Manifest - Fasten Your Seatbelts

Discussing Ep. 2.1

I knew it! I fucking knew it!

We never saw Vance's body last season, and I pointed that out as a reason for him not being dead so I was sceptical. They did a good job of making everyone believe that he died but I still held out hope that he wasn't dead. And lo and behold, he isn't! They sort of gave it away when they showed that clip of last season of his 'funeral,' which gave a clue that he was going to have something to do this season.

It was somewhat difficult to remember everything that happened last season. And it seems like I wasn't the only one who couldn't remember.

I'm going to be all over the place with this review so I'll start with Jared and Mick. I was totally rooting for Jared last season. For all the weird shit that Mick put him through, for all the crazy callings and hunches that Mick put out there and Jared kept helping her out, even risking his own career to do so....for all of that I thought he was a stand up guy. He essentially dumped Lourdes for Mick, only for jealousy to get the better of him at the end by attacking Zeke and nearly getting Mick killed in the process. Now, the callings are back and Mick is out there once again, following the callings and Jared isn't buying it anymore? While I suppose I understand his unwillingness to help her out again after she seemingly avoided him after her stint in the hospital, I don't get how he could be so obtuse about it. Brushing off the disappearance of the Vasik couple as just an ordinary disappearance when Mick is getting callings about them? That was just all kinds of bullshit. I really would have thought that Jared would be A LOT more understanding regarding Mick and Ben and all these callings and visions and what not. Maybe his emotions are getting the better of him and I suppose that's in line with his character. But he better not revert to what he was last season where he becomes sceptical of everything. He's seen too much to go back to that.

The Grace and Ben storyline is seriously messed up! First, she confesses, rather awkwardly, that she suffered a miscarriage with Danny's child. Awkward! And then she wants to wait until this child is born to see if it's Danny's or Ben's! Not that necessarily I blame Grace for anything here (because she's doing the best she can), but this is a situation that I give much respect to Ben for putting up with. The idea that NOTHING changes if the baby turns out to be Danny's is just absurd. EVERYTHING will change. I don't see how Ben and Danny could co-exist with each other while trying to raise that child while at the same time Danny clearly still has feelings for Grace. When Ben kissed Grace's stomach, essentially kissing the baby, while it was a rather touching thing for him to do, I have a feeling that the baby will be Danny's and Ben will just not be able to deal with it, no matter how hard he tries. I could see Danny asking for custody of the baby and Grace fighting that with Ben caught in the middle. I mean, how could that even work. Danny would never allow Ben to raise his child and no matter how understanding Ben tries to be, I can't see him working through this. This is just not going to work out at all!

It's going to be interesting to see where the Zeke/Mick storyline goes. I don't know why but I don't really feel it between Zeke and Mick. This scene in particular....perhaps it was the long break in between seasons that cooled the chemistry between these two but I didn't feel much of anything in this particular scene. Certainly not like Mick and Zeke are like soulmates that are meant to be together. He clearly still has a part to play though he may be on borrowed time. I'm hoping what him and that guy who drowned have to do with the passengers of 828.

I am also curious to know why Mick alone is getting these weird visions, now by touch. She touched Zeke and Cal, and started getting this weird warp-like visions about the future. What is strange though is that, like Cal, she's more of an assistant now, helping those with visions and callings to get a better understanding of them. She seems to be getting more in-depth visions than Ben and the others are getting. Had she not touched Zeke, she wouldn't have gotten the vision of that bridge and helped that couple out. Was it because she nearly died that she now has this ability?

The Major kind of reminds me of Townsend from the Evil show on CBS. Like him, she's portraying a therapist with seriously malevolent ulterior motives. You could sort of tell that she was becoming somewhat frustrated with Saanvi's answers, though she was able to discern her feelings for Ben. I think it's a bit of a tease how they're keeping Baanvi alive here. As I said, with the chaos that will come with Grace having Danny's baby, I could see Baanvi materialising out of that chaos. Also, considering Cal's message of "save the passengers," will The Major have anything more up her sleeve in regards to kidnapping more passengers? Considering how well she was able to operate under Vance's nose, it's going to be intriguing to see this chess battle, of sorts, between these two as they both try and out-covert each other.

I'm also curious if this Bible verse will have any significance. They already threw out a Bible verse (Rom 8:28) and now this one. Was it only for this episode? They kind of threw away the previous Bible verse so I am curious to know if this and the other one will play any kind of role.

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." Couple that with Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Is the second death meaning the passengers of 828? Do they all have a purpose to serve and then die out?

Can't wait to find out!