‘Manifest’ Recap: Season 4, Episode 20 “Final Boarding”

Megan
19 Min Read
Netflix © 2022

Season 4 part 2 of Manifest is here, and we have made it to the end. The Death Date is here, and the passengers have to face their final judgment and hope and pray that it is enough. Meanwhile, Baby Vasquez is about to make her debut as the world is ending.

Keep reading to find out what happened in the series finale of Manifest, “Final Boarding.”

The Death Date’s Arrival

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It’s officially June 2, 2024 as the sun rises on the morning of the Death Date and the fissure continues to glow. Michaela, Saanvi, TJ, and Ben wake up as if they couldn’t breathe. While sitting around a fire, Eden comes up to her dad to ask where Cal is, and Ben tells her he had to go somewhere. Michaela says he went to help all of them. Olive tells Ben she can still feel him. She knows he’s not there, but he’s there. The ground starts rumbling, and Michaela says it’s not over.

As Olive and TJ follow Eden through the woods, the youngest Stone comes across a rock that looks like the World card engraved on it. The others are soon at the rock, shocked at what they’re seeing. Saanvi points out that the carving has the balancing scales, meaning that the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Michaela tries to read the inscription underneath, but she can’t make it out. Olive figures that since Ben and Michaela came to the campsite when they were kids and their mother took photos, the original inscription could be in one of those. The photos are in the attic at Beverly’s, where Angelina is and Olive volunteers to go, despite Ben not wanting her to go.

“The Death Date, it’s here.”

Jared tells Ben he’ll go with Olive, but Eden doesn’t want to leave. Michaela tells him the girls should be as far away from the campsite as possible. TJ doesn’t want Olive to go either, but she promises him they’ll have a future together. Everyone says their goodbyes, and Ben tells Olive how proud he is of her and how she is her mother’s daughter. Jared, Drea, Olive, and Eden leave.

Ben brings up the fact that he woke up feeling like he was having a panic attack, and Saanvi, Michaela, and TJ tell him the same thing happened to them. Saanvi thinks it’s a preview — accelerated heartbeat, disorientation, lack of oxygen. Michaela says it’s like Zeke’s body getting cold and being covered in ice. She thinks this is how they’re supposed to die as if they exploded in a plane crash.

Forgiveness

At Beverly’s house, Drea looks through the photos to find anything, but it’s all just birds. Olive sees a Silver Drake one, pointing out that “Drake” is another word for “Dragon,” and “Silver Dragon” is what Al-Zuras called Flight 828. They find the inscription, “Forgiveness lightens the heart.” Hearts are being weighed against a feather. Jared wonders what “P-I-X-L-A-Z” means, and Olive figures that it’s about Al-Zuras’ journal with the pictures.

Olive finds the journal with the drawing of the volcano, and she thinks that the numbers represent numbers. Using Roman Numerals, Olive goes through the pages corresponding to the letters, and when she comes across the picture of her and Ben in the fire, she realizes it wasn’t her but Angelina. She calls her dad, but it goes to voicemail, and she tells him that the only way to survive the Death Date is to forgive Angelina, but he doesn’t know if she can do that.

“But I really, really need you to try.”

Final Judgment

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Saanvi cranks a radio and hears a news report about the volcano and how many volcanos have erupted overnight all across the globe. Saanvi’s about to tell Ben when they are greeted by the passengers, who all saw Cal’s beacon of light from the sapphire. Everyone except Angelina and her followers, thanks to Eagan cutting her van’s fuel line to buy them some time. They all catch up with each other and talk about how they were reuniting with their loved ones.

When night falls, everyone is rounded up, and Ben stands on the fissure to give a speech.

“When we boarded 828, we had no idea what a tortured, life-changing journey we were about to embark on. Now we’re finally at the end. I don’t know what we’re gonna face tonight, but I do know my son sent that beacon. He gathered us all here. And I have to believe that it was important. That it was worth … worth his sacrifice.”

The ground starts rumbling again, and the fissure opens up. There’s an explosion and lava as something comes out of the fissure. It’s none other than Montego Airways Flight 828.

“It’s back for us.”

As the passengers make their way inside the plane for their final judgment, Angelina and her followers have made their way to the plane, telling Ben and Michaela she wants every last passenger off the plane. Ben tells her they are all meant to be on the plane. Angelina says God will save her family, just as He did Noah. She tells her followers to go on the plane as she’s holding out her sapphire-laden hand. Angelina doesn’t want them to ruin this for her and her flock. She tries to use her sapphire, but her powers vanish. Michaela pleads with her to come with them, but she grabs Paul’s gun. Before she’s able to shoot, there’s another tremor, but the gun goes off, and a bullet grazes Saanvi’s arm.

With everyone else on the plane, Ben walks towards Angelina with the gun and aims it at her, telling her about power, and it’s how you use it. Angelina understands that he wants revenge, but she never intended to kill Grace, and not a day goes by she doesn’t regret it. Lava explodes right next to them, and Angelina tells Ben to let her die. He carries her onto the plane as there’s an explosion behind them, mirroring Al-Zuras’ journal.

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As Michaela and Amuta take off, a volcano is erupting — it’s the end of the world, just like Al-Zuras predicted. Hector is having trouble breathing, and soon a few others are having similar fates. They’re all experiencing what Ben, Michaela, Saanvi, and TJ experienced that morning. They try to grab oxygen masks, but they’re not releasing. Everyone is panicking, and one by one, passengers burn from the inside and turn to ash. That was their judgment. They’re dying the way they would have died on 828. Saanvi’s arm starts to burn, and she covers it.

Ben and Michaela address the passengers to tell them that this is their final judgment. They’ve seen people survive the Death Date, including her husband. She believes they can too. Angelina wakes up, and Autumn tells her what’s happening, scolding her for promising them they’d survive. However, Autumn turns to ash. Meanwhile, Adrian and Eagan almost turn to ash as well, but Eagan sacrifices himself, and Adrian pleads for his life. They both laugh and hug when it’s made clear they’re saved. Saanvi is also starting to implode, and Ben tells her that she has saved so many people even though she took a life. Just before she turns to ash, she turns out just fine. The same cannot be said for Angelina, though. She starts to implode but says this can’t happen to her. She’s an angel. She pleads for Ben’s help, but she turns to ash.

End of the World

Peter Kramer/Netflix © 2022

As the world begins to end, Drea and Jared start to welcome a new life. Olive and Eden go upstairs as the storm gets worse, sitting in bed together, and comforting each other with the pillow from their grandmother, “All good things.” Baby Vasquez is making her way into the world.

11 passengers were lost during the judgment, and Ben figures that whatever happens to one of them could happen to all of them. Michaela brings up the meth heads and how the evil one sucked the life out of the other two. Sure enough, Angelina’s shadow comes out from her ashes and starts making her way through the plane, everyone ducking their heads. The shadow appears in the form of the Angel of Death. Michaela tells it to leave them alone; they’re just regular people, and ever since they were chosen, they’ve hated it. Ben says they’ve done everything it wanted, followed every Calling. Michaela tells it everything good that the passengers have done, walking toward it. And soon, it disappears.

Saanvi points out that everything is silent, and when they look outside the windows, there’s no volcanic activity. The apocalypse is over.

“I think we might’ve just saved the world.”

Michaela goes back to the cockpit, and she and Amuta see The Glow — the long, delirious, burning blue. Last time, The Glow chased them. This time, they will chase it. Amuta believes in Michaela, so they fly the plane through the storm and into The Glow. Soon, they aren’t moving, and it’s all white light surrounding them. Michaela and Amuta get out of the cockpit, and Bethany opens the door. Having nowhere else to go, the passengers get off the plane and toward the white light.

The Ultimate Second Chance

Giovanni Rufino/Netflix © 2022

Walking through The Glow and through a door, the passengers’ clothes change, and they even look a tad younger. They are in an airport, and when Ben looks over, he sees Grace waving him down, as well as his mother.

Ben: “Are we in Heaven?”

Michaela: “I think we’re in Queens.”

Ben and Michaela run toward their family, and Ben immediately kisses Grace as Michaela hugs Karen, crying, and then they switch places. Grace asks where Cal is, and when Michaela and Ben struggle to find an answer, she spots him. He is young again but doesn’t remember anything as he returns Saanvi her laptop, having left it on her seat. Olive, also younger, finds her twin, and the two run away. Bethany calls Ben and Michaela over, and the passengers wonder what just happened and when they are, and Amuta says they’re back. On a TV, President Obama is giving a speech, and Bethany couldn’t be more happy.

“April 7, 2013. Exactly when we were supposed to land.”

They wonder if what happened was real, and according to Saanvi’s gunshot and the wooden dragon, it was. More passengers get off the plane, ones they lost along the way, including Fiona, Violet, Kelly, Sam, Finn, and Harvey. The rest of them remember everything, but Cal gets his childhood back, and Olive. Saanvi wonders what they do now, and Michaela says they live. The passengers go their separate ways, happy to have their lives back. They’ve earned the ultimate second chance. Everyone is being reunited with their loved ones, including TJ and his mother, as well as Joe and a baby Charlie.

Giovanni Rufino/Netflix © 2022

Unfortunately, not everyone made it back. Angelina’s father is wondering about his daughter as Ben and Michaela walk by. Those that did survive Flight 828 and everything that came after bound them together and changed them.

“It taught us how to live and what’s worth living for.”

At baggage claim, a young Olive tells TJ she read two chapters of A Wrinkle in Time already, and TJ tells her to enjoy. Olive walks away, happy that he remembered her name. TJ and Violet get reacquainted with each other as they both grabbed their suitcases. Michaela goes over to Jared, who is happily waiting for her. He tells her that the trip gave him time to think and thinks he proposed too soon after the accident. He wants to be her husband, and he wants her to say yes without hesitation because she’s crazy in love with him. Michaela tells Jared she will always love him, and the trip made her realize that they want different things. She doesn’t want to change, and she doesn’t want him to change. She thinks there’s someone better out there for him and someone that wants everything he wants. Michaela gives Jared the ring back, telling him they will find a way to each other. Jared wonders how she can be so sure, and she tells him he has to have hope. The two of them hug. Alex waves over Saanvi, who is surprised to see her. She says not getting on the flight to Jamaica was the biggest mistake she made. She wants to be with her and start a family with her if she can forgive her. Saanvi immediately kisses her.

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Grace sees Ben looking over at Saanvi, and Ben tells her who she is and that she’s going to cure Cal. He swears on the lives of their three kids. Grace wonders if they’re good, and Ben tells her they’re excellent. Michaela interrupts them and says she’s ready to go. Their dad took the car, but they’ll take a cab. Michaela instantly runs outside and looks through all the cabs to find the one she was looking for. Right where he said he was, Zeke is in the cab, doing pickups. An older guy is about to take the cab, but Michaela tells him that’s her husband and gets in. He wonders if that line usually works, and she says she’s never tried it. She asks if he can just drive, since she has nothing but time. Zeke looks at her and wonders if they’ve met before, and Michaela tells him they kind of have.

“It’s all part of a neverending story.”

Police show up at the airport, and Jared shows off his badge and asks a rookie, who turns out to be Drea, what’s going on. She says it’s a confidential investigation about a plane that just landed. She tells him she was a rookie three years ago, and makes a joke about his hair, and Jared tells her he’s a third-year too. They have some playful back and forth, and Jared follows her to check out the investigation. Vance also shows up, as 11 people have seemingly disappeared from an airplane. Ben watches Vance walk by, and Grace asks him about a doctor who can cure Cal and wonders what happened to him on that plane, but he’s not sure she’s going to believe it. Michaela tells Zeke to take the long route, as she has a lot to explain.

“No one can explain what happened to us on April 7, 2013. Some people called it impossible. Others called it a miracle. All I know is it was the day life changed forever.”

And that brings us to the end of Manifest! It was an adventurous and emotional journey that, of course, still brought a little mystery to Flight 828, even with everything wrapped up. What did you think of it? Season 4 part 2 of Manifest is streaming now on Netflix! Check out the rest of our coverage on the series here, including episodic recaps and more!

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By Megan
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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.
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