Manifest Review: Turbulence (Season 1 Episode 3)
On Manifest Season 1 Episode 3, the show continues to go around in circles with Ben and Michaela, losing its footing and focus.
Although this episode gains more momentum in terms of diving into the stories of the major characters, it sidelines the intriguing stories of others, including Saanvi.
Cable TV continues to disappoint in terms of its blindingly white casts, and Manifest is no exception. Saanvi may be an intriguing character, but she’s completely blown off as a nerdy character and placed into boxes of jaded unconscious stereotypes.
The most frustrating part of this show and this episode is its inability to either a) create a compelling mystery that doesn’t border on nonsensical and b) finish or solve the mystery in a way that furthers the plot and doesn’t feel like a waste.
Even though Ben and Michaela solving the murder does provide more insight into their characters, it essentially wastes the setup of an entire mystery and ultimately an entire episode.
This subplot does nothing to further the plot, and we still have little to no answers surrounding the mystery of the actual plane crash. The only clue we have is Saanvi’s investigation, but it’s light and superficial at best.
Ultimately, it may be up to fans to determine whether they’re satisfied enough with the character development to ignore the very scarce plot.
I’m also still confused about the religious undertones of the show. They only grow larger this episode, and it’s starting to become some bizarre exoticization of the mystery behind religion and faith.
There are now two angles: the scientific explanation and the religious one. Manifest tries to bridge the gap between sci-fi and supernatural. But right now, it doesn’t want to choose, and that’s hurting its narrative direction.
An iconic show that did this was Heroes, but that show famously struggled after its first season. The show also banked more on human’s belief in faith and destiny rather than pure religion, and most of the “fate” part was eventually justified by a science fiction angle.
I’m still not sold on this divine intervention meets police procedural meets sappy cable drama. If the show wants to retain viewers, it has to craft an actual plot beyond single- or multi-episode arcs that end abruptly with no payoff.
Love triangles abound and the show has the option of leaning into this, but it’s also invested entirely too much in its police procedural plot that it almost makes the romantic plots less enticing.
The show still needs to find its footing in terms of where it wants to go, both thematically and narratively. I won’t give up on it yet, but I’m not convinced it needs a second season either.
What do you think about the show’s approach to religion and science? What do you think will happen next? And what did you think of this episode of Manifest? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Manifest airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.
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Olivia Popp
Olivia Popp is a freelance writer, artist, and entertainment fanatic who started living and breathing television ever since her parents told her in elementary school that it would rot her brain. Now, she's a film student and TV apologist with a penchant for providing forceful and unsolicited series recommendations to anyone within earshot. Ask her about science fiction, comedy, nature photography, filmmaking, tasty cheese, or even more television.