‘Manifest’ Season 2 Premiere ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’ Review: Back In Flight 828

Buckle up everybody, we’re back on Flight 828! And make sure to tighten up those seatbelts because holy crap, we’re diving deep right into some surprises here on Manifest. For its second season premiere, Manifest just jumps and honestly, we’re not complaining. This ride’s already off to a thrilling start. From the get-go, we’re given a taste of what this season’s trailer promises. And with what it divulged, I can already tell that this season’s going to be bigger and far more twisted than what we were introduced to. With death dates, crashed planes, and even bigger threats than the major coming on the horizon, Manifest’s new season already looks quite promising.

For its second season premiere titled ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’, Manifest picks right up from where it left off. After Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) gets shot, she receives an even bigger calling than before concerning all the passengers of Flight 828. And with their death date looming over their heads, it becomes a race of survival against time. With Ben (Josh Dallas) by her side, they try to figure out what this calling means before it’s all too late for the present and the future. But, that’s only part of the bigger mystery and the overall drama that this episode contains. So, let’s dive into what happened tonight.

Nosedive

While Jared (J.R. Ramirez) calls the cops and Zeke (Matt Long) presses on her gunshot wound, Michaela has a vision. She’s back in Flight 828 with everybody else. But, instead of going through simple turbulence, the plane starts nosediving. She turns to Cal (Jack Messina) beside her, but just as he’s about to say something, the vision ends. Coming back to her senses, Michaela wheezes for Zeke to run. And after a moment’s hesitation, he drags his feet away from her and Jared.

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

After her operation, Michaela tells Ben about her new calling.  He thinks it’s a calling in connection to their looming death date June 2, 2024. But, Michaela thinks it’s more than that. Just in time, Cal appears and tells them that he was with her in that calling. The exact words he said to her were “Save the passengers.”

Skip to two months later, Ben’s running around tracking the passengers and asking them about their callings. He’s trying to find anything that can help them stop their “expiration date.” But, he also has another thing coming for him. In the first season finale of Manifest, Grace (Athena Karkanis) reveals she’s pregnant and she isn’t sure whether the father’s Ben or Danny (Daniel Sunjata). But, there’s more. At her OB gyne check-up, Grace tells the doctor that she’s had two pregnancies. Ben tries to correct her, however, as it turns out, Grace had a miscarriage the past year. At that time, Danny wanted kids and Grace was trying to fill a void in her. With that knowledge, Ben repents about their initial decision and suggests they find out the true father of the baby. However, Grace decides to leave that issue for when the baby’s born.

Here and Now vs the Future

While recuperating, Michaela decides to stay with Ben’s family. And although she’s supposed to be resting, eating junk food and binging Netflix as Ben put it, the calling can’t wait. Unfortunately, she and Ben are on different wavelengths about it. Ben thinks that her calling is centered around their death date and is obsessed with finding a stop to it. However, Michaela thinks it’s more about the here and the now and about saving the passengers one by one.

Peter Kramer/NBC

While sifting through her mail, Michaela finds a postcard from Zeke. And realizing that he’s never going to know about his death date if he keeps running, Michaela sets out to clear his name. When she gets to the station, however, she’s met with a new chief who immediately turns down her request to call off the manhunt for Zeke. After that disappointing talk, Jared meets her outside the office and it’s clear that the pair’s relationship definitely has a wide crack in the center of it. Jared’s still upset that Michaela’s siding with Zeke and as Michaela implies, she’s not yet ready to forgive Jared.

As Jared saunters off, visibly hurt, Michaela’s gaze focuses on two names on the list of missing person board – Anton Vasik and Trina Vasik. After recognizing them as other passengers, Michaela experiences another calling. When Michaela tells Ben about it, he remembers talking to Anton on the plane. And he distinctly remembers Anton telling him that he’d never leave his kids. Unfortunately, the Vasiks never responded to any of Ben’s messages. Ben and Michaela do find the neighbor, Sharice, who the Vasiks left their kids with before the plane disappeared five years ago.

Bible Interpretations

Heading over to Sharice’s home, Ben and Michaela find out that Anton and Trina left their kids with Sharice a few days ago without any explanation. More than that, the couple also had callings that they gave biblical interpretations to. And much like the other passengers of Manifest, Ben realizes they’re terrified. Outside, Ben spots a white van he’s also seen around other passenger’s houses. Unfortunately, the van sped off before he can get a clue as to who’s inside it.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Later on at the precinct, Michaela tries to draw up some files about the Vasiks thinking that they’ve been abducted. But, Jared debunks it all when he tells Michaela that Anton Vasik just cleared out his whole bank account the previous day. When Michaela urges him to put more people on the case, Jared throws Zeke to her face again. And like rubbing salt to the wound, Michaela tells Jared that she’s the one who told Zeke to run.

Meanwhile, Cal is on a little trip himself to Zeke’s mother’s house. And despite the sweet old woman’s denial, Cal already knew she was hiding Zeke. Coming face to face with the man himself, Cal wastes no time in telling him that he should be with Michaela. But, given the accident, Zeke believes staying away would be better for Michaela. His faith in the callings is also visibly waining. At the end of it, however, Cal tells him about their death date and his.

On the other hand, while out for some bonding time, Olive and Grace meet Danny. And to Olive’s confusion and great disbelief, her mother avoids telling Danny about the baby. That is when she realizes that Grace has no idea who the father of the baby is. Once again, their family is plunged in utter complication.

Death by a Lake of Fire

Later in the day, Sharice alerts Michaela that she had just received the entirety of Anton’s savings along with what looks to be a suicide note. When she tells Ben, he immediately connects it to the bible verse he saw on the Vasiks wall which involves something about a second death by a lake of fire. And now they think the Vasiks might be acting on it.

Peter Kramer/NBC

Just as Michaela disconnects the call, she sees Zeke from across the street. She immediately rushes to him and urges him to hide. But, as it turns out, Cal’s revelation has done the complete opposite of what it should’ve done. With a death date, Zeke decides to be a better man by turning himself in as he believes that he’s a destructive human being with the callings. Just as the police arrive to take him away, Michaela grabs onto Zeke and has another vision, this time about a bridge and the Vasiks car.

That night, Michaela and Ben find just where the Vasiks are. As it turns out, the callings have driven them near madness because they’ve been seeing visions of them dying in a car crash with the kids in the backseat in the exact same place. So, they’ve decided to act it out to give the callings what it wants and save their kids. As the Vasiks grow more anxious, Michaela stands in front of the car to buy more time. Then suddenly, something clicks. Looking over the edge of the cliff, Michaela sees another car with another family inside perilously hanging by a few rocks. After the family is rescued, the Vasiks calling seems to be answered and the voices and visions leave them alone.

Back From the Dead Too

After the incident with the Vasiks, Ben seems to soften to Michaela’s take on the ‘Save the passengers’ calling. And in addition to that, he realizes that he needed to look toward what matters more in his life aka his family even if it means finding out the real father of Grace’s baby. This time, Grace seems to agree as well.

Later that night, as Ben is taking out the trash, he notices the same white van parked on the street. This time, he decides to confront whoever is in there. With determined strides, Ben marches right up to the van and pounds on the tinted glass. Then suddenly, two men throw up a hood over his head and throw him to the back of the van. When the hood lifts, there’s none other than NSA Director Vance (Daryl Edwards) sitting right across from him. As it turns out, Ben and the others are not the only ones who can come back from the dead in Manifest. 

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Meanwhile, back at the Stones, Michaela has another vision with Cal. They’re back at the plane and it’s still nosediving. But, this time, Zeke’s there as well. And as Cal tells Michaela, she and Zeke need each other to do what’s needed, whatever that means.

On the other hand, Saanvi’s (Parveen Kaur) therapy sessions with the Major (Elizabeth Marvel) has been right on track. At one point, the Major even unveils Saanvi’s budding feelings for Ben. However, Saanvi has always avoided digging deeper into her worries. Because of this, the Major tells Saanvi that she’s releasing her from her care. As she puts it, if Saanvi’s not ready to truly heal, she’s just wasting her money. Disappointed, Saanvi turns to leave, but just as she reaches for the doorknob, Saanvi’s resolve crumbles. It seems that pressure and trauma has finally cracked her. With tears in her eyes, she turns and starts telling the real tale of Flight 828.

Manifest continues next Monday, January 13th, with “Grounded” at 10/9c on NBC.