‘Manifest’ Season 1, Episode 1 ‘Pilot’ Premiere Recap: Giving Life to a ‘What If?’

It’s just the first episode but, NBC’s new drama Manifest already has us counting down to the next 45-minute ride. Show creator Jeff Rake has successfully laid out a pretty solid backbone giving life to one big ‘What If?’ From a plane disappearing midflight to its miraculous return five years later, tonight’s season premiere gives us everything we’d expect to see in such a conundrum. There’s joy, sorrow, suspicion, and frenzy. But, what makes it more interesting is the growing agitation as the so-called miracle takes a strange turn for the survivors.

Montego Air Flight 828

Manifest first takes us on the few moments before disaster strikes. As they await their boarding call, Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) listens to her mother convincing her to say yes to her boyfriend Jared (J. R. Ramirez). She watches as her older brother Ben (Josh Dallas) and his wife Grace (Athena Karkanis) continue desperately searching the web for a cure for leukemia. Their son Cal (Jack Messina) wasn’t responding to his latest treatment anymore. Suddenly, its announced that their flight was oversold. So, Michaela, Ben, and Cal decide to stay behind for a few hours and wait for the next flight, Flight 828.

David Giesbrecht/NBC

Flight 828 experiences some strong turbulence mid-air. But, they successfully clear it to the skies of New York. Upon landing, the passengers and crew were surprised to meet the police and the NSA. There, NSA Director Vance (Daryl Edwards) delivers the disturbing news. Everyone in that flight was presumed dead for over five years already.

The NSA interviews each passenger and crew member, however, they get the same story over and over again. No one has any clue as to what happened in the five years they were gone. Later on, Michaela, Ben, and Cal reunite with their family. Michaela breaks down as she finds out that her mother has passed away. And Ben freaks out when he sees that his twin sister Olive (Luna Blaise) has grown five years older unlike him.

Back to normal is impossible

Grace drives them home, and Ben finds pictures of his daughter in the past five years. Michaela, on the other hand, finds a pillow with her mother’s favorite quote on it. Romans 8:28 “All things work together for good.” Those were also the last words her mother said to her before they parted.

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

Grace comes down with some pillows and Michaela borrows her phone. She tries to call Jared but is sent straight to his voicemail. Before Grace heads upstairs, Michaela tries to tell her that she’d be out of their house as soon as she can. But, Grace calms Michaela’s fears and insecurities about herself. She tells her that their return was a chance for a do-over. Suddenly, Michaela hears her own voice talking to her saying “All things.”

Later on, Michaela goes back to the precinct to see if she still has a chance at her old job. There, she sees Jared. She finds out that he’s been promoted to detective and he’s busy working on a case where two girls were abducted. She also finds out that he’s already moved on and married her best friend. Ben and Cal are luckier. Upon getting Cal checked up again, Ben and Grace find out that there was a new treatment Cal could try which has a very high chance of curing him.

On Michaela’s bus ride home, she hears her voice again telling her to slow down. Michaela tells the bus driver to slow down but, he ignores it. As the voice presses harder, Michaela screams. The bus driver stops just in time as a toddler chases his ball on the road. Michaela tells her brother what happened. But, Ben tells her to keep it to herself just in case the government hunts her down for it.

The Aftereffects Manifest

On the other side of town, one of the other passengers of Flight 828, Saanvi, is surprised with a welcoming party by her parents and co-workers. Her colleague, Dr. Cardoso (Joel de la Fuente) greets her, and she tries to tell him about the research she was working on five years ago. Dr. Cardoso laughs and tells her that they’ve received her research. In fact, they’ve been using it to treat cancer patients for close to 3 years already much to Saanvi’s relief.

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

Back to the Stones, Ben finds out that his daughter has been going to therapy for years now. He’s stunned and says that his daughter grew up too fast. Meanwhile, Michaela once again hears her voice telling her to “Set them free” as she passes by some dogs behind a fence. She ignores it. But, later that night, she gives into the voice. Surprisingly, Ben arrives a few minutes after Michaela does to the place. He admits he heard the voice too, telling him to set them free. They cut the chains. And strangely, the dogs stopped their vicious barking before running out the gate without harming any of the siblings.

The next morning, Jared is alerted of Michaela and Ben’s felony. Jared confronts Michaela about it. But, she deflects his question. Instead what comes pouring out of her is a waterfall of pain and guilt. She lists down all the things she’s lost in the five years she was gone. And she admits still feeling guilty and still feeling like she murdered Eevie in the car crash. Jared takes her into his arms. But, he persistently pursues why she and her brother broke through a fence. Finally, he convinces Michaela to go with him for the sake of saving her career.

Catching Up Is What’s Best

Ben, on the other hand, visits Olive at her soccer practice. He apologizes for staying behind and for focusing too much on Cal’s life that he’s lost sight of Olive’s life. Ben promises to make up for it, and the daughter and father share a tight embrace.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Meanwhile, Saanvi attends a meeting where candidates are chosen for the treatment which blossomed from her research. Coincidentally, Cal comes up on the list. However, the doctors chose to decline him because he doesn’t qualify within the treatment’s parameters. Even though Cal hasn’t aged a day, Dr. Cardoso still considers his missing time. Saanvi tries to vouch for Cal but, is turned down in the end. After the meeting, however, Saanvi personally consults Dr. Cardoso on the matter. Cardoso admits that they’re in the middle of being bought by a big pharmaceutical company and that they can’t take in any risky patients. However, Saanvi continues to stand her ground and uses her position as the researcher to have a say in the matter.

On the other side of town, Jared takes Michaela to return the dogs which animal control luckily caught back to their owner. However, the voice starts pressing on her again telling her to set them free repeatedly, and Jared heads in first. Michaela follows as well, acting on instinct as she follows the voice. She trecks the yard filled with scraps and finds the dogs sitting in front of a locked shed. Jared and the dogs’ owner walks up in time to see her breaking the lock. As the door swings open, she finds the two young girls inside. She screams at Jared, and he ducks just in time to avoid a pipe from the owner. It turns out; he was the abductor Jared was searching for all along.

This Is Bigger Than Us

After arresting the culprit, Jared put in a good word for Michaela to their captain. Michaela thanks him and he admits that she still takes his breath away. But, she chooses to walk away. Meanwhile, Ben and Grace watch as Cal receives the treatment Saanvi fought for him. With tears in her eyes, Grace reveals that she was angry with Ben for taking whatever time she had left with Cal away. But, she realizes that it might’ve been what saved Cal all along.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Later on, as Ben’s family was playing a game, Grace excuses herself to the kitchen. She checks her phone and replies to a message seemingly from a lover. Olive comes in and asks her mother what she’s going to do. In the other room, Ben watches the TV and sees the news about the two girls being freed. He finds Michaela later on in a church. She asks him how he found her and he replies that he just knew. As they talk, they realize that of all passengers, they might not be the only ones hearing voices. True enough, all around New York, some chosen passengers also heard a call.

Ben, Michaela, and all these other strangers head towards and gather around the field where the NSA left their plane. It was planned to be taken down piece by piece for the investigation. As the group watches on in confusion, the plane explodes leaving no evidence left from the flight.

‘Manifest’ Season 1 Premiere Overall Verdict

Manifest’s premiere episode is one of the few series pilots that doesn’t end up carving out one single path for the entire series. Instead, it sets up the series for a wider and more interesting narrative. Michaela and Ben’s stories are already in the spotlight with Saanvi’s catching up. But, there are other “chosen” passengers as well as shown in the last part of the episode.

It seems that we could be expecting a lot more characters and a lot more storylines tying up to one strong origin story in the future. And with the number of unanswered questions left by the first episode, there’s just no telling what else to expect. Well, aside from it might just have the needed potential to become one of the top shows in its genre.

Manifest continues next Monday, October 1st, with “Reentry” at 10/9c on NBC.