jozii89

Yes, I'm joining the already long line of those people. I got a fair bit into season three then just kind of stopped watching.

The jokes and never-ending cycles did get a little repetitive and old, and while seasons 2 and 3 are not bad - they're still packed with over-the-top fun stuff and references - they were kind of forgettable.

But then came season four, particularly the latter episodes, and someone convinced to give it another go. And boy am I glad I did! The whole show returned to old form, and found it's way back to what made it great in the first place.

Here I am now, actually shedding a tear while smiling to myself and ocassionally giggling at the memory of some obscure pop culture reference a character made many episodes ago. I think that sums this show up quite well.

When a show hits such a perfect balance of making people literally cry, smile with deep satisfaction and laugh *at the same time*, you know you have something special. As dumb, silly, ridiculous and sometimes not even that funny as this show is, it's also kind of the best show I've ever watched.

I read the negative reviews after watching the show, and I do not agree with them! This was indeed a slow build-up, but I was hooked from the start and the mysteries kept escalating in a way I found very compelling.

There are indeed a lot of what some call "pointless filler scenes", but not once did I find anything redundant or feel like scenes were just there to draw out the story. The pacing was excellent, and the atmospheric slow scenes (which are never that slow at all) were an excellent part of an exciting journey. Sure, they could have reached the end quicker by getting rid of some fluff, but I never felt it was fluff in the first place. Why on earth would I want such a great show to be shorter? I know loads of shows where fluff scenes actually feel like pointless and boring filler that I would rather have done without, but this was definitely not one of them.

I will agree with two points of criticism: the unrealistic "we don't understand a word" language thing, yet the characters still behave as if they have understood everything that was said. And the needless gay propaganda part subplot, which started out great but then led to nowhere. As a gay man, why was that storyline in the show at all? They could have used literally any plot device in its place for the same result. Still, neither of those two points took away from the show other than me giving it 9 stars instead of 10.

On a final note, this show reminds me of the movie Time Trap, which was a total snooze for the most part but with a killer twist at the end, which made it one of my favorite (or at least most memorable) movies I've ever watched. I loved Time Trap for the brilliant surprise ending that turned everything on its head!

Half way through 1899 I though the show was a reversed version of that movie - that Time Trap was great because we thought we knew what was going on only for everything to shift to something else very quickly. I thought 1899, on the other hand, was less-than-that because we thought we knew roughly what was happening too soon, leaving little surprise left for the latter half of the show.

Well, I was wrong! 1899 keeps surprising with more twists and turns every episode, to reach a final very surprising conclusion. And I totally loved it for it!