It’s another Manifest back-to-back two-parter this week! In the first part, “Precious Cargo,” following the aftermath of the last episode, Michaela and other 828 passengers get the same Calling that lead them to none other than Eureka, making them question which side of the fence Ben is really on. Meanwhile at Eureka, a connection is made between the disappeared and the returnees.
Keep reading to find out what happened in the first part of this week’s two-parter, “Precious Cargo.”
Jace, Pete and Kory’s corpses, just like Kelly Taylor’s, are being used at Eureka for experimentation. Ben tells Dr. Gupta what really happened up there and the shock of it. Gupta tells Saanvi that after getting together Ben’s testing regimen, her services will no longer be needed. And she doesn’t even understand why Ben is able to retain high privilege to a top-secret government facility. However, Ben tells Dr. Gupta to listen. “Their dying upends everything for the passengers.” And Ben realizes now that they need to explore every avenue Eureka has to offer. It could lead to answers. “And those answers will be the property of the U.S. government.” Dr. Gupta begins to leave but Ben stops her and tells her he used to be a skeptic too. Only focused on science. “But once you’ve been a part of enough miracles you start to realize you need to give in and embrace the miracle.” She needs to believe what happened out there. Dr. Gupta never said she didn’t believe them.
As Michaela is at the precinct looking through files, her vision starts to get dark and blurry, almost like there’s clouds overhead. She goes over to the window and pulls up the blinds, noticing large, dark clouds looming in the sky. She asks Drea, who is now standing beside her, what the hell that is, but Drea’s only question is, “What the hell is what?” From Drea’s point of view, the skies are completely clear. Drea realizes that Michaela’s having a Calling in real time and Michaela leaves.
At Eureka, Ben and Saanvi get ready to leave and results of the meth heads’ test comes up. They shared the same unique DNA marker, just like how they share their own distinct marker. Which possibly explains why the death of one of them lead to the death of all of them. So by the same theory of their own Death Date, if one of them fails the test, they all die. “Any one of us could sink that Lifeboat.” More information comes up about Jace, Pete and Kory and Saanvi says all three of them had unusual amounts of aluminum oxide running through them. Ben realizes he had the same thing on his hand and it was on the tailfin, but it’s a common element. Ben says he’ll be back in the morning for testing but after that, they have to figure out how to stick around longer. “This is about us. Affects us.” They’re going to need a front row seat, or they’re dead.
After driving closer to the clouds, Michaela gets out and walks closer. People around her are doing the same, just looking up and walking. Soon, they all get to Eureka. They’re behind the fence so they can’t see much, except for the dark cloud looming over the facility. Eagan stands next to Michaela, knowing exactly who she is. “Seems like I can’t get anywhere near a Calling without a Stone dropping by.” Ben is seen outside the facility walking towards a car, much to everyone’s surprise. Eagan says that Ben Stone is the one who has been reaching out to them about the Callings and the Death Date. Michaela doesn’t have any idea what they’re doing there, or what’s going on. The real question, Eagan points out, isn’t what they’re doing there, but why isn’t Ben Stone on that side of the fence, with them?
Michaela finds Ben in his garage and tells him she now knows what Eureka looks like. What she doesn’t get is why he was there. She tells him she was Called. There was a huge, dark ominous cloud hanging over the place and out of nowhere, he came out. She wasn’t the only one there either. Michaela goes over to the passenger board and starts pointing out multiple passengers that were Called. Ben asks what any of those people have to do with Eureka, but Michaela suggests the Calling might have to do with him. All of those people got to Eureka just in time to see Ben leaving and he didn’t get the Calling. Michaela figures they were Called to stop him from doing something. She asks again why he was at Eureka and Ben confesses he was getting his baselines measured and he’s getting tested tomorrow, full battery. Ben says he needs their help, since they saw Pete and Kory’s life ripped out of their body. They have zero control over their own survival.
Michaela tells her brother he’s jumping to conclusions but Ben says for two years now they thought they were getting closer to surviving this. One Calling at a time then Zeke survived and they were certain. Follow the Callings and they live. Now it’s all been upended. Zeke had his own Death Date, same as Griffin, Ben points out. Both alone in their own lifeboat. They disappeared together, they returned together. They shared the same Death Date and what happened? Kory and Pete followed the Callings and redeemed themselves, same with Zeke. But it wasn’t enough. Jace’s darkness literally dragged them to their death. “He sunk their lifeboat.” Michaela says he was one person. They have 184 passengers to save. Now it’s not just about them following the Callings. Now they have to make sure that every single passenger does the same thing. “We sink or swim together.” Ben has to go back to Eureka to test. They might find some scientific workaround to save them. “Because suddenly now, I have very little faith in us saving ourselves.”
Outside, Michaela tells Ben they can’t risk being wrong even if they don’t know what the Callings mean. Ben says he has nothing but faith in the Callings but he’s not giving up on Eureka. “Don’t think I’m gonna give up so easily.” Ben watches his sister drive off, but almost immediately, there are multiple lights behind him, and getting closer. Michaela stops driving as her hands start glowing. The lights get closer to Ben and it turns out to be a group of passengers, with Eagan as the lead. They surround him and Eagan wonders who Ben is working for and what are they up to. Ben asks if they can all calm down, though the only one calming down is Ben, as he’s drugged and passes out.
Ben later wakes up in a basement. He tries to stand up, but his legs immediately give out and he sits next to the couch. He searches for his phone and realizes it’s not on him. When Ben’s able to get his bearings, he stands up once again, successful this time, and tries to open a door but it’s locked. He spots one at the top of the stairs but just as he’s about to walk up, the door opens and out comes a barking dog. Eagan comes down to yell at the dog. “Another Calling. Another Ben and Eagan team-up!” How fun is this?
Eagan tells Ben he’s just following his Calling. He’s followed every single Calling that’s fallen onto his lap. “Did I skim a little off the top?” He did, but he’s not an idiot. So when a dark cloud the size of Texas shows up in the sunny sky, he’s there. Then to his surprise, it’s “Boy Scout Benny Stone,” who shows up in his inbox once a week telling him to save himself, coming out of some super-sized evil lair. Ben says the NSA is investigating 828, what happened to the flight, the passengers. Eagan never thought he and his sister would be playing for their team. Ben defends himself, saying that he’s not on the government’s team. He’s trying to do what’s best for the passengers. Ben’s not making decisions but he knows things. He knows how they can survive and also how they can die if they don’t come together. Ben expects them to trust him, then they get a Calling that reveals he’s actually working with the enemy. Ben tells Eagan to get it through his head. They’re not the enemy. “Things are so much bigger now.” Every 828er’s fate – they’re all in the same lifeboat and they have been ever since they were brought back to life. It’s what he believes, it’s what the government is starting to believe.
At Eureka, Saanvi tells Troy she’s found aluminum oxide all over the tailfin, but also all over Ben’s hand and, the three other returnees, Troy finishes. He saw the autopsy. “It’s like they took an aluminum oxide bubble bath.” That is not all Saanvi found. The search led her to look for all other commonalities. Iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium. Together, those elements create sapphire. Saanvi says she found sapphire on every subject that returned. Question is, Troy poses, what, if anything, does sapphire have to do with those events? “It has everything to do with them.”
Eagan tells Ben that while he’s obsessing over some supposed Death Date, he is the one actually following his Calling. He’s stopped Ben. Now he’ll stop Eureka. Before they stop them. “What if I said I believed you?” Ben will admit the Calling highlighting a section of Eureka is intriguing. But Eagan’s going about it all wrong. He runs straight at Eureka, they’ll just pack up and move somewhere else. Ben tells Eagan he needs to be smart about it. He needs someone on the inside. Ben’s not the only one, there’s another passenger working in there, too. Ben says Saanvi can help them. What reason does Eagan have to believe him? “Because I believe in the Lifeboat.” Whether Eagan does or doesn’t. So that means Ben’s as reliant on Eagan as he is on him. Screwing him over now would be screwing over himself, and that’s the worst possible thing he could do for him and everyone he loves.
After Michaela and Drea find Ben and arrest Eagan for trespassing on private property and all of his warrants, it’s Michaela and Ben in the basement. She asks him what’s going on. First he doesn’t listen to her Calling and now he doesn’t want to press charges against a guy who’s clearly abducted him. Ben tells Michaela it’s not that easy. They need Eagan on their side. “We’re all in the same Lifeboat, every 828er.” They need each other. Michaela wonders what they discussed, but Ben says nothing.
Ben later bails Eagan out of jail, much to Michaela’s dismay. Eagan meets Ben outside and Ben says he asked him to remember what side of the fence he belongs on. If this isn’t proof, he doesn’t know what is. Now Ben needs something from him. “Enforce the Lifeboat among your group of passengers.” Ben says this is life and death and Eagan needs to rein in his people. He’ll look into Eureka, but Eagan needs to understand this. Ben walks closer to him so Eagan’s back is, coincidentally, touching a fence. “I will do anything to protect our Lifeboat.” If Eagan ever pulls a stunt like this again on him, on anyone, he will regret it. “I promise you.”
As Saanvi is almost packed up at Eureka, Dr. Gupta asks her to come with her. She takes Saanvi to a lab and tells her it’s a new beginning. What she found earlier may be the bridge they’ve been looking for. Much like Einstein and Copernicus before him, they might just be on the brink of changing the very definition of science as they know it. Saanvi realizes she found sapphire on something else. Dr. Gupta says sapphire may not just be a common denominator. It might very well be the signature of something much older. She turns off the lights and unlocks a container. Saanvi can’t believe what she’s seeing and Dr. Gupta tells her to unpack her things. “We have work to do.”
Meanwhile outside of Eureka, Ben is seeing that same dark, ominous cloud, looming over the building.
Be on the look out for the next recap for this week’s Manifest two-parter! And watch a new episode next Thursday, May 13 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC, streaming the next day on Hulu and Peacock!
