‘Manifest’ Season 2, Episode 8 ‘Carry On’ Review: Healing

That was one satisfying follow up to the midseason finale of Manifest! The show doesn’t let up, I tell you. It just keeps upping the stakes! And the best part is TJ freaking Morrison (Garrett Wareing) is alive! It’s too early for the kid to depart Manifest. And in all honesty, Ben and the others are probably going to need all the people they could get on their side with the brewing war with the exers. With the Major gone in the meantime, the exers have made quite the infuriating villains to the story. Still, though, Ben and Olive’s journey together to deal with TJ’s “loss” was very bittersweet.

On the other hand, Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) has finally busted Jared (J.R. Ramirez) with the help of her ever-trusty partner Drea (Ellen Tamaki). But, of course, arresting Jared isn’t that easy. Plus, I think there’s something else going on here. Manifest may have just spun another web. So, without further ado, here’s what went down in this week’s episode on Manifest.

Simon Spies, Simon Says

The morning after the fire, the firemen find a body holding the bracelet Olive gave TJ. Seeing it, Michaela immediately knows who it is. When she drops by Ben’s house, she finds Olive waiting and hopeful. But, as soon as Olive sees the bracelet, she crumbles. There, Michaela also meets Simon (Maury Ginsberg), Ben’s colleague and the apparent leader of the exers. He pretends to offer comfort and support to the family but, he’s really just there to snoop around Ben’s research lair.

Will Hart/NBC

Later on, Simon gathers his followers and announces he’s close to revealing the 828 passengers for the threat they are. At the end of the meeting, he chats privately with Jared. And he warns him to keep Billy (Carl Lundstedt) and his rash ways in line. At the precinct, Drea also catches Jared defending the exers. So, she heads straight to Michaela. And given Jared’s past shady actions, the two decide to tail him.

They end up at the bar Tamara (Leah Gibson) works at as Jared drops by to tell Billy about Simon’s warning. After he leaves, Drea heads in to do some snooping. And boy is she good at her job. After winning a game of pool and 50 bucks from Billy and his knucklehead friends, Drea returns to the car to confirm that they are indeed exers. She also can’t help but tease Michaela a little about Jared’s new girl. Back then, I couldn’t decide whether I trust Drea or not but, damn she is growing on me.

Busted

At the precinct, Drea and Michaela find further evidence that Jared’s new best pal is an exer. But, it still doesn’t sit right with Michaela. She couldn’t believe Jared could become such a hatred consumed bigot. She is still on board busting his ass though. But, they still need more concrete evidence.

So, Michaela brazenly heads over to Tamara’s bar and talks to the girl herself. She tries to convince her to save Jared from whatever dark pit he’s headed into. But, Tamara stands her ground. As it turns out, Michaela was just there to stick a bug under the bar.

NBC

After gathering some recordings of Billy going at it about Jared and the exers, Michaela and Drea head to NYPD chief Kate Bowers (Andrene Ward-Hammond). In addition to that, they also toss her the fact that Jared copied Michaela’s case files about the passengers. With the amount of incriminating evidence they had to prove that Jared was the leak, you’d think that Bowers would go “Ok, let’s get him.” But, instead, she just says, “I’ll take it from here.” It’s not very hopeful, no?

As it turns out, she’s in on it too! Later on, she shows Jared the evidence. But, the thing is, it’s hard to take anything by face value on Manifest. I think she and Jared may actually be on a double-agent kind of thing. Maybe she’s just like Vance or she might be his friend too. Whatever it is, this whole thing with Jared is getting a lot more interesting.

Together in Grief

Meanwhile, Olive is grieving TJ. Ben desperately wants to be able to do something to ease her pain. But, their past squabbles have put a gulf between them. And Olive has turned her frustrations on the callings itself. Speaking of callings, another one comes to Ben. As he’s trying to make sense of the drawing of him carrying Olive out of the fire and the star card, he starts hearing chanting. This leads him to think that it has something to do with both Olive and him.

Will Hart/NBC

Later on, while paying his respects at the memorial the community set up for the victims of the fire, Ben has the calling again. He follows the chanting and it leads him to a Buddhist meditation center. This strengthens his belief that the calling is urging him and Olive to heal together. And although Olive is beyond caring at first, she perks up as soon as she hears about the Buddhist meditation center. Remember, TJ’s mom was a Buddhist. And he did his own ceremony for her when he got back and discovered she died.

With that, the father and daughter head over to the zen center. Having no clue how a Buddhist ceremony goes, they decide to make their own and honor TJ through their memories of him. Olive shares how he had been her first crush and how his kindness and warm heart stayed with her for over five years. And Ben shares how TJ supported and guided him through that first test lecture in class.

Underground Savior

After their little ceremony, Ben and Olive seem to have also made up. But, the calling wasn’t over. Seriously, Ben should’ve known it wasn’t that simple. Nothing is ever that simple at the first instance in Manifest. As they’re headed out, the chanting starts again. And Olive tells her dad that he should listen more intently and follow it.

Heeding Olive’s advice, Ben follows the chanting to the basement of the meditation center and realizes it’s coming from behind the wall. Olive finds a door and the pair head in to find some kind of old coal path that Ben thinks connects to the club. They keep following it as the chanting grows louder. At one point, they had to crawl. But, that’s when they hear a voice weakly calling out for help.

Olive immediately recognizes TJ’s voice. And she rushes forward without hesitance. They find TJ badly bruised but, they get to him just in the nick of time. At the hospital, TJ explains that it was Isaiah Mic found with the bracelet. He got away from the psycho in the nick of time. And the same chanting calling guided him to the narrow underground tunnel that saves his life.

Side Effects

Elsewhere on the episode, Zeke (Matt Long) seeks out Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) for the progressing frostbite on his fingers. After seeing his determination to live and stay with Michaela, Saanvi admits that she’s found a cure to get rid of the flight 828 gene anomaly. And after a little bit of convincing from Zeke, she agrees to give him the antidote. They just have to do some tests to clear him first. At the end of the day, Zeke reveals his condition to Michaela. And he promises her that he’s not going down without a fight.

NBC

The next morning, Saanvi waits for Alex on her usual jogging routine. As Alex stops to stretch, Saanvi approaches. Then, without hesitance, Saanvi kisses her. Later on, Alex finds Saanvi in her lab and tells her that they can’t continue whatever it is between them. Alex is afraid of destroying her family. The strange thing is, Saanvi can’t remember a thing about it. In fact, she can’t remember a lot of things ever since getting rid of the gene anomaly. Could this be the side effect of erasing it?

Manifest continues on Monday, March 2nd, with “Carry On” at 10/9c on NBC.