One thing becomes evident at the conclusion of Manifest Season 4 Part 2— thank god, thank the divine, thanks fans, and thank Netflix for reviving this show, believing in it, and giving it another shot at a proper ending, the one that was always planned since Flight 828 went missing.
Because it was… absolutely incredible.
***Warning: Spoilers Ahead for the final 10 episodes of Manifest Season 4***
The series hasn’t always been smooth sailing, or, I should say, it hasn’t been without its turbulence—frustrating fans with vague twists and turns about what happened to the passengers, death dates, callings, and more for four years—but the second half of the season proved that Jeff Rake always knew how it was going to end. He had the blueprint, and he delivered it flawlessly to those fans who stuck around for the journey.
If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you know that I hate series finales because they never stick the landing, but Manifest came quite close, and I’d go as far as to say that for such a complex series, it got as close to perfect as it possibly could.
It gave not only viewers the closure they needed but it also gave the characters what their hearts desired—and they’ve been fighting for.
Flight 828 disappeared and landed five years later, completely upending the lives of passengers and stripping them of any chance at returning to what once was. During that time, they chose to power through and live as best as they could—through all of the hate crimes, lab tests, and government lockups—all in hopes that they could find some answers about what happened to them. And that included solving the Callings in hopes of balancing the scales and saving the Lifeboat when the Death Day finally came knocking on their door.
While it would’ve been much easier to leave the series as an open-ended finale, allowing viewers to come to their own conclusion about what happened, Rake decided not to do a disservice to loyal fans who campaigned for the truth and begged for clarity, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle along with the passengers week after week.
Instead, we got a full conclusion that went into depth and provided so much insight into all of those questions that have been floating around for years, including the “why.” Why these passengers? And the beauty of this is that there wasn’t a good reason for this one. Rarely do we get a reason in life for why things happen to certain people—so this felt fitting. The simplicity of it was that it was just because. They were a group of random people connected by a situation—a mix of good and bad, who, given the choice, could decide if they wanted to be better or continue on their same path. There wasn’t anything special about them, nor were they chosen for any specific qualities—it just was what it was.
And they all mostly rose to the occasion. As the Death Date closed in on them, Cal figured out that the Peacock calling was a hint that he needed to merge two sapphires together. And when Angelina, who considered herself an angel and the chosen one, decided not to stop the end of the world but rather encourage it so that only her “flock” would survive, Saanvi discovered that the driftwood she threw into Storm King Mountain also contained sapphire and would suffice.
Cal, hailed as the Holy Grail throughout the first half of the season, made the ultimate sacrifice for his family, connecting with the sapphire, which resulted in a huge beam that lured all of 828 to the same point in time. They always said that it was connected, and the moment of all the passengers uniting and waiting for their judgment day was simply proof of that. They were always in this together, from beginning to end, helping each other figure out how to navigate the complexities of what was being asked of them.
Cal’s sacrifice then miraculously unearthed the actual missing plane, in perfect condition, waiting for them to board.
It was all surreal, but that was kind of the point. There were biblical references, sometimes to the point of annoyance, but the one that kept bubbling up to the surface was Noah’s Ark, and Flight 828 was Noah’s Ark.
The passengers were tested many times throughout the course of the five years for a reason. When judgment came, their actions and flaws were weighed against each other, with those who didn’t take their second chance and make the best of it, quite literally disintegrating into a pile of ash. The divine assumed that those passengers didn’t learn the right lesson from their second chance, harnessing the power for the wrong reasons.
The visuals on this were stunning—particularly for Angelina’s death (which was much deserved and necessary)—though actually seeing the effects of the death date shouldn’t have been all that surprising as we’ve seen it before with the methheads.
Those who survived their judgment day—including Eagan, Adrian, and Saanvi—all made it into the glow, and this time, the doors opened for them as they exited the plane, walking right back into 2013 as they should have all those years ago. And it’s as if they stepped through a time machine, with only a few hours passing since their takeoff.
Seeing the passengers arriving in their old clothes, the ones we first met them in, was enough o give me goosebumps, but it was also oddly comforting. Everything they went for wasn’t for nothing—it put so much into perspective for them, showing them what was possible and what their hearts truly yearned for; the leaps they were too afraid to make, the things they took for granted, and the road that lay ahead.
It was their actual second second chance. And it was both a blessing and a curse because while the passengers all kept their memories of the last 11 or so years (including what transpired in the 5 that they were “missing”), their loved ones who weren’t on the plane with them had absolutely no idea that anything was amiss.
Ben was thrilled to see Grace alive in this timeline as the only thing missing in his life was his wife, however, he couldn’t share that he knew anything about their daughter, Eden, who didn’t exist at this time just yet. The only consolation is that Ben has always believed that’s what meant to be will be, so he had no qualms that eventually, they would add Eden to the family down the line.
MANIFEST SEASON 04. Ty Doran as Cal Stone in Manifest Season 04. Cr. Netflix © 2022
Mick and Ben’s mother was also alive, while her father never had a stroke. They were all reunited again, getting the chance to spend more time with the people that have been gone for so long.
Olive and Cal were also kids again (and Cal’s CGI effects were a little hard to accept but I get it, the kid has aged and no amount of makeup could undo that), but neither of them remembered anything that happened. And so while they may have gotten their childhood back—and the possibility of growing up together—it’s a bummer that they won’t remember all that they went through together to truly cherish this moment. The clean slate allows them to live without the burden and heaviness of what they went through, but I feel as though Cal proved he was strong enough to carry it even since childhood.
The Stone family, despite all the hits and losses, truly grew together while working toward stopping the Death Date, and it would have been nice for the kids to carry that with them. Cal didn’t even remember Saanvi, and Olive had no recollection of her romance with TJ since he was an adult while she was a child. TJ did, however, connect with Violet, who was alive in this timeline, and he got his mom back, so I would say he’s probably thrilled with the outcome either way.
It was also heartbreaking to see how Vance didn’t remember any of them, despite being such a crucial part of their lives for so many years. Vance and Ben’s bromance was one of the best things to have happened to the series, but it’s just a reminder that there are tradeoffs in life that are necessary.
The passengers will forever be bonded and connected through this shared experience—it’s one that no one understands aside from them. Saanvi may not be a part of the family in the same way she once was, but with Ben informing Grace that she’s going to cure Cal’s cancer, she would still be part of it in a new way.
As for Mick’s endgame, it was always Zeke. And as someone who shipped her and Jared, it makes sense when you look at it through the scope of that final episode. There’s a reason Mick hesitated all those years ago, and it’s because she knew deep down that she and Jared wanted different things. She had the pleasure of seeing that in real life thanks to Flight 828, so when she landed back in 2013—and Jared had no recollection of all that they’d been through as exes, friends, partners, and a couple—she chose to set him free and no longer take a place in his heart. She knew that his destiny was to be with Drea, who Jared met while leaving the airport shortly after. And it felt right. When Mick said “you gotta have Hope,” it gutted me because it showcased just how massive her decision was and how much consideration went into it. She wasn’t just thinking of herself, she was thinking of everyone.
Mick, however, recalled Zeke telling her that he was at the airport the night her plane landed—one of the many near-misses of their fated meeting—so she ran to fetch his cab, calling him her “husband” and promising to explain everything afterward. Zeke was definitely confused, but he was also in awe of Mick because he felt their connection. And even if you didn’t ship Zeke and Mick in the post-828 timeline, their reunion here, even with his lapse in memory, just made sense. It all fit into place in the way that it should have, but might not have without all those experiences granted by the missing plane.
Some things, like Vance investigating the mystifying and “impossible” disappearance of 11 passengers on 828, still needed to happen, but in different ways.
And I’m sure the passengers that survived will tell you that nothing is impossible, including a fitting finale that covered all of its basis and gave fans exactly what they wanted and then some.
Turning it over to you because I totally understand if this finale wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and you expected something way different. What did you think? What parts did you love? What did you hate? What would you change?