‘Manifest’ Season 1, Episode 3 ‘Turbulence’ Recap: The Consequence Of Return

Manifest continues to mystify. At this point, we don’t know whether to think supernatural or science. After last week’s chilling episode, titled “Reentry,” it seemed as if we were going to get a glimpse of whatever had a hand in Flight 828’s miraculous return. But, it looks like we have to hold on to our seats a bit longer.

In the most well written and exciting episode of Manifest up to date, “Turbulence” sees tensions rise as the news of the murder of one of Flight 828’s survivors reach other passengers. Ben (Josh Dallas) and Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) immediately jump into the middle of the investigation because they’re highly suspicious of its connection with Flight 828. As they’re trying to figure out how to keep themselves and their loved ones safe, they also realize just how desperate the government is to solve the mystery.  

Kelly Taylor

As the Stone family finishes up after dinner in their kitchen, the news flashes the story of Kelly Taylor’s murder. Ben immediately remembers her as the only passenger who went against the total media blackout rule of the NSA. And in light of recent events, he orders his family to take more precaution. Grace (Athena Karkanis) walks up to the fridge to find the remnants of Michaela and Cal’s (Jack Messina) magnet word game saying “Own your truth.”

Barbara Nitke/NBC

Upstairs, Cal catches his twin Olive (Luna Blaise) sneaking out of her window. And Olive asks him to keep it a secret. On the other hand, Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) calls up Ben. She reports finding a strange protein marker in Cal’s blood. And Ben suggests it might be from the vitamins the government fed them when they returned. Saanvi assures him that she’ll look into it further.

Outside, Michaela tries to go for a ride. However, sitting in front of the wheel, panic, and memories of the car crash chokes her. She dashes back inside and asks Ben to drive her to Kelly Taylor’s house instead. On the ride there, Ben asks to come with Michaela into the crime scene. Michaela adamantly refuses. But, Ben ultimately wins the argument.

In front of the house, they find a group of candle lighters. They also see a cop detaining a man with blood on his clothes. After a short series of excuses, the detective handling the case allows the siblings in. He explains that it was a robbery gone wrong. The killer went in through the window and out the back door. He took with him the gun and Kelly’s (Julienne Hanzelka Kim) golden necklace which they weren’t able to find yet. Suddenly, NSA Director Vance (Daryl Edwards) enters and busts Michaela and Ben.

The Calling

Vance kicks out the siblings and takes Kelly’s body away. Ben questions the NSA’s involvement. Then, Michaela spots Kelly’s husband. Upon questioning, Mr. Taylor explains that he tried to prevent Kelly from speaking out on television. But, Kelly wouldn’t listen saying it was her calling. Before Michaela could clarify what he meant, medics whisk away Mr. Taylor to get his signature.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

The next morning, Michaela finds herself repeatedly watching Kelly’s interviews at work. And she discovers that Kelly kept repeating the statement “Own my truth” over and over again. Before Michaela could delve into it, Jared (J. R Ramirez) comes into view just coming off the phone from the detective Michaela tricked. She explains that she went snooping simply for her safety as well as Ben and Cal’s. Jared warns her to be careful but, she insists on continuing. Despite his stand, Jared gives in to her request for information about the case.

A while later, Michaela meets her brother down the street holding new information. She admits realizing that Kelly’s calling came to her too, just not as strong. And they both realize that Kelly might’ve made some enemies by coming forth to the public. They talk to Mr. Taylor once again. And they find out that Kelly’s been repeating the phrase “Own my truth” like crazy the days before she was killed.

Ben asks if Kelly ever felt like she was in danger. And Mr. Taylor mentions clicking sounds on the phone and black SUVs in front of their house. He calls on their housekeeper Kristine to confirm it. She even adds that Kelly came home one day from the salon with bruises on her arms. As more guests come into the Taylors’ house, Ben and Michaela excuse themselves.

Michaela’s truth

As Ben and Michaela emerge into the Taylors’ living room where the guests are, Michaela is taken back to memory lane. She and Jared try to attend Evie’s funeral. However, once Evie’s father lays eyes on her, he tells her that she’s not welcome there. Evie’s mother also turns her away. In the present, Ben gives Michaela a soft shake snapping her back to reality.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

On another side of town, Grace takes Cal with her to work. As Cal’s does his own thing, Grace’s coworker Rob (James Hiroyuki Lao) asks Grace about her lover Danny. Rob tells her that he feels like she’s cheating on him. And Grace admits that she feels the same way a little too.

Meanwhile, after the scene at the Taylor’s, Michaela makes a surprise visit to Evie’s parents. Evie’s mom Beverly (Adriane Lenox) opens the door and greets Michaela with a smile much to the young woman’s surprise. As they step inside the house, Beverly starts rambling about the curtains. As she starts calling for Evie, Michaela realizes that she’s sick. Evie’s father Glen (Andrew Sensenig) comes out and tells his wife that Evie just went out. He later explains that he stopped telling his wife the truth because he couldn’t bear to watch her world keep falling apart.

Michaela goes back to the precinct where Jared catches her mood. She confesses visiting Evie’s parents. And Jared once again reminds her that it’s not her fault and that she’s been cleared. He tells her not to waste her miracle on her pain. Michaela then switches the topic back to the Taylors. Jared presents her two clean records and a list of commercial buildings the couple owns. Upon closer inspection, Michaela finds that they own a shopping mall which sends her bolting out.

Secrets ratted out

Back at home, Ben scours every corner of his house looking for any kind of monitoring devices while talking to Saanvi on the phone. It turns out; Cal wasn’t the only one with the unique protein marker. Saanvi had it too. She tells Ben that she’ll do an MRI on herself to further look into the marker. Ben halts in his tracks when he finds a condom under his and Grace’s bed.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

Ben hangs up on the phone just in time to hear the doorbell ring. He opens the door to see Kevin (Sean Kaufman), a childhood friend of the twins. Cal and Grace arrive just in time on a cab. Ben reintroduces the two former best friends. However, when Kevin says that he’s actually there to see Olive, Cal runs away into the house. Grace faces Kevin with a smile and tells him to text Olive later on before they part ways.

Inside, Ben tells Grace that he found the side gate of the garden open along with a couple of footprints. Cal comes along and tells them it was Olive who snuck out to probably see her boyfriend, Kevin. Olive overhears and calls out her brother. Ben faces his daughter calling her stunt impressive but unwise. But, Olive protests and goes back up to her room.

Grace agrees that it wasn’t the best move Olive pulled. But, she explains to her husband that Kevin is good for Olive, and it would be best not to overreact. Ben compliments how she handles their daughter. And Grace replies that she’s had a lot of practice.

Shopping secrets

Michaela comes home and tells Ben about the shopping mall the Taylors own. And she explains that Kelly might’ve misinterpreted her calling just like how they did with the abduction case. And once again, she reminds Ben that any one of them might be the next target. With this, she convinces Ben to investigate the mall with her.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

They arrive at the small shopping center. A woman sees them and suddenly breaks into a run. The siblings quickly follow suit and end up cornering the woman. The woman confesses that Mr. Taylor overcharges his renters and if they don’t pay, he calls immigration. When Kelly came to the woman, the woman thought Kelly was collecting. She pushed her to get away. But, it turns out, Kelly came to apologize and to announce shutting down the business. According to the woman, her exact words were about owning her truth. Now, the suspicion lies with Kelly’s husband.

Back at home, Olive confronts her brother about why he ratted her out. Cal tries to excuse it to keeping her safe. But, Olive lands the mark when mentions Kevin. Cal laments saying that Kevin was his best friend and now, it’s him and Olive being something else. Olive tries to comfort him saying that she was his real best friend. But, Cal recoils emphasizing that they didn’t even seem like twins anymore.

Suspicions Arising

In the precinct, Vance tries to get information about Michaela from Captain Riojas (Alfredo Narciso). However, the captain’s lips are sealed. Vance satisfies himself with the case files from the abduction case Michaela had such a big part in. As Riojas sets out to get them, Vance turns to Jared. After indirectly threatening Jared’s career, he gives him his business card expecting him to be his inside man on Michaela. Jared simply takes his card in silence.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

Jared then meets Michaela outside the interrogation room where Mr. Taylor currently sits in. He confirms that the man is guilty of blackmail, extortion, and harassment but not murder. Jared points to the suspect they already found and warns Michaela to think clearly and like a cop once more.

Meanwhile, Saanvi successfully conducts her MRI. Upon analyzing the results, she discovers that it all points to something called Ischemic Stroke. On the other hand, Ben comes home to find the front door open. He enters the house stealthily and grabs a bat. He finds the intruder and almost bashes his face in with the bat. Luckily, the man quickly introduces himself as a friend of Grace. It turns out Grace forgot something, and she gave the keys to the man to get her things for her.

Grace comes home later on and explains to Ben that after he disappeared, she built this sort of village around her to help her. All those people helped her through the hard times. But, none of those people was the one man Ben was looking for. And she assures him that he’ll never have to meet him or know him ever.

Facing the truth

On the other hand, Michaela visits the alleged suspect Isaiah who seemed like a fanatic to the miracle of Flight 828. He denies killing Kelly or taking her necklace. And according to him, he simply ran into the house when he heard the gunshot. Then, he held Kelly in his arms until she died.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

Michaela tells him to fight back against the accusations against him but, he refuses to. He says that he’s paying penance in this life so he could come back pure like Michaela. Confused, Michaela denies it. But, Isaiah insists that it’s only because she hasn’t truly unburdened herself from the secrets she’s been keeping.

Later on, Michaela rushes back to Evie’s parents only to be met with a panicking Glen. Beverly was missing, and he can’t leave the house lest she comes back. So, he pushes the car keys to Michaela. Once inside the car, memories flood Michaela. On that fateful night, she and Evie come out of a party drunk. Michaela tries to call Uber for them both but, Evie insists on using the car. Seeing that Evie was too drunk to drive, Michaela grabs the keys from her. Back in the present, Michaela bursts into tears. Then she gets her bearings together and starts the car.

Michaela drives around until she finds Beverly standing right in the middle of the highway. She races to block Beverly with her own vehicle just in time as an oncoming car swerves sharply swerves to avoid her. After checking up on Beverly, Michaela checks up on the driver of the car that swerved only to find Mr. Taylor’s housekeeper. On her passenger seat is the golden necklace Michaela kept seeing on Kelly’s neck on all her interviews. Michaela swiftly pulls her gun out and arrests the housekeeper.

The face of consequence

Upon interrogation, the housekeeper says that she’s been the one beside Mr. Taylor all the years Kelly was missing. Kelly’s return didn’t sit well with her especially after the missus treated her like a maid. According to her, it was supposed to be just her and Mr. Taylor.

Barbara Nitke/NBC

After the questioning, Jared greets Michaela in the hallway. He steps forwards with questions refusing to believe in coincidence. Finally, Michaela admits that there is something happening to her that she can’t explain. She stops Jared from asking any more questions saying that the less he knows, the better.

Back at home, Ben comes down to find Olive and Cal making up over a game of Cat’s Cradle. He then goes into the kitchen and takes over wiping the table from Grace. Ben stops, however, and solemnly asks Grace if she loves the man she was seeing. Grace looks him right in the eye and tells him that she hasn’t ever stopped loving him and they’re just picking up from where they left off.

Things seem to be looking up as Michaela makes up with Evie’s parents. And Jared tears apart Vance’s call card. However, Saanvi calls Ben. In person, she explains her theory to Ben and Michaela that Ischemia might’ve caused the protein marker she found. It only happens when a person is taken extremely close to death then brought back. The only way to test her theory is to get some brain tissues sample.

Saanvi’s hope was Kelly Taylor. However, she can’t find Kelly in any morgue database. When she tries to search, her access is denied. Suddenly, Ben recalls that the feds only stepped in when they were bagging up Kelly’s body.

Manifest continues next Monday, October 15th, with “Unclaimed Baggage” at 10/9c on NBC.