Manifest Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Carry On
Lizzy Buczak
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Ben, Olive, Mic, and the rest of the passengers scored a huge win on Manifest Season 2 Episode 8, but they have to remember to keep their guard up because the walls are closing in on them as the hatred and fear for "their kind" continues to bubble under the surface.
For starters, it's probably best that they keep everyone at arm's length and don't trust anyone in their home.
Ben is a kind man, but he has to be cautious because even those that seem to have good intentions can be trying to stab you in the back.
For example, Simon White is the leader of the X'ers who Ben believes is his kind boss at the University. Meanwhile, we know he doesn't have the Stone family's best interests in mind and proved that when he snuck into Ben's 828 cave and took pictures of all of his findings.
Why doesn't Ben have a lock on that door?! White got his hands on way too much information, which will only fuel his desire to put humanity first to make the nation "greater, safer, and stronger" for the humans.
Grace: The Callings didn't do this to TJ, Olive.
Olive: Well, it sure didn't save him either.
According to the X'ers, the passengers threaten that mission and are walking time bombs that need to be exposed for what "they really are." I wonder what White thinks that is, exactly.
He's not entirely wrong about the ticking time bomb part since they do have an expiration date that they're fighting to evade.
But other than that, White and his followers have based their accusations on nothing other than fear -- they're your run-of-the-mill bigoted hate group, which is dangerous.
We saw what someone who "believed" in the passengers was capable of doing, and there's no telling how far the X'ers are willing to go.
For that reason, I think Jared is working undercover to figure out what they're planning so that he can find a way to stop them.
Of course, to do that, he had to get cozy with them, which means leaking classified information, dating Tamara, shaving his head, etc.
However, he doesn't seem very good at staying undercover because not only did Mic catch onto him, but Drea did, too.
I'd understand if Mic realized Jared was acting weird and different because she knows him on a deeper level and learned he was snooping around her case files, but if Drea's catching on, then it means Jared's not doing a good job of covering his tracks.
Michaela: Anything else?
Drea: You're not going to want to hear this, but the bartender smells good.
Michaela: I'm getting a new partner.
Drea: No, you're not. You love me.
While they really want audiences to believe Jared is a mole and a traitor, the scene between him and Captain Bowers after Mic gave her the evidence seems to suggest that he's working the case with her approval.
Bowers didn't seem concerned that Jared went rogue, and Jared didn't seem concerned that Bowers knew. They both seemed more concerned that Mic foiled the operation.
Billy has always been a little wary of Jared, and Mic's visit there to rile them up gives him additional reasons to doubt him.
And it's unfortunate because Jared was getting close -- he even got some recognition from Simon White.
If it's true that Jared is undercover, maybe Bowers should have sent someone else into the field instead. Jared doesn't seem cut out for the gig because he has too much to lose.
I know you think it's always too personal between me and Vasquez, but that's the problem, he made it personal.
Michaela
White mentioned Billy was a loose cannon, and the fact that Mic stirred him up might mean he'll pull a stunt out of left field. I could see him targeting Mic and threatening to kill her right in front of Jared to test his loyalty to the cause.
There's no way Jared would be able to watch someone hurt Mic, which would ultimately prove that he's not an X'er.
It's also interesting how easily Mic accepted that Jared was an X'er.
Why is it so easy for her to believe the worst in him? Not once did she stop to consider that maybe he was undercover.
She knew "something was wrong," but instead of talking to him and confronting him to see his reaction or hear his side of the story, she went behind his back and possibly foiled the whole operation.
It's also hard to get a reading on Tamara. Is she also an X'er? Is she just supporting her idiot of a brother? What's her deal?
The Stone family wasn't doing so hot after the nightclub incident, and that was to be expected.
Olive was grieving TJ's death and blaming herself for going to the club in the first place.
Meanwhile, Ben couldn't get past the Al-Zuras journal showing him carrying Olive out of the nightclub.
The clues have been rather ambiguous, and much like with the star and the peacock, we didn't figure out what it really meant. You know when Ben puts on his glasses, though, it's getting serious.
The chanting in the Calling led them through a very, very, very narrow air duct underneath the Buddhist center (my claustrophobia was not digging that scene), which, unsurprisingly, led to them finding TJ barely alive. There was a 0.8% chance that TJ was actually dead.
Michaela: Jared betrayed me in a way that I can't even describe. There's no way to justify what he's done, but why do I feel like I deserve it?
Zeke: Cause you have a huge heart.
TJ was a survivor, and the only explanation offered was that it was another miracle.
The events of the episode seemed to take place the day after the nightclub accident, but that's still an impressively long time for TJ to stay alive with all the injuries he sustained, no food or water, and inhaling all the toxic air from the explosion.
Does that prove that the passengers are temporarily immortal? A fun theory could be that maybe, they cannot die before their death date.
Again, we're piling on more questions to an already complex season without any substantial answers.
Poor Cal has been sidelined for much of the season, and I think it's time they bring him back so he can lead us to the truth like last time.
The kid was instrumental in the first season of the series, and his presence has been missed.
At the very least, TJ's survival restored Olive's faith in the Callings, though, she's right, they really should be much clearer.
If Ben wasn't so in-tune with the Callings, he may not have found TJ in time. Couldn't they have a vision of where TJ was instead?
Adrian is in the wind following the attack, so it's safe to say, he's no longer a Believer. He'll likely be back because if he's also getting Callings, he's going to want Ben's help figuring them out.
Saanvi was out of it, and it wasn't just because she'd been working overnight to help with the influx of from the attack.
She may have had a medical breakthrough and successfully removed the Calling's anomaly from her DNA, but she's having adverse reactions that include memory loss and impulsivity.
I'm glad that explains why she randomly ran up to her ex, Alex, and made out with her because that scene was so out of place and not true to Saanvi's character.
Alex will likely stick around to help Saanvi determine what's causing the side-effects and how to eliminate them since she's the one who helped to develop a cure. And you know that'll bring them closer together!
But Alex and Saanvi need to work quickly as they don't have much time if they stand any chance at saving Zeke.
If you watch Manifest online, you know he has about six months left to live, and considering the frostbite is already settling in, it's going to be an excruciating time as he quite literally freezes to death.
What did you think about the episode? Did it hold your interest? Did you know TJ was going to be alive?
Do you think Jared is an X'er or is he undercover? Let us know in the comments, TV Fanatics!
Lizzy Buczak was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in June 2021..
