‘Manifest’ Season 1, Episode 2 ‘Reentry’ Recap: The Shadow Man

From a very compelling pilot episode, Manifest has now started setting bars for itself in the drama and surprise-filled episode of tonight. And we can’t say we’re not all for it even if the surprises are quite frightening. In “Reentry,” other passengers of Flight 828 are coming into the light struggling just as much as Ben (Josh Dallas), and Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) is.

They’re all faced with an onslaught of truths that have just been waiting to pounce on them since their return. Michaela’s best friend comes to face her. And Olive (Luna Blaise) forces her mother Grace (Athena Karkanis) to tell Ben how she moved on. And as the other passengers come into our sights, we see that their return doesn’t seem to be treating them kindly as well. But, more than that, it appears that there’s something sinister lurking around in the shadows. It seems that whatever brought Flight 828 back is keeping its eyes on its precious survivors.

Truth in the flesh

After the explosion of Flight 828’s aircraft, the government rounds up the 20 passengers found within the perimeters during the explosion. As they interrogate them, they once again reach inconclusive answers. Ben tells Michaela to stay under the radar. But soon enough, she plays the cop card and gets the government to release everyone after the questioning. A musician stops Ben on the way out and asks for help but, Ben slips away.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Ben comes home and surprises Grace. Later on, he comes down to the kitchen to find Olive pouring herself a cup of coffee. He offers to hang out with her after school. But, Olivia declines and says she has homework to catch up on. Suddenly, Ben starts hearing strange, haunting music. He asks Olive if she can hear it but, she says no. Ben volunteers to help Cal (Jack Messina) find another shirt. And Olive asks her mother if she’s told him the truth yet. Grace answers that she’ll let him know soon.

In the precinct, Michaela’s best friend Lourdes (Victoria Cartagena) gives her a surprise visit. However, Michaela blows her off and heads straight to Captain Riojas’ office. Upon her request for reinstatement, he gives her a handful of procedures to go through, including a psych eval.

At Cal’s treatment, Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) comes to pick him up. Afterward, Grace gets a call. But, she rejects it. Ben asks about it, and Grace only brushes it off as a client. Ben decides to leave her to it and take a walk around as he searches for some jobs. While crossing the street, Ben hears the music again. This time, he’s drawn to a musician, the very same one he met at the investigation earlier on.

Consequences of absence

The musician named Radd (Curtiss Cook) asks for Ben’s help to see his son. He left five years ago to play with the Phil Harmonic leaving a 13-year-old boy behind, and now he’s returned to an 18-year-old man behind bars. He’s facing the consequences of his absence. And by virtue of also being a father, Ben agrees to help Radd.

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

On the other hand, Michaela tries to deflect the questions her psychiatrist is throwing at her just to get it over with. She answers them honestly but, not by truly looking into the problem. In the end, her psychiatrist tells her she’ll need to see her again. Ben calls and asks for a favor for Radd. Soon enough, Radd’s sitting face to face with his son Adio (Curtiss Cook Jr.) on the other side of the glass.  

Adio tells his dad that he really tried to live a good life. He got a job at a jewelry store but, one night, someone jumped him and took everything from the shop. The police thought he was part of it all. But, Adio insists that he’s innocent. And Radd promises to fight for his son.

Afterward, Radd and Ben head over to the jewelry store that Adio worked in. As Radd introduces himself as Adio’s father, Mr. Valero (Bob Ari), the owner of the shop gets angry. However, his son Blake (Jake Horowitz) comes to talk in his father’s steed. He explains that the suspicion mounted on Adio when they discovered that he used fake IDs and fake job references to get the job. And with no tripped alarm, they had no one else to blame.

Suspicions of danger

Ben comes home later to find that on their walk, Grace and Cal were confronted by a strange woman. She grabbed onto Cal and started chanting “He has risen.” Grace frets over it but, Ben assures her that it’s going to be okay.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Back in the precinct, Jared (J.R. Ramirez) comes over to Michaela and attempts to talk about what happened with Lourdes. He tells Michaela that she can blame him all she wants but not Lourdes. She lost her best friend when Michaela disappeared, and she didn’t replace her. Before he leaves, Jared admits that he couldn’t replace her as well.

On the other hand, the government is becoming concerned for the nation’s safety as they discuss what the plane’s explosion might implicate. The NSA suspects that their questions might be answered by one of the few passengers who were near the explosion sight when it happened.

Back at home, Ben and Michaela discuss Radd over preparing dinner. Soon, the conversation takes a turn to Ben admitting he heard something. And now, he has to figure out what his life has become. As he calls his family over to eat, he tries to ask Olive for some quality time together again. But, Olive declines again. The next morning, Grace talks to her lover on the phone with tears threatening to from her eyes. Michaela catches her and warns her to tell Ben before he figures it out on his own.

There are no miracles

While waiting for Saanvi for Cal’s treatment, Ben glimpses one of the passengers of Flight 828 speaking out on national TV. As Saanvi approaches, Ben stops her and asks if she’s been hearing music like him. However, Saanvi says she’s only had similar feelings but didn’t really hear anything. She then approaches Cal and takes a look at his sketch of his family. Ben notices a silhouette figure in Cal’s drawing and asks about it. Cal answers that he doesn’t know who it was. In another part of town, the same shadow is following the passenger who appeared on the news.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Michaela drops by later on to give Ben Adio’s police files. And the police report checks out. However, Ben still believes he wouldn’t have been drawn in if Adio wasn’t innocent. Later on, he and Radd confront Adio about it. Adio explodes and insists that he didn’t do anything. Because of this, his time was cut short, and a guard drags him away.

Back at home, Michaela scours the page Lourdes made in dedication to her and ends up in tears. She talks about this the next day with her psychiatrist. And even though, she breaks down in tears again, her psychiatrist signs the reinstatement form under the condition that she keep seeing her. Michaela comes back to the precinct to be promoted from a desk officer to a detective. Jared congratulates her. And Michaela only tells him that she’ll try not to make it awkward in there. At home, Cal frets over his toys before finally admitting that he misses his old stuff. Because of this, Olive calls out to her dad and asks to go on a ride with him.

Music of truth

Olive takes her father down to a storage building all the while explaining how she managed to save Ben and Cal’s things from being salvaged. Apparently, after they disappeared, Olive still felt that Cal was alive. This led her to a series of shrinks and therapy. And Grace was a wreck. She threw out Ben and Cal’s things but, Olive got a hold of them in the last minute.

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

As she opens one of the huge lockers, Ben notices another guy’s stuff. He asks Olive who’s storage it was, and she excuses it as a friend of Grace. But, Ben catches on quickly and embraces Olive just as she breaks down in tears. Suddenly, Ben hears the music again, sharper this time. He follows it around the maze of lockers and finds Blaze, the jewelry shop owner’s son, with all the stolen jewelry Adio was arrested for. Blaze turns to find Ben and tries to offer him half of the price of the jewelry but, Ben responds with a punch to his face.

As Blaze is arrested, Michaela subtly goads her brother again about miracles. But, Ben refuses to believe in miracles, God, or whatsoever and opts for magic or advanced technology. Olive calls their attention and they all head home. As Cal unpacks his old stuff, Olive helps him set up his old posters. Grace calls her attention and Olive indirectly admits that she did what she had to.

Letting Go

The night found Michaela standing in front of Lourde’s doorstep. She knocks but soon turns back. The door opens quick enough, however, and Lourdes comes out. Michaela thanks her for the posts and assures Lourdes that she gives her blessing to her and Jared. Michaela explains that she wasn’t even supposed to marry Jared because she was coming to give the ring back. Then she tells Lourdes to let it go, and she engulfs her in a hug. However, as Michaela remembers that fateful day, she was putting the ring back on her finger as they landed. She pulled out her phone and replied to Jared’s text message if she was still going to marry him with a yes. However, it wasn’t sent out because there was no reception.

Craig Blankenhorn/NBC

On Ben’s side of the story, Grace finally tells him about the truth. She apologizes but, Ben doesn’t blame her for it. Instead, he acknowledges how hard it was to raise Olive with Grace’s loss hanging over her head every day. Grace admits she had to let go because it hurt too much. But, Ben begs her to remember the love they once shared. And Grace does give in to their second chance.

On the other parts of the story, Adio is released and reunites with Radd. Jared finds a package on his desk and finds the ring he gave Michaela inside it. However, on a darker note, the shadow follows the lady passenger back home. As she watches her live segment on TV, it comes behind her. Then suddenly, a gunshot is heard, and human bits and pieces are splattered all over the TV.

Manifest continues next Monday, October 8th, with “Turbulence” at 10/9c on NBC.