What I’m Watching: Manifest

Manifest: Season 1, Episode 10 “Crosswinds” (C-)

This is going to be my last episode of this show. I was only really watching because it was an opportunity to watch along with my mother-in-law, who loves it, but we still haven’t found a chance to actually see an episode at the same time. What this series’ early return from hiatus demonstrates is that what’s happening here just isn’t interesting. While Ben did grow by acknowledging that he hadn’t given any thought to the loss that his family had experienced as an indirect result of his return, everything else is related to convoluted and cumbersome plot developments. Ben befriending a podcaster is about the worst thing that could have happened because now he has a place to fuel his conspiracy theories, most of which, of course, are correct. Conveniently, the way that Michaela gets her secret signals is evolving again, just as all the passengers who are seated in chairs facing the window move with the same choreography while only a secret spy, who has decided not to continue spying, monitoring them. Ben is the least subtle, least effective detective I have ever seen, and the only person on this show more obvious than him is his sister, who got quite the shock when Jared uttered the contractually-required sappy line “It’s always been you” despite the fact that he married another woman and is only now professing his feelings. Let’s hope that the “holy grail” is indeed a code word and not this show’s leap to the mystical supernatural, but finding one general isn’t going to help address the many plot holes on this messy show.