And the first 10 episodes of the twisty plane drama—which follows the passengers of Flight 828 after they return five years after their mysterious disappearance—took the series to new heights with the Death Date looming 18 months away, increased Callings, answers that raised more questions, and even a heart-wrenching death that we’ll probably never get over. A lot happened in the first half of the final season, so we’re breaking down the biggest moments of the series below:
The Quest to Find Eden
The series picks up two and half years after Grace’s (Athena Karkanis) death and Eden Stone’s kidnapping, both at the hands of the “smallest sociopath” known to mankind, Angelina (Holly Taylor). Despite pleas from everyone around him to just let go, Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) refuses to give up on his daughter, and his dedication to finding her proves worthy when he gets a call from Eagan (Ali Sohaili), who informs him that he knows where his little girl is. Eagan doesn’t do anything for free, however, so he leverages the information for his freedom, which Vance (Daryl Edwards) hesitantly grants. Unfortunately, Ben goes rogue after getting the address to where Angelina and Eden are staying, which is how he winds up tied up in the basement of a refugee safe-house operated by Adrian (Jared Grimes), who has given Angelina and Eden a temporary place to crash. A Calling leads Mick (Melissa Roxburgh), Jared (JR Ramirez), and Zeke (Matt Long) to the safehouse, and when they realize the place has been lined with explosives, they act fast. Cal (Ty Doran), who has aged and returned five years older, has what can only be explained as deja-vu with his Calling—he claims to know how the situation will unfold—so he walks into the house and successfully brings the passengers that are being held hostage, along with Ben and Eden, to safety. The Stone family is reunited and made whole, but that doesn’t mean Eden is safe as Angelina, who somehow survives the explosion at the house moments later, continues to pursue ways to get her “angel” back throughout the season.
The 828 Serial Killer
When one passengers is murdered, it seems like an isolated incident, but when a handful of passengers end up dead, Mick and Jared realize that they have a serial killer on their hands that’s targeting 828 passengers They realize that the common denominator behind all the killings is that those being targeted are the ones who helped aide Angelina and Eden. When Violet, a young passenger is murdered shortly after her date with Cal—who goes by the name Gabriel so the government doesn’t turn him into a lab rat for his mysterious aging abilities—he becomes their number one suspect, however, Mick’s Callings help her identify the suspect as Noelle, Angelina’s mother, who is making passengers pay the ultimate price for leading her daughter astray. Noelle’s accomplice is her husband, who sets his sights on baby Eden in hopes of proving to his daughter that the toddler is “no angel,” but his mission is unsuccessful as he’s blocked by Zeke, who gets shot in the leg in the process, and eventually pushed out the window to his death by Olive (Luna Blaise).
Dragons, the Divine, and Sapphires, Oh My!
There’s a lot to unpack here, but I’ll try to be as succinct as possible. Dragons: Dragon imagery is nothing new for Manifest, but when Henry Kim, a passenger from Singapore who was detained and experimented on in his home country, breaks free and arrives in New York in a cargo ship to deliver the plane’s black box to Cal, he reveals a dragon scar on his arm. He tells Cal that he’s a “dragon” just like him, which is just as cryptic as it sounds. When Kim is later captured by the FBI, the scar somehow appears on Cal’s forearm. Elsewhere, Olive and TJ realize that the papyrus of the Goddess Maat also features a dragon constellation, but it’s unclear what it all means. Divine Consciousness: You know how one of the main questions Manifesters have is where did Flight 828 go? Well, it turns out, it went to the divine consciousness. Cal remembers that when he disappeared with the tail fin, he rejoined Captain Daly (Frank Deal) and Fiona (Francesca Faridany) in the divine consciousness where he felt truly at bliss. Daley and Fiona don’t seem keen on returning back to their world, but Cal knows he has unfinished business, and since time likely moves at a different pace there, he returns five years older. Sapphire: The stone has been mentioned many times in previous seasons, but Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) figures out that every prior miracle involved sapphire, which she needs in order to generate the Callings and tune into what she calls the “God frequency.” She believes if they could just tap into the divine consciousness, they would be able to save the Lifeboat. Through her research, she realizes The Major experimented on a handful of passengers using sapphire, and increased their pain to bring them to a constant state of Calling. However, she needs to obtain the Omega Sapphire, with supercharged properties, in order to achieve the desired results without hurting the passengers. They locate the Omega Sapphire eventually, but Eagan makes off with it before he’s knocked unconscious and it gets into Angelina’s hands. In the wrong hands, that much power is dangerous, as we see her immediately abuse it to trigger fake Callings for selfish reasons, which, in turn, seems to kickstart the apocalypse as lava fissures begin opening up across the world. Gupta, who worked with The Major and then at Eureka alongside Vance and Saanvi, scolds Saanvi for “playing God” and letting the precious stone get into the wrong hands. She seizes their whole lab while the FBI begins detaining passengers and locking them up until further notice. Meanwhile, Olive thinks the sapphire is the key to balancing Maat’s scales and ensuring the world’s survival.
The Truth About the Callings and the Death Date
Many fans theorized that the Callings were actually memories—and they were right. It was confirmed this season with the reveal that Flight 828 went to the divine consciousness, with Cal even remembering how a situation unfolded at the passenger safehouse so he could lead Ben and Eden to safety before the explosion. The second shocking development was that the Death Date wasn’t just for the passengers, it was for the eight billion souls on the planet. The end of the world is nearing, and saving the Lifeboat means saving everyone in the world from the fiery destruction. Unfortunately, the Callings don’t exactly reveal a playbook on how to save the world, so stay tuned.
A Necessary Yet Heartbreaking Death
As Cal’s leukemia returned, his health declined rapidly, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Or so they thought. As Ben and Mick attempted to retrieve the sapphire from Angelina, Olive and TJ brainstormed ways to save Cal knowing that he’s the Holy Grail and can save humanity. Zeke then understood that he needed to use his powers as an empath to absorb Cal’s sickness and save his life. It was an incredibly selfless decision, but it was one we should have seen coming considering all the times that Cal put his life on the line to save Zeke. Zeke was simply returning the favor, while finally finding the meaning in his newly acquired abilities and his second chance at life. The scene was tragically beautiful as he called Mick to say his final goodbye and thank her for the life that they built together. When she finally arrived by his side, it was in time for his final moments, and as she held his lifeless body, sobbing about the devastating turn of events, Cal reanimated, much to Ben’s relief. Zeke died so Cal could live, and now, the fate of humanity rests on Cal’s shoulders. We saw that he was much more powerful than Angelina, who somehow made it out alive of the church after being crushed by rubble with a bit of the sapphire absorbed in her body, so my guess is that in the coming season, we will see a face-off between the two of them. Per TVLine, show creator Jeff Rake revealed that the final 10 episodes of the series, which currently do not have a premiere date, will pick up “a number of months” following the events of episode 10. And there’s a possibility that after a time of mourning, Mick and Jared (who has been in a casual relationship with fellow detective and Mick’s best friend, Drea (Ellen Tamaki)) will find their way back to each other after all, which I know would delight so many of you shippers! Only time will tell how this will all end, but it seems like the series may just stick its landing. You can stream all four seasons of Manifest right now on Netflix! More News:
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