Manifest Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Fasten Your Seatbelts
Lizzy Buczak
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TV's biggest mystery is back!
Fasten your seatbelts because Flight 828 is nosediving into 2020 on Manifest Season 2 Episode 1.
Or, at least, that's that latest Calling that Mic experiences while she's getting rushed to the hospital from an accidental gunshot wound.
The Manifest Season 2 premiere wasted no time revealing that Mic was the victim of the love triangle between Jared and Zeke.
However, considering Mic was in all the teasers and remains the crux of this mystery, there was never any question about her survival.
Mic's Calling, which reimagines what really happened on Flight 828 -- or maybe reveals a truth that they've all forgotten -- is shared by Cal.
Cal tells her to "save the passengers," which leads her and Ben to the Vasik couple, a husband and wife who were on the flight and about to drive their car off a cliff to put an end to "seeing and hearing things."
It seems as though not everyone has had as much success figuring out the Callings as the Stone family.
But while it isn't immediately clear what purpose all the passengers are supposed to play, it's assuring to know that every passenger is experiencing them and not just the Stones.
However, it seems like the Callings have nothing to do with the projected "death date" and more to do with helping other people.
The Vasik's misinterpreted their Calling as suicide when they were actually supposed to save another car that had fallen over the very cliff they planning to drive off of.
It's a new year, but Manifest is doing it again.
One of my biggest gripes with Manifest Season 1 was all the unnecessary time spent on passengers that didn't contribute anything to the overall mystery.
Focusing on the Vasiks feels just like that. Without any clarity as to how they fit into everything, I'm indifferent about the storyline. Do I want them to survive? Yes. But what does it matter in the grand scheme of things?
Once again, these storylines feel like filler in a series that doesn't need it.
The Major: You don’t have to beat yourself up about it. You and Ben have been through a traumatic journey together. You have seen Ben at his most vulnerable. That’s appealing.
Saanvi: It’s best for me not to think about him in that way, that’s impossible.
Cal has always known more than he's letting on even if he's fully aware of his knowledge.
Also, can we talk about that growth spurt? They cannot just wave it off as a "haircut."
Cal finds Zeke, who is in town and not Canada like his postcard indicated, to convince him that he has to be with Mic since "they're running out of time."
Cal doesn't know why, but he knows that Mic and Zeke have to be together, which is giving off 'star-crossed lovers' vibes.
Immediately after Cal's visit, Zeke decided to turn himself in for her shooting to "become a better person."
Before he went away, he visited Mic, and their relationship is far more intense than it ever was on Manifest Season 1.
They're magnets wanting to connect but being pulled apart, which would have been fine had the series properly built up to that moment.
Instead, the lack of any natural, gradual build-up makes the pairing seem forced for the sake of the storyline.
And yet, maybe that's the point.
You need to be with Michaela because she doesn’t have much time. And neither do you.
Cal
Maybe the "forced" feeling is necessary to help us understand that Mic and Zeke have no choice but to give into those strong, cosmic feelings.
It's destiny; they cannot fight it.
According to Cal, Mic and Zeke are soulmates, and they're running out of time.
And taking into account the "death date" calculations, Zeke has less than a year before he dies.
But why does life depend on them being together?
The more Mic focuses on Zeke, the more she despises Jared, which isn't entirely surprising.
Jared continues to be an absolute ass in the way he speaks and treats Mic; he's selfish and controlling.
He wants to believe he's the hero in Mic's story and that he has her best interests at heart, but he doesn't.
All of his actions help us understand why Mic struggled with accepting his proposal back in the day.
In the present day, Jared has washed his hands of any responsibility in the accidental shooting and blamed everything on Zeke despite being partially responsible.
Mic: You can drop that, he is long gone.
Jared: You know that because?
Mic: I told him to run.
Jared: I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that to me.
Jared may have wanted to get the gun away from Zeke but he also instigated the fight.
He never trusted Mic, and despite being a witness to several of her Callings, continues to write them off.
Take the Vasik family for example. Mic told him something was off with their disappearance and he shrugged it off then acted surprised when she found them alive by trusting her gut.
Honestly, Jared sucks, and that's coming from a girl who used to ship their relationship.
Jared's jealousy over not being "connected" to Mic in the way Zeke is simply has gotten the best of him and he lost the girl for the second time.
With Zeke and Mic's connection growing more intense by the minute, Jared's not going to enjoy standing by and witnessing all of it.
Mic continues to find herself back on Flight 828, but as previously mentioned, in this version, the plane is nosediving, which isn't what happened.
Mic: Everything Zeke did, he did for me.
Jared: So did I.
At first, I thought that maybe this meant that Mic and Cal were remembering fragments of the truth, but the fact that one of her visions had Zeke on the plane makes absolutely no sense.
Honestly, I could sit here and spew off theories (I did that over the winter break if you want to read all the Manifest theories), but it would be useless.
The show continues to surprise fans and, quite possibly, itself.
The only logical explanation would be if Mic was having visions of a situation that happened in an alternate universe and the Callings were warnings from a version of herself on a different Earth.
Grace continues to prove that she's the absolute worst. If you didn't think she could get any worse than Season 1, she's here to show you that she 100% can.
Since I'm sure you probably erased this from your memory, let me remind you that Grace is pregnant and hoping that it's Ben's baby.
But, there's a slight chance that it's Danny's baby, so, you see, it's messy.
You're not the only one who can come back from the dead.
Vance
Instead of handling things like an adult and being honest with both men, Grace asked Ben to keep the pregnancy between the two of them so they could enjoy this moment together.
However, she plans on telling Danny the truth if it turns out he's the father after she gives birth.
How selfish can this woman be?
Danny deserves to know the truth about potentially becoming a father, and Ben shouldn't get all this pressure put on him for a baby that might not be his.
Should we call Maury?
Eventually, Grace comes to her senses when her teenage daughter points out how flawed her logic is.
When a teenager has more sense than Grace, well, that tells you all you need to know.
Considering Grace assured Ben that "nothing would change" if he turned out not to be the father, I'm guessing there's a solid chance that Danny is the dad.
And honestly, we should all be rejoicing -- Ben has enough problems, and the fandom collectively wants him to be with Saanvi.
We're halfway there as Saanvi admitted to having the hots for Ben during her therapy session.
Unfortunately, Saanvi is being used as bait because she's unaware that her therapist is The Major and doesn't have her best interests in mind.
Instead, she's just hoping to pull as much information from Saanvi as possible without blowing her cover.
Seeing our girl get used is seriously upsetting.
It's obvious that opening up to someone about her trauma has been hard for Saanvi, and once she finds out the truth, she'll never trust another soul again.
Hopefully, Ben will swoop in like Prince Charming (yep, a shameless Once Upon a Time reference) to save her!
One of the moments in the refresher montage at the beginning of the episode showed The Major saying that her men need to sit tight until they make sure the boy (Cal) is the Holy Grail.
If she's unsure about Cal, maybe the Holy Grail is Grace's unborn baby. You know, pending confirmation that Ben is the father.
Maybe the unborn child is why they all got another chance at life.
There have been plenty of religious references and undertones, and the unborn baby being the key to saving the world is almost biblical.
Sure, It would be ridiculous to bring back a plane full of passengers to ensure the birth of a child but honestly, crazier things have happened on this show.
Which brings me to that final twist -- Vance is alive!
When they brought up Vance in the montage refresher, I wrote down "is Vance alive?" in my notes.
Here's a useful piece of advice: don't skip those 40-second "previously on" clips because they give plenty of clues to fuel your theories.
Vance was revealed to be the man stalking Ben in the white truck as he's visiting passengers, and it raises one major question: why?!
It seems the NSA Director faked his death probably to continue his investigation without raising any red flags since it's easier to get stuff done when people think that you're no longer a threat.
But why come back now? Why risk it? What does he know that could help move this mystery along?
Based on the midseason premiere, the highly-anticipated second season is shaping up to be a thrilling ride.
Hopefully, it'll offer up more answers than questions this time around.
If you need to catch up on any episodes, watch Manifest online!
Why do you think Zeke is on the plane? What do Mic's Callings mean? Why is Vance back?
Lizzy Buczak was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in June 2021..
