Manifest Season 2

6/10 After a surprisingly strong debut season (7.5/10), the second season of the NBC show remains decent but unfortunately finds its weakest episode (by far) in the season finale of the 13 episode follow up. A lot of what worked in the first season continues to be a strength yet again. We have some great mysteries behind the scenes, have a perfect balance of having our questions answered while new questions arise and the acting is pretty solid across the board. Characters like Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez) and Zeke (Matt Long) get strong character arcs throughout the season with a lot of growth. The pacing of each episode goes by quickly with no time being wasted and more importantly, no filler episodes to waste precious time. The show continues to set itself apart from “Lost” (so far), making it a unique, original concept with lots of intrigue. The vast majority of each episode really works, which makes the flaws unfortunately stick out like a…frost bitten thumb. The biggest problem is showrunner Jeff Rake’s inability to kill off main characters who should clearly die. Not once, not twice but three times this season we get a character who “died” only for them to miraculously be alive. The first time, the twist actually worked and was effective. The second time, it was mildly plausible but undercut all of the strong emotional impact we had built on up that particular death. The most egregious case comes in the season finale when a character who clearly should die, and does die, just magically comes back to life with no explanation. Unless we get an explanation early on in season three, this is just lazy writing and the writers not following the rules that they themselves established with the show. Right before that ridiculous moment, we get a convenient/lazy ex-machina to save the day which had me rolling my eyes. The season finale couldn’t have been worse and in two seasons was the worst episode of the entire show thus far, ending an otherwise solid season on a sour note. Other minor complaints include how characters get jobs and then seemingly abandon them with no repercussions. An important part of season one was how Grace Stone (Athena Karkanis) was horrible with her finances and how once her husband Ben (Josh Dallas) came back, he needed to get a job due to their dire financial situation. Well after getting hired at a college as a Professor, Ben gives about two lectures and never returns to work, instead following his callings and solving mysteries. Yet we are supposed to believe he is paying his bills, mortgage, medical/hospital expenses and raising multiple kids. There are some unrealistic moments with police procedure and basically the same problem with several main cop characters just disappearing from their work to go and do their own thing with no consequences. Finally, the character of Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) was one of the best characters in season one, but gets dumber and dumber as season two progresses, sadly making her rather annoying by the season’s end. Her brilliant work ethic and high intelligence is replaced with poor decision making, cringe love life drama and overly emotional knee jerk reactions to everything. I am hoping she gets redemption next season. Despite some of these new problems and ending on an incredibly weak note, I still enjoyed the mystery and problem solving of the callings and the impact that they had on each character. With only two seasons to go, I am hoping we start to get even more answers in season three before things wrap up in season four.

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