‘Manifest’ Recap: The Truth About Flight 828 Raises More Questions in Season 3, Episode 13 “Mayday: Part 2”

Megan
16 Min Read
Peter Kramer/NBC

It’s the epic conclusion to the two-part Manifest season 3 finale! As Ben and Saanvi try everything they can to return the Tailfin to the ocean to get Cal back, Michaela tries to stop whatever killing is supposed to take place. However, a twist-filled ending could change Manifest forever.

Keep reading to find out what happens in the second part of the season 3 finale of Manifest, “Mayday.”

Peter Kramer/NBC

We are on Flight 828 yet again, this time with Adrian and Angelina. She tells him she likes to think of these moments as life pushing the pause button to give them a chance to reflect. Adrian says he doesn’t want to reflect, he wants to get back to his seat. Angelina mentions they can talk as she holds up a prayer book, Good News. In the present with the passengers, Adrian tells his fellow 828ers that Angelina tried to show him The Light, but he wasn’t ready. It was because of her that he found The Truth. “And now it is our job to pass that Truth on to you.” Adrian says they were chosen by God, but if they abuse his favor, it could mean doom. Not just for the passengers, but for all mankind.

Grace is freaking out over Cal disappearing, assuring herself and Ben that he’s okay. He said he would see her soon. Ben tells her that they will get him back. He goes up to Dr. Gupta and tells her that this is her fault. Cal told her to stop testing on the Tailfin. Now look what happened. He says the Tailfin has to go back in the ocean. Cal had a Calling, that’s why he was there. That’s the way to bring him back. Dr. Gupta says they can’t do that. Grace desperately asks when will she listen and Dr. Gupta tells her if they lose this Tailfin, they lose any chance of bringing her son back. The science is clear. Grace doesn’t give a damn about the science. It’s her son. Ben says there are some things science can’t explain, she has to go on faith. “Don’t bother. What does she know about faith?” Dr. Gupta understands their desperation but they are clinging to faith when science is what will bring Cal home.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Ben later asks Vance what happened to having a plan and doing things his way? Or is that what he had in mind, Ben wonders. Toeing the party line? Vance says he’s been on 828 since the beginning. He’s seen what Cal can do. He nearly got blown up because of it. “You think I’m gonna give up now?” Vance already said he’s with Ben, but he’s not about to announce to Gupta he’s going to ignore an order from the Pentagon. The place would be wall-to-wall with federal troops, Vance says. He covered up a murder to protect Ben and the passengers. If his kids went missing, he’d burn down the castle to get them back. Vance mentions he made some calls and he thinks he can backchannel a Coast Guard transport, but once they get that thing out of there, “it’s gonna feel like the whole world’s against us.” The whole world is against them, Ben says. Vance tells him that’s why they have each other, and they are going to need all hands on deck. “Let’s go save your boy.”

At home, Olive follows Grace upstairs, who is frantically trying to find Cal’s sketchbook and when she does, there are pages missing. Olive tells her that sometimes he rips the pages out after he draws them. The two look through his desk and finally find what they’re looking for. Grace places the drawings on the desk and takes pictures of them. After printing out the drawings at Eureka, Ben figures it’s some kind of puzzle. And it looks like Cal’s picture of the Tailfin but from higher up. Saanvi says if those are islands, she doesn’t recognize any of them. Vance tells the two they have a boat and security personnel to get them there. Dr. Cooper comes in and tells them that the last round of tests caused three more earthquakes. Now there are electrical storms. Dark lightning, Saanvi suggests. She wonders where they should focus since these storms are all over the place and Ben says they have to narrow it down. As he puts the drawings together, Director Zimmer comes in with Dr. Gupta, wondering what’s going on. She asks why personnel are being diverted from the testing and Vance tells her it’s just contingency planning. Zimmer told him to stand down. “Whatever you have up your sleeve here, it’s over.”

Looking at the drawings put together, Vance tells Director Zimmer their theory about Cal’s disappearance and the Tailfin. Dr. Gupta says that their “map” is a child’s drawing which Ben wants to believe is a map because he is desperate to save his son. Ben says that Cal’s drawings are special. Zimmer’s aware of Cal’s abilities and she’s also a mother. She wants him to get his son back but it has to be Dr. Gupta’s research that makes it happen, she says. Vance tells her he’s been on this project since day one and he would stake his career on the fact there’s a message in those drawings. Gupta wonders what exactly is it a map of and Ben says they’re working on it.

Peter Kramer/NBC

After Olive restores the original drawing from one of Cal’s pictures, it turns out to be a dragon. Director Zimmer is not amused. Saanvi wonders if Cal has a stuffed animal and Ben says he does, Art. Zimmer says she’s seen enough, she’s pulling the plug. Dr. Gupta says she’s not. Zimmer can’t believe it. Gupta of all people thinks this is a message to Ben from his son? Gupta says it’s a message to her. “Pitamahi.” The symbol at the bottom of the page is Sanskrit for “grandmother.” This isn’t Cal’s dragon. It’s a constellation. Gupta tells them it’s where she would look, hoping to see her grandmother in Heaven. “Perhaps faith has a seat at the table after all.” Vance tells Zimmer as of now she has no authority and she leaves. Gupta says that this time of year, those stars are on the eastern horizon. Ben draws a line on a map from where they are now to the constellation, which leads them right into the heart of an electrical storm, Saanvi says. “Then that’s where we’re heading.”

Ben and Saanvi are on a Coast Guard boat that is making its way through the water with the Tailfin on board, and Saanvi notices the dark clouds. “Just like in my Calling.” Ben tells the crew they have to head into the storm and while the captain is reluctant, he obeys.

The storm is getting more intense but the Coast Guard prepares to turn the boat around as new orders came in. Ben tells the captain they’re already there, but he says he is not steering this boat straight into an electrical storm. Ben says they just need to drop the Tailfin, he’s begging him. The captain tells Ben he doesn’t take orders from him. He takes orders from the U.S. government. Ben says there are lives at stake, they are already there. “If we don’t drop that Tailfin, my son will die.” Saanvi, meanwhile, is out on the deck as the storm rages on, and she presses the button for the crane release. The crane releases the Tailfin, which lands on the edge of the deck, still being held by rope. Saanvi runs towards the Tailfin as Ben comes out and notices what she’s doing. Saanvi begins hitting the rope, trying to break it, and Ben shouts that she’s going to get herself killed. “I’m the one who caused this! I have to fix this!” Ben and a couple of men try running to Saanvi but lightning strikes the deck, knocking the three of them down. Saanvi successfully breaks the rope, but she falls into the water in the process, the Tailfin soon following her. Ben dives in and the Tailfin disappears. He manages to grab Saanvi and pulls her up.

Peter Kramer/NBC

After successfully arresting Eagan and Randall before they had a chance to harm anyone, including Vance’s son, Michaela gets another Calling and she’s back on the plane. Only this time, there’s no one sitting in the chairs. She sees Adrian and wonders why she’s back there. She thought they stopped it. Adrian turns around and his hands are all bloody. Stuttering, Adrian tells Michaela he only shows the path. “The path to what? Killing?” He says her brother cannot be allowed to destroy the passengers. Michaela tells Adrian that Eagan was lying. Ben is trying to save them. “How can we be saved by a man who cannot see for himself?” Adrian tells Michaela that her brother has lost his way but she’s known that for some time. She just didn’t have the strength to stop him.

Meanwhile, on the boat, a Coast Guard tells the captain that the Tailfin is no longer detectable. One minute she had it on sonar, and the next, it’s gone. Ben admits to Saanvi that as they swam back up, he kept looking back. He was convinced Cal would reappear. Maybe he will, Saanvi assures him. “Faith.” After Ben says he doesn’t understand, both he and Saanvi are pulled into the same Calling as Michaela and Adrian. Saanvi tells Ben she stopped getting the Callings. Does this mean she’s redeemed? “It just might.” Ben gets up and notices Cal in one of the rows and he rushes over to him. He assures Cal he’s there and they did what he said. The Tailfin is gone. Then there’s still a chance, Cal faintly says. He tells his father it’s not over and Ben notices Michaela walking toward him. She says she thought she stopped the killing. Ben looks at Cal and asks where he is. Cal says he has to go. Ben wonders whatever he’s afraid of, how do they stop it? “This is the way it has to be.”

Peter Kramer/NBC

At home as Olive is on her phone, Angelina comes through the door. She shuts the basement door, and at the same time, Michaela notices a trail on the floor of the plane. Angelina takes a chair and puts it against the doorknob so the door won’t open. As she walks upstairs, Michaela finds a bloody prayer book in Angelina’s seat and Michaela shouts for her brother. Grace is looking through Cal’s sketchbook and Angelina comes into her room. Angelina tells her she needs her guardian angel and Grace immediately gets off the bed. Olive hears her scream and races up the stairs from the basement, but the door is locked. She’s frantically screaming for her mother as Cal closes his eyes and Angelina gives Eden a baptism in the bathroom, her eyes visualizing Angelina with fire wings. “We’re connected.” Michaela shows Ben and Saanvi the prayer book, Olive is still screaming for her mother, and Angelina walks out with a whimpering Eden. Ben tells Michaela they have to leave and he goes over to Cal’s seat, but he’s gone.

In Cal’s room, a hand reaches for his stuffed dragon and the person walks into Ben and Grace’s room. A trail of blood leads to Grace on the floor, as she’s been stabbed and still holding on. Grace is turned onto her back and the mysterious person places the dragon under her head for support. Cal, now 17 years old, is holding back tears as Grace places a bloody hand on his face. “Take care of each other,” Cal tells his mother he loves her and it’s okay. He knows what they need to do now. Grace closes her eyes and takes her last breath. Cal sobs and hugs her.

As Dr. Gupta is leaving Eureka for the day, she hears a gasping behind her. Captain Daly, the 828 pilot who disappeared during a test flight in season 1, is back in the salvaged plane’s cockpit. However, just as quickly as he reappeared, he disappears again, along with the entire plane after begging for help.

Peter Kramer/NBC

A mind-blowing way to end season 3 of Manifest! While a season 4 is still up in the air, hopefully we will get an answer soon and we’ll be able to see what happens next, as so many more questions have popped up. In the meantime, if you can’t get enough of Manifest and want to relive the phenomenon that is Flight 828, the first two seasons are streaming on Netflix and season 3 is streaming on Hulu.

Nerds and Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Share This Article
By Megan
Follow:
Megan has been passionate about writing since she was little and has been passionate about all things pop culture and nerdy since almost as long. Joining Nerds and Beyond in 2019, she also graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in Multimedia Journalism. Megan is constantly binge-watching shows and finding new things to obsess over. 9-1-1 and Marvel currently reign as the top obsessions. You can find her on Twitter @marvels911s if you ever want to discuss some certain firefighters.
Leave a comment