Mysteries in ‘Manifest’ keeping you coming back each week
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There are few things as intriguing as a good mystery. A good mystery will hook you so deeply that it will keep you turning pages of a novel. A good mystery will keep you invested in a film and keep you coming back for episode after episode of a TV series. “Manifest” is driven by a mystery that’s as compelling as we’ve seen in a while, and that’s a sticky hook that will draw you in and keep you watching.
“Manifest” opens with the Stone family waiting to board a plane but doesn’t take long for the mystery to kick in. Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh), Ben (Josh Dallas) and Ben’s son, Cal (Jack Messina) decide to take a later flight, Montego Air Flight 828, which encounters unexpected and violent turbulence. The flight comes out of the turbulence and appears to proceed normally until landing and finding out it’s now five and a half years later.
From there, “Manifest” begins operating on a couple of different story tracks. On one, the Stone family tries to deal with being reunited after thinking Dad and brother have been dead for over five years. Ben’s wife, Grace (Athena Karkanis), has an especially steep adjustment. Meanwhile, Michaela tries to return to her job as a cop while also dealing with working with her ex.
On another track, there’s the mystery-of-the-week angle. Each episode features a puzzle the characters have to unravel. From a kidnapping to a murder involving a fellow passenger from Ben and Michaela’s flight, the weekly mystery helps to drive the narrative of the series and develop the characters.
And then there’s the overarching mystery of what happened to that plane. Why did Flight 828 apparently skip over five-and-a-half years? On top of that, the passengers are experiencing strange, supernatural phenomena. What’s the link? And the NSA is keeping tabs on them. This doesn’t bode well. Will Michaela, Ben, and the rest of the passengers (and by extension, we, the audience) get answers to the questions being raised?
And it’s these questions and the mystery surrounding them that keeps your eyes pinned to the screen. The drama surrounding the sudden reappearance of souls thought long lost is compelling, and the supernatural angle of the show raises the kind of questions you sit around discussing for hours with your friends. Once the intrigue gets its hooks in you, you’re going to have to see what happens.
The mystery angle is buoyed by solid performances from the cast. Roxburgh is suitably overwhelmed by what’s happening to her. Dallas projects the kind of warmth he needs to convincingly play a father. Karkanis is also great, balancing the struggle of rebuilding her life with Ben as well as being torn between Ben and the life she built while he was gone.
Other cast highlights include J.R. Ramirez as Michaela’s ex and coworker and Luna Blaise as Ben and Grace’s teenage daughter. The acting is solid all around, and it helps sell the reality of what the characters are going through. Mysteries only work well if the characters involved react convincingly to them, and “Manifest” is rock solid there.
The show also benefits from solid writing. The dialogue isn’t super memorable, and it’s believable and doesn’t pop you out of the story. The plots are structured well enough that they advance the overall story while also keeping you engaged in each episode.
Visually, “Manifest” isn’t all that distinct. From flashes of supernatural visions to ominous lighting to enhance a scene’s mood, nothing the show does really stands out. But eye-popping visuals aren’t the point of this show. This show is all about mystery, intrigue and raising compelling questions. I only hope the answers to those questions aren’t disappointing. Unsatisfactory answers to compelling mysteries can ruin a whole TV series. Just ask “Lost” fans.