![]() When “Manifest” returns, it will need to slow down and reestablish whatever its new rules are - if it even knows what they are. As if it skipped several episodes’ worth of storytelling, the show is now in a headlong rush to throw every possible speed bump in to change the show’s direction. Scientific experimentations, the storming of a warehouse, explosions, and psychic visions - it was a mess. The midseason finale felt disconnected from everything that came before. With the exception of the twins - one who was on the plane, and one who aged five years in the outside world - the characters offer little beyond their roles in solving the mystery of this flight. The psychic connection also became tainted with interference by a shady agency. However, the callings became less reliable, confusing, and even resulted in death. The callings could have been explored in an episodic manner, bringing the show’s main cast into contact with the other passengers as they did good deeds. Sadly, “Manifest” hasn’t lived up to its potential. What if whoever did this to the passengers had a benevolent goal in mind? The survivors all also seemed to be connected psychically, which also pointed at a possible greater plan at work. The story offered a twist in that passengers would get bizarre psychic “callings” that, when heeded, often led to positive results, such as the discovery of abducted women. Of the three shows, “Manifest” had the strongest premise out of the gate and drew 10.3 million viewers. Reintegrating with their lives and loved ones set up emotional stakes Flight 858 took off from Jamaica and landed in New York as planned, but to the outside world, five years have passed. “Manifest” is the most like “Lost” in that a massive, unexplained phenomenon happened to a large group of people. ”Manifest” Grade: D Parveen Kaur, “Manifest” Virginia Sherwood/NBC/Warner Brothers The other two will have to prove themselves in the back half of their seasons. Looking forward, “God Friended Me” is the one show that feels guaranteed to stay the course and keep delivering solid storytelling. “A Million Little Things” seems to have a goal, but is making up the rest of it as it goes along, while “Manifest” just keeps digging a deeper hole to fill with more mysteries. While It’s too early for anyone on these shows to know what’s going on, but on “God Friended Me,” it feels like the writers do. It required toggling between storytelling consistency and the demand for reinvention, but that also created the dramatic tension that kept viewers hooked. ![]() Characters died to make way for new ones. Some answers were forthcoming, only to inspire new questions. Then the show introduced outside threats and unexplained phenomena. “Lost” provides a rough template: The story of survival after a plane crashed on an island gave way to an intriguing character study as each person’s backstory was revealed. The shows aren’t “Lost” copycats - each is vastly different in premise and approach - but they harbor the shared hope of providing the kind of addictive storytelling that turned “Lost” into a cultural touchstone and a ratings monster. Abrams, Carlton Cuse, and Damon Lindelof proved it was possible to extend the enigma of Oceanic Flight 815 across six seasons, and this fall brought three shows that accepted the challenge for their own overarching mysteries: NBC’s “Manifest,” ABC’s “A Million Little Things,” and CBS’ “God Friended Me.” Eight years later, the “Lost” legacy is alive and well. ![]()
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