Summary
In the penultimate episode, the survivors take on a cataclysmic event, while searching for answers to the many puzzles on display. “The Storm” concludes with the highlight of the series so far. This is gripping and exhilarating TV. I don’t know how they are going to top this in the finale, but let’s all stick around to find out.
We recap the Netflix series 1899 season 1, episode 7, “The Storm,” which contains spoilers.
Maura (Emily Beecham) mentions throughout the series having lost or altered memories, blaming her father for this injustice. In “The Storm,” Maura finally gets to see what all the fuss is about as Daniel unlocks a handful of these stolen memories. The penultimate installment is set against the backdrop of a deadly storm as all the puzzle pieces finally fall into place. It’s Armageddon for our Kerberos passengers, as the end is very much in sight for these troubled souls. Can they crack the code and save themselves from a painful end?
1899 season 1, episode 7 recap
The episode opens from Daniel’s perspective. He is in bed with Maura. Daniel mentioned that they were married for twelve years, and this flashback highlights how deeply in love the couple just was. They discuss reality and simulations before Maura exits the room. This is obviously a modern setting, and a siren suddenly wails to life, with a robotic voice stating a shutdown has been initiated. Daniel exits the apartment into the desolate landscape we are all too familiar with. The sky glitches, with the building in the distance and the pyramid behind him. Maura has disappeared. Is this how the whole simulation began?
Daniel wakes from this dream inside room 1011 of the mental hospital. He begs to be freed, but Maura leaves him confined to this room. Daniel plans his escape, peeling off the hull wall and finding a labyrinth of wires hiding behind it. He crawls through these passageways entering the many different simulations that work as visions for each specific character. There’s a desert landscape that may be Ramiro’s and a snowy one that is obviously Olek’s.
As the storm intensifies the passengers panic without their captain or even the first mate to guide them. Tove worries they’ll capsize in these mountain-sized waves. Iben has accepted her fate, happy to go with God’s plan. Clemence and Ramiro decide to warn the guests in the engine room. They all leave in opposite directions, leaving poor Mrs. Wilson on her lonesome. She’s visibly unwell, and the black disease continues to spread. Maura searches for Eyk and arrives at the bridge. She doesn’t know how to assist Mrs. Wilson though, having never come across this kind of infliction before. Many are searching for the Captain, but the first mate is after the boy. He uncovers a hidden device and tracks down the devious boy.
In the engine room, Tove and the gang come to warn the others. Franz asks Olek to take over while he closes the bulkheads, which are going to soon fill the ship with water if they remain open. Tove asks to assist. Whilst Olek and Ling head back to the bridge to steer the ship through this storm. Franz asks the others to keep the engines fuelled.
Maura takes the tiled shaft in room 1013, where Daniel was staying. This portal takes her to the apartment found in the opening scene of this chapter. She walks through the modern apartment and finds photographs of her with Daniel and the boy. Glancing at the bed triggers memories from her past. It looks like the mysterious boy is in fact her son. This is confirmed in the following scene as Daniel finds the boy in his hideout. They hug and Daniel updates his son. They are initiating a shutdown procedure. Maura still doesn’t remember anything, but they need to get her out so she can end the loop once and for all. Daniel tries to comfort his son, before continuing his hunt for his wife.
Daniel finds Maura in the apartment bedroom. She is transfixed by the photograph. He tells her that their son is called Elliot. Maura believes she couldn’t have children, but this was just a false memory planted in her head. Daniel wills her to remember the past and they kiss, but only the tiniest details are returning. He explains that she is trapped in a simulation and needs to wake up. They need to get out before the simulation restarts all over again, trapping her consciousness within. Another siren whirs to life. There are only twenty minutes remaining.
1899 season 1, episode 7 ending
Maura and Daniel return to the ship. He informs her that there is a code to override the shutdown, asking if she knows what it is, it could be an object of some kind. She opens up her locket and finds a key inside. Daniel uses his device to try and save them from this loop, talking about this latest run going into an archive when the system restarts. The archived ships must be the ship graveyard that Eyk has just witnessed. Daniel works his techno-wizardry, adding that the simulation lasts for eight days before looping and restarting again. This journey has happened dozens of times before.
With the system shutting down, passengers are given one last test. Ling sees her dead mother on the deck and goes after her. Olek tries to save her but is taken by a wave. Lucien has a seizure and dies before they can administer another vial. Iben and Anker pray on the lower decks and are drowned in the flood. Franz and Tove try to seal all the doors, but Franz sacrifices himself to help Tove escape and also drowns. Angel is trapped under an iron girder and dies too.
Henry watches this massacre on the screens. The first mate brings the boy and the pyramid device to his office. He recounts how they always make the same mistakes and they always die. They put their emotions before logic. Henry talks over the PA system, telling Maura and Daniel that they have failed this time around as well. He wants Maura’s key and will give them Elliot in return. Henry opens the pyramid device, displaying a keyhole within.
The countdown reaches zero, and a vortex appears before the Kerberos. It’s a gripping finale as the ship is swallowed by the sea, and taken into this deadly whirlpool. Ling watches this catastrophe take place before her very eyes. It’s a highlight of the entire series, an enthralling and truly cinematic moment. In the final scene, the ship reappears, joining the other failed ships with Eyk and the Prometheus. Eyk looks on as the survivors make it out onto the deck, staring back at him. What will they do now?
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