By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The Netflix Effect was coined to explain how a show explodes in popularity after it is added to the streaming service. Breaking Bad was the first show to benefit, but there’s one throwback sci-fi series that became so popular, it was saved from cancellation thanks to streaming.
Manifest, a sci-fi supernatural mystery box series that debuted in 2019, years after Lost came to an end, was canceled by NBC after Season 3, while it was the hottest show on Netflix. Thankfully, the streamer stepped forward, bought the show, and gave the cast and crew an opportunity to finish the story, resulting in one of the very few mystery box shows to have a satisfying ending.
From Relationship Drama To Supernatural Drama
Manifest ended up being perfect for Netflix’s binge model thanks to its sluggish start that, as with other sci-fi mystery box shows, kept raising questions but provided no answers. The series begins with a plane, but pulling from The Langoliers instead of Lost, when it lands, those on board realize that they’ve been “missing” for the last five years. Turbulence is the only clue that something was wrong, but it soon becomes clear that something happened when passengers start experiencing visions of the future, “Callings,” that come with a massive headache, brief sickness, and a general sense of unease that only adds to the mystery of what’s going on.
For the first few episodes, Manifest focuses on the passengers dealing with their changed lives, from NYPD Detective Michaela, who learns her fiancé married her best friend while she was “dead,” while her niece and nephew turn into the older and younger siblings, respectively, thanks to the missing five years, and its the weakest part of the Netflix series, but don’t worry, it gets better. Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) and Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) are the main characters in the first few episodes, but the show expands its cast and its premise as it goes along. Later seasons add in a young woman who was thought to be a witch after her experience on Flight 838, Angelina (played by The Americans Holly Taylor) and Zeke (Matt Long), who wasn’t a passenger on the flight, but had a similar time-lost experience after a snowstorm, and bizarrely, also experiences “Callings.”
Manifest Tells A Complete Story
The mystery is why to watch Manifest, so it’s best to go into the Netflix hit as blind as possible. Rest assured that there’s a reason behind the visions, what happened to Flight 838 is explained, and by the time the credits roll on the series finale, you’ll realize this is the show Lost should have been. Ironically, the cancellation was the best thing to happen to the series and is what stopped it from becoming another Surface, Invasion, Jericho, Revolution, The Event, or any of the seemingly endless Lost knock-offs.
A definitive endpoint, one final season, forced the writers to wrap everything up, which was close to the series’ original timeline, unlike what happened with Lost, which was renewed beyond its natural endpoint. Telling a tight story, with a beginning, middle, and end, is one of the reasons Babylon 5 holds up over its sci-fi contemporaries, and that’s why Manifest is now the perfect sci-fi series to binge on Netflix. Do yourself a favor, and avoid all the spoilers, don’t wander into any Reddit discussion about the plot, and set aside some time to appreciate the best sci-fi mystery series of the decade.
