On June 2, the highly-anticipated Season 4, Part 2 of Manifest premiered on Netflix. This new part marks the end of the series. For four seasons, the passengers that boarded Flight 828 have been solving spiritual mysteries to fight the end of the world. After all the unknowns and oddities of the world the passengers and their families were living in, many unanswered questions formed over the years. Despite the series finale answering some of those questions and even giving us a happy ending, some questions are still looming. Here are six questions I still have after the Manifest series ending.
- Why doesn’t Zeke remember Michaela if he was in the glow and returned to 2018?
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Netflix Manifest had me go through all the stages of grief of Zeke’s death in Part 2 all over again. As we know by Cal’s reemergence in Season 4 Part 1, vanishing or dying doesn’t mean anything in the world of 828. So, I was holding out hope that Zeke would come back to life in Part 2, and he did… sort of.
Zeke, Michaela Stone’s husband, started coming to Michaela through Callings of “the glow,” which I guess is where he was existing in the afterlife. So, was this just a figment of her imagination or was he actually still alive, but just in the glow? Zeke started to fade away before those two questions were answered. It was clear to Michaela that he was starting to forget her and was going back to 2018, the year he returned after being missing for over a year. So, did he technically ever die?
In the finale, the passengers board Flight 828, which magically spawns out of thin air. The passengers face their Death Date judgment — a test if they have been morally good — and those who pass remain on the flight as the plane enters “the glow.” The passengers then find themselves back in 2013, landing in JFK Airport just like they were supposed to over 10 years ago.
After realizing they are back to their previous lives, the first thing Michaela does is find Zeke. When she finds Zeke, he can’t remember her, but she makes it her mission for them to fall in love all over again. Why can the passengers remember everything, but Zeke can’t? My theory is that it’s because he died for a reason other than the Death Date. Also, is there some other universe where Zeke returned to 2018 and is living that life currently?
The reality that those 10 years no longer exist and they are back in 2013 is too much for my brain to handle, but all I know is that I hope Zeke and Michaela live happily ever after with no Callings, Death Dates, or mysterious disappearances getting in their way.
- will the family members and friends believe them?
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Imagine you’re going to pick up a family member from the airport and they try to tell you that during their flight they were gone for 10 years, solving Callings, and saving humanity. Yeah, you probably wouldn’t believe them. So, how exactly do the passengers think they will break the news to their family members and have them actually believe them? This is like 50 First Dates, but not as romantic.
- Why does Cal not remember anything?
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Netflix On the day of the passengers’ Death Date, Cal makes a sacrifice for the team. With the sapphire inside of him, he knew that he must sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity. When the fissure that contained the piece of Noah’s Ark lit up, Cal knew it was time. The sapphire within the fissure and the sapphire within him bonded together to create a beacon of light for all the passengers to follow, leading them to the destination where they faced their Death Date judgment. Cal vanishes after taking one for the team.
Following Cal’s sacrifice, the passengers board the 828 plane to face their judgment. As I mentioned, passengers who beat the judgment enter “the glow” and return back to 2013 like nothing ever happened. When Michaela and Ben Stone, her brother, step off the plane and see Grace (Ben’s wife), and Olive (his daughter), their first question is, “Where’s Cal?”
Lo and behold, Cal, Ben’s son, is back to the age he was on the original flight, 12 years old, and has no recollection of his time away. Nor does it seem like he ever went away for over 10 years. He has no sapphire in him or scars to prove his hiatus with the divine consciousness. Why can he not remember anything? Did Cal even exist in that 10-year timeline? This finale full-on mind boggled me.
- Does beating the Death Date mean Beverly is still alive and well?
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OK, this might be a selfish one for my sake, but Beverly, Evie’s mom, was my favorite character. When Season 4 started and it was implied Beverly passed away, I was distraught. Beverly deserved better.
Michaela took care of Beverly after Evie, Michaela’s best friend, passed away. In the years following the return of Flight 828, Beverly also became an honorary member of the Stone family as she dealt with Alzheimer’s. So, now that they are back to their old lives, will Michaela reconnect with Beverly? I sure hope so.
- Will Saanvi be able to cure Cal?
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Netflix Cal’s cancer has been a recurring theme throughout Manifest. When he first embarked on Flight 828 in Season 1, he had leukemia. However, when he reappeared five and a half years later on that same flight, his cancer was gone. Unfortunately, in Season 4 Part 1, it seemed his cancer had come back. Thanks to Zeke and the empathic abilities he gained from surviving his own Death Date, he is able to absorb the illness from Cal and cure him.
In the series finale, when the passengers returned back home to JFK Airport on the date they were supposed to originally return, Cal is back to age 12 and his cancer is back. In the closing moments of the episode, Ben told Grace that he knows a doctor that can cure Cal. That doctor was Dr. Saanvi, the doctor aboard Flight 828 whose research treated cancer patients while Flight 828 was missing. She uses that same research on Cal in Season 4 Part 1, but is unsuccessful in treating his cancer. Now that they have returned and no time has passed, will she resume her research and cure Cal?
- Does all the time they spent in the other “world” actually exist?
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Now it’s time for the overarching question of the finale. For four seasons, the 828 passengers have been following Callings, learning about the divine consciousness, and dealing with their new lives after being missing for five and a half years. However, in the series finale, the passengers return back to 2013, where it seems like those 10 years never existed and they were only gone for a few short hours. So, where were they really these past four seasons? Did they enter an alternative universe in the short hours they were on the plane? Does that “world” they were living in exist somewhere else? Though Manifest won’t be getting a Season 5, I have my fingers crossed for a spinoff so the answers to all of these questions can be at least slightly filled in.
