Take Three: Manifest

Manifest: Season 1, Episode 3 “Turbulence” (C)

More than anything, I’m finding this show to be extremely boring. After hearing their own voices telling them to do things, now Ben and Michaela are seeing a phrase written out in a number of places and being drawn to crucial spots as a result of a few convenient circumstances. The whole format here just isn’t superb, mainly because of the tired cop genre which has Michaela constantly pushing boundaries and bringing her civilian brother to crime scenes where he can pretend to be a cop and then getting admonished time and time again without any real consequences. Michaela is haunted by the memory of killing her best friend while driving drunk, but that turned into something positive since she could give her dementia-stricken mother some sort of peace because she was a familiar and friendly face. Ben can’t get over the fact that his wife had to move on without him, though obviously that’s complicated, as his kids know since best friends have become boyfriends and the twins are not what they used to be. All that relationship drama takes a backseat to the uncreative suspense and chase scenes which make finding out exactly who or what caused this time-jump, mind-evolving flight infinitely less interesting. This show continues to be popular, so I won’t bail just yet, but I’m far from enthralled. I’m not sure what would be able to change since this show seems set on where it’s headed as far as its exposition is concerned, but eventually some concrete answers are going to have to be revealed.