father is doing this and how he got into their minds. Maura only knows that her father did something to her memory in that building.

Ramiro goes back inside and joins Ling. The others return as she asks about them Olek. After she tells them how she saw him, they hear Angel singing in the distance. Once Ramiro runs in that direction, Jerome says the engine room should be that way. Eyk and Maura try to find her father’s office while he suggests this is nothing more than a bad dream. Maura denies that it is a dream before explaining what Daniel said about it being a simulation. Sebastian approaches to tell them it is crazy that they still haven’t found out what this is all about. They learn that he knew what was going on the whole time. Sebastian wants the key. He reveals that they don’t have time for this because it is all falling apart. After he gets the key, he apologizes to the captain. Sebastian knocks out the captain using the handheld device.

Maura pleads with him to bring Eyk back only to be told that would be impossible. Sebastian tells her to get up because her father is waiting for her. She goes to them and learns that Elliot knows what she did to him, but she doesn’t seem to remember. Maura believes Ciaran found out what he did and that is why he sent the letter. When she begins asking about him, Henry thinks he is the last one she should be concerned about. Once Henry uses the device, Maura is back in the mental hospital where she is strapped to the chair. Henry says you’re born as either a seeker or an avoider and being the latter is pure bliss. Being a seeker brings nothing but pain. Contrary to her brother, she was born a seeker although Henry wishes she wasn’t. After she calls it one of his sick mind games, Henry says it is her sick mind game. Maura doesn’t want to believe that she is the creator or that she designed this with her husband.

Henry blames her for everyone being stuck in the loop. He intends to leave this place while Maura will forget again. Maura tells Elliot that she didn’t create this as the staff prepare to inject her with two medications. Henry is going to make sure she stays in here forever. The passengers go into the engine room after following Angel’s voice there. Henry uses the key in the pyramid only to find that it isn’t working. He realizes that Daniel changed the code. The system deletes the simulation. Maura wakes up and sees the gravesite nearby. She climbs down into Elliot’s room where he was hiding previously. Daniel joins her moments later and says it worked. He explains that this is the first simulation they ever created and their home away from home. She can’t imagine why she is unable to remember anything. Daniel says he reprogrammed the system so the syringe didn’t bring her back and make her forget.

Instead, it brought her here. He switched the pyramids so the one her father has is useless now. He shows her the real one. Her wedding ring holds the exit code now so she will get out of here this time. Daniel reveals that her brother took over the whole program while she was in here. Her brother has been controlling everything so her father has been stuck in her like everyone else. Daniel believes she needs to leave now because her brother will find out what he has done soon. She must wake up and stop him or everything will be lost. When Maura asks if he’ll be there when she wakes up, Daniel says he’ll always be there. She inserts her wedding ring and immediately wakes up. The other passengers remain in their tombs. She looks outside and sees that they’re in outer space. Maura finds a note saying, “May your coffee kick in before reality does”. The screen shows her that Project Prometheus has 1,423 passengers with 550 crew members.

The date is October 19, 2099. Ciaran sends her a message welcoming her to reality.

 

1899 Review

After finishing the finale of 1899, it is tough to be enthusiastic about a possible second season considering how this one ended. The ship had a tinge of creepiness and bleakness that made it work exceptionally well when combined with the characters and their backstories. The space shuttle is possibly limiting unless Maura can wake the other characters early in the second season.

Even then, everything that happened prior to this was all for nothing. While the finale had a few big twists and turns, most of them were neat without being awe-inspiring. The finale never really reached a satisfying climax because it was one twist after another until the credits rolled. They were overdone to the point that the twists were difficult to follow and just okay.

The series possibly could’ve ended with the 7th episode being the finale and it would’ve been more impactful. However, I still feel the character stories and relationships were the highlights of the series so the science-fiction aspect wasn’t even needed. If viewers are going to watch 1899, they should do so for the characters, relationships, performances, and creepy atmosphere, but they’ll need patience to reach and finish the finale.

Ultimately, 1899 was an ambitious project with a diverse cast and a creepy atmosphere, but it got caught up in its desire to tell an overly complex, sci-fi story that didn’t always click. The finale scores a 6 out of 10. All recaps of 1899 can be found on Reel Mockery here. If you find our site beneficial, consider supporting our work by following this link.

1899 Ending Explained

Despite having many twists and turns, 1899 seemed to have a straightforward concept that shouldn’t leave viewers scratching their heads. The passengers were trapped inside a high-tech simulation in which they were experiencing the same events over and over. When the simulation restarted, their memories were wiped so they couldn’t remember anything from before.

Throughout the series, Maura believed that her father was pulling the strings and keeping the passengers trapped in the simulation when it was actually her brother Ciaran. Her husband, Daniel, managed to reprogram the simulation and change the objects to swap the pyramids and keys. As a result, Maura woke up on a spaceship and returned to reality where she found the other passengers still hooked to the equipment.

Her brother sent her a message at the end of the episode welcoming her so it is clear that the writers were planning for a second season of 1899. This is how I would explain the concept in the simplest way possible.