‘Manifest’ Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: “False Horizon”

Kristin
16 Min Read
Courtesy of NBC

This season is intense! In the opening, we are reminded that Grace now has Callings, Director Vance is alive, the Callings may be transferable, the Major has acquired a genetic sequencer, Olive found the Believers, Ben is practically offered a job, and Cal wants to save Zeke while he pled guilty to all his charges. Wow.

Image courtesy of NBC

We return back to 828 on the way to Jamaica, to Saanvi on the plane receiving a text from someone named Alex, who was supposed to join her, “I’m sorry, I can’t.” She is in a therapy session now revealing how she is still hurt and cannot send him the e-mail since she got back. However, she is exhausted because she has been running that sequencer 24/7 to prove that she is right and the 828 passengers were genetically changed. The therapist takes great interest here, as she should, and we don’t trust her after last week. We also see that the therapist is recording Saanvi’s sessions!

Back home at Ben’s, Michaela has stopped by and we find out that Ben has been guest lecturing at the university and has another chance today. Also, he does not have the most positive reaction to Olive’s pink highlights. Michaela asks about Saanvi, saying that she doesn’t know she has a leak, but Vance says it’s too dangerous. Cal gives Michaela a drawing to pass on to Zeke as they leave.

At the District Attorney’s Office, Michaela converses with an attorney, Theresa, to get Zeke out of jail. She may be able to get him out on grounds that he pled guilty without a lawyer. There is hope for Zeke after all.

Ben and Director Vance discuss Saanvi’s server and lab. Could the leak be someone at the hospital? Vance has a plan: let the mole lead them to the Major. Choose someone from Ben’s board, feed the information to Saanvi, have the Major bite. Ben does not like this, continuing to lie to Saanvi, but using her, too? Vance makes a point. The sooner they find the Major, the sooner they can all go on with their lives.

Grace is leaving a prenatal yoga class and bonds with another classmate over morning sickness. She hands the friend some homemade ginger cookies that helps quell her morning sickness as an offering. As the friend gets into her car, Grace has a calling and the car door shuts. Grace sees a giant gargoyle on top of the friends car. Yikes.

Michaela goes to the jail to see Zeke and let him know about being represented to get out, but he’s been transferred out and it does not say where he’s headed. She calls Ben, worried that it’s the Major since they have taken people before. Ben assures her that the Major has not taken people from police custody and to keep looking but Michaela is going to worry no matter what Ben tells her. Jacob overhears this conversation as well. She asks Jacob to alter his report to say the shooting was an accident. He refuses. While the situation with Zeke was not supposed to be about them, it is–Jacob blew up his life for Michaela, and he is not willing to torpedo his career for someone he doesn’t completely trust.

Back home, Grace and Cal tell Ben about her latest calling, and she remembers the bumper sticker on the car. They decide to find out where the teams practice, because Grace can’t let it go until the next class. She doesn’t want to risk it. Grace tells Ben he is not to help, Olive offers but Grace says no. Cal finds something as they begin to look for where the younger teams practice, since she mentioned her other kid was six. Gargoyles are supposed to protect people though, right?

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Ben stops by Saanvi’s lab as she and Troy are running another test. He hands her a file, calling it the new Holy Grail. She is excited to go see him and sees from the file that he is having more intense Callings. He could have a longer strand of the mutated gene, and she wants to go with Ben today to visit him in Philly. However, Ben has to check his calendar because he’s teaching at the university now.

Michaela is at the station, calling around trying to find Zeke with little luck. As she’s about to give up, she finds someone has him on the phone and has a Calling during the call. She, Cal, and Zeke are on the plane and there’s wind, thunder, and a hole in the plane itself. Zeke is holding on to a seat by a thread but is pulled out into the black abyss away from Cal and Michaela.

Suzanne walks with Ben on campus, telling him the job is basically his, and Ben runs into TJ briefly before meeting with other faculty. She calms Ben. It’s a nice, sleepy class, enrollment at half capacity. But Ben walks into a full classroom thanks to Suzanne’s tweet about Ben being a guest lecturer. As Ben begins his lecture, students heckle him about 828 and being back from outer space. He takes it in jest, but does get a little flustered. TJ brings up Ben’s thesis on the combinatorics matrix theory and if that could be used to map the path of 828. Ben goes on with his lecture comfortably and the university faculty observing seems impressed.

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Grace and Cal find Erika, the mom from the yoga class, at a soccer practice at a nearby park. While Cal wishes he could see a gargoyle, Grace wishes she didn’t. Grace approaches Erika, saying she’s trying to get Cal into sports. Erika had recognized Cal as they approached, so she is very stand-offish and hurried, telling Grace that sign ups are closed and she has to run. Grace has another “open her eyes” Calling, seeing another gargoyle, but this time from the top of stadium lights. What are you supposed to do when you’re called to help someone who doesn’t want the help?

Zeke is in the infirmary, alone, and was given Midazolam. But he can’t have that. He’s in recovery! Michaela pays a visit to the facility Zeke is being held at, she tells the guard at the front to put a call in to her boss and to consider this appearance calling ahead. The guard is on the phone finding out that Zeke is not a CI while Michaela finds Zeke. He saw the Calling on the plane, too. He also admits that he made a mistake by confessing and is not supposed to be in jail. He is supposed to be with Michaela. She tells Zeke to tell them he needs a lawyer and has Theresa’s information on the paper with the Calling from Cal, insisting that he call her as she is dragged out of the isolation room.

Saanvi has the drafted e-mail to Alex pulled up again, and Ben stops by. She really wants Ben to take her to this new guy, but Ben can’t do that. He tells her the Major has a mole accessing the research. Immediately, Saanvi is worried about the new passenger. Ben confesses he was made up as bait to lure the Major. Saanvi wants to know who Ben is working with, and he comes clean about working with Director Vance, lying to her, all of it. Sannvi asks him to leave. She takes the phone, throws it on the floor, and stomps on it to not only break it, but not send the e-mail to Alex after all.

Vance lays into Ben over him telling Saanvi that he is alive. Ben did not have a choice. She found the magic bullet and he couldn’t risk it getting into the wrong hands. Vance believes the asset is compromised. However, Ben points that espionage is a long game. In the end Vance is right. There is a small window available before the whole operation collapses.

Saanvi is back at her lab and questions Troy about why he is always asking questions about the work they are doing. He is her lab assistant, after all. Questions are part of the job. However, Saanvi appreciates his help and fires him. She calls Ellen, her therapist, to see if there’s space for an appointment.

Grace goes back to yoga class and runs into Erika. Grace approaches her, but it turns out Erika’s problem is Grace herself and her son for being on 828, that Cal is an abomination. Grace was supposed to open her eyes for being a frightened and small minded woman, and as Erika walks off, she tells Grace she hopes that she loses the baby. Harsh.

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In court, we see that Zeke would like to withdraw his guilty plea. Michaela is called to testify, stating that it was accident. She continues, saying Jacob and NYPD entered her house without probable cause to confront Zeke. As the prosecutor demands that the courtroom be cleared and the hearing be rescheduled, Michaela announces that she has informed her Captain, Internal Affairs, and the arresting officer that it was an accident and a miscarriage of justice. After much debate, Zeke pleads down to time served and is released. Michaela greets him as he exists the jail. She burned the whole castle to the ground for him, and the least she can do is cook for him.

Ben and Vance are worried about Saanvi and that her life is on the line. She is with Ellen, saying that she thinks she found out what happened to them on the plane and it’s in the fridge in her lab. Ellen looks over to where the camera is recording them. Conveniently, the next client cancelled, so they have time.

Back home, Cal is happy that Zeke is back. Olive points out that maybe Erika would be more receptive if she knew what miracles the survivors were. Then maybe she wouldn’t be so scared. If Olive was having Callings, she would share the gift with the world to make it a better place. The Calling told Grace to open Erika’s eyes, but she did not. Michaela thinks maybe it isn’t over.

Olive is at the Believers meeting where the cross on the wall is actually a plane. After a couple of people speak, Olive gets up and tells the Believers about her family being passengers on 828. The crowd murmurs as Olive continues. She has been fighting to get back to normal since they returned, but since being here with the Believers, she believes in the miracle. Cult much?

Ben’s lecture was a success and he is brought on staff at the university! But the one faculty member that Ben had to worry about gets into a car with a woman who we see has been working against them the whole time. “Welcome to the parlor,” said the spider to the fly.

Saanvi set up surveillance in her lab, finding out that she did in fact have a leak and proving to Vance that she could be trusted. She sees Dr. Matthews siphoning samples from her fridge, which she had only told her psychiatrist, and who Matthews also referred her to. Creepy! Saanvi took extra precaution, too, and even put fake vials in the fridge that will take weeks for the Major to figure out.

Saanvi and Vance go through photos of every female with top DOD clearance. She picks out a photo of her psychiatrist that she had poured her heart out to for the last few months. Her name is Major Catherine Fitz, Black Ops Specialist. She’s not an informant to the Major, she IS the Major!

Find out what happens next week on Manifest, which airs Mondays on NBC at 9 p.m. ET.

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By Kristin
First a fan of One Tree Hill, then Supernatural and many others. I work in restaurant management full time and enjoy photography as a hobby and part time when I can. I love most kinds of music, and really love Swain (and Rob). I’m basically a 80's/90’s kid that never really left that era. I can be found on twitter at @1WaywardSister or @42photostudio
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