Manifest Character Review: Zeke Landon

*For the foreseeable future, some Character Review posts may not be published every Thursday as they have in the past.

*I apologize about missing a week. Life, as it sometimes does, got in the way.

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series Manifest. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the show.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In times of hardship, it is sometimes hard to see that good things are coming to us. But, as cliché as it sounds, a curse can turn into a blessing.

On Manifest, Zeke Landon (Matt Long) has had a hard life. When he is fifteen, his younger sister dies when the family is on a camping trip in Upstate New York. Unable to properly grieve for his sister, Zeke numbs his pain via drugs and alcohol. Then his father leaves the family and he gets involved into a relationship that is mutually destructive.

Eleven years later, Zeke has returned to the town where his sister lost her life. While chatting with a local shop owner about flight 828, his eye is drawn to the picture of Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh), one of the missing passengers on the flight. After leaving the shop, his plan for an easy hike is derailed by a blizzard. To stay warm, he burns everything he can. But he saves her picture just an earthquake strikes. Instead of trying to escape, he travels to the future.

When he is finally able to leave the cave, the callings tell him to find Michaela. What Zeke does not know that the callings are driving Michaela and her nephew Cal (Jack Messina) to find him as well. When they finally meet, they discover that the callings are bringing them together. But before their relationship can begin in earnest, he must contend with his past, the mysterious force that has brought them together, and Michaela’s jealous ex Jared Vazquez (J.R. Ramirez).

But in the end, all of that was worth it when Zeke and Michaela walk down the aisle as husband and wife.

To sum it up: The truth is that it is sometimes darkest before the dawn. But no matter how hopeless it seems, the light is still there no matter how faint. In following Zeke’s character arc, the audience can see that he is struggling with multiple issues that would easily kill someone else with a weaker emotional constitution. But there is just enough hope to keep Zeke alive and to lead him to a hopefully bright future.

Which is why he is a memorable character.

This will be the last character review post for Manifest. Come back next week for the next set of characters I will be reviewing.

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Manifest Character Review: Jared Vasquez

*For the foreseeable future, some Character Review posts may not be published every Thursday as they have in the past.

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series Manifest. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the show.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

In a perfect world, romantic love would be a simple thing. But love, like life, is never simple. On Manifest, Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez) thought he had it all. His career as an NYC detective was thriving and he was in love with Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh). Though he had proposed, she had yet to give him an answer. Promising a response when she returned from a family vacation, he waited for her. Then the plane she was on disappeared and Michaela, like other passengers, were presumed to be dead.

For the first two years, his romantic life was static. Then Jared dated and married Lourdes (Victoria Cartagena), Michaela’s best friend. When the plane landed and he discovered that Michaela was still alive, he reveals that his feelings are unchanged.

But there are complications. The first is that Jared is still a married man. The second is Zeke Landon (Matt Long), a mysterious man with connections to the passengers and a checkered past. Letting his jealousy take over, their fight results in a gun going off. Michaela is hit.

Over the next few months, Jared simultaneously acts via his jealousy while protecting Michaela from those who questionable motives towards her and the other passengers. But in the end, he backs off, realizing that he needs to let her go.

To sum it up: Sometimes love means letting go. Watching Michaela walk into the sunset with another man is the hardest thing that Jared has done. But he knows that it is the only thing he can do.

Which is why she is a memorable character.

Manifest Character Review: Michaela Stone

*For the foreseeable future, some Character Review posts may not be published every Thursday as they have in the past.

*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the television series Manifest. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the show.

There is something to be said about a well written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.

When times are tough, belief is sometimes all we have to get by. On Manifest, Michaela Stone has just survived a very strange plane ride. Arriving back in New York City with her brother Ben (Josh Dallas) and nephew Cal (Jack Messina) five and a half years after getting on a flight home from vacation, she finds that her world has changed. Her mother is dead and her now ex-boyfriend Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez) is married to Michaela’s best friend.

Things get complicated when Michaela has to go back to work as a police officer with Jared as her partner. Then the callings come, guiding her to do things that are not quite explainable. This leads her to Zeke Landon (Matt Long), bringing up Jared’s jealousy after they slept together. Eventually, Zeke and Michaela get married.

Through all of this, she follows the callings, believing in their message. While she goes on belief, her brother Ben goes on logic, looking for some sort of connection for what they have been through.

To sum it up: Some may think that believing is hokey or old fashioned. But it is has the power to give us hope when we have none. Michaela’s belief in following what she knows is right leads her to answer the questions in front of her and find the love of her life.

Which is why she is a memorable character.