Manifest: The Complete First Season

"Manifest" hits every note perfectly, and the tune is so familiar.

We have the philosophic supernatural series, reminiscent of "Lost," the psychic police officer crime serial, similar to "The Mentalist," and we also have a deeply felt family drama, not unlike "This is Us." Add a touch of conspiracy drama and dash of current social commentary to the mix, and you would expect a symphonic mess, a cacophony of genres. But NBC's new television series is not that at all. It holds our attention and exceeds our expectations.

When passengers returning to New York from Jamaica are given the option to save some money and take a standby flight, some of them jump on the opportunity. Little do they know that this choice will change their lives forever.

The airplane this fated group hops aboard, Flight 828, takes them to their destination safely, but a little later than they anticipated – because on their way home they travel through some kind of an inner dimensional time warp. For the plane's passengers, only a few hours go by, but for the rest of the world five years pass – while the ticket holders finished an article or two in their in-flight magazines, their families grieved their losses, grow up, take on new lovers and generally move on.

The return of Flight 828 is a big adjustment for everyone involved, but it gets even more complicated when certain passengers, like the NYPD detective Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) and her brother Ben (Josh Dallas) realize they now have psychic premonitions that help them to solve crimes.

Still, with all his foresight, Ben in unable to see that his wife (Athena Karkanis) has a new lover that she's keeping secret from him and his daughter (Luna Blaise) has a new father figure. The good news is Ben's son (Jack Messina) was terminally ill when he boarded the flight and he's now in a world where modern medicine may have a cure for his cancer.

Will the Stone family ever get back to normal? I'll be hard, especially when the NSA considers their every move a matter of national security.

You may expect "Manifest" to be formulaic, maybe even trite and laden with middle class mysticism, but inevitably this wonderfully watchable series defies expectation. Now all 16 episodes of the first season are now available on DVD, ready to surprise you.

"Manifest"
DVD $29.97
www.nbc.com/manifest/