Round Two: Manifest

Manifest: Season 1, Episode 2 “Reentry” (C+)

One thing that’s not happening in the second episode is a clear sense of a timeline, with the plane exploding and passengers going on TV to be interviewed at no specified moment in relation to what we saw last week. As expected, there’s not much clarity about why they jumped through time and what’s happened to them as a result. Michaela and Ben hearing their own voices was replaced by Ben and Radd hearing the same music, leading of course to Ben discovering the real criminal who had framed Radd’s incarcerated son in the very same storage unit that his daughter had been using to store all of his and Cal’s stuff. What was far less clear – and appealing – was the image of a shadow on the wall in the parking garage that seemed like some sort of inhuman demon but apparently was real enough to shoot a gun that splattered its victim’s blood all over the TV. Cal being approached on the street as “risen” was definitely creepy, and not in an effective way. The focus has been a lot more on what our characters are doing to readjust with their lives, as both Michaela and Ben have to deal with the people they loved moving on and being with other partners. The fact that Michaela was going to say no to Jared’s proposal makes her moving forward easier, and she did manage to get approved to go back to work even though she’s evidently – and understandably – angry about what’s happened to her. Let’s see what episode three has to offer – I’m not impressed so far.