Immediately coming off the cliffhanger from the previous episode, as Michaela and Zeke try to get to Cal, Ben, Grace, Cal and Tarik are caught in a crossfire between Jace, and it’s hunting season for him as he tries everything he can to survive his Death Date and “The Last Trial.” Keep reading for a recap of the second part of this Manifest two-parter, “Graveyard Spiral.”
Michaela is still looking for Zeke as the sun’s coming up, and Jace comes up behind her and kicks her in the stomach. Jace cocks his gun at Michaela, but he hears a basketball bouncing in his head. While Jace is distracted, Michaela seizes the opportunity and takes him down. She starts kicking him, but Jace grabs her leg and makes her fall down, hard. He starts dragging her to the edge of the cliff they’re on, but Michaela gets up and continues fighting him. Soon, Michaela is hanging over the edge of the cliff, trying to hold on to a branch. Jace is hearing Cal’s voice in his head. “Last chance.” Jace asks Michaela where her nephew is, and she tells him that he’s got nothing to do with this. “He’s my last chance,” she says to him. It’s all about him and his choices. Jace steps on Michaela’s hand, demanding to know where Cal is. “Suit yourself.” Jace steps back, and Michaela falls.
Meanwhile, Ben and Angelina are driving upstate, an NSA agent and Pete in the car behind them. Ben tells Angelina that Pete has done his absolute best with his second chance. “He’s gonna survive this.” She just wishes they knew what the Callings meant by “Last Chance.” What is Pete supposed to do? Maybe it’s not just him, Ben suggests. Pete said he heard Cal’s voice. Whatever that’s happened before, all three of them heard it.
Michaela finally wakes up and she’s okay, but very beaten up due to the fall she took. She calls out for Zeke. Meanwhile Zeke, after finally coming to, is still searching for her and calling out her name. In the distance, Michaela can be heard calling for him, and she shouts at him where she is. Zeke looks over the edge, relieved to see her. Michaela tells him she’s hurt and that she can’t make it back up. Jace is going for Cal, and they have got to warn them. Zeke comes down, and he is reunited with Michaela. He helps her up, promising he’s got her.
Once Michaela and Zeke finally make it back over the ledge, a sudden wave blows over them, and at Tarik’s house, knocking over Cal’s basketball that was sitting on the car. The basketball bounces in front of Ben’s car, making him stop. He and Angelina get out, as well as the agent, and Ben wonders who threw that ball. The agent wonders why they stopped, and Angelina says the basketball rolled right in front of the car. Ben describes the ball and when he looks at the agent, he realizes he didn’t see it. The agent says he was staring at the road the whole time, he didn’t see a basketball. It was a Calling, Ben says. Cal’s ball. Change of plans: Ben thinks his son’s in danger. They get in their cars and turn around.
Ben and the others finally reach Tarik’s house, and Ben calls out to Grace and Cal. He notices graffiti on the garage door, and he continues calling out. While in the root cellar to lay low, Grace, Cal and Tarik hear Ben, and they run out. Ben’s looking through the windows and the three of them, with Grace holding Eden, run over to him. Ben is relieved to be reunited with his family again and relieved they’re okay. Ben can’t tell Tarik how grateful he is, but they’ve got to go. “We’re going home.” The NSA agent begins to say he can take someone in the passenger seat, but he gets shot and falls over. Gunshots are firing one right after the other, and Grace, Cal, and Tarik take cover behind the car, while Ben does the same behind his car. He looks at his terrified family, and he grabs a rock and throws it so they have a chance to run. Pete, still in the agent’s car, tells Ben he’s on the roof. And sure enough, Ben sees Jace firing from the roof.
Grace, Cal, and Tarik get a safe distance away, and they no longer hear gunshots. Tarik suggests he ran out of bullets or he’s reloading. Grace wishes she had her Vanguard right now. A realization hits Tarik, and he tells Grace he still has their dad’s. It’s in the shed, and it hasn’t been used in a decade. He says he can make it. She and Cal head down to the root cellar, and Tarik says he’ll meet them there. Grace tells her stepbrother it’s too dangerous, but he tells her this guy is here because of him. His stupid mistake. “He’s not here for you.” None of this is his fault. Tarik says he has to do this. He tells Grace to take the kids and run. He runs off, despite Grace’s pleas.
Pete gets out of the car, and Ben tells him to get down. Jace tells Pete he knows he always takes care of him. Jace leaves, telling Pete to come, and Angelina pleads with him to stay. Pete looks toward the house and back at Angelina, apologizing. “But I’ve got to stop him.” Pete starts running toward his brother. Ben grabs the dead agent’s gun and starts running.
Ben’s in the woods, trying to find Cal and Grace, while also trying not to draw any attention to himself. Meanwhile, Tarik’s at the shed, trying to get the lock off with no luck. A knife is put to his neck, and Jace pulls him back. “Didn’t I see you run into the woods with the Stone kid?” Tarik has no idea what he’s talking about, he’s there by himself. “Damn, you’re a terrible liar.” Pete comes up to them, pleading with Jace not to. He doesn’t have to do this. He knows that now. “Just put the knife down.” Jace says if this guy tells him where the kid is, he can go, though Tarik says that’s never going to happen. He shouts to Grace to run, and Jace thanks him. That’s all he needed. Jace takes the knife and stabs it into Tarik’s back. Tarik screams, and Grace and Cal can hear him from the cellar, as well as Ben who is still running. Cal tells Grace she has to go, he’ll be safe there with Eden. They’ll hide there just like she and Tarik used to do. Grace says she can’t leave him. Cal spots a peacock feather and tells his mother she can go. He grabs the feather and assures Grace the Calling says it’ll be okay.
Pete leans over Tarik and tells him he’s so sorry. Jace begins to leave, and Pete wonders where he’s going. Jace asks his brother what happened the last time they died. “The kid died with us, and we came back. The same thing happened with the plane.” He died with them, and they all came back. Jace is saying that if the kid dies, too, they can’t die. Pete tells him this is his last chance to redeem himself. He can still make the right choice. “I got no choice.” Jace thanks Tarik for letting him know they’re in the woods, and he leaves. Pete runs after him.
Grace runs up to Tarik and turns him over. She tells him she’s going to get help and he’s going to hold on. Tarik tells Grace he loves her and he’s sorry for all the pain he’s caused. Grace says it’s okay, and Tarik slowly starts to fade away. “You’re my baby brother. And I’m supposed to take care of you.” Tarik takes his final breaths, and Grace just sobs, hugging him.
A little later, Ben finally runs up to the shed, and he sees Tarik. The shed door opens, and Grace, blood on her cheek and hands, is holding her father’s rifle. “Let’s go get our kids.”
Olive is still on campus, trying to figure out the papyrus. A janitor comes into the room with Ben’s workbag, telling her that someone dropped it off earlier. Olive puts his ID back in the bag and in it, she finds the missing piece of the papyrus, fitting it perfectly. She quickly calls Michaela, wondering if they all pretty much believe in miracles at this point. She tells Michaela and Zeke that the papyrus she and Angelina had been studying, the one with “The Last Trial,” finally has its the missing piece. She doesn’t know how she found it. It was in her dad’s workbag that he lost after he and that Eagan guy completed a Calling. Michaela suggests that maybe Ben didn’t complete the Calling and Olive is completing it now.
Cal is in the cellar still, playing with Eden. He hears footsteps above him, and he hides. Someone comes down, singing the treasure hunt song, and it’s Kory. He signals Cal to be quiet as Jace is still outside trying to look for him. Kory tells Cal if he can find him when he does that rhyme, Jace can find him. Cal thought Kory was in the hospital, but that was until Kory heard his voice. So he broke out and borrowed his brother’s car. Kory starts to vomit water, continuing to tell Cal he just knew which way to go. “I can’t explain it.” Cal says he doesn’t have to. They hear more footsteps above them, and Jace is literally right on top of the cellar, still searching.
Grace is outside trying to spot Jace. She cocks the gun when he comes into view and aims it at him. “Looking for someone?” In the cellar, shortly after Ben joins them, a gunshot is heard, and Michaela, Zeke, and Jared, who are at Tarik’s house, hear it, too. Jace tells Grace she missed, and she cocks the gun again. “I never miss.” That one was just to get his attention. This next one’s going right between his eyes.
Grace has her fingers on the trigger, and Ben comes out of the cellar, telling her to not do it. “He killed my brother.” Ben tells Grace to let this run its course. It’s his Last Trial, and Jace is out of time. He’s failed. He’s going to die. Grace cries and says she has to, but Ben tells her she doesn’t. He doesn’t always know what the Callings want, but he does know that she shouldn’t have to live the rest of her life with blood on her hands. Ben gets closer to Grace and tells her that Jace is going to die any second. All they have to do is watch. Jace vomits water and says he’s not scared to die. Michaela, in the distance with Zeke and Jared, tells him it’s over. Kory comes out of the cellar, and Angelina shows up with Pete. Jace calls them both traitors before his Death Date comes true.
Once Jace dies, Pete’s wounds heal up, and he gets his color back. “I made it.” Kory thinks they’re okay. Michaela tells Pete he’s sorry he had to see that, but he says Jace made his choices. “I made mine.” Clearly his paid off.
Olive finishes restoring the final piece to the papyrus and immediately calls Michaela. Michaela tells Olive it’s over, but Olive says it’s not what they thought. They didn’t understand. Michaela calls Ben over, and Olive continues that the last trial isn’t about each person being judged individually. They all came back together and now they’re all being judged together. Ben says that doesn’t make sense. Jace died, but Pete and Kory lived. Cal, still holding baby Eden, comes out of the cellar and asks if anybody else sees this. A shadow figure comes out of Jace and splits into two, overtaking Kory and Pete, despite the others trying to save them. Soon, the two of them are nothing but corpses, just like Jace. Angelina is wailing over Pete, and everyone else looks on in shock. “God help us…. We were wrong. We were so very wrong.”
Catch another Manifest back-to-back two-parter this Thursday, May 6 starting at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC, streaming the next day on Hulu and Peacock!
