Manifest is officially back for the first part of season 4! In the premiere episode, two years after the events of the season 3 finale, a passenger is in need of help with something that could bring everyone closer to 828’s whereabouts, and Ben’s desperation to find Eden brings him to a Calling that ends in disappointment, but he may be right not to give up.
Keep reading to find out what happened in the season 4 premiere of Manifest, “Touch-and-Go.”
Testing …
The episode opens with an elderly man being tested on in China, likely an 828er, and there’s a massive flash of bright light, blinding the scientists. The man is soon free and flees.
Desperation
With two years having passed since the events of the season 3 finale, Ben is looking a tad rough and is presumably sleeping in his car. He grabs a handful of “Missing” fliers and puts them in his backpack, missing a call from “Gabriel,” aka Cal, on purpose. He puts up the fliers on car windshields and trees, hoping he’ll one day get a call or information about Eden. He receives an Amber Alert and calls Jared, telling him they need another Amber Alert and press conference, and while Jared isn’t so much hopeful, Ben is desperate.
Another Day at the Stones’
Michaela and Zeke, meanwhile, are laying in bed, and Michaela gets a Calling with cherry blossoms. She’s determined to find out what they mean. The Stone twins are eating breakfast together, and we find out that Cal goes by Gabriel even when talking to Ben, as Ben thinks the phones could be bugged. Olive’s been trying to copy her mom’s recipe for pancakes but it’s not exactly perfect. Olive and Zeke head off to work since Michaela and Cal have to lay low. Although Cal’s lucky that he can fly under the radar, he wishes that he could do more, and more for his dad.
Michaela gets another Calling with the cherry blossoms; she’s in the water and hears a ship horn. Cal hasn’t gotten a Calling in two years and counting. Michaela leaves to check out the port, and she has Cal stay in case Ben comes back, even if it could be days.
She gets to the port, wearing a vest to blend in with the other workers. Michaela sees a freighter with cherry blossoms on the side, knowing she’s in the right place. A shipping container glows, one with cherry blossoms on it. She breaks in and starts looking around and sees the old man from China with “Stone 828” etched into his arm.
Michaela brings the old guy to Vance and Saanvi, and Vance tells them that the guy is named Henry Kim. He was supposed to be executed by the Singaporean government. Henry weakly wonders where the boy is, and Michaela figures it’s Cal.
What Happened That Night
Flashing back to the events of the night Grace died, Ben gets home to find police cars and ambulances and sees the coroner taking away a body, who he assumes is his wife. Olive tearfully runs towards her father and breaks down, telling him what happened.
“She took her! Angelina … she took her! She killed Mom, and she took Eden!”
An officer goes into her radio, saying that a neighbor reported a woman, 20s, with auburn hair, leaving the scene with an infant female. Cal, now five years older, hides behind a car across the street and sees himself in the side view mirror for the first time, shocked.
Later, Michaela talks with the NYPD, and Cal, now older, rings the doorbell. Olive immediately knows it’s her twin, and Cal hugs Ben. Olive blames Cal for Grace’s death since he told Angelina where the key was, thinking that’s what the Callings wanted.
Cal is curled up on the ground in his room, and Saanvi comforts him, assuring him they’ll all be okay. Cal doesn’t know exactly what happened and he tells Saanvi all the answers are on the plane.
“The plane’s gone, Cal.”
Where in the World is Flight 828?
Vance and Emmett are still trying to track down where 828 went after it disappeared from Eureka. Saanvi, meanwhile, can’t stop watching the footage from Eureka, trying to figure out what made 828 disappear and where.
“We’re missing something.”
To Follow a Calling or Not
Ben quietly gets home, ignoring Cal and heading right up to his room. A gust of wind comes through the room, but when Cal comes in, he feels nothing. The only 828 photo that was fluttering was of Anna Ross. The wind stopped the second Ben touched it. However, he doesn’t want to follow it, knowing that the Callings never did any good. Cal wants to follow it, but Ben doesn’t want him to risk it.
“The Lifeboat needs me.”
Reluctantly, Ben gives in.
Cal shows up at Anna’s house, telling her that he’s the cousin of the Stone family, and thanks her for saving Cal since she had previously helped him. He tells her about the Calling, and she admits she had a Calling about a windmill. She drew it and gravestones. Cal brings up a picture of a cemetery with a windmill upstate, and Anna tells him that’s the one. He gets a text from Michaela and leaves.
Breaking Point
Michaela’s looking through 828 stuff in Ben’s room, telling him about Henry Kim, but Ben isn’t willing to help. She mentions that if Eden was still out there, the Callings would have led to her by now. She isn’t asking him to give up; she is asking for him not to give up on the rest of them since the Death Date is only a year and a half away. Ben says he doesn’t care about the Death Date.
“What’s the point anymore?”
Michaela goes off on him, telling him that he still has two kids who are there; she is there, captaining the Lifeboat alone, trying to save the passengers. Ben doesn’t have any faith in the Callings anymore. Cal comes home and tells his dad about Anna, but he just tells Cal to go with Michaela.
Jared comes over with files for Ben, leading to an awkward encounter with Michaela. He goes up to Ben’s room and admits there’s a reason the detectives aren’t calling him back. Jared gives Ben a folder, revealing that the state legally declared Eden deceased. Angelina and Eden’s prints were found on a bridge, and a backpack was found in a river, but no bodies, so Ben isn’t one to give up that easily.
After Jared leaves, Eden’s death certificate is blown to him, and he sees the windmill. He follows the Calling to the cemetery and sees Anna. Ben hasn’t been more certain that Eden’s alive. They follow the Calling, which Ben is determined will lead them to Eden.
Ben hears a little child shouting, “Daddy!” and Ben sees what he assumes to be Eden by a creek. Only it’s not Eden, but a little boy sitting on a rock, and his father is unconscious in the creek. Ben saves the dad.
Once back home, Anna gets another Calling, and she goes downstairs. It’s revealed that Angelina is there with Eden, who is drawing a windmill. Anna tells Angelina about Ben helping with the Calling, and it was Eden’s Calling, not Anna’s.
“Something’s coming, something terrifying.”
Eden believes that Angelina is her mother and Angelina tells her they have to go.
What’s in the Box?
Zeke uses his empath abilities on Henry, and his heart rate soon slows down. Unfortunately, when Zeke leaves, his chest is hurting. Meanwhile, Henry says the box is for the boy. He had it with him, but the box is not with him now.
Michaela and Cal get to the port but seeing a bunch of police cars, Michaela doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Cal volunteers to go by himself, and Michaela calls for an assist, and Vance is soon watching from a security camera, giving him pointers through AirPods.
Jared appears at the port, having heard 828 activity over the scanner. It’s been six months since he and Michaela have seen each other, and now twice in one day?
“It must be a sign.”
The former couple has playful banter with each other as Cal goes towards the shipping container. He hears a beeping sound and goes towards it, despite Vance warning him not to. He finds the box with Montego Airways on it. It’s the black box.
Once they get to their destination with the black box, Michaela sees that Cal is in a good mood for once. He admits that for two years, he’s been trying to figure out where it all went wrong. With the Calling, it’s like he’s back with the plane, which is where he thinks all the answers are.
The black box disappeared with the rest of 828 when Angelina killed Grace, so the only questions that remain are why did it come back and where is 828? Henry calls out for Cal and touches his hand, knowing he’s the boy, even though he can’t see.
Later, Saanvi’s listening through the black box recording and hears something very different yet familiar. A cry for help … Daly’s cry for help. She calls over Vance and syncs up the audio with the Eureka footage, and it’s perfect. The black box recording is from the original flight, so how do they have it from Eureka as well from when Daly returned and then disappeared again? Saanvi says the black box is back for a reason, and it’s talking to them. So they need to listen. Daly could still be out there.
Relief and Disappointment
While it’s a happy sight to see for the father and son safe and sound, Ben can’t help but still feel disappointed. He gets home, and his family is waiting up for him. Although it wasn’t Eden, he saved a dad and his son from drowning. Olive thinks it’s time they said goodbye, and Cal also believes they should let go.
Ben says losing Grace almost destroyed him. He still struggles to breathe. He owes it to Grace, to all of them, to find Eden. He has to hang on to that hope. Ben takes out the death certificate and puts it in the fire, declaring to never stop looking for her.
Stream all 10 episodes of season 4 part 1 of Manifest now on Netflix! Check out the rest of our Manifest coverage here, and stay tuned for more episodic recaps!
