antje Friese and Baran bo Odar redefined the streaming industry when they created Dark. It was the first original German-language sci-fi series to be aired on Netflix. In addition to being wildly successful, Dark became a pioneer production, setting the tone for other global programmes that would soon take Netflix by storm. Having concluded their time-travelling, parallel universe conspiracy drama two years ago, the filmmaking duo returns with 1899 - another horror mystery series with a science fiction twist.

1899, the multilingual mystery series, features characters from diverse backgrounds on board a steamship heading to America at the turn of the century. The Kerberos leaves Europe to traverse the Atlantic and arrive in New York. The hundreds of voyagers boarding the ship are all weaving dreams of a better life in America. Like Dark’s exploration of cultural variation in Gemany across various eras, 1899’s historical setting allows Friese and Odar to explore the multicultural nature of Europe by including people from all over the continent. It has a crew from all over the world and the series is delivered in French, English, Cantonese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish and German.

Maura Franklin, played by Emily Beecham, a doctor with a dark past, is placed at the centre of the mayhem. Ramiro, played by José Pimento, a Spanish priest with a traumatic backstory, serves as the moral compass. Meanwhile, the ship’s captain, Eyk Larsen, (Andreas Pietschmann), struggles with his own shadowy past. Every character has a remarkable screen presence. It is clear straight away that not everything is what it appears to be in the opening narration by Franklin, who talks about the vast powers of the human brain before disclosing that she has been a patient in a mental hospital. All of a sudden she finds herself on the steamship. She has bruises on her wrists and an enigmatic note in her luggage but no memory at all of how she got there.

The first episode reveals that another steamship, namely Prometheus, was on the same course as Kerberos a coule of months ago when it disappeared without a trace. The wealthy passengers are shown making conversation about the Prometheus while being pointedly indifferent to the unclean, crowded surroundings of the less privileged passengers lodged under the deck.

The first episode is devoted entirely to establishing the characters and the class dynamics.

While the actors are all talented, the characters are not sufficiently distinct. There are only two emotions they seem to portray: bewilderment and rage. Absurdly lacking distinctive traits, the generic and straightforward characters speak a variety of languages. Yet, they frequently interact with one another. Not speaking one another’s language does not appear to stop them from delivering monologues in one another’s presence.

The plotline undergoes a sudden shift when the captain receives a distress signal from Prometheus and decides to respond to it by steering off course. Some of the passengers accompany him to the abandoned Prometheus, which is run-down and vacant save for a spooky child (Fflyn Edwards), who does not speak and is mysteriously locked in a cabin.

While the actors are all talented, the characters are not sufficiently distinct. There are only two emotions they seem to portray: bewilderment and rage. Absurdly lacking distinctive traits, the generic and straightforward charcters speak a variety of languages. Yet, they frequently interact with one another. Not speaking one another’s language does not appear to stop them from delivering monologues in one another’s presence. While the pasts of these characters are likely to be revealed in later episodes, their clothing, obsessions and some traumatic experiences are all that identify them in the first episode.

Aside from the fact that a variety of languages are spoken, most of the conversation appears to be filler time between sci-fi plot twists. The overall mood remains oppressively gloomy. Viewers are expected to be drawn into 1899’s eight-hour-long episodes by both the mournful cover of Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit and the painfully obvious needle drops from classic rock. Some of the issues that will beset 1899 throug its eight episodes are brought to light earlier than the missing Prometheus.

Intended apparently to highlight their differences, the character pairings also serve to highlight how frail everyone is. For most of the time, the characters are either fuming or sulking in a corner about missing out if they are not following the crumb trail of the mystery.

1899 is not slow. The rate at which the series rushes through narrative turns and character revelations prevents us from establishing early connection to the characters. They often get knocked out by other characters, split up and are reacquainted after a few scenes to resume their activities. Interestingly, all the passengers put their differences aside just as quickly as they split into groups.

Friese and Odar maintain a strong grip on the narrative by hiding details in unexpected places. The first episode of the series features intriguing motifs, like a mysterious black pyramid, triangles on clothing, rugs, jewellery and facial hair that make you think that something thrilling will follow but does not deliver on that promise. There is frustration then that the mystery does not prove to be as compelling as it initially seems.

The writer is a freelance contributor