Benvi stans, this is not a drill! At long last, Manifest’s fourth and final season gave fans who ship Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) and Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) exactly what they wanted. Well, sort of…
Back in November 2022, Manifest Season 4, Part 1 surprised viewers with a blessed Benvi kiss. Sure, the two 828 passengers smacked lips as an impromptu cover-up for another one of their risky plans, but the passion they exuded felt real. And though they never debriefed about the smooch, when Saanvi made a sentimental toast at Michaela and Zeke’s engagement party later in the series — sharing that as someone still in search of her person they gave her hope — the camera switched focus to Ben, giving fans the green light to swoon.
Manifest Season 4, Part 2, gets Benvi stans all hot and bothered again in Episode 12 when Saanvi and Ben once again kiss to avoid getting caught in a restricted area. This time, they share a full-on steamy as hell make-out session that’s interrupted by Vance. And in true Benvi fashion, the hotties somehow summon the strength to go about their days as if sexual sparks didn’t soar between them. At the end of the episode, as Saanvi is crushing Ben at a game of chess, she cheekily acknowledges their second intimate moment by saying, “We made a pretty good team today.” Her words served both as a reminder that Manifest mastered the art of the slow-burn, will-they-won’t-they romance, and as reassurance that after holding out this long, the Benvi build-up would carry on until Death Day was knocking at their door.
Ben and Saanvi have always shared palpable chemistry, but as impending doom nears, pressure mounts, and the stakes grow higher than ever in Manifest’s final 10 episodes, their connection, desire to save the lifeboat, and simmering sexual tension grows even stronger. As a result of Season 4, Part 2’s unrelenting chaos, the two characters are unfortunately separated for a significant period of time, but when a Calling reunites them hours before the world is set to end it’s clear that absence only made their hearts grow fonder. After Cal hits a dead end with Callings and all hope seems lost, Ben encourages passengers to spend their last moments with loved ones. For a few moments the 828ers essentially admit defeat, and Saanvi and Ben — fueled by end-of-the-world angst — find each other and finally give in to their physical desires.
Aside from the dark, potentially deadly circumstances surrounding them, the moment was everything I’d ever dreamed of. After a few seconds of impassioned kissing, Saanvi and Ben locked eyes, she unbuckled his belt, he laid her down on a bed, and they finally had the proper, mutually-intended hookup fans have spent four full seasons craving. Then what did they do? They didn’t talk about it, of course! In hindsight, their silence was for the better, because it allowed me to savor the satisfying summit and romanticize all the “what ifs” a little longer. When they finally had The Talk in Episode 19, it was such a letdown I screamed “WHY” out loud at my television screen.
An emotional Death Day eve ended with Saanvi joining Ben by a bonfire and saying, “We never got much of a chance to talk.” This is it, I thought with a full face of clown makeup on. But rather than a long-awaited declaration of love, Ben explains he doesn’t think he’ll ever get over his late wife Grace and tells Saanvi it’d be unfair to love her halfheartedly. Saanvi assures him her heart is still with her ex- Alex, then utters a line that made me cackle with secondhand embarrassment: “You may not be my endgame, Ben Stone, but I’ll always have mad love for you.” MAD LOVE?! The word endgame uttered in casual TV conversation? Ben simply replying, “Same?” I had to laugh to mask my burning disappointment, not just because they pumped the brakes in the cringiest way possible, but because at the time it made no sense why these two single soulmates who undoubtedly share a physical and intellectual attraction to each other were letting past — fully long-gone — relationships stand in the way of their future happiness.
I was seconds away from adding Manifest to the growing list of TV shows that made a concerted effort to fan service a ship only to inexplicably pull back and avoid making them endgame, but everything became clear in the finale when passengers boarded Flight 828, flew into the glow, and landed at JFK on April 7, 2013 as originally planned. Ben reunited with his very much alive wife Grace, Saanvi found Alex waiting for her at her gate, and it would have been painfully awkward if Benvi hadn’t been shut down before the picture-perfect ending.
No offense to Grace or Alex, but Ben and Saanvi’s bond is unbreakable. The two shared a life-altering experience and a connection that can’t be replicated, so I’ll always have — forgive me — mad love for Benvi. Manifest‘s refusal to make the two romantic soulmates is understandable albeit upsetting. But it simply means they’re joining my list of World’s Greatest Soup Snakes, like Lenny Bruce and Midge Maisel, Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton, and Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak before them.
All four seasons of Manfiest are now streaming on Netflix.