This week’s episode of Manifest is taking fans on a wild ride. Ben helps another passenger follow a Calling that leads to his test, and at Eureka, Saanvi, Troy, and Dr. Cooper go off on their own after an earthquake strikes. Keep reading to see what happens in the latest episode of Manifest, “Compass Calibration.”
As Cal is in his room getting ready, Tarik’s snowglobe volcano erupts, and when Cal picks it up, it burns his hand, and he drops it. Meanwhile, at Michaela and Zeke’s, Michaela tells him she knows who killed the Major and that it was Saanvi. She says that Saanvi was trying to help him, but she took it too far, and now she wants Michaela to take her in. She thinks it’s the only way to save the Lifeboat. Zeke can tell that she’s torn about arresting her. He says that after the accident, when the gun went off, she didn’t want to arrest him. So he turned himself in, and it was part of how he made things right. Zeke mentions if this helps Saanvi and the passengers and keeps her loyal to the badge. She has to take Saanvi in. Michaela knows she has to.
In the garage with Ben, Cal looks at the passenger board and asks his dad if he got the Calling where a passenger’s photo started to glow and caught on fire. Ben says he did, and he thinks it meant they were being tested. Since they’re all in the same Lifeboat, he tries to help. Cal says he thinks she’s being tested. Ben looks at the board to see a passenger’s photo is up in flames.
Saanvi tells Troy the more research they have, the closer they’ll be to understanding why that fragment disappeared for an instant. And to solve the mystery of 828, Troy says. Saanvi soon meets with Michaela, who asks if she’s ready. She tells her she is, just not yet. Pulling her aside, Saanvi tells Michaela they’ve had a huge breakthrough with 828. She can’t say what exactly, but it’s a game-changer. Michaela had thought they both agreed that she’d turn herself in, and Saanvi says she’s going to; she has to. It’s part of her path to redemption. She just needs until the end of the day to finish her research; then, she promises Michaela.
Ben gets to a house, and he knocks on the door, asking for Astrid. He looks through the window and tells her he knows she’s there. He just wants to talk. Astrid’s on the other side of the door, terrified. She tells him to leave her alone, that she has a taser. He tells her his name and that he’s called a few times, sent some emails. “I’m a passenger, too.” That gets her to open the door, and Astrid admits she thought he was one of the people who hate them. Ben asks if she’s hearing voices in her head or seeing things. Astrid nods her head, and Ben tells her he thinks she’s being tested; he’s there to help.
At Eureka, Saanvi does another test on the driftwood, but the effects are much more drastic as it creates an earthquake. And not just a tremor, the earthquake is felt all over New York.
At Astrid’s, she asks Ben if that was a Calling, and Ben tells her that was real. He wonders if that what was happening in her Callings, but she doesn’t answer. He says he knows he’s dumped a ton on her, “but we have to solve this.” Astrid tells him he doesn’t understand. Her anxiety, it’s too much. Ben mentions if one of them doesn’t follow this Calling, then they all go down. He pleads with her to let him help. “Our lives depend on it,” Astrid confesses she’s been seeing a skull; it’s angry. Ben gives her a piece of paper and a pencil to write down what she saw. A checkerboard with the board warped, she says. After she finishes the drawing, Ben tells her that it’s not a game board. It’s a rally flag that they use in car racing. Astrid still doesn’t know what that means, but Ben says he does. It’s a logo on a building, run by someone who hates 828ers and him in particular. Ben tells Astrid he needs her to come with him, he’ll do what he can to help, but this is her Calling to solve.
Dr. Cooper tells Saanvi there was a tremor yesterday. It was barely perceptible, but his instruments picked it up. And it happened almost simultaneously with yesterday’s testings. Just like the quake today, it happened just as they were testing again, Saanvi points out. It’s almost as if they caused it. Dr. Cooper says the timing tracks, if not the location. Yesterday, the epicenter was under them. Directly under Eureka. But today’s epicenter was 80 miles north of them. Dr. Cooper brings up video surveillance, telling and showing Saanvi that it opened up the kind of fissure that you’d see near a volcano. There’s not a volcano anywhere near New York, Saanvi says. There is not, at least not yet, Dr. Cooper tells her. They took something from Mount Ararat. “And now it’s almost like Ararat is coming to take it back.” Saanvi wonders if he’s spoken to Vance about any of this, and Dr. Cooper mentions he was going to, but this epicenter doesn’t seem as significant as yesterday. Saanvi thinks it is, maybe even more so.
Ben and Astrid drive up to an auto shop with the logo on the building, the exact one she saw. Astrid doesn’t know why the Calling would send them there. The place is closed. Ben notices a gate and figures someone went through it. Ben gets through the gate and opens the door. He looks around the shop, and Cody comes around and knocks him down. He throws him against a car and wonders what he’s doing there, besides violating a restraining order. He punches Ben, who tells him he doesn’t know. “You tell me, why am I here?” Cody tells him he doesn’t have to explain anything to a damn 828er in his own damn shop. The two of them start fighting, and when Ben’s on the ground, Cody grabs a crowbar and is ready to hit Ben with it. However, Astrid comes up behind him and tases him.
Saanvi gets set up for the next test as Troy watches her. She starts up the machines, but it explodes, knocking her down. Troy takes her to medical as Dr. Gupta notices something. The driftwood is no more, as it’s mostly just ashes. Gupta tells her team to gather every speck of it. They have to salvage what they can.
After Astrid recognizes a tattoo that Cody has, Ben asks what she knows about it. She says her friend from work, Val, has the same one. Astrid asked about it once, and Val said she and her husband got matching tattoos in honor of their son, Robin. Astrid gets another Calling, and Robin can be heard yelling, “Help me!” Ben asks her about the Calling, and Astrid pleads with him not to make her do this. He tells her she doesn’t have a choice. None of them do. Ben asks about Cody’s son, about Robin, but Cody wakes up and tells Ben not to say that name. “You people have no idea the hellfire that’s gonna rain down on you,” Ben tells Astrid that lives are at stake. She says it was dark, and she heard a boy crying, begging for help. Ben tells Cody his son needs help and asks where he is. Cody says they’re all crazy. “You 828 freaks may not give a rat’s ass about your kids, but I protect mine.” That sets Ben over the edge, and he runs up to Cody, grabs his shoulders, and demands to know where Robin is. Astrid says Robin is having trouble breathing; he’s dying. Ben is still demanding to know where Robin is as he’s having flashbacks of Cal in the hospital. He throws Cody to the ground.
Meanwhile, at home, Cal and Angelina are in the garage, and they’re looking at the passenger board. Ben’s photo is on fire. It’s a test, Cal says. “His trial by fire. Dad, what are you doing?”
As Ben is still trying to get answers from Cody, Michaela and Jared come in, surprised at sight. Michaela gets her brother’s attention, and he turns around. She runs up to Cody and checks him. She finds a pulse but says Cody’s head wound is really bad. Ben says he was trying to solve the Calling. His son’s in danger. Michaela tells her brother this is not how he solves his Callings. He says it’s not his; it’s Astrid’s. Michaela walks over to her and calms her down. Michaela mentions she needs to tell her what she saw in that Calling. Astrid says she saw a boy, dark hair, about 8 or 10.
Michaela realizes it’s Robin. Cody comes to, and Michaela tells him his son is in danger. Astrid says he’s trapped underneath something. He can’t breathe. Cody says she’s lying; she’s an 828er. Michaela pleads with Cody to help them find his son. He needs to tell them where he is. Jared tells Cody they’re trying to save his kid. This could be his only hope. Astrid says they have to hurry. “Is your hate for us really stronger than your love for your son?!” Cody says he built a bunker so no one would ever find them. But the generator wouldn’t start, so he left him to come to the shop and get one. Jared tells Michaela to go. He’ll wait until the ambulance gets there. Michaela tells Astrid this is her Calling. She will be with her every step of the way, but they need to go right now.
Saanvi and Troy walk outside Eureka. He told her they didn’t need more than five grams of mercury fulminate. Troy looks over at Saanvi and tells her she’s holding the wrong arm. She switches and tells Troy she just hopes she mixed in enough sapphire residue into the ash to make it look convincing. They get into Troy’s car and Troy hands over the natural driftwood to Saanvi. Still intact. He tells Saanvi he hopes they’re doing the right thing. “We are. Trust.” Troy and Saanvi drive off.
Michaela and Astrid get to a barn, and Michaela calls out for Robin, but there’s no sign of him. Michaela tells Astrid the Calling chose her because it believes in her. After looking around some more, Michaela moves a bed and some clothes on a hanger. She spots Robin in a separate room, trapped under a shelf. Astrid lifts the shelf, and Michaela pulls him out. He wakes up, and they both sigh of relief.
As Michaela and Astrid watch Robin get taken away in the ambulance, Jared pulls up, with Ben in the backseat. Michaela sits in the backseat with Ben, and she asks what he was thinking. Ben says Astrid kept seeing Cody’s son dying. All he could see was Cal. He got the final diagnosis eight years ago today. He would’ve done anything to save him. “But you felt like you couldn’t.” This time he could. Not just could. Ben says he had to. Michaela knows that Ben thinks it’s his job to make sure, but Ben interrupts her and says it is his job. He has to save Cal. Michaela knows he does, but not like this. He nearly killed someone. Then what, she asks. “There’s no way our Lifeboat survives that.” This second chance is about redemption, Michaela reminds him. She hopes they still have the opportunity to do that. “This is the part where you tell me it’s all gonna be okay,” Michaela tells Ben she has to do something, but she’ll see him at the station.
Troy and Saanvi pull up to their destination. They walk up, but an officer tells them the area is authorized personnel only. Dr. Cooper comes up and tells them it’s okay. They’re his assistants. They’re let in. As Troy and Dr. Cooper round up everyone, Saanvi walks over to the lava fissure. She pulls out the driftwood and tosses it in the lava. The fissure closes, and the lava from the volcano in Cal’s snowglobe disintegrates.
Manifest is off next week, but it will be back for the remaining three episodes of the season starting Thursday, June 3 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC!
