‘Manifest’ fall finale: Fans are not ready to buy that Vance is dead, ‘not without a body’

Daryl Edwards’ character Vance probably saw the most significant turn in a character arc in NBC’s Jeff Rake-directed show ‘Manifest’. Starring Josh Dallas, Melissa Roxburgh, Athena Karkanis, J.R.Ramirez, and Parveen Kaur, ‘Manifest’ followed the aftermath of the sudden re-appearance of Montego Air Flight 828 which went missing for almost five and a half years. While the passengers were presumed dead, their sudden return was a shock for everyone since none of them had aged a day. The passengers didn’t only return to a world that was five years ahead of them, but now they were experiencing certain “callings” which seems to be leading them towards one destination.

Vance, who was quite skeptical about the “callings”, finally received his clarity in the fall finale episode when people around began to collapse due to the experiments that the UDS was carrying out on the 11 missing passengers. Being the rational man that he is, Vance only needed proof that the experiments were actually doing some severe collateral damage, and once he was sure about it, Vance did not waste a moment in breaking into UDS’ lab. Unfortunately, we witnessed an explosion where Jared was severely injured, and Vance was declared dead. However, fans refuse to believe that the cop who was once an enemy, and now an ally, is actually dead.

Thanks for the helping hand, Director Vance. #Manifest pic.twitter.com/c22AelxRfj

— Manifest (@NBCManifest) November 27, 2018

A fan on Reddit mentioned, “Vance is not dead… Just my feeling. Well, his friends call him “Bobby” and Mick saw him going into the ambulance presumably fine.” Fans are pretty concerned that now that Vance is dead why would his friend address him as Bobby? Does that mean that he has gone undercover, and will be taking up the name “Bobby” in order to keep himself away from the eyes of the NSA? One fan suggested, “Vance might be a deus ex machina at some point where some super duper top secret handshake government group that has secretly been working against the SP group takes Vance and heals him up and then later pops him out of a hat like a rabbit to save our gang at the precise moment they face imminent death.”

Well this is unexpected. #Manifest pic.twitter.com/e7ResalBUl

— Manifest (@NBCManifest) November 27, 2018

Fans are also considering that the presence of the peacock that Ben saw at the time of the explosion might be an indicator of Vance’s eventual return. A Reddit user stated, “Ben saw a vision of a peacock right after the explosion. Peacocks often symbolize resurrection. This is probably an intentional symbol that Vance will ‘rise again’.” However, since Vance’s body was not shown after the explosion there are chances that he might be held back by Fiona who seemed a little dubious when she suggested that she would take care of the rescued passengers.

While Vance’s body was not discovered, Michaela was seen stumbling over Lawrence’s body after the explosion. Fans are wondering if Autumn Cox was actually working for Lawrence, then who did she text towards the end of the episode? Also, is it possible that Vance has been taken by Lawrence’s people? One fan mentioned, “She was texting the dude on the speaker. (from the testing facility) Lawrence is dead…we see his body on the ground. Also, Jared and Mick’s boss seems so suspicious in this episode. Unless he was trying to give a clue about Vance.”

Bobby. #Manifest

— Jeff Rake (@jeff_rake) November 27, 2018

We can only find out if Vance is dead or not when the show returns on January 7, next year. However, it can be said after the ninth episode that a lot has changed in the character dynamics, and when the show resumes we will probably get to know if Vance was at all rescued, and if he is maintaining an undercover identity by going by the name, “Bobby”.