It’s a Manifest two-parter this week! In part one, as Jace, Kory, and Pete’s Death Date gets closer, Michaela and Zeke are desperate to find Jace and Ben tries to get Pete’s help in order to save Michaela. Keep reading to find out what happens in the first part of this Manifest two-parter, “Water Landing.”
After finding Jace’s trailer, thanks to Pete, Michaela and Drea go inside once it’s all clear. Inside is all trashed. On the wall, however, there’s some bloody symbols, a drawing depicting the three shadow figures and a news article about a kidnapped 828 boy surviving a “frozen lake tragedy.” There are also individual photos, headshots, of Michaela, Ben and Cal scratched out on the wall. Michaela looks at the shadow figures on the wall and one of them seems to be coming at her, almost angry.
Drea follows Michaela out of the trailer, who is reeling from what just happened. Drea wonders what the hell was that and Michaela says she’s sorry but she can’t explain. She can, she just doesn’t want to, Drea figures. Michaela pleads with her, but Drea thinks she’s done a pretty good job turning the other cheek. “But honestly, I don’t know if I can be your partner anymore if you’re not gonna be straight with me.” Drea tells Michaela it’s time. The truth, right now. And what if the truth is impossible to believe? “You came back from the dead. I dare you to try and top that.” Hesitating, Michaela confesses to Drea about the Callings, how the passengers get them, the junkies. Michaela says she’s sorry and that someday, she’ll sit her down, buy her beers and answer any questions she has. “But right now, I need help. I need a friend.” Drea asks what she can do and Michaela says to look for Jace while she finds Ben.
Michaela, out of breath, shows the picture of the symbols to Ben and Olive, telling them it felt like all three of them and he just came out of the wall and wanted to attack her. She thinks Jace is coming for her. Ben says he’s got one day left. Michaela needs to hide out and she’ll be safe. Michaela tells her brother he doesn’t understand. In the Calling he was on a rampage. She has to stop him, she can feel it. Jace Baylor is not fading away. The last time he tried to get her, he took Cal. “What do you think he’s gonna do this time?” Ben tells Michaela they don’t even know where this guy is. They draw him out, Michaela suggests. Olive interrupts them and tells them she thinks those symbols were in the research she and Angelina found while looking into Ma’at. The drawing, it was Jace’s Calling, Ben realizes. Michaela wonders if it was to kill her, which doesn’t make sense. They’ve never had a violent Calling before. Ben suggests it was his interpretation. But if Jace had it, that means Pete and Kory must have as well. They’ve been sharing Callings ever since they got out of that lake. If Michaela is supposed to stop Jace, Kory and Pete have to be where they start.
Michaela and Zeke visit Kory in the hospital to try to get some answers. Kory keeps insisting he doesn’t know where Jace is. Kory starts coughing and Zeke feels a connection to him. He whispers to Michaela that he believes him. He’s getting that same connected sense he got when they were with Pete. Kory’s scared, he knows he’s dying. Kory looks at Zeke and wonders who he is. Zeke says he was at the lake. “Something changed when you came out of that lake.” Hearing things, having visions. And Jace is in them? Kory doesn’t answer, so Michaela shows him the picture of the symbols. Kory says it was like a dream. Jace was angry, he knew they were dying and Michaela was there. There were trees, Kory thinks they were hiding. Before he says anything more about the Calling, Kory tells Michaela Jace is going to kill her. She needs to hide.
Pete is now at Eureka and Dr. Gupta tells him they just want to run some tests. Ben comes up to Vance and Saanvi, who are watching behind a glass window along with other researchers. Pete says he doesn’t want to be there. Ben asks Saanvi if she’s okay with this and she wonders what he wants her to do. Take on the NSA? Ben tells Vance he has to talk to Pete. “Get in line.” Michaela had a Calling and Jace wants to kill her. Pete might be the key to stopping him. Vance says they are in the middle of what might prove — Ben doesn’t give a damn what he’s in the middle of. Pete tells Dr. Gupta he told her he’s not helping with anything, pleading to be taken back. Ben says this has got to stop and he goes into the room. “This is enough.” He’s about to go over to Pete to tell him he needs his help but he’s held back by someone and he starts to calm down.
Ben asks Saanvi and Vance if they’re still on the same side here. “You really have to ask that?” He does, because as strange as this sounds, after his family there is no one else in the world Ben feels closer with than the two of them. Are they on the same side? Saanvi says of course they are. Then they’ll take Ben seriously when he tells them that Dr. Gupta is bad news. Neither of them can see it because they’re too close. He wonders how any of this is different than what the Major was doing and Saanvi says no one is getting hurt. She knows he thinks the Callings are the only way but they are so close to understanding the Death Date. Studying Pete could actually teach them how to survive it. Vance adds on that this has a chance to help all passengers, including Ben’s family, as soon as they can get Pete to cooperate. Ben tells Saanvi and Vance to let him talk to Pete. They need Pete to submit to testing and Ben needs his help to find Jace. If he can convince Pete to help them, he asks if they will let Pete help him.
Ben tells Pete he needs him to go along with what these people are asking. It’s the only way if they’re going to let him help. Pete wonders why Ben would want his help, if he wants to get back at him for what they did to his son. Ben says Cal said he saved him. At least Pete tried to. Ben tells him they know he did and they are so, so grateful. Now he needs him to save Michaela. She’s in danger. Maybe he already knows it, saw it in a Calling? Pete’s Death Date is tomorrow. He doesn’t want to die, but the Calling wants them to hurt Michaela. Ben doesn’t know what his Calling is but that can’t be what it means. Angelina says Pete is a good person and Ben believes her. Why would the Calling want him to do something bad? Pete doesn’t know. “Help me.” Ben’s going to but he needs him to help him save his sister from Jace. He needs Pete to let the doctors do their tests. All Pete wants is to be with Angelina. He wants to live.
Pete is hooked up to different machines and Ben comes up to Dr. Gupta. He says he came through, he just needs five minutes. She gives in and Ben goes over to Pete. He says now they have to help Michaela, but Pete doesn’t think he can. Ben can help him, now he needs to know where Jace is. He’s his brother, they had the same Calling. He shows Pete the picture on his phone and Pete’s terrified, thinking back to the Calling. He says he if he tells him, Michaela’s going to go after him. He wants to hurt her. Jace nearly killed an innocent woman looking for Michaela. They both know he’s not going to sit back and wait. Ben says if Michaela doesn’t stop him, he’s going to go on. Pete tells Ben that Jace can’t be stopped. Can’t he see that? Pete gets upset, pleading with Ben and saying he just wants to help her. Dr. Gupta tells Ben that’s enough.
Against her father’s wishes, Olive goes to campus to find more information about the symbols. She and Levi finish restoring the papyrus and the three shadow figures are prominent. Olive wonders if they’re the same as the ones in the picture and Levi says he thinks so, but it’s more than that. He’s pretty sure it’s a version of the famous etching, “The Last Trial.” It depicts the story of three prisoners who were given a second chance to correct the mistakes they made in life. The first prisoner used his chance to find love and was rewarded a companion. The second prisoner put past grievances to rest and was rewarded peace. But the third prisoner chose vengeance and a river of blood was shed. “This is what’s happening.” Olive wonders how it ends, how do they stop it? Levi says it’s an allegory, a story about redemption. It was called “The Last Trial” for a reason. A test. If the last man had chosen to forgive his enemies instead of taking revenge, he would have been rewarded. But he didn’t.
Olive calls her father and tells him the Calling isn’t telling Jace to kill Aunt Michaela. He’s being tested, it’s a lesson about free will. About making the right decision. Ben hangs up and goes over to Pete, who wants nothing more to do with the Callings. Ben tells him that his daughter found something. His Calling isn’t about Jace killing Michaela. It’s about him choosing not to. Ben doesn’t have time to explain, but right now, they have a chance to save both Jace and Michaela, save his own life so he can have a future with Angelina. But they have to hurry. He asks Pete where Jace was in the vision and Pete says up by the lake where they came back.
Later, Ben thanks Pete and tells him they couldn’t have found Jace without his help. Pete wonders how Olive knew this was a test and Ben says it’s from an Egyptian story called “The Last Trial.” She found it by the symbols from his brother’s drawing. Pete gets another Calling, this time of him telling Jace he doesn’t have to do this. He tells Ben he knows what’s going to happen, he knows where to find him. Ben says it’s fine, Michaela’s got this. Pete has to be there, he’s the only one that can do it. “This is how I save my life.” He can be with Angelina.
Michaela and Zeke are in the woods and Zeke wonders how they know Jace is even there. Because he got the same Callings Kory and Pete did. Now they just have to hope that Jace listens to reason. Zeke points out that Jace has 15 hours to live, they’re in the middle of nowhere. Can’t they just wait until the sun comes up? He’ll see them coming, Michaela says. There’s a million ways in and out of that place. If they let him go, how many more people is he going to kill? “Where you lead, I will follow.” Michaela tells Zeke he doesn’t have to come. He might not like her going into danger, but Zeke says he’s not going to let her go it alone. Besides, he’s been dead before, a couple times.
Michaela and Zeke are walking through the woods and they see a fire burning in the distance. Jace’s campsite. Zeke suddenly feels something. Jace is there somewhere, he can feel his anger. Michaela says she’s going to sneak around the side and he’ll keep a safe distance. Michaela starts walking ahead and she hears a rustling sound. She looks behind her and Zeke is nowhere. In the distance, Zeke is on the ground, unconscious.
Look out for the recap for the second part, “Graveyard Spiral,” and make sure to watch another back-to-back two-parter of Manifest next Thursday, May 6 beginning at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC. New episodes stream the following day on Peacock and Hulu!
