‘Manifest’ Season 1, Episode 11 ‘Contrails’ Recap: The Dark Lightning

We might not be any closer to finding out the truth of Flight 828. However, this week’s episode on Manifest might just give a little scratch to that curious itch we’ve been banging on about since the first half the show. This time, we finally have four words to go on with: Holy Grail and Dark Lightning.

Just like last time, Ben (Josh Dallas) and Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) find Cal (Jack Messina) in the middle of everything. Saanvi’s (Parveen Kaur) analysis leads them to believe that he is the Holy Grail the Major is looking for. However, it looks like Cal is more interested in answering the callings rather than fending off the Major. He sends his dad to help “the man from the plane” just as Captain Daly (Frank Deal) reaches out to Ben to offer some of his own insight into what happened. Coincidence? We know far by now that these things don’t exactly belong in the world of Manifest.

Captain Daly Plunges Into The Storm

This time around, the storm is seen from the pilot’s point of view instead of the passengers. Just as Capt. Daly and his co-pilot are enjoying a peaceful flight; a freak storm suddenly appears in front of them. Having no time to go around it, Daly decides to head straight through it. However, this unconventional choice leaves Daly in Vance’s (Daryl Edwards) line of firing upon landing. Apparently, it was the only thing amiss from the flight. Because of that, the world blames Daly for the flight’s disappearance.

Peter Kramer/NBC

After his interrogation, Cal approaches Daly innocently asking for wings. Daly turns down the kid. So Cal thanks him for bringing them home instead. In the present day, Ben brings home Cal from their day out. Grace (Athena Karkanis) asks if Ben could watch him on the next day as well. But, Cal intervenes saying his dad has to help “the man from the plane.”

At the police station, Jared (J.R. Ramirez) gently confronts Michaela about their steamy reconciliation. However, no matter how much love and hope Jared pours into convincing Michaela they can be together; she pulls back. She decides their night was a mistake and the right thing to do was not hurt Lourdes (Victoria Cartagena).

Later that night, Michaela comes home to her apartment to find Ben pouring over his master chart. Ben passes on the torch as Ben’s babysitter to Michaela. And while they’re trying to figure out who “the man from the plane” Cal was referring to, Ben gets a call from Daly. The captain asks Ben to meet him the next day to prove his innocence on the plane’s disappearance.

The Missing Link

Daly takes Ben to an airport and hands him a binder of all the official documents on Flight 828 on record. Then, he takes Ben to a simulator where he inputs the flight conditions from the night they supposedly disappeared. However, as the simulation starts, it’s nothing like the storm they encountered. Daly brings Ben’s attention to this and reveals that the documents he was holding were all cover-ups by the government. In addition to that, the cover-up doesn’t even start on the day they arrived. It began on the day they disappeared.

Peter Kramer/NBC

After pouring over the documents, Ben finds a meteorologist who withdrew before he can testify on account of the plane’s disappearance and later retired early. This meteorologist, Dr. Roger Mencin (Bruce MacVittie), was on a field study right in the position and date the plane disappeared. Ben and Daly find the meteorologist, and it took quite a bit of convincing but, the pair managed to get Mencin to talk.

Mencin reveals he discovered the dark lightning, a high energy atmospheric discharge that releases a lot of ionizing radiation, on his instruments the night Flight 828 disappeared. He was going to testify with this fact. However, the Department of Defense forced him to withdraw. They also forced him to delete every inch of data he had on it. Luckily, he didn’t actually delete everything.

A Friend In Need

On the other hand, Autumn (Shirley Rumierk) swings by Michaela’s place to ask for her help. She tells Michaela that she ran away to get a new life before the flight. However, when she went missing, someone named Clarissa Ford got her name caught up in numerous crimes via identity theft. Now, Autumn just needs to find Clarissa to get her standing warrants off her back. With this, Michaela vows to see what she can do.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Meanwhile, Ben and Daly return to the flight simulator with the real data they got from Mencin. The simulator projects a complete replica and Daly does the exact same things he did. However, they crash. Six tries later all ends up the same. Frustrated, Daly insists on finding the truth with this dark lightning so he can clear up his name. He also insists that Fiona’s (Francesca Faridany) presence on the flight was no coincidence. He believes that she’s part of the whole conspiracy.

After leaving Daly, Ben calls up Michaela. Autumn’s attention is drawn to the conversation when Michaela asks about the meteorologist. She also spies Michaela pulling out Daly’s binder to get information for Ben. Later on, Grace arrives to pick up Cal. And Grace and Michaela offer each other the sisterly support they both need for their relationships. On the streets, another man on a suit picks up Autumn for another counseling with the Major.

Flying Over The Edge

Ben confides in Fiona about Daly’s suspicions and Mercin’s findings. But, Fiona simply brushes it off figuring that Daly might only be desperate to grasp at anything he can to find answers. In the precinct, Michaela’s alerted by Mercin’s sudden death. And the Stone siblings immediately scramble to warn Daly of the danger he might be in.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Ben and Michaela head straight to Daly’s apartment to find it lifeless. What they find instead is a map very much like Ben’s coordinating information about the flight and most especially Fiona. Ben opens Daly’s laptop finding current weather data only to realize that Daly’s planning to replicate Flight 828 not just with simulation but with a real flight.

Daly stops by Fiona’s apartment and kidnaps her. He brings her to the tarmac and boards her on an empty plane. Ben and Michaela are held up by the guard. However, as soon as Ben points out Daly’s car is in the wrong place, the guard springs to action.

Meanwhile, Autumn picks the lock on Michaela’s apartment and finds the binder. After taking pictures of the documents, she spots Cal’s sketchbook and starts flipping through the pages. She stops at a page then suddenly rips it out, pocketing it before feeling the scene.

On the tarmac, nothing could convince Daly to stop his flight. He tries to force Fiona to tell him what to do to bring about the dark lightning but, she insists knowing nothing. They successfully take off into the storm. But, they soon get the international guard on their tail. Daly refuses to follow orders. And just as he’s about to go through the same routine on Flight 828, Ben and Michaela witness a flash of bright light in the sky with the booming sound of an explosion.

The Mole

The aftermath of Daly’s attempt sends the siblings into questioning everything they’ve trusted. Mercin died because of a leak. Ben starts doubting Fiona’s loyalty but, Michaela quickly comes to her defense. As she looks to the side, she sees the cups from her talk with Autumn and realizes that Autumn was there to hear her call with Ben about Mercin.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Realizing how much more it makes sense, Ben immediately races out in worry for Cal. He tries to call Grace but, Grace has coincidentally left her phone downstairs. As she climbs up calling for Cal, no one answers. She pushes the door to his room open to find it empty. She checks the hallway then the room again to no avail. Worry visibly creeps up to her face. And it explodes as soon as she spots Cal’s open bedroom window.

Manifest continues next Monday, January 21st, with “Vanishing Point” at 10/9c on NBC.