Manifest

Dennis E. Taylor

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Manifest is a great concept, but it suffers from the same failing as Lost and a lot of other similar shows -- the whole thing is centered around a single mystery. If you reveal or resolve the mystery, the show becomes a lame duck (remember Babylon 5 after the primary story arc resolved?). If you draw out the mystery like Lost tried to do, people get frustrated and stop watching.

Haven was one series that handled this issue well for the first couple of seasons. The central mystery naturally supported a bunch of single-episode stories that emerged as a consequence. But what was great about Haven was that they occasionally did a minor reveal, and it always resolved something that had happened earlier in the show.

But then around season 3 or so, they started to go off in all directions, like X-Files or Lost, and you knew they were just making it up as they went along. Which meant inevitably that the central mystery turned out to be an overly complex hodge-podge of patches to explain everything.

Regarding Manifest, I don't think there's enough there to really support multiple seasons without going off on a bunch of tangents and red herrings. Really, it would have been better as a movie or maybe a netflix series. At this point, I've stopped watching, and someday I'll ready up on imdb or wikipedia about what the resolution was.
 
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Lavern08

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I know, right? - I don't mind slow, if it's intriguing, but this feels like slow, because we're still figuring it out, slow. :Shrug:
 

Gravity

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Really, it would have been better as a movie or maybe a netflix series. At this point, I've stopped watching, and someday I'll ready up on imdb or wikipedia about what the resolution was.

Agree, and that's why my wife and I bailed. Certain concepts work well as a mini- or limited-run series; this ain't one of them.
 

Lavern08

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SPOILERS BELOW:









Call me a romantic, but I don't like the fact that the "Dad" was kicked out of the house, because the "Mom" can't adjust to him being back in their lives, and/or she can't decide whether she wants to be with him or the "Boyfriend."

Sure, he was there for them (for the last 3 years), and they all thought "Dad" was dead, but it was through no fault of his own that he was "missing" for 5 years :Shrug:

And yes, there was mention of a little "tension" between them before the plane disappeared, but that's par for the course, when a couple has a sick child, who could possibly be dying.

While the "Boyfriend" seems to be a really nice guy, he needs to move on and back off, and tell the "Daughter" to go to her "Father," when she needs advice, comfort, or whatever.

But then again, without that drama thrown into the mix, the storyline would be boring, wouldn't it? :Huh:

Now that I think about it, I guess the writers accomplished their goal: They made me want to "stay tuned" to see how this situation plays out. :Thumbs:

Edited to Add: Oh, and who else didn't see the "Sister/Cop" and her "Fiance" getting all "lovey-dovey" from a mile away? :hat:
 
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cmhbob

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Just started binging this on Netflix, so I skipped a lot of the thread because spoilers. We're not quite through the first season.

But can we talk about the almost total lack of New York accents in the cast beyond bit players? And all fo the greenery in the landscape in November? Sigh. But I like the premise, and so far I like the story.
 

lizmonster

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The Kid and I have been watching, and have made our way into Season 3. I'm afraid we're doing a bit of bonding over trash-talking it at this point.

The characters tend to change their behavior based on whatever the episode needs them to do. Also, all those cops would have been fired.
 

darkprincealain

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I have been watching it on Netflix but it’s not my favorite. I think a lot of it is how the people behave the way lizmonster noted above. It’s what the episode needs them to do, and not a natural response to what came before. It feels artificial.
 

telford

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I haven't checked this thread for a while, and what do you know? It lasted three seasons before being canceled. That's extraordinary. Not being canceled but lasting three seasons. Good riddance.