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Back in 2019, I started watching a new TV show called Manifest. It's about flight that disappears on the way back to the US from Jamaica and then suddenly turns up and lands five years later. The passengers don't think any time has passed, but obviously everyone else in their lives has moved on...
The central characters are the Stone family - Ben, his son Cal and his sister Michaela are on the flight that disappears. Meanwhile Ben's wife Grace and their daughter Olive (Cal's twin) are not. When the Flight 828 passengers start getting weird visions that lead them to solve crimes or help people in trouble, Ben starts to wonder if they have been given a task to redeem themselves from imagined sin.
The range of characters and particularly the interpersonal relationship dynamics are great - Olive is now 15, while her twin brother is still only 10, and Grace has moved on and is in a relationship with another man. It's all very complicated and involving - both from a global and a personal point of view.
Then it got cancelled after three seasons, ending on a cliffhanger - gah!!
But, after a break of 18 months, Netflix resurrected the show and gave it a final fourth season that wrapped everything up - hurrah!
I was apprehensive going in (and moreso once I reminded myself of all the horrible things that had happened at the end of the third season) and early episodes of the final season made me think it was going to go very much awry, a bit like Lost... Part of the season really dragged without much going on, and parts skipped over several months at a time - so it felt very uneven. BUT - the final two episodes were awesome and I thought the way it concluded was really great - whew! In particular, there were multiple small moments right at the end that showed a very nuanced and impressive handling of certain passengers' situation and arc.
So, very much recommended if you like twisty-turny supernatural mystery shows that go to some pretty dark places but actually have a very satisfying ending!
The central characters are the Stone family - Ben, his son Cal and his sister Michaela are on the flight that disappears. Meanwhile Ben's wife Grace and their daughter Olive (Cal's twin) are not. When the Flight 828 passengers start getting weird visions that lead them to solve crimes or help people in trouble, Ben starts to wonder if they have been given a task to redeem themselves from imagined sin.
The range of characters and particularly the interpersonal relationship dynamics are great - Olive is now 15, while her twin brother is still only 10, and Grace has moved on and is in a relationship with another man. It's all very complicated and involving - both from a global and a personal point of view.
Then it got cancelled after three seasons, ending on a cliffhanger - gah!!
But, after a break of 18 months, Netflix resurrected the show and gave it a final fourth season that wrapped everything up - hurrah!
I was apprehensive going in (and moreso once I reminded myself of all the horrible things that had happened at the end of the third season) and early episodes of the final season made me think it was going to go very much awry, a bit like Lost... Part of the season really dragged without much going on, and parts skipped over several months at a time - so it felt very uneven. BUT - the final two episodes were awesome and I thought the way it concluded was really great - whew! In particular, there were multiple small moments right at the end that showed a very nuanced and impressive handling of certain passengers' situation and arc.
So, very much recommended if you like twisty-turny supernatural mystery shows that go to some pretty dark places but actually have a very satisfying ending!
