Summary
Tensions rise as the ship separates into two warring tribes. Expect more magic, mythology, and mystery from this mind-bending series.
We recap the Netflix series 1899 season 1, episode 4, “The Fight,” which contains spoilers.
In stark contrast to the dreary, dark world we have grown accustomed to so far from the series, episode four, “The Fight” opens in the baking desert as a flashback explores Jerome’s (Yann Gael) past. In this installment we find out a little bit more about the French stowaway. Back in the present, although who knows where we are or what time we’re in anymore, the mutineers blame the mysterious boy for all the unexplained deaths on the ship and search the cabins for this scapegoat. It’s another action-packed episode that continues to deepen the many mysteries at play.
1899 season 1, episode 4 recap
Jerome’s flashback involves another Kerberos passenger, Frenchman Lucien. They are lost together in the desert during a war. Lucien wants to take the clothes of a dead Lieutenant and assume his identity, but Jerome thinks this is wrong. They argue and Lucien double-crosses his friend, knocking him unconscious. Jerome awakens in the brig with his fellow hostages: Eyk, Olek, and Ramiro. The Captain has been handcuffed to a pipe. Franz then appears and takes Jerome and Olek to the main deck. They are greeted with an unsettling pile of dead bodies, which seem to be growing in number every day. Franz orders them to throw the dead overboard.
The guests are ordered to remain in their cabins whilst Franz and the other mutineers decide what to do next. Shipmates inform the new leader that the Prometheus has completely disappeared, evaporating into thin air, which is pure insanity to Franz’s ears. The shipmate proposes that maybe it is the Kerberos that has disappeared instead though. The compasses are working and they are back on course again, heading west. Franz demands the engines be reignited and to resume their mission to New York.
On the lower decks, the mutineers hold the ship’s first mate and other rivals at gunpoint. He explains how the shipping company ordered them to sink the Prometheus and insinuates that all this death only started once the boy was brought aboard. The unhinged, highly religious Iben (Tove and Krester’s mother) takes control of the unruly mob and commands the others to find this boy instantly, calling him the devil dressed as an angel.
Meanwhile, Clemence demands to know what is going on with her estranged husband. He explains that the vials he is using are to stop him from having seizures, but when he takes them he cannot perform in the bedroom. Lucien reveals that he is very sick and only has days, maybe weeks left of his life. He finds the medal that Jerome planted in an earlier episode and loses the plot, attacking Clemence in the process, before storming off.
Iben and her gang of merry gunmen head for Maura’s cabin first to retrieve their scapegoat, but the boy has disappeared. When they leave, he is found by Maura, hiding in the hidden shaft. The boy uses his magic beetle to escape the room and they go to seek out the Captain. This clever little beetle unlocks doors and knows when the enemy is near, what a smart, little thing. While they are guided by a bug, Jerome escapes and hides out at Clemence’s quarters. All these good guys are finally reunited, with Eyk and Ramiro escaping the brig and joining them too. Eyk proposes that they take a lifeboat to the Prometheus.
The mutineers hunt out the boy in every cabin. We get to see Mrs. Wilson, Angel, Ling Yi, and Yuk Je all having their rooms ransacked as they search for this devil incarnate. After searching the room, the guests are locked back inside. The first mate informs Franz of their latest scheme to use the boy as a scapegoat to end all this chaos. These two rival gangs meet at the lifeboats. Franz and his men point their weapons at the opposition: Eyk, Maura, Jerome, Ramiro, Clemence, and of course the boy. They ask for the boy to be handed over, and he goes willingly. Jerome (again) senses injustice and goes for a hammer on the floor, but Franz shoots him first.
1899 season 1, episode 4 ending – what will they do with the boy?
The injury causes Jerome to have another vision. This is similar to other characters’ visions, in which they feel like they are reliving a traumatic event from their past. Lucien locks Jerome in a prison, leaving him for dead in the desert. He gifts him the lieutenant’s medal as a bargaining tool for Jerome to use when he is eventually arrested. Jerome awakens on the Kerberos, where he grabs the hammer and heads back toward danger. He quickly finds the other hostages and asks for their help in stopping the mutineers.
As the episode title suggests, a fight breaks out. Iben and her deranged followers are planning on throwing the boy overboard, with Franz and his team on their side. While Eyk and Maura’s team want to stop all this madness. The fight ensues in the biblical rain, out on deck. Maura spies the boy and rushes to his aid, but she is too late. Iben hurls the boy overboard in a spine-tingling moment. Daniel comes to rescue Maura as Eyk orders his army to retreat. Clemence and Jerome are reunited and embrace one another on the battlefield, just as Lucien appears with a gun in his hand. He drags Clemence away, telling her not to believe a word Jerome says.
Iben’s gang retires to the lower decks and Eyk’s team hides out in the dining room. Maura is in a state of complete shock, flabbergasted that the boy just accepted his fate. Daniel tries to comfort her. Eyk asks Maura for the truth, showing her the Prometheus passenger list with her name on it. Suddenly, a light glows from within a cupboard, and the boy reappears holding his trusty black pyramid object. He exits the cupboard, which is very reminiscent of his initial appearance on the Prometheus, and he hugs Maura. She is overwhelmed by this connection to both Daniel and the boy, while Eyk’s news only adds to her concerns.
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