‘Manifest’: Jared Vasquez and Michaela Stone, Flight 828 Stowaway, Ratings, Scriptures Soar
Manifest with Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez) and Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) on NBC is soaring high. Michaela is one of the passengers from the flight manifest of Flight #828. So is Ben Stone (Josh Dallas), her brother. But Flight 828 experienced more than turbulence on the fictional Montego Air path that propelled the characters 5.5 years into the future.
Will Jared Vasquez & Michaela Stone find lost love on Manifest?
NBC’s Manifest is the talk of Monday nights. In the same way that Twitter fans have made their thoughts about Last Man Standing known, they are buzzing over Manifest. Ratings for the newly addictive show landed it as NBC’s top-rated scripted show. The premise is this: There was turbulence after flight delays, last-minute switcharoos, and a mysterious stowaway boarded Flight #828.
The passengers on the flight manifest may have felt a rough bump, but upon arrival, they learn 2013 is now 2018. Michaela and Ben are a brother and sister team who must deal with life after a five-year jump that felt like five seconds. Flight 828 passengers came home with a calling and Flight 828 connects them. Ben’s wife has a boyfriend and Michaela’s would-be husband has a wife – her former best friend.
Romans 8:28 is prominent in Manifest
Viewers see the numbers 828 all over Manifest, and not just as a flight number. Scenes of 8:28 showing up as the time, or in a pivotal scene about Scripture, reveal the truth. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose,” reads Romans 8:28.
Fans quote Manifest on social media, and spell out their feelings about the NBC hit. “I also need Michaela and Jared to get back together,” wrote one. “Don’t waste your miracle on your pain,” quoted a different #Manifest fan on Twitter. Others are comparing Manifest to Lost and different NBC hits. “So, This is Us meets X Files in a midair collision and have a baby named #Manifest,” quipped a viewer.
Belief and disbelief
Reality shows like 19 Kids and Counting may capture a Christian crowd, with overt signs of belief. Yet NBC’s hit show is a scripted drama that molds science fiction with Scripture that is catching all kinds. With weird markers in the blood of the Flight #828 passengers, the science is rife with the spiritualism.
Ischemic stroke is mentioned as a possibility, with the theory that the passengers were brought to the brink of death and back. As such, the onboard souls may have been drained of blood and had it replaced. And yet steps to confirm that theory were nixed when one already-murdered Manifest passenger’s body disappeared.
Many are called, but few are chosen
The theme of the chosen passengers selected to experience Flight 828 is common throughout Manifest. It’s a notion that displays itself in prescient premonitions that have already rescued one man from jail and children in danger.
Even Luke 8:17 was quoted in the most recent episode: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” Expect a stowaway to surface.
Come back to Soap Dirt for more news with Jared Vasquez and Michaela Stone on NBC’s Manifest.