“Manifest” certainly didn’t hold back, throwing a few curveballs at our characters, pushing them all to the brink. But is everything as it seems with all of them?
We’re certainly asking ourselves that question after seeing the moves Jared was making this week with his new waitress girlfriend. Sure, she’s gorgeous, but what are you doing, dude? Unless you know exactly what you’re doing.
We’re also starting to worry about Olive more and more, and beginning to wonder if TJ is the good guy he seems to be. Plus, a flashback with direct connections to the present that has nothing to do with Callings or passengers. No, seriously, how is that possible?
It again raises questions about whether the passengers were random and who may have known about the flight, the passengers and those left behind even two years after the plane’s disappearance. Of course, that all ties into the biggest mystery of what happened to Flight 828 and the core of the whole series, so we’re not expecting those kinds of answers yet.
But that doesn’t stop us from having a bunch of questions of a more immediate nature. Here’s what’s keeping us up at night after this week’s installment.
Who Is Ben’s “Save Her”?
At first, it certainly seemed like it might be his (it’s a girl!) daughter with Grace, but that kind of turned into a non-event. So the heavy-handed hinting at the close of the episode would seem to indicate it’s suggesting he needs to save Olive. But from what? From the Church of the Believers? From Adrian? Are Adrian’s motives more sinister than money?
Or perhaps it’s just that Olive is in danger simply by being associated with the church. After all, it had just been attacked and torn apart by Xers earlier in the episode. By the way, can we say it was probably ill-advised of Ben to show up in a hoodie to threaten and rough up Adrian almost immediately after men of that description were tearing the place up?
At this point, he hasn’t saved Olive from anything, but Grace didn’t do a very good job when it came to her Calling to “open her eyes.” Is it possible those callings are somehow connected and it’s the same “her.” It could still be Olive, as maybe Grace was wrong in thinking it was Xer soccer mom (or that’s a Calling still pending).
What Does the Fortune Teller Know?
Also still pending is this symbol on the stopwatch, which got infinitely more complicated when Grace revealed that a Tarot reader had given Oliver that card two years after 828 disappeared. How could this symbol (which also ties to the peacock Calling) be on this compass? Especially as we know it was an engraving added later, though it’s not clear exactly when.
It raises so many questions about whether it’s coincidence or if this fortune teller somehow connects to the missing passengers, even all those years ago? Did she know something more than just being good at her job? The rules of “Manifest” may differ from ours, so maybe she’s just a real seer, but we suspect there’s something more to it than that.
Did she recognize Olive and Grace as survivors of missing passengers? If so, what was her reason for wanting to implant that message of hope in Olive to the extent it became a mantra she’s repeating to this day? Why was it so important that Olive never give up hope that Flight 828 would return?
Why Is Jared Getting in Bed with Xers?
We’ve been a little suspicious of Jared’s motives for suddenly hooking up with some random bartender, and now we’re even more confused. He’s either deep undercover — possibly without the captain even knowing — or he’s really so angry with Michaela, he’s turning turncoat on her and everyone.
That’s because not only is the bartender’s brother an Xer, but it was Jared who tipped them off that Michaela’s raid was coming, giving them time to escape. It also made Mick look like an idiot in front of a captain who already appears to hate her, though that could be petty revenge for her throwing him under the bus. Truthfully, though, the captain may not like either of them much.
If Jared is working undercover to get to the root of these Xers, he appears to have hit a jackpot when Billy took him to see his “boss,” who turned out to be the same Simon White who was pivotal in getting Ben hired on at the university … and happens to be married to Grace’s angry soccer mom definitely-not-a-friend.
If that’s what he’s doing, that’s good for everyone. If he’s going full Xer, then that’s terrible news. The fact he knows Grace and Cal were targeted by Xers should make him more reluctant to genuinely be working with them. No matter his thoughts about Michaela, he has to still think of Grace and Cal as not only innocents, but extended family.
Why Is the Captain Gunning So Hard?
But as much as we’re questioning Jared’s motives right now, we’re growing more and more suspicious of this new captain by the episode. We get that she doesn’t trust Michaela and her anonymous tipsters saving the day over and over again, but her open hostility to every step of an investigation or even an interrogation makes no sense.
Is it personal and petty, or is the captain suspect as well and perhaps working with Xers. If she hates Michaela in part simply because she’s an 828er, that could make some of her behavior make a little more sense. That said, though, it complicates what Jared’s doing.
Unless, as part of his undercover infiltration, he’s trying to expose the captain as part of their group, trying to undermine Michaela’s work and hoping to use Jared to help her and the other Xers achieve their goals, whatever those may be.
What Are the Xers Building To?
Ben and TJ figured out that there is a pattern and what appears to be a coordinated strategy to the Xer attacks, and part of it is about throwing the police off the scent. Now, if they’ve got an inside (or two) at the NYPD then that would certainly help to keep the cops off of their trail.
As the Major goes underground, our focus appears to be shifting (at least for now) to the Xers, so what could they be up to? Why the coordinated confusion tactics to keep the police unfocused? And is destroying Michaela’s credibility with the regular officers part of that strategy, as she’s the only one really committed to doing anything about attacks on passengers?
Why put Ben at the university, unless like the Major with Saanvi it’s in hopes of having a better connection to Ben’s research and obsessive work into the passengers? Why attack such a high-profile targets as Grace and Cal in the 828 sphere? And what do they ultimately want? Do they want 828ers dead? Rounded up and put in camps? And … are they in any way associated with the Major and her organization?
Who Is Courtney?
Finally, on a far more personal note, who is Courtney? Is there a story behind her other than just being Zeke’s wife? There’s so little we know about his past that it’s certainly possible he got married at some point and whether estranged, separated or divorced, he’d have likely not told Michaela.
But is there a returnee connection to her? When were they married? How long were they married? Did she have any connection to him during the time he wound up in that cave where he had his disappearance and subsequent return?
Or is she just perhaps here to make things complicated between Zeke and Michaela in the same way that Jared makes things complicated. Also, why has she showed up at Michaela’s house in a panic? Is she in some danger, or is she laying a thread? How many people know Zeke is also a returnee? Is he in danger like the passengers?
“Manifest” will surely answer none of our questions and raise a bunch more as it continues on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
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