Manifest: The Complete Series

“During a transoceanic journey, Montego Air Flight 828 disappears, presumed lost at sea. Five years later, the plane lands safely – but for those on board, only five hours have passed. Both a high-concept mystery and a relationship drama about interrupted lives, Manifest centers on the supernaturally fractured bonds between the survivors and their loved ones who’ve spent years moving on without them. As the government investigates what really happened on their flight, the survivors begin to ask themselves why it happened… and what it means. While the mystery of Flight 828 unfolds and these broken souls try to repair themselves and the world around them, the series follows their intersecting lives and connections as they search for an ultimate purpose that may be their destiny.”

Few series last four seasons these days, even fewer are brought back from the dead after cancelation for a second chance thanks chart-topping viewership. Television has drastically changed because of streaming. While I feel there are a lot of negative consequences to the instant gratification and binge-obsession that streaming offers, the positives can be instances such as this, with NBC cancelling Manifest after its third season and selling the rights to Netflix where it immediately gained traction enough to convince Netflix themselves to create a fourth and final season, a blessing for fans and the storytellers that wanted the chance to continue and properly conclude the ongoing mystery of the show.

The series has an interesting premise, one not entirely original, with shows such as The 4400 doing something similar. Despite that, the mystery of what happened to these people and where they have been for five years drives the story to interesting moments throughout its four season run. Not having seen the show before, probably the most interesting part to me was the storylines dealing with the passengers and their families who have moved on after thinking they were dead. I had found this point fascinating when it happened in the MCU and the end Endgame when everyone comes from the snap. Not being able to go back in time and prevent the entire thing from happening blew my mind, even before subsequent stories dealt with the global hardships of the displaced people who had returned. Even though Manifest deals with a much smaller scale, it’s the tragedy of families moving on and starting new lives that continued to drive my interest.

This set from Warner Bros. contains the entire series on DVD. It really is astonishing it got a physical release at all, and seeing it streaming in HD and then watching this sub-standard format was a bit depressing. That being said, fans of the film who don’t care about clear and detailed presentation and want to actually own a show they enjoy will be thankful for this release.

Here’s an episode breakdown of this set:

Season One:

1. Pilot
2. Reentry
   

   Season Two:

   1. Fasten Your Seatbelts
   2. Grounded
   3. False Horizon
   4. Black Box
   5. Coordinated Flight
   6. Return Trip
   7. Emergency Exit
   8. Carry On
   9. Airplane Bottles
   10. Course Deviation
   11. Unaccompanied Minors
   12. Call Sign
   13. Icing Conditions

   Season Three:

3. Turbulence
4. Unclaimed Baggage
5. Connecting Flights
6. Off Radar
7. N.A.F.U.
8. Point of No Return
9. Dead Reckoning
10. Crosswinds
11. Contrails
12. Vanishing Point
13. Cleared for Approach
14. Upgrade
15. Hard Landing
16. Estimated Time of Departure

1. Tailfin
2. Deadhead
3. Wingman
4. Tailspin
5. Water Landing
6. Graveyard Spiral
7. Precious Cargo
8. Destination Unknown
9. Bogey
10. Compass Calibration
11. Duty Free
12. Mayday: Part 1
13. Mayday: Part 2

Season Four:

1. Touch-and-go
2. All-Call
3. High Flight
4. Go-Around
5. Squawk
6. Relative Bearing
7. Romeo
8. Full Upright and Locked Position
9. Rendezvous
10. Inversion Illusion
11. Final Descent
12. Bug Out
13. Ghost Plane
14. Fata Morgana
15. Throttle
16. Furball
17. Threshold
18. Lift/Drag
19. Formation
20. Final Boarding