When a passenger plane mysteriously disappears, eventually the family and friends of the missing move on with their lives. Big mistake.
Five and a half years on, the plane – just as mysteriously – reappears. All 191 on board are safe. But, they aged not a single day. For them, time stopped and all they experienced was crazy turbulence.
If this is already making you have second thoughts about watching, reconsider. From one supernatural drama sceptic to another, seriously consider giving Manifest a go. It works as family drama and mystery, and has more twists and turns than a box of old phone cables.
Manifest (2018 – present) is about the Stones — your typical American family — who, on a return trip from Jamaica, are offered $400 to take the next flight home as theirs is overbooked. Three of the family of seven take the money. Little did they know how this would change their lives forever – or how long flight 828 from Jamaica to NYC would be delayed.
Manifest follows the Stones’ struggle to understand what happened and why, aided by the rest of flight 828’s passengers.
Each episode starts with new clues about what happened through a flashback to the flight. The first episode is told from Michaela Stone’s (Melissa Roxburgh) perspective. Michaela, a New York cop, narrates, describing the airport as she, her brother Ben (Josh Dallas) and her nephew, Cal (Jack Messina), who has Leukaemia, separate from the other Stones.
Of course the search for answers becomes obsessive and destructive. And other strange things start to disrupt their re-started lives. Voices are heard and fortellings of the future.
Meanwhile the family left behind struggle to cope with the return. Ben’s wife, Grace (Athena Karkanis), is happy but speechless when her husband and son, Cal return. The only problem is that she has moved on with her life with a new man. She has also been raising Cal’s twin sister, Olive (Luna Blaise), who is now 15. Cal, her twin remember, is still 10.
The show brings up plenty of awkward family issues to be resolved – and unearths a few family secrets.
It also is full of “OMG” moments pushing the story forward. As Josh Dallas, who plays the main character, Ben Stone, says of the show, “It’s a story that’s constantly in motion. We’re constantly moving forward.”
Suspicious of supernatural suspense? Nonetheless consider Manifest.
It’s superior to your standard supernatural show!
Genre: Supernatural drama
Running Time: 45 minutes an episode
Available On: Amazon Prime and Sky
