Manifest Season 1 Episode 11 Recap – Contrails

This week’s episode of Manifest: “Contrails” explores the story of Captain Daly, the pilot in charge of Flight 828. The opening gives us a brief glimpse of how the incident completely ruined his life.

It kicks off on the plane. While the pilots were talking, unexpected turbulence happened. The pilots tried to control the situation.

Suddenly, a large storm appears out of nowhere. Daly (Frank Deal) accelerated and flew into the storm, believing it was the best option for survival. All of a sudden, the storm and the turbulence vanished.

Back to the present, Vance interviews the pilot, explaining he didn’t have a choice. Cal talks to the pilot and asks if he could have wings — his dad said pilots could give them such. Cal thanks Daly for bringing them home.

Ben sends Cal home and feels happy about it. Cal asks his dad to have a movie with him next time, but Ben explains they need to keep a low profile. Cal asks if it’s because of the Major; Ben gets shocked Cal knows about it. Grace comes up. Ben apologizes because he’s there, but she says it’s also his house. They plan to have dinner, but Cal says his father will be busy, getting Ben confused. Cal says the man on the plane needs help.

Michaela still feels the call of someone else, saying, “find her,” with a vision of someone walking in the snow. Jared approaches Michaela; she changed shifts, so Jared asks why she’s avoiding him. She admits she won’t be the other woman; what they did the night before was wrong. “I’m not going to do this to her,” Michaela says, referring to Lourdes.

Ben examines the timeline of Flight 828 and informs Michaela of what Cal said about helping a man from the flight. Michaela suggests they back off, but Ben reminds her whoever the Major is, Cal is the Holy Grail, and he must protect him. Captain Daly calls Ben and requests they meet tomorrow. Daly has realized what happened was not his fault.

Ben and Daly drive to an airfield, where he shows Ben all of the official documents about Flight 828. Daly believes it’s a cover-up. He puts Ben in a flight simulator and attempts to recreate Flight 828. Still, when he plugs in the information from the documents, it’s clear the simulation storm is nothing like the one they flew into. Daly also shows Ben a document indicating the government began covering up what happened to the flight when they vanished.

Later, Ben contacts the flight’s copilot, confirming Daly’s version of what happened. Michaela worries about Ben and suggests he stop working with Daly; she isn’t sure they can trust him. Ben reminds Michela that Cal said he should help Daly. Ben examines the investigation and hearing documents about 828’s disappearance and notices that the meteorologist supposed to testify did not appear and resigned the following day.

Ben and Daly track down the meteorologist: Roger (Bruce MacVittie). Roger initially refuses to assist them, saying, “They made me swear not to talk about it.” They ask who made him swear; Roger sighs and invites them in. He describes dark lightning and how they flew through it to Ben and Daly during the storm. It might be to blame for their time travel. He was supposed to destroy everything on the flight and in the weather, but he didn’t. Roger relays the information to Daly.

Cal is taken back to Michaela’s house and told to do his homework. There’s a knock on the door: Autumn apologizes for showing up so late, but she needs Michaela’s assistance. Autumn says she is a victim of identity theft and requests her assistance locating Clarissa Ford to prove her innocence.

Cal draws Autumn while they are talking.

Captain Daly and Ben go to the flight simulator again to check Roger’s information, but when Captain Daly nears what he did, the system crashes, frustrating him; he can’t show Ben what he did to surpass the storm. They try again, but the system always shuts down at the exact time.

Daly suspects there’s more to it and thinks Professor Fiona Clarke is involved, maybe even behind it all. Ben is skeptical, reminding him she has been assisting them since almost the beginning. Ben agrees to talk to her.

Michaela receives a call from Ben, and while on the phone, she mentions Roger and Daly. Autumn eavesdrops. Ben asks her to get the flight information from the blue binder.

Grace arrives a short time later to pick up Cal; they have a brief conversation. Michaela reminds Grace: Ben adores her, and she supports them. Grace looks at Michaela and admits she isn’t sure if love will be enough.

Autumn meets with the people working with the unknown person behind it.

Ben discusses the dark lightning and Daly’s theories with Professor Clarke. Clarke tells Ben she believes they’ve reached a new evolutionary stage.

Back at the precinct, Michaela looks into Clarrisa Ford in their database. Jared approaches her and asks what she’s working on, asking if she needs help. He assures Michaela he is always there for her, whatever happens.

Suddenly, news from their database appears: Roger Mencin is dead. Michaela calls Ben. Ben goes to Captain Daily’s apartment to warn him. They think somebody knows they are investigating the incident.

At Daly’s apartment, they see a lot of information, pictures, and all things about Daly’s investigation about the plane. Ben asks Michaela if it’s how Grace sees her. They see a laptop containing the recent research of Captain Daly; it shows something about an upcoming storm. They panic; Captain Daly will go into the storm without simulation to prove Flight 828 was not his fault.

Daly visits Clarke and chloroforms her, knocking her out. He takes her with him to the airport.

Grace and Cal talk about Ben. Cal says he wants to be like his dad: helping other people.

Autumn sneaks back into Michaela’s apartment to find the Flight 828 documents. She photographs some of it. She then finds Cal’s drawing book and looks through it. She notices a drawing she does not appear to like, so she yanks it from the book.

Michaela and Ben arrive at the airfield but cannot pass through the gate. Michaela tells him they are worried Daly will steal a plane. The guard is skeptical until Ben points out Daly parked near the airfield rather than the simulator room.

Daly is in the cockpit of a plane; Clarke is strapped into the copilot seat. Ben borrows the guard’s walkie-talkie and attempts to stop Daly. He tells Ben he has to finish it.

Daly takes off; Clarke maintains she knows nothing. Two jets arrive, ordering Daly to land the plane. Daly assures them he has no intention of causing harm, and he is not a threat.

Ben begs Daly to land, reminding him they need him. Everyone on the flight needs him to help them figure out what’s going on. Daly tells him he will now be their captain. Daly flies into the storm and accelerates to 300 knots. Clarke expresses her desire not to die; Daly responds, “Who said anything about dying? I’ll see you in 2024.” Daly dives into the storm, and the plane vanishes. They are believed to have crashed.

When Ben and Michaela return to his apartment, they discover a package from Daly. When Ben opens it, he finds Captain’s Wings inside. Michaela is concerned Ben will become obsessed the same way Daly did. Ben doubts Fiona may really be behind it, asking how they found Roger. Michaela realizes Autumn was in the room when she told Ben about Roger.

In the episode’s final scene, Grace looks for Cal to put him to bed and tells him Ben is coming over to say goodnight, but she can’t find him. The camera pans to an open window in Cal’s room as she panics and runs around the house screaming his name. Cal is abducted.

Our Thoughts

I appreciate how they’re taking their time with the reveal. Having a big evil lurking in the shadows adds to the series’ tension. The Major will have to be revealed at some point, but it doesn’t have to happen right away, and I am thrilled the writers are choosing to pace it out and keep it secret a little longer. The weakest part is the standalone stories in between. They are rarely given enough time to make them emotionally effective like other family-centric stories of previous seasons. Overall, “Contrails” was an average episode for Manifest, but I hope it can maintain this momentum with the next episode.