1899 will be a Netflix “must-watch” show, but early viewers of the show have a tip for those thinking about watching it.
The series is about a passenger ship full of people from all over the world that was on its way from London to New York. The interesting thing 1899 is that each character speaks in their own language. This means that many characters require someone on screen to translate another person’s words for them.
The problem is compounded if you watch the German Netflix property in English dubbing. Essentially, according to CNET, you miss the little twists that the language barriers provide in the show. However, this can all be solved with a simple trick: captions.
Just start the show and make sure you have the audio set to “English [Original]”, and that the subtitles are set to “English [CC]”.
This means that when you watch the show, you can only hear the English-speaking characters speak in English – and the other nationalities in their native language (but with English subtitles). This, in turn, makes the show a little more sense as the plot unfolds.
1899 has so far earned an impressive critic score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience score is 77%. It stars some familiar faces from other international Netflix hits, such as Dark (Andreas Pietschmann) and The rain (Lucas Lynggaard Tonnesen). The series also stars as Dunkirk actor Aneurin Barnard and Hail Caesar Emily Beecham.
Empire called the series “an intriguing, densely layered puzzle box mystery that’s easy to categorize but somehow works.” In the meantime, CBR wrote, “1899 is a strong contender for the best feel-bad show of the year, with its underhanded characters, relentless suspense and grim stakes.”
A summary for 1899 is reading: “A migrating steamship sails west to leave the old continent. The passengers, a mixed bag of European origin, united by their hopes and dreams for the new century and their future abroad. But their journey takes an unexpected turn when they discover another migrant ship adrift on the open sea.
1899 is currently available to stream on Netflix.