TV Recap: Manifest – Own Your Truth …

Manifest
“Turbulence” (Episode 103)
October 8, 2018

Last week’s episode (read my whole recap here) introduced us to more passengers of Flight 828, so let’s recap who we know:

  • Michaela Stone: officer whose fiancé married her best friend while she was missing, Ben’s sister
  • Ben Stone: Michaela’s brother and father to Cal, hearing music and voices in his head since returning
  • Cal Stone:  Ben’s son, Leukemia patient – condition hasn’t changed in 5 years due to flight, treatment from Saanvi’s research may cure him
  • Saanvi Bahl: Doctor, working on cancer research, led to breakthrough on cancer treatment 5 years prior, right before the flight.
  • Radd: Went to Jamaica to play for philharmonic, left son behind
  • Kelly Taylor: Gave interviews with reporters, shot at end of episode 2

And now for tonight’s episode…SPOILERS AHEAD!

This episode starts off with a flashback of Montego Air Flight 828 about to take off. Kelly is on her cell phone letting the person on the other end of the line know her reservation was messed up and they bumped her to Flight 828. She was frustrated and would rather die than fly Montego again.  Cut to the police at her house.  They recovered the bullet and are taking pictures of the crime scene.

At the Stone house, Michaela is playing with Cal.  He spelled out, “own your truth” on the refrigerator in magnets before going off to bed.  Ben, Grace and Michaela are watching the news about Kelly’s death.  They are wondering if there is a connection with her being on Flight 828 and talking to the media. Michaela reminds them not to jump to conclusions and leaves to see if she can learn more.

Olive is sneaking out of the house and Cal catches her.  She tells them that it is their little secret.

MANIFEST — “Turbulence” Episode 103 — Pictured: Parveen Kaur as Saanvi Bahl — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/Warner Brothers)

Saanvi calls Ben to tell him that she found a marker in Cal’s blood that wasn’t there before the plane, and wasn’t caused by the cancer.  She is going to run more tests to see what could be the cause.

“Do you think we need to be worried?”

MANIFEST — “Turbulence” Episode 103 — Pictured: Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone — (Photo by: Barbara Nitke/NBC/Warner Brothers)

When Michaela gets behind the wheel, she panics and asks Ben to drive her.  She doesn’t want him to interfere with the crime scene though, and asks him to stay out of the way.  Of course, Ben convinces her to let him tag along.  With very little questioning, the police let her through to the crime scene with Ben.  The detective thinks it’s a burglary gone wrong.  They took a necklace, but that’s it.  Her husband was out at a business dinner. There is a suspect with blood on his clothes that witnesses say has been outside on and off all day.

Director Vance of the NSA comes in to take over the case and chastise the detective for letting other 828 passengers at the crime scene.  Michaela and Ben leave (without getting questioned or reprimanded by Vance.)  They notice Kelly’s husband and go over to talk to him.  In her last days, Kelly kept mentioning to him that she had a “calling.” Ben guesses this is similar to the voices he and Michaela have heard.

Title Card.

The next day Michaela is at the station, and is listening to Kelly’s interviews with the press.  She notices Kelly use the phrase “own my truth” just like Cal spelled out on the fridge [Ed. Note: In her flashback here, Michaela sees herself setting the last letter in Truth on the fridge.].  Jared comes over and tells her she needs to stop with the case.  Not listening, she asks him to make a few calls for her.

“Own your truth.”

Michaela and Ben go to see Kelly’s husband.  He tells them about the surveillance from the government.  They also talk to the housekeeper, Christine (Joy Lynn Jacobs), and she mentions that Kelly went to the mall and came back with bruises on her arm.  Guests start to come over and Michaela has flashbacks to when Evie (Simone Elizabeth Bart) died.

At work, Grace is talking to her co-worker, Rob (James Hiroyuki Liao).  He asks if she ended her relationship with Danny?  She says yes. Not happy with that answer, Rob tells her it feels like she is cheating on Danny.  Grace agrees.

Haunted by her flashbacks, Michaela goes to Evie’s parent’s house. Before she’s even in the house, she’s telling Evie’s mom, Beverly (Adriane Lenox), that Michaela is there because she needs to “own her truth.” Its clear that Beverly is suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia.  Evie’s dad comes in and tells Michaela that he’s stopped reminding Beverly that Evie is dead.

Commercials.

When Michaela arrives back at the station. Jared comes by to give her a folder with Kelly and her husband’s information.  He notices she’s shaken up and she mentions Evie. He is supportive of her and reminds her that she was cleared of any wrong doing.  She needs to not blame herself for Evie’s death.

“Don’t waste your miracle on your pain”

On to the business at hand, Jared tells Michaela that one of the documents in the folder has the properties Kelly and her husband own.  On the list is a mall, and Michaela leaves the station.

Ben is searching through their house to see if the government has bugged them.  Saanvi calls and lets him know that she has the same marker in her blood and Ben wonders if they all could have it.  Slightly paranoid, Ben purchases security cameras.

When he returns, the twin’s childhood friend, Kevin (Sean Kaufman), is at the door looking for Olive.  Cal sees him (as he has grown 5 years) and runs away.  Kevin is there looking for Olive in any case. [Ed. Note: Bow chicka bow bow.]

Ben goes into the house, tells Grace he found footprints in the soil and the gate was open.  Quickly throwing his sister under the bus, Cal tells his parents that Olive snuck out, probably to see Kevin.  Ben is furious, but Grace does not seem upset at all, noting that Kevin has been great for her.  Ben immediately folds and compliments his wife that she is a great mother. (Side note:  I feel like I’m missing something here.  I’m wondering if there was dialogue that got cut or part of the scene was left out.  I just can’t connect why Ben folded so quickly. Ed. Note: I think Ben knows his wife is shtupping someone – from Olive’s slip last week at the storage unit and realizes he’s walking on eggshells in the husband and teenage parent department. Also, Ben is kind of a pussy with no strong convictions, from what we’ve seen. Plus, plus, I think he’s probably distracted, thinking about sleeping with Saanvi at this point.])

MANIFEST — “Turbulence” Episode 103 — Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone, Josh Dallas as Ben Stone — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/Warner Brothers)

Ben and Michaela go to the mall.  One of the workers there notices Michaela’s badge and runs.  They chase after her and a clock they pass reads 8:28.  Finally, they catch up to her and she tells them that Kelly and her husband rent to illegals and take a profit.  If the people don’t pay, Mr. Taylor calls immigration. They realize Kelly was planning on shutting down the business … having heard her calling.  She was trying to own her truth. Murder motive shifts to the hubby.

Before we continue with the police plotline, we get a nice moment between the twins.  Olive doesn’t understand why Cal broke their code and ratted her out? Cal blames her going out now with his former best friend but the real issue here … Cal is struggling with the age difference between them, are they even twins anymore?!?

At the station, Director Vance is with the Captain, and he asks about Michaela.  Vance tells Jared that his inquiries regarding Kelly’s case were not within his jurisdiction or routine.  He asks Jared to spy on Michaela and report back to him.

“You don’t want to cross me detective.”

Commercials.

We come back to Jared telling Michaela that while Kelly’s husband is a total douchebag slumlord, he’s not the killer — he had an airtight alibi and no money withdrawals to indicate murder for hire. And the  guy they have in custody was found with blood on him and lots of eyewitnesses placing him at the scene.  Jared tells Michaela to get it together and be a cop again.

Saanvi is in her lab doing science-y things. We see her checking blood results and Googling symptoms. The phase “ischemic stroke” comes up. That can’t be good.

Ben comes home to find the gate unlocked and someone in the house.  He attacks the man, Lindsay (Lawrence Ballard), but learns that he is a friend of Grace’s.  He stopped by to grab some equipment that Olive forgot.

“How many more men have keys?!?”

Patiently, Grace explains to Ben that she had a lot of help while he was gone.  And to the one guy Ben hasn’t asked about that he probably should be, well, he doesn’t need to worry about ever meeting that guy.  He doesn’t need to worry about past relations because he came back. [Ed. Note: I understand that Grace did what she had to do while Ben was gone but I think Ben has a legitimate gripe here. Given the current surveillance environment, about strange people being in the house – a little head’s up, Grace?!?]

Michaela goes to visit Isaiah (Olli Haaskivi), the man being held for Kelly’s murder.  He tells her she is one of the chosen, one of the pure, but she feels that she is far from pure, since she has not unburdened herself.

“You’ve returned to us.”

With Isaiah’s words in her mind, Michaela visits Evie’s parents again. She needs to tell them about the night Evie died.  Unfortunately, she doesn’t get to tell her story because Evie’s mother is missing.  Evie’s dad asks Michaela to go look for her since he can’t and gives Michaela his keys. He clearly doesn’t appreciate Michaela’s issue with driving these days …

Another flashback to Michaela’s accident.  Both Evie and Michaela are drunk, but since Michaela was less drunk, she got behind the wheel.  Back to present day, Michaela takes a deep breath and starts the car. You can do this girl!

Commercials.

We return and Michaela finds Evie’s mother wandering in the middle of the street.  She is about to get hit by a car, but Michaela swerves and the car hits a pole.  When Michaela goes to see if the person is okay, she notices that it is Kelly’s housekeeper and she has the necklace that went missing when Kelly was murdered.

At the police station, Christine confesses to killing Kelly – she was supposed to be dead and her return to life ruined all of Christine’s plans that she had revolving around a “happily ever after” life with Patrick.  Jared corners Michaela in the hallway that these “coincidences” aren’t adding up and that she needs to be straight with Jared.  She tells him that she’s different since the flight but she hasn’t figured out yet, how.  And the less he knows, the better off he’ll be, she says.

Back at the Stone household, the twins make up, “Twins rule.”  In the kitchen, Ben and Grace discuss their future.  Grace convinces Ben (or herself) that she still loves him and they will pick up right where they left off.

Montage! We see Michaela playing cards with Evie’s mom. Jared, at work, ripping up Director Vance’s business card. And then back to the Stone house where Ben is working on his resume (see the screen grab below – he’s a total math nerd.).

Photo: NBC

Michaela comes in and said that Saanvi wants them to go see her.

When they meet Saanvi, she tells them that her blood has the same marker and that it could be a sign of ischemia.  If they were “taken” extremely close to death and then brought back, that’s what it would look like.  She wanted to get a look at brain tissue, but when she searched for Kelly’s autopsy, there was no record of her in the system.

MANIFEST — “Turbulence” Episode 103 — Pictured: (l-r) Parveen Kaur as Saanvi Bahl, Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone, Josh Dallas as Ben Stone — (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC/Warner Brothers)

The show ends with Kelly’s body getting wheeled into a guarded facility. [Ed. Note: I don’t know why but this last scene gave me a very Fringe vibe. I liked it.]

And scene.

Thoughts:

With every episode, it seems as though there is a new “strange occurrence” happening.  First it was the voices in Ben and Michaela’s heads, then the music and the shadow and now the repetitive phrase.  There hasn’t been any explanation for any of them yet, and questions are starting to pile up.  Was the shadow significant? Is it showing that Cal has some sort of telepathic powers? Will Ben and Michaela hear voices again?  Are these phenomenon a way of communicating just that one time?

We did see the numbers 828 repeat again this episode for a brief second on the clock as Michaela ran passed it.  It went by so quickly though, I’m not even sure the audience could catch it.  If it is supposed to have significance, hang on that shot a little longer.

While we did get answers to Kelly’s murder, we are now wondering what is this marker in the blood, and why does Cal seem to be at the center of all this?  It feels like we are moving forward in the story, but not actually getting anywhere.  Questions are answered, but they’re not solving anything.  I know it’s early on in the season, and I’m hoping that sense of satisfaction will be filled eventually.

I’d like to make a note about relationships as well.  At this point in the season, I should be either pulling for Ben and Grace to make it work, or hoping they break up.  Either way, I should feel something for these two and I just don’t.  It seems a bit naive of Ben to think Grace wouldn’t have other relations after five years.

Also, where is Ben’s father?  I would think after Ben and Michaela returned, he would want to spend as much time with them and his grandchild as possible.  He just hasn’t been around.

[Ed. Note: I want to add in that for a second week in a row, we get another aspect of the religion theme. Last week, we had the “he is risen” bit with Cal and this week, we get Isaiah the zealot disciple – who’s greatest hope is to serve his penance on Earth, die, and come back just like the Flight 828 passengers. I’m really really interested in where this religion storyline goes.

Also, I am enjoying more than I thought I would watching Michaela deal with her PTSD from Evie’s death. We forget that this has been 5 years for everyone else, including Evie’s parents, but really fresh for Michaela. On top of the spooky flight stuff, I think watching Michaela deal with this, is much more interesting.]

Episode Score:  I give this episode a 2.5 out of 5 Casey’s.  Last week, I felt like we were moving in the right direction, but this week, I feel like we took a huge step back.

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