Michaela Stone said it herself in the promo for Manifest's midseason premiere, "Crosswinds": "There's got to be a reason this is happening to us." As actress Melissa Roxburgh told CinemaBlend's own Nick Venable, Manifest reached a new level in the Flight 828 mystery with the twists of the Episode 9 midseason finale. Now that the NBC ratings darling has returned from winter break, Roxburgh promised some answers are coming this season -- in part through the arrival of new characters.
None of them know their fate, but Episode 9 leaves us in a really good place for a page turn. A lot of new things happen after we come back from the break, a lot of new characters, a lot of new layers of this mystery and yeah, it's really exciting. . . . The new characters definitely, without spoiling anything, give some answers towards the mystery and to what happens next.
Nice. Manifest easily hooked viewers, and it's constantly compared to Lost, but that's a double-edged sword. It comes with the fear that the overall mystery will keep delaying answers, and that the eventual answers won't be satisfying. But Michaela actress Melissa Roxburgh used the word "answers" multiple times with CinemaBlend, tying them to the new faces ahead -- including at least one newbie that will apparently be here for the long haul.
They are characters that will come along for the ride with us, and one in particular is kind of there to stay. And yeah, they give us a whole bunch of answers that we can't look away from.
"That we can't look away from" suggests maybe we'd like to? This could be a "be careful what you wish for" scenario, in that answers on what happened to Flight 828 and the truth behind this mysterious Calling may not be what we want.
Of course, we're not expecting all the answers in Season 1. You know the drill. This show is popular. NBC will be bringing it back for Season 2, it's just a matter of an official renewal. There will always be more to the mystery, more questions. But hopefully Manifest can achieve a good balance -- a few answers like breadcrumbs to keep us hooked and not too frustrated to continue.
Manifest Season 1's midseason premiere is called "Crosswinds" and we've already seen an exclusive clip that shows Michaela's Calling goes to the next level. Melissa Roxburgh told CinemaBlend Michaela has come to realize that whatever is behind the Calling might be something that she can talk to, whatever it is, whoever it is. She has a conversation with Ben where she says, "I asked them to save Jared. Maybe that's what saved him."
The exclusive clip showed Michaela connecting with one of the new characters, a Flight 828 passenger named Paul. Not sure yet whether he's here to stay or just here to provide some brief clues or answers to the big mystery, but he gives Michaela a shocking new Calling that's different from the others.
According to NBC, Michaela's "next-level Calling" takes her on a mission that brings her relationship with Jared (J.R. Ramirez) to a head. And then there's drama on the Ben (Josh Dallas) front. He explores an alternate meaning to Michaela's Calling that leads him to a new alliance and a powerful new adversary.
"Powerful new adversary" hints to a new villain ahead. In the Episode 10 promo, we hear Ben say "there's a new danger facing us -- the major." Maybe the new adversary is the character here to stay? We'll see.
Amid the big picture mystery, we're still expecting a lot of relationship drama. There's the connection between Michaela and Jared, despite his marriage to her best friend. Plus, Episode 9 showed Grace kick Ben out of the house. Hate that she did that, but it causes a big confrontation in Episode 10, and we're sure that's going to have repercussions for the rest of the season.
Ben is just trying to protect Cal (Jack Messina) -- among everyone else -- but he and Grace are just not communicating well and it's complicating everything.
Find out what happens next, and pray for good answers, when Manifest continues Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The midseason schedule is now in full swing, so don't forget to check out what else you should watch.
