Manifest Season 2 Episode 3 Recap – False Horizon

There were so many entertaining things that happened on Manifest this week that I couldn’t help but comment on them, so here’s a summary.

The episode begins with Dr. Saanvi‘s flashback. She talks to her boyfriend over the phone, who‘s seemingly late for the flight, but was actually intending not to come with her. She feels devastated about what happened until the present time.

Back to the present, Dr. Saanvi talks to her therapist — The Major — about how she is still angry and hurt because the man she was in love with did not show up on the plane to Jamaica. The Major shifts the topic to Saanvi’s job after telling her she should give him the email she wrote describing her feelings. Her objective is to persuade her to discuss more her notion that all Flight 828 passengers are genetically changed.

Ben has a new job interview. He says it’s hard for him to find a job because he’s one of the 828 passengers — the talk of the town. He‘s just lucky because his college friend invited him for the interview. 

Ben and Michaela talk briefly about Zeke. Cal comes in and asks if she has spoken to Zeke. She says not yet, but she has ideas. Before Cal leaves the house, he gives a paper with a drawing of Zeke to Michaela and tells her to give it to him.

Meanwhile, Ben, Vance, and Michaela suspect someone is watching Saanvi and her job. Vance suggests Ben send Saanvi a bogus file on an 828 passenger so that she may transmit it to the spy accidentally. Ben doesn‘t like lying to Saanvi and is even less enthusiastic about using her as bait, but he reluctantly accepts.

Olive attends another “Believers” gathering and begins to feel at home. Maxine, one of the believers, gives her testimony. She says before she joined the community, she was heartbroken. But after what happened to 828 and joining the community, she felt the miracle and felt safe. 

Olive had her hair trimmed and streaked. Ben is taken aback by her look, but he uncomfortably supports his daughter with Michaela’s encouragement.

Michaela approaches a friend who works as a public defender and convinces her to handle Zeke’s case. She says Zeke is not guilty of what happened to her. She mentions she needs to help Zeke get out of jail. Her public defender presents to her all the criminal cases of Zeke, but Michaela still insists he is not guilty.

Michaela wants to visit Zeke after seeing a vision of being sucked out of the plane, but he’s been reassigned. The police log does not indicate where to go. Zeke is in the little room where he’s been tied.

Michaela phones Ben, concerned it may be The Major’s fault. He attempts to reassure her if The Major has Zeke, they will locate him when they find The Major. As she hangs up the phone, Jared confronts her about assisting Zeke in obtaining a public defender. They converse privately, and she urges him to do the right thing: claim the shooting was an accident. He flatly refuses. Michaela advises him to be prepared. He asks whether it’s a threat, to which she responds it doesn’t have to be.

Grace meets an expectant mother, Erika (Susan Pourfar), during a fitness class and raises a conversation. She gives her some food. As the woman gets into her car and begins to drive away, Grace gets a calling to open her eyes, then sees a gargoyle on the roof of her SUV.

Jared asks Michaela why a public defender asks for Zeke’s arrest report at the precinct. He also says to stop the investigation because Zeke had already confessed what happened to the court. Michaela insists she would keep on helping Zeke no matter what happened.

Grace informs Ben about the calling when she gets home. She and Cal try to find out who the woman is so Grace can assist her. Ben suggests tracking down the woman. Olive, sitting nearby completing her schoolwork, pouts; she feels left out. Olive wants to help her family, but Grace says she can’t do anything. 

Ben pays a visit to Saanvi and hands her the forged passenger file. She becomes enthusiastic and wants to visit him in Philadelphia, but Ben informs her he must attend a lecture to secure a new job.

There’s a montage of Michaela calling every number she can think of in an attempt to locate Zeke. She ultimately finds out where he is being held captive. She goes to see him and charges past the guard with her badge. Michaela informs a cuffed Zeke that he must contact the public defender to be released. He apologizes, saying he was mistaken and now realizes he should be with her.

Grace and Cal follow the pregnant woman to a soccer field where her children play. The woman is annoyed by Grace’s presence and immediately dismisses her. Grace gets the same calling as before.

Ben delivers his speech to a packed house of students. Initially, a few people ask him about his experience on Flight 828 and what he believes happened. Fortunately, TJ, who Ben assisted in the last episode, asks him a mathematical question to calm the mob and get Ben back on track.

Later, Ben visits Saanvi and informs her The Major has planted a mole in her lab. He also says he and Vance used a dummy file as bait to get the spy to come out. Saanvi is understandably outraged, feeling deceived by Ben. She insists he leaves.

Soon after, Saanvi notices her too eager helper and accuses him of being the spy. She informs him their effort was a waste of time, and she no longer requires his services. Saanvi contacts her therapist, admitting she’s had a rough day and asks if she can make time for her.

Grace attempts to speak with Erika, who she thinks is the topic of her callings. But Erika becomes verbally hostile. She feels Grace and her “abomination” kid from Flight 828 should avoid her. Grace is taken aback by her caustic onslaught.

Zeke’s trial begins, and his counsel persuades the court to overturn his guilty plea, saying he did not have competent representation and was not in a mental state to make the decision. She then summons Michaela to testify.

Michaela tells the court the gunshot was unintentional. She would not allow an innocent man to go to prison. She explains Jared abused his badge and unlawfully stalked and harassed Zeke, and the shooting would not have occurred if he hadn’t been visiting her residence. The charge is reduced to a misdemeanor of illegally possessing a weapon by the court. Zeke enters a guilty plea to the lesser offense, and the court sentences him to time served. Zeke is now free to go.

Michaela meets him and drives him to Ben’s place for supper.

Saanvi confides in her therapist about Ben and her feelings of betrayal. She also informs her about her discovery, which she keeps in her lab’s refrigerator.

Olive joins another “Believers” gathering and chooses to tell the massive group that her father, brother, and aunt were all passengers on Flight 828.

Ben is offered a position at the institution. When one of the professors who hired him: Simon (Maury Ginsberg) gets into his car, we see his wife: Erika, the pregnant woman Grace had been trying to help. She asks what he did. “I recruited him,” he says. “Come inside my parlor,” the spider said to the fly.

Saanvi shows Ben and Vance a video of a camera she set up to film anybody who tries to get into her refrigerator discreetly. Her tech aide is, indeed, seen in the film. She informs Ben and Vance she only told one person about her breakthrough in her refrigerator: her therapist. Vance shows her high-ranking female Department of Defense (DOD) personnel images. She recognizes and points out her therapist on the list: Kathryn Fitz, Major General.

Our Thoughts

It’s far-fetched, but so is this series. Perhaps the institution has a more significant part in the disappearance of Flight 828. There’s a good chance the job that mysteriously fell into Ben’s lap won’t be what he expected.

Sure, coincidences happen, but there’s been a lot going on at the school recently: TJ being a student on the trip, Ben seeing an old coworker who is now the Dean, and now Erika and her husband. Does The Major employ them?

In addition to Saanvi’s personal life, The Major, Grace’s Calling, and Ben’s new work, we’re mainly focusing on Michaela and Zeke’s relationship.