After a week off, Manifest is back and not slowing down! In the last episode before next week’s two-hour season finale, we are picking up right where the previous episode ended, following the aftermath of Ben getting arrested. With his arraignment and impending trial, Ben is trying to do everything he can to still save the passengers and now solve a new, fiery Calling, which makes Grace worried she’s losing her husband. Meanwhile, Saanvi is trying to stop testing at Eureka and a new 828 protocol at the precinct is making Michaela rethink her choices with the department. Keep reading for a recap of this week’s Manifest, “Duty Free.”
Ben is in his cell at the precinct and Grace visits him, upset. Ben apologizes and tells Grace he knows he went too far. “Am I losing you?” Ben assures Grace he’s still him, still the same person he’s always been. He tries to reason with her, that everything he’s done is to save Cal and Michaela. Grace understands that, but she says it does them no good if in saving the Lifeboat he drowns in the process. She needs to know that he knows that. Ben says the Lifeboat isn’t going away, and Grace says they need to find a better way than this. Tearing up, they hold hands through the cell bars and Grace leaves after telling him she’ll see him at the arraignment.
Michaela calls Saanvi and wonders where she’s been, telling her about her showing up at Eureka. Saanvi says she wants redemption, and she’s not on the run. She’ll be back in six hours. She has her duty to save them all, while Michaela has her duty to the law. Saanvi promises she’ll explain everything to Michaela when she sees her. Saanvi hangs up and Troy tells her it didn’t take take them that long to get up there. She says she has one more thing to do. Meanwhile, Michaela, Ben, and Cal are experiencing another Calling, this time with them on fire.
At Ben’s arraignment, the judge can’t help but notice that the 828ers can’t seem to stay out of trouble. She is not going easy on Ben, especially with him being an 828 passenger. Ben pleads not guilty and the judge posts a $500,000 bail, and once he’s out, he’ll be on house arrest pending a trial. Ben gets taken away and Grace asks the question everyone watching was thinking: “What the hell just happened?”
Michaela visits her brother, who is rightfully upset. She says she’ll talk to Bowers about the scrutiny from the judge. Ben mentions he thinks the fire Calling is a warning. For weeks he’s been seeing passengers’ photos burning up. Michaela tells Ben to calm down, and Ben says he’s not giving up. They need to solve this Calling and find out how to save the Lifeboat. “Who do you think you’re talking to right now?” Ben says they’re sinking fast and Michaela, her voice fading away, says they might already be sunk. She tells Ben about Saanvi and the Major, and Ben can’t believe it. Michaela suggests that the Calling was trying to tell them about the Lifeboat and Saanvi, maybe there’s more on top of it. Like the work she’s doing at Eureka.
Ben wonders why Michaela would keep this from him and Michaela defends herself by saying she only just found out about it. Saanvi wanted to tell him herself. Ben tries to reason Saanvi’s actions and while Michaela has no doubt about self-defense, she says her hands are tied. Saanvi is ready to confess. Michaela tells Ben he has no idea how hard this is. She has to toe the line every single day between being a passenger and a cop. She assures him she will talk to Bowers. This is how a hole in a Lifeboat gets plugged. Saanvi earns redemption, pays her debts. “If there is no chance at buying back the sins that we’ve committed, the mistakes that we made then there is no hope for the Lifeboat to stay afloat for the next three years.” Ben gets that Michaela took an oath, but she can’t toe the line forever, he says. “Are you a cop first? Or are you a passenger first?”
Michaela walks into Captain Bowers’ office, only to see Jared in there as well. She tells her that the judge for her brother’s arraignment was completely off the rails. Bowers, though, tells her that they were just about to call her in. She says they received a directive from the mayor’s office. Effective immediately, the NYPD are to report all 828 passenger-related cases, no matter how small, directly to the FBI. Jared adds on that they also want them to go through all of their old case files, and follow up on anything that involves an 828er. Michaela figures they’re targeting passengers, which explains Ben. All Bowers knows is that this is bigger than the NYPD, noting that there have been arrests all around the world. Michaela says they have to fight back somehow, but Jared isn’t sure there’s anything for them to do at this point. He tells her it’s probably best for her to not get too involved. Michaela realizes that they waited until the last minute to tell the 828 passenger cop and Bowers says it’s because it’s not pleasant. While they haven’t made a decision on Michaela yet, they want to review all of her case files since she returned.
Ben is taken to an interrogation room, where he’s met with Vance. Vance wishes he could help. He tells him that fear towards the passengers has been rising since news of the Tailfin spread. And between them, the talk of a clampdown has been circulating since the return. He’s surprised Ben’s still not quarantined at the airport. Vance warns him that he doesn’t know exactly what’s coming but it’s beyond his control. All the agencies are handling things their own way. Vance mentions he’s heard rumors from the highest levels of an official registry coming into play. No one wants to pull the trigger on that yet, he assures Ben. Ben doesn’t know what the passengers will do once they hear about this. Instead of them working together it could tear them apart. Jared comes in and tells Ben that Grace posted bail. He’s free to go.
Saanvi and Troy get back to Eureka, where tests are being conducted on the Tailfin. Saanvi runs to Vance and tells him he needs to stop testing, though Vance already figured out Saanvi’s plan with the artifact. Saanvi tells him that testing on the Ark was causing the earthquake they felt in the city. If a piece with sapphire that small could cause so much chaos, “imagine what something the size of the Tailfin could do.” She says the consequences could have been astronomical with a devastating earthquake. She tries to get him to stop testing but Vance doesn’t listen. Saanvi admits what she did with the driftwood and Vance tells her he thinks it’s best she leaves. Saanvi walks away.
Ben is back home and under house arrest. Cal comes downstairs and tells Ben he can try to solve the Calling on his own. What’s happening to them could be a warning. A punishment. Cal tries to convince his parents to let him solve the Calling on his own, but they don’t give in. He gets upset and tells his parents they’re not listening, and runs back up the stairs. Ben is so consumed with the Callings and the Lifeboat that he has pushed their son to believing that he needs to solve this all on his own, Grace points out. Ben tells her they don’t have a choice, but Grace has other ideas. “I don’t want to do this anymore.” After Grace leaves, the fiery Calling happens once again.
Michaela comes over to check on Ben and finds Grace laying on the couch. Grace says she can’t go on like this and Michaela tells her she can. “You’re gonna go on like this for the next three years, and sometimes, yes, it will be hell, like it is right now.” But before she knows it, the Death Date will be there and the man who is putting her through hell, he’s going to live. Once she’s on the other side, everything is going to change, Michaela promises Grace. She knows that Grace is going to go on like this because the man who put her through hell is on the other side, and she can’t wait to be there with him. Michaela asks Grace how she can help and Grace tells her she just did.
Saanvi meets Michaela at the precinct and while she’s ready to turn herself in, she tells Michaela to promise her one thing. To make sure they stop the testing on the Tailfin at Eureka. She admits she got rid of the driftwood and the Tailfin would be doing much worse if they continue testing. Michaela thinks the Callings were a warning. She says only they can save themselves. Not as scientists, not as cops, but as 828ers. “Ride or die.” Saanvi sits down and Michaela leaves to get Bowers. Though when she comes into her office, Bowers tells her that a passenger from Singapore was executed. She also heard from 1PP; they are concerned about the corners Michaela’s cut, inconsistencies. They want Michaela on desk duty moving forward, but that doesn’t sit well with Michaela. She’s played by the rules, even if it went past her instincts. Now 828ers are being targeted. She tells Bowers this is not want she committed to. The rules for the passengers are changing and though the system could always rely on her, Michaela says she can no longer rely on the system. She hands in her badge and her gun. She finds Saanvi and tells her to get outside and to not say anything until they get in the car.
Ben sits down with Grace and promises her no more pushing things to the edge. No more risking everything for the Lifeboat, for the Callings. “No. Risk everything. Keep that damn Lifeboat afloat.” Grace tells Ben in three years, she wants her son and her husband right there in their home, right next to her. Alive. As long as there’s no more jail. Michaela comes through the door with Saanvi. Ben and Grace are shocked to see her, and Grace leaves to give the three some time. Saanvi apologizes for what she did and Ben just hugs her. She tells him he was right about Eureka, and she’s done harboring secrets. Michaela says they should really figure how what they’re going to do from there. The fire Calling happens again and at the precinct after it passes, Eagan tries to catch his breath. In a cell across from him, Adrian says it’s relentless. Feels like he’s been on fire all day. “I’ll be damned. Turning into a real 828 reunion in here.” Innocent bystanders, cult leaders. Eagan wonders what happened to Adrian. He fell off the radar after that nightclub fire. “Fire pales compared to the fury of His wrath. And His wrath is coming.”
Ben, Michaela and Saanvi walk into the garage and Ben says the Calling is escalating. His guess is they were all feeling it. “But what’s it saying?” The dark clouds led them to Eureka, the burning and the screaming, Ben says it felt like Cuba, only worse. Saanvi tells them the erupting volcano is making her think that they’ve started testing again — on the Tailfin, the common denominator. Saanvi killing the Major triggered the Tailfin to disappear. Then it resurfaced due to an earthquake, just like the driftwood which caused an earthquake there, which almost caused a volcanic eruption. Until Saanvi got rid of the driftwood, Michaela points out. Ben thinks they have to do more than just stop Eureka from testing. “I think we have to… destroy the Tailfin.” How does Ben suggest they get in there, let alone pull that off?
Meanwhile at Eureka, Dr. Gupta is told that the Tailfin’s readings are significantly more powerful than the driftwood’s. But they haven’t been able to channel that power accordingly. “We’re missing something.” Just as Gupta is about to touch the Tailfin, security guys tell her there’s something she has to see. She walks outside with security, and Cal is on the other side of the fence. “My name is Cal Stone. I’m here to see the Tailfin.”
The two-hour season finale of Manifest airs this Thursday, June 10 starting at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC!
