Manifest’s ending has proven the harsh truth about mystery shows in general. For four seasons, NBC’s supernatural drama teased answers to what happened on Motegogo Air Flight 828 that made passengers suddenly age five years, forcing them to reintegrate into a world that had moved on without them, and fans were hoping for a big payoff. The meaning of Flight 828 provided the foundation for a series of smaller mysteries, and while it became deeper and more complex, the interpersonal relationships of the passengers took precedence, with their personal twists and turns leading up to a Manifest’s divisive series finale.
Aside from fully explaining the point of Yusuv Al-Zuras, the 16th-century explorer whose influence dipped in the series after being prominently featured in season 2, most of Manifest’s mysteries were adequately explained, including where the plane was for 5 years and where the Callings came from. Yet, even doing so much right, Manifest’s finale proved that mystery shows that play out for several years are bound to disappoint in some way thanks to the way they’re constructed.
Manifest’s Series Finale Criticism Highlights The Challenge Facing Mystery TV Shows
Any of the criticism directed at Manifests’s series finale highlights an unfortunate problem facing all mystery shows. Few can maintain the intrigue and excitement of the first season as they drag out the answers to their most important mystery, making it difficult to meet fans’ expectations once they finally solve it. Whatever ending occurs in a mystery show is rarely satisfying to everyone after years of build up, and it’s not surprising that Manifest is receiving the same criticisms as so many other shows that have a similar theme.
Discovering Al-Zura’s journal, trying to figure out how his voyage connected to Flight 828 (even though it was separated by hundreds of years), and the origins of the Callings were all fun to theorize about over the years. When Zeke returned to Manifest answering an Al-Zura’s mystery that had been dangling since the beginning, it provided closure to the time travel narrative, but disappointed fans who wanted something more clever. While it made sense for the show, it wasn’t ultimately rewarding for fans who wanted something a little less logical and a little more mind-blowing.
Other Mystery Shows That Had Divisive Endings
Several mystery shows had lackluster endings after years of buildup, including Lost, which followed a group of passengers who crash-landed on a mysterious island and were forced to work together to survive. New clues about the reason for their crash (and the purpose of the island) were released every season, leading up to an explanation that didn’t reward fans’ patience. Now, Manifest is the new Lost, not because it used the “it was all a dream” trope to end on, but because it performed a reset of all the main characters back to the beginning of the mystery in a perfunctory, but utterly unimaginative choice.
Lost was an incredibly influential mystery show which is why other series, like Manifest, have tried to duplicate its success. Shows like Westworld, From, and The Leftovers are just a few in the last decade that have tried to present intriguing mysteries that can be solved to fans’ satisfaction, except that for many of them, the longer they go on, the more fans either lose interest or get disillusioned. Ultimately, finding clues, connecting narrative dots, and everything related to the enjoyable experience of watching mystery TV shows like Manifest indicates that the journey, rather than the destination, is the point of tuning in.
