“All things work together for good.” That tenet is at the center of “Manifest,” the NBC mystery series about Montego Air Flight 828, a commercial airliner that inexplicably lands five and a half years after originally taking off, unbeknownst to the 191 people on board for whom only a few hours have passed. Amidst returning to loved ones long since moved on in their absence, the ill-fated passengers find themselves experiencing shared visions, or “callings,” imploring them to perform certain acts and rescue various strangers. Highly addictive, the show plays like “Lost” meets “FlashForward” meets “Highway to Heaven.”
Though popular with audiences from the get-go, NBC ultimately found it too expensive to produce and gave it the boot this past June after a scant three seasons. Like the passengers of 828, though, “Manifest” is getting a second chance! Just before its untimely cancellation, the series hit Netflix and proved highly binge-able. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “25 million accounts in the U.S. and Canada watched the show within its first 28 days of streaming. Moreover, ‘Manifest’ relentlessly stuck around in the service’s Top 10 for 71 days since its debut and was No. 1 in the U.S. for 19 days.” So it was a no-brainer when the streamer announced it was picking the drama up for a fourth and final super-sized season.
THR reports, “It’s going to be an incredibly visual 20 episodes and there’s some important [location filming] that’s always been built into the roadmap,” which is music to my ears! Set and filmed in New York, as of yet the series’ scintillating storylines have largely taken center stage over the locations, with the backdrops serving as just that, backgrounds – non-distracting mise en scènes that allow the action to play out unfettered.
One season one spot, though, did briefly steal the show. The ultra-contemporary beach house where Detective Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh), neural psychologist Fiona Clarke (Francesca Faridany) and Doctor Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) watch over the 11 missing passengers in the episode titled “Crosswinds” is a virtual feast for the eyes!
An elliptically-lined monolith marked by an entire floor of rounded windows overlooking the sands of Long Island’s North Shore, the residence certainly makes an impression!