Manifest: Is the New Series on Netflix Worth Watching?

Umm… No.

Last week, Manifest, the sci-fi drama series by NBC, premiered on the streaming platform Netflix. Quickly, it became one of the most-watched shows on the streaming service and stayed on the second number. The third season of manifest just ended last week with a bubble that has not been renewed.

Now, based on its performance on Netflix, NBC could decide whether making a fourth season of the show is worth it. However, long story short, critics have not rated Manifest very well. While most of the show is of poor quality, this is not apparent from the pilot.

 

What is Manifest about?

Ahead of the debut in 2018, the pilot episode was hyped a lot by NBC. Indeed, the pilot episode puts gives us a fascinating premise. The show revolves around Flight 828 passengers who arrive in New York City from Jamaica. However, after landing, they realize that 5 years have gone by and that they are presumed dead.

From this, it might seem that Manifest on Netflix is a show that revolves around the passengers trying to reintegrate themselves into society after 5 years have passed and their loved ones might have moved on. However, that is not all.

 

Manifest spoilers ahead.

When Ben Stone (played by Josh Dallas) gets back, Grace, his wife, has a new boyfriend. On the other hand, his daughter is 5 years older than her twin brother, who was also present on the flight. Since this is a broadcast network series, it takes shape early on as a cop procedural.

Unironically, Michaela is a detective at the NYPD, and like other flight passengers, she gets visions that help her solve different climes. However, this is one of the elements of the show that have not been explored eventually.

 

In the second season, the showrunners apparently decided that Manifest would be a supernatural conspiracy thriller. However, it looks like the writers had still not made their minds up and were just making things up as the show goes along.

The Stone family finds out that their visions/callings are there to help them save people from danger. However, some of the callings are very bizarre, and yet, they are not talked of ever again. For instance, the Stone family gets a vision that they are several hundred years in the past, out in the ocean on a ship, looking on the sky to see Flight 828. While this calling is very dramatic, it is an obvious thing for fans to expect that it would have something to do with the plot. However, this dramatic calling is not talked of ever again.

 

Characters that are outside the Flight keep reappearing and disappearing for days or months. Furthermore, their dates of death also pretty much get established. It turns out that people who are experiencing such time travel live only for the time for which they were gone.

For instance, since the passengers of Flight 828 were gone for 5 and a half-year, they will be destined to die 5 and a half years after landing the flight. Though, the Stone family is trying to desperately undo these deaths, which requires them to resolve the visions.

 

We also hear of “dark lightning,” but its role of it in the series is unclear. Passengers are also experimented with secretly, which is yet again something that could not reach a resolution. Nefarious characters throughout the show are trying to gain advantages from the Flight 828 passengers, but it is also unclear what they want.

Finally comes the third season of Manifest, which gives us some religious undertones. It starts off by setting the premise that the passengers of Flight 828 were resurrected just like Jesus and have received a second chance to live.

A driftwood piece from Noah’s Ark also comes to the surface before getting tossed inside a volcanic crack. This opens in New York. Apparently, half of the season gives a lot of runtimes to meth heads to set the premise that all Flight 828 passengers must redeem themselves to avoid the “death date”.

According to critics, the most annoying thing about Manifest is that it gives half-baked questions, and the show does not even intend to answer any of these. Currently, it ranks on the first spot on Netflix in Australia. But should you watch Manifest? Probably not.

Share this on social media