Manifest: The Complete Third Season - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Manifest: The Complete Third Season



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Wow, has it really been going on 3 years? I did my review of the first season of Manifest back in 2019, and while I enjoyed the series first run, just didn’t expect it to be renewed past the 2nd year (which I didn’t end up reviewing). Again, it’s not that I thought the show was bad, it’s just that these sort of supernatural shows like The 4400 or Lost had sort of been played out with audiences and the cynical portion of me was really expecting NBC to pull the plug on the show unceremoniously. Ironically, that’s kind of what happened with season 3 though. NBC unceremoniously canceled the show, but in typical Netflix fashion, the mega streaming site has rescued the show for it’s fourth (and final) season to allow the show to finish it’s run (gotta admit, I really wish someone had done that for Dark Matter….sorry, I’m never letting that cancellation go)

As with RWBY I spent the majority of the last two weeks catching up on it, and binge watching Season 2 of the show to get caught up here. The basic premise of the show is that flight 828 literally vanished in the middle of it’s flight back in 2013, only for the plane to turn up 5 years later out of the blue. Ben Stone (Josh Dallas from Once Upon a Time) is one of the many passengers on that plane, and he and the rest of the rescued people have been having psychic visions or “callings” (as he calls them). These psychic visions usually come in the form of premonitions or visions of something about to go wrong, leading Ben to believe that they’re meant to help humanity.

The majority of the puzzle box show is spent figuring out just where these callings are coming from, and WHO is behind them. Usually within each season is a different mystery sub plot as well. The first season dealt with a conspiratorial government plot that had to be untangled as it dealt with experimentation done on the passengers of flight 828. A mystery that opened up a tangled mess of supernatural elements that unfolded in season 2. Also, nasty little bit of knowledge surrounding their “born on date”. Meaning that due to the fact that the people were missing for 5 years, they only have 5 years left to live.

Ben and his sister Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) open up a new wrinkle in the show this season. It seems that the tail fin of flight 828 was found in the waters of Havana, Cuba. Meaning that the plane was most likely flying over Cuba when it’s mysteriously vanished. However, that only means more mystery, more intrigue, and more supernatural revelations as the show unfolds this season.

I’m more than amused by how the series has been able to apply the Lost formula of asking a TON of questions that lead into half answers, that open up MORE questions to drive the plot forward. It’s a tricky situation as this can lead to massive viewer disappointment as the series wraps up. Lost was a prime example of that. Asking questions to keep you intrigued with the promise of future answers is tricky, and many times ends in failure due to the powers that be not actually HAVING those answers until they’re forced to wrap things up in a final season. The show manages to infuse biblical mythology and a more religious theme into the shows ethos and I’m genuinely curious where season four will take us.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The digitally shot series has maintained a very stable looking image for the last 3 years. Warner brothers has put all 13 episodes on 3 different DVD-9's with zero extras, so all the bitrate is put into the show. The problem with many modern TV shows on DVDs is that the studios compress the ever loving snot out of them and introduce tons of artifacts (look at The Blacklist Season 8 for that little bit of fun), but Warner has given the show enough room to breathe. Noise spikes happen here and there, but overall the bright NBC Universal show is clean and clear of most artifacting. Details are impressive, and it has a shiny and glossy look to it that's rather pleasing. Solid entry all the way around visually.




Audio:

There’s only a single 5.1 Dolby Digital track on board the disc (in the lower 384 kbps range vs. the standard 448 kbps range most Dolby tracks are encoded at), but even with the lower bitrate the show does feel nice and punchy. Bass is a prominent part of the show's mix, with a good amount of punch for when things get active, and the score widens out the surrounds to be a bit more immersive. Dialog is clean and located up front like one would expect, and surrounds get some solid work in the busy New York streets, or the crowded airport at the beginning of the show. It’s a solid mix for sure, and while it doesn’t push itself into exemplary categories, it is more than capable of delivering the sonic goods.








Extras:
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Final Score: ​

The third season of Manifest is an interesting thing. It still works the puzzle box aspect of the show, but also pulled back from much of the typical love triangle nonsense that saturated the first two seasons. It’s a bit darker, a bit weirder, and generally a bit more “religious” than the previous seasons. With it going more and more supernatural I’m honestly curious where the show runners will go in the fourth Netflix season. With how Lucifer and other shows have went, I wonder if Netflix will keep the tame tone of the series, or whether it will get a bit more adult in nature. Either way, I’m honestly glad they saved the show from undue cancellation, as too many series just get axed without given time to wrap up properly. Solid show, never boring, even if the premise is a bit cliched.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, Athena Karkanis, J.R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise, Jack Messina, Daryl Edwards
Created by: Jeff Rake
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: NR
Runtime: 594 Minutes
DVD Release Date: December 14th, 2021

Recommendation: Solid Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I watched this like I watched "Lost" but after awhile, I gave up on the series.. Just never ending questions..

 

[Michael Scott]

Thanks for the review. I watched this like I watched "Lost" but after awhile, I gave up on the series.. Just never ending questions..

That's the frustration with these puzzle box series