The mind-bending TV showManifestconcluded in 2023, but two years later, these 10 aspects of the show are still a bit difficult to swallow. From the beginning, it was clear thatManifestwas going to be thrilling, as the premise was the sudden return of a plane containing nearly 200 passengers that had been missing for five years.
All the more shocking was the fact that none of the passengers on the plane had aged at all; in fact, to them, it had only felt like a regular flight. While that concept is clearly exciting and the show proved to be popular,these 10 aspects ofManifeststill don’t quite add up, two years after the show’s conclusion.
10People Adjusted Way Too Quickly To The Flight’s Shocking Return
The Passengers Very Quickly Re-integrated Into Society
The idea that a plane could disappear for five years and return without the passengers having aged—which characters like Cal alone proved, as he was demonstrably younger than his twin sister, Olive—automatically demands a massive suspension of disbelief. Even giving the show that grace, though,the entire world adjusted to this shocking, impossible scenario much too quickly.
Yes, there were groups popping up that hated the Flight 828 passengers, believed in them as essentially deities, and various other responses, but by and large, the passengers simply re-entered society. Perhaps the best example of this comes when Grace is speaking with one of Cal’s doctors very soon after his return.
The doctor, rather lightheartedly and even playfully, discusses how Cal was gone for five years and came back, making him an obvious medical anomaly. While that’s factually true, it’s just very difficult to imagine that the everyday person would be casually having conversations such as that one with the passengers of the flight.
9The Death Date Plot Always Felt A Bit Awkward
This Was Arguably The Most Important Plot In The Show, But It Frequently Made No Sense
The Death Date quickly became a major plot point inManifest, if not the single biggest plot over the show’s four seasons, but the meaning of the Death Date changed over time in confusing ways. Initially, it seemed as though the passengers were on a ticking time clock, wherein they only had as much time left as they’d been gone.
In the passengers' case, this meant just about five-and-a-half years. This theory was seemingly verified by characters like Zeke, who also had Death Dates that matched precisely how long they’d been gone. Yet,Manifestchanged what the Death Date meant, at least for the passengers. Ultimately, it was effectively a doomsday date for the entire world.
While that certainly added pressure and tied into the show’s religious themes,this change to the Death Date made an already awkward plot point even more confusing. In fact, the very existence of other characters who were not on the plane having different death dates made this change rather perplexing.
8The Lifeboat Metaphor Was Inconsistent
The Series Finale Suggested The Lifeboat Was Different Than They’d Believed
One of the most significant plots of season 3 involved the three criminals, Jace, Pete, and Kory, who had kidnapped Cal in season 2 but had then been resurrected. Season 2 had already shown that they were varying degrees of evil, as Jace was very willing to kill Cal, whereas Kory and especially Pete didn’t want to harm a kid.
However,season 3 revealed that they were all going to be judged together when their Death Date came. Sadly, although Kory and Pete had both become better people before the end, Jace had not, and he alone brought down the trio. In the end, they all died. This was how the 828 passengers came to the ‘lifeboat’ metaphor.
Essentially, through Jace, Kory, and Pete, the 828 passengers learned that they all needed to survive the Death Date together, and just one person straying could mean they would all die. While that more or less made sense,theManifestfinale revealed that actually wasn’t the case at all.
The 828 passengers learned that they all needed to survive the Death Date together, and just one person straying could mean they would all die.
On the contrary, there were multiple passengers, Angelina and Randall being just a few, who were judged and killed on their Death Date. Somehow, this didn’t mean all the passengers of 828 died with them, though.This made the entire metaphor of the lifeboat confusing, and the show didn’t really offer much in the way of an explanation.
7The Government Investigations Didn’t Feel Satisfying Or Realistic
The Government Seemed To Just Give Up On Understanding What Happened
Like everyday people adjusting to the return of the Flight 828 passengers relatively quickly,the United States government went from being heavily involved in investigations regarding this shocking return to seemingly giving up. At first,Manifestpresented a fairly realistic representation of how the government would respond (the U.S. government, at least; oddly, no other country became involved).
When the plane landed, passengers were prevented from leaving, and they were all systematically questioned. At one point, during another round of questioning, Michaela asked whether they were being detained or whether they were free to go, yet again adding an element of realism to the government’s involvement and explaining why they weren’t kept locked up.
There were also major characters, including Vance, the director of the NSA, and the Major, a high-ranking government operative, who were linked with the government and invested in understanding Flight 828 and its passengers. However, had a phenomenon as unbelievable as this one truly occurred, the government no doubt would have stopped at nothing to learn the truth.
Had a phenomenon as unbelievable as this one truly occurred, the government no doubt would have stopped at nothing to learn the truth.
6What Was Up With The Other Disappearances?
There Were A Host Of Disappearances In Addition To Flight 828
AlthoughManifestprimarily focused on the 828 passengers, there were manyother disappearances inManifestas well. One of the most prominent, at least a bit later on in the show, was Yusuv Al-Zuras, an explorer who disappeared with his crew and then returned 10 years later back in the 16th century.
Characters like Griffin, Zeke, and several others also had their own disappearances, some with seemingly no connection to Flight 828 and its passengers whatsoever. Frustratingly,Manifestnever really explains why there were so many disappearances and how they were all connected.
There aretheories about howManifest’sdisappearances are linked, including the rather interesting theory that because all these disappearances involved a storm, they could be connected to Noah’s Ark (certainly shoring up the religious focus of the show), but that was never made explicit, and it largely remains a mystery.
5Cal Coming Back Older Was A Little Goofy
Although It Was Technically Explained Narratively, This Felt Like An Odd Choice
In theManifestseason 3 finale, Cal touched the tailfin and disappeared andthen reappeared at the end of the finale, suddenly 5-and-a-half years older. This is the exact amount of time the plane had been missing, which suggests that touching the tailfin somehow caused Cal to age up to how old he would have been had he never disappeared.
While there is therefore some rationale behind this choice in the show, aging Cal up by five years admittedly felt a little odd. That is in no way a reflection on the actor, Ty Dolan, who was great in the role. In fact, the issue mainly came down to how awkward it made the story feel at certain points.
Aging Cal up by five years admittedly felt a little odd.
After all, Cal had technically aged up, but mentally, he was nowhere near as developed as he was meant to be. Five years, particularly ones as developmentally important as the teenage years, are significant. At times, this led to the sense that Cal was still a little kid in an almost adult body, which was a little uncomfortable.
4The Tailfin Was Incredibly Important…Until It Wasn’t
This Was A Major Part Of Season 3, But It Ultimately Went Nowhere
TheManifestseason 2 endingset up the tailfin as a critical part of the show, so much so that the first episode of season 3 was titled “Tailfin.” In the season 2 finale, there was actually something downright creepy about the tailfin, as it seemed to suggest that perhaps the plane had crashed and the passengers died all along.
Season 3 then doubled down on both the importance of the tailfin and the possibility that the passengers had died and somehow been resurrected. In terms of the latter, the three men who had abducted and nearly killed Cal in season 2 were explicitly resurrected, casting serious doubts on what really happened with Flight 828.
Regarding the former, it was clear that the tailfin had incredible properties, including leaving a mysterious white residue on Ben’s hand after he touched it, although the most obvious shocking attribute of the tailfin was its ability to make Cal disappear. Yet,the tailfin became significantly less important once it was returned to the ocean.
Although there’s some sense in whichManifestseason 4 explains the tailfin, as it’s theorized that the tailfin was actually part of the plane that returned in the show’s finale, that was extremely subtle at best. Even if that is the case, though, the tailfin’s massive importance in season 3 felt a bit dropped.
3Angelina’s Storyline Wasn’t All That Satisfying, Especially By The End
Angelina Went From A Sympathetic Character To A Truly Vile, Detestable Character
With the Major’s death in theManifestseason 2 finale, it seems the show needed a new main villain, and it found that with a brand-new character named Angelina Meyer. Angelina was one of the passengers from Flight 828, but after the passengers' miraculous return, Angelina’s parents were far from happy.
Instead, her parents were essentially torturing her, believing that she was evil. Despite that sympathetic beginning, and the start of season 3 seeming to set Angelina up as a new member of the Stone team,Angelina became the most irredeemable villain of the entire show, as she not only stabbed Grace to death but also kidnapped Eden for years.
Ultimately, Angelina technically got what was coming to her, as she realized in her final moments that she hadn’t been following God’s plan whatsoever but was actually the villain. Yet, that hardly resolved all the unspeakable harm she had done. What’s more, while Ben forgiving Angelina suited the religious themes, it felt a bit like a betrayal of Grace.
While Ben forgiving Angelina suited the religious themes, it felt a bit like a betrayal of Grace.
2Scientific Explanations And Religious Connections Often Felt Loosely Defined
The Show Didn’t Seem To Know Which Logic It Liked Better
It was always going to be a challenge to find satisfying explanations for events as mind-boggling as the ones that took place throughoutManifest, butone of the biggest issues was the show’s choice to jump back and forth between scientific explanations and religious ones. For the first two seasons, the show was much more science-focused.
After all, that was the entire focus of Saanvi’s experiments. She had been doing genetic sequencing specifically to identify markers (and, it’s worth noting, she found some in their blood). However, the second half of the show leaned heavily on religion. Particularly once Angelina was introduced, the religious iconography and connections really ramped up.
In fact, in season 3, episode 1, Ben and Michaela even discuss how Ben previously barely believed in God, at which point Ben says it might be time to start believing. The trouble is, that switch-up made the rationale behind this return feel disjointed and poorly explained, especially because it was so contradictory.
1Manifest’s Ending Wiping The Slate Clean Was A Bit Of A Letdown
Erasing Everything That Happened In The Show Wasn’t The Ending Many Were Hoping For
Easily the most disappointing part ofManifestwas the show’s decision to undo everything that had happened in the finale. After surviving the Death Date, the passengers of Flight 828 (or, at least, most of them; some passengers, like Angelina, were dead and stayed dead) effectively traveled through time, going back to the moment their flight should have landed.
With this ending,Manifesteffectively wiped the slate clean, undoing every single aspect of the plot up to that point. Although the passengers seemingly all retained their memories with the exception of Cal, which at least gives those years some meaning, this was a true letdown after four action-packed, emotional seasons.
There were some positive aspects of this ending, including Grace no longer being dead, as her death had been particularly brutal, but this really did feel like it undid all the growth each of these characters experienced for years. I can see why this ending was chosen, but it remains the worst part ofManifest,looking back two years later.
