1899 – Season 1 Episode 3 “The Fog” Recap & Review

The Fog

Episode 3 of 1899 begins with the focus shifting across to Ling-Yi. She too has a horrific dream, this time of her falling to the bottom of the ocean while inside a box. Her clothes, propped up cross the room, happen to hold that familiar triangle symbol on too, and she begrudgingly gets dressed.

At breakfast, Mrs Wilson is there and continues to spin her web of deceit, telling her that every tragedy holds opportunity – and to meet in her cabin afterwards. Ling-Yi is examined by Wilson, who realizes the girl is a virgin. Wilson sees even more dollar signs as a result, and tells Ling-Yi to be ready by 8.

Instead, she runs away from her mother, who admits she wants a better life for Ling-Yi but harshly calls herself a whore, revealing that this line of work is a layer of dirt that never truly rubs off.

After a brief examination of the deceased girl (Who happens to be Kove’s sister) the ship suddenly lurches and begins to shudder. It’s slowing down. A thick fog has descended on them all and with visibility so low, Eyk Larsen gives the order to hold position. Franz, one of the officers, sees this as a mistake and believes they should cut the Prometheus off, sink it, and be on their way.

Meanwhile, we see a little more about the ribbon Larsen found. It turns out it belonged to his daughter. Not only that, but he also shows off a strange compartment below his bed, a hatch that happens to have that triangle symbol on again, which is everywhere. Larsen decides to head back aboard the Prometheus to find the log-book and try to piece together clues over what’s happening here. Maura is going with him.

More secrets are abound on the Kerberos though when one of the officers takes the strange triangular symbols churned out from the telegraph machine and inputs them on a hidden panel in the hallway. Quite what its purpose is remains to be seen.

Onboard the Prometheus, Eyk and Maura begin looking for the logbook but quickly realize all is not well. It turns out this ship also has a tiled shaft leading deeper into the ship, and a similar pattern for that triangle with a line through.

Eyk brings up how a few months back a fleet of three German ships were sold to a British investor by the name of Henry Singleton. The ships went to the dry docks for 3 months where a new communication system was installed and the ships were refurbished. That familiar sign we’ve been seeing so much of is actually the company’s symbol.

After running away, Ling-Yi is saved by an unlikely soul – Olek. He takes her away from the prying eyes of the passengers and down to the secluded holding bay. A thick layer of fog soon begins to swirl around her, with Ling-Yi facing the horrible parts of her past.

Olek comforts the poor girl, offering some encouragement before she heads back to her cabin for her “customer.” However, this happens to be Lucien, the French man, but after watching Ling-Yi dancing he stops her from undressing and begins measuring. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t last long.” He says before collapsing on the ground and violently shuddering.

Back onboard the Prometheus, Eyk and Maura find a control panel that apparently helps gauge steam pressure. It’s never worked on the Kerberos but it could have done on the Prometheus. An incinerator nearby holds more clues, in the form of the ship’s passenger list which is absolutely fine among the rubble of ash. When Eyk takes a look, he’s completely spooked and hurriedly hides it. He lies to Maura too, telling her he’s found nothing and that they should return to their own ship.

Eyk is clearly hiding something big and when they return to Kerberos, he tells Maura not to inform anyone where they’ve been. Even worse, three more bodies show up dead, having been found in the crew quarters with the same diagnosis as the girl on the deck. No bruises or blood. Unfortunately, this is the last straw as a rebellion stirs.

Franz, one of the senior officers, takes charge of the other staff, and leads them into Third Class, encouraging them all to take up arms and fight back, deciding they need to commit mutiny against the captain. Olek refuses and attempts to walk away, intent on telling the Captain everything. As result, he’s thrown in the brig alongside Jerome.

So who’s on the passenger list? Well, it turns out Maura’s name is there in an eerie turn of events, while Daniel approaches Maura on the deck and calls Eyk a madman. Maura doesn’t agree, seeing him as a man wrestling with depression and pain. Unfortunately, the other passengers aren’t quite so forgiving, and they arrive en-masse with guns to the captain’s room, intent on taking over the ship.

As they do, Daniel remotely controls the Prometheus, using a strange contraption to turn the engines back on and as that thick fog suddenly disappears, sucked into this contraption, the Kerberos disappears too.

The Episode Review

As we approach the halfway point of this series, it’s now becoming increasingly clear that the two ships are both connected. However, word of a third ship as well does throw a certain amount of mystery into the fold, and it could be connected with the triangle too, especially given the three points on that shape.

The focus this time though turns to Ling-Yi and the metaphorical and literal prison she’s in is clear to see and seeing her troubled past helps to flesh out more of her history.

There’s a lot of promise with this series and the writing is just starting to tighten up a little now. With the ship seemingly gone and the passengers on the verge of mutiny and going mad, everything here is resting precariously on a knife edge. Could the Kerberos be about to suffer the same fate as the Prometheus? We’ll have to wait and see!