1899 – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

The Key

Episode 8 of 1899 starts with Elliot rushing up to find her mother, holding a green bug. He decides to call the bug Alfred, but before putting him in a lockbox, Maura encourages him not to, telling him not to trap it inside a cage. As a result, Elliot decides to let the bug go. As he does, he opens his eyes and finds himself before that strange pyramid in the dark.

Henry is there to greet Elliot when he wakes up, showing off the monitors and claiming that Maura has fooled them all. However, she’s the only person who can get them all out of here. “If you’re brave enough, I can show you the truth,” Henry says. He wants Elliot to remember, and with a few button presses, brings him to Maura’s memory of the hospital.

Do the passengers learn the truth?

Eyk Larsen makes it onboard the Kerberos, having swum over (but suspiciously not actually wet) and questioning her about what’s happening. Maura admits her memory is ravaged, but she brings up what she knows about Henry and the boy, going on to admit the world doesn’t make sense and it’s all a simulation. None of them can actually remember boarding the ship, giving weight to this idea, but the language barrier is somewhat of a sticking point.

Every single passenger left has an envelope, and it appears they’re all here for a reason. As they contemplate what this means, Daniel uses his machine to try and get the electrics working again with his device. However, upon hearing what Maura has to say, everyone grows disillusioned and eventually leaves her, pointing out that they can’t trust her and they need to get off the ship. The only person who stays with her is Eyk Larsen, given he’s seen the hatches and what lies within.

What does Henry show Elliot?

Maura tries to make sense of this reality, believing it could well be a construct of the actual brain and laid out in much the same way. They find a hollow panel hidden behind one of the walls, complete with a torch and another passageway. As they head through, Daniel manages to control the electrical panels, making that strange black metallic stuff grow faster, spreading throughout the ship and distorting all the different cabins and passageways.

Henry leads the boy to Room 1011 and remains determined to show him the truth. Encouraging him to take a seat, Henry injects Elliot with something that sees him wake up inside another memory. Apparently he’s dying and Maura intends to try and help him. Instead of letting him go, Maura promises to make him forget everything so they can all be together.

As Maura injects him in the neck, he flashes back to Henry. Elliot is trapped in this simulation so Maura can keep him alive. It’s Plato’s Cave Allegory again, and the idea of knowledge has limits, This is a Doll’s House, according to Henry; a construct that’s been built specifically for Elliot.

What is the purpose of the black pyramid?

Elliot’s parents have been lying to him this whole time. There is a way out but Maura is the only one with the key. That key happens to power the pyramid, and as the black pyramid is opened up, a keyhole happens to be there with the word “Wake Up”.

The simulation changes from the very core of its architecture thanks to Daniel, who distorts this ship world and throws each of the passengers into different simulations. The code is being manipulated and spreading the virus (presumably this black metallic stuff) across the ship. Henry is surprised when he sees this, wondering what it means. After brief flashes of horrors across different worlds, the rabble of surviving passengers join together once more in the hallways of the ship.

Who is the Creator?

Meanwhile, Eyk and Maura head deeper into the mental hospital but they’re stopped by the turncoat officer, telling Maura she needs to hand over the key. With the simulation falling apart, he presses some buttons on his machine and forces Maura to hand it over. He also apologizes to the captain and presses another button, sending him crashing to the ground.

Maura is led to her father, where he presses more buttons on that handheld console, and as such she’s brought to the mental hospital and tied down in a chair. Elliot watches silently as Henry reveals that Maura is the true creator of this simulation. She made it with Daniel and forced everyone into this loop.

Henry is determined to leave this place, but in order to do that it means forcing Maura to continue into the simulation again. The key is turned in the pyramid and… nothing happens.

How does Daniel change everything and make sure Maura remembers?

Daniel has changed the code and the simulation is completely corrupted. As the remaining passengers join together, the simulation is deleted.

Daniel and Maura both find themselves together outside the mental hospital and in a child’s bedroom, tucked away down a hatch. Daniel’s plan to corrupt the code seems to have worked, and he explains that this is the first simulation the pair ever created.

The syringe originally was used as a tool to fling one back into the simulation but this time, Daniel changed the code to make the syringe pull Maura here, to this sanctuary. Daniel goes on to reveal he’s also switched the values in the pyramids too, with the one Henry has, happening to be completely useless.

The real code is in the wedding ring, which holds the exit key. It’s not Henry, Maura or Daniel that’s in charge of this simulation, it’s actually Maura’s brother! “This is so much bigger than you think,” Daniel pleads, encouraging Maura to wake up so they can stop him before it’s too late.

Pressing the ring, Maura suddenly awakens to find herself strapped to a strange machine. All the other passengers and characters are there too, also stuck in stasis with machines on their head, and Maura’s wedding ring is still on her finger.

How does 1899 Season 1 end?

Outside the window, the camera zooms out to show her onboard a massive spaceship called the Prometheus, which happens to hold a number of other chambers too. A message is printed on the monitor, the same one we saw in the books onboard the Kerberos: “May your coffee kick in before reality does.”

This whole thing seems to be a survival mission, called Project Prometheus. And the monitor blinks with several revelations. There are 1423 passengers onboard and 550 crew. The date is actually October 29th 2099, not 1899. A message from Ciaran comes through too, welcoming Maura to reality… but is it really?

The Episode Review

1899’s shocking finale brings everything around to several big revelations. It turns out Maura’s brother is the one in charge of the construct, whilst it appears Maura is a far bigger part of all of this than we actually realized.

Seeing how the ship operates and what all of this means is a nice way to pay off the big mysteries this year, although certain elements – like Mrs Wilson picking up her cup of tea in episode 1 simultaneously to everyone else – doesn’t quite make sense given what we know now.

However, it remains to be seen whether the reality Maura has “woken up in” is actually true or just another bigger part of an elaborate mouse trap, designed to keep Maura busy while her brother does something far more sinister.

Either way though, everything here is left on a tantalizing cliffhanger, leaving the door wide open for where this one may go next.