Nautilus’ Episode 9 Review

In episode nine of ‘Nautilus’, the crew continue their search for treasure, but find an unwanted surprise waiting for them.

The crew of the Nautilus finally arrive at the destination of the treasure they’ve been searching for, only to find that it’s not there. It’s been removed by a group of warriors who’ve dedicated their lives to protecting it, at any cost.

This is one of the oddest things in this show, and one of the hardest to believe. Not least because the Norse Viking aesthetic looks very out of place alongside everything else in this story set in 1857, but also the fact that there’s no good reason for them to still be protecting the treasure. Are people still sending their daughters out to protect a treasure that must have been sunk a thousand years before? What’s the point? No one can use it, and surely any loyalties or duties would be forgotten by now? Even if they do still remember their oath, how come they all dress and look like they are from the Dark Ages, when surely they must have access to modern weapons and clothes? It’s all a bit of a stretch.

Really it’s all there just to fill up an unremarkable episode, with several fight scenes thrown in to break things up as the crew try and make their escape back to the Nautilus. It’s a set up for the final episode as, with their hopes of becoming rich gone, the crew decide to travel to London to carry out Nemo’s plan to destroy the East India Mercantile Company.

Considering how much time has been devoted to unimportant things throughout the show, it would have been better to spread things a little more evenly and get them to this point sooner, to allow for a more natural build up to the big showdown in London. 

This also highlights another problem with this show: time and place. It’s hard to keep track of just where everyone is or how much time has passed. The location jumps around wildly from the Indian Ocean to the Arctic to London, with no real sense of how much time has passed. In the 19th century, voyages could take weeks or even months, but they seem to be accomplished in days here.

With only one episode to go, I’m not sure how they’ll wrap it all up. The Company needs to be brought down, and some kind of resolution found for the various plotlines still left hanging. Let’s hope they manage to make it satisfying.