Manifest hit us with an action-packed doubleheader.
The episode was filled with dramatic fight scenes, Grace covered in blood and holding a shotgun, and an NSA agent getting shot in the head.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
There’s no denying it — Manifest Season 3 Episode 5 and Manifest Season 3 Episode 6 were intense and gave us new and unexpected insight into the death date and the Callings.
But don’t be fooled . . . as per usual, one answer leads to a plethora of new questions.
Tarik: This guy is here because of me. My stupid mistake.
Grace: Yeah, but he’s not here for you. None of this is your fault.
Tarik: I have to do this. Take the kids and run.
Even the ending, which saw the methheads dying together, remained vague as Ben declared: “We were so very wrong.”
Jace was the only one of the methheads that wasn’t redeemed, but he wasn’t the only one to die.
Initially, everyone thought he’d be the only one to meet a permanent fate since he continued down a destructive path while the others made the most of their second chance.
Pete helped Ben track his brother and save his family, plus, he found love with Angelina.
Pete: Please, you can still make the right choice.
Jace: I got no choice
Meanwhile, Kory helped save Cal by coming to tell him to stop reciting the nursery rhyme as it led Jace right to him.
They both proved that in their second go-around, they would make better choices.
And yet, it didn’t matter.
After Jace died by throwing up lake water, the other two consumed by his shadow figure.
I know that the shadows come with the territory, but they were a little too animated and cheesy for my taste.
Jared: You guys want to tell me what the hell is going on?
Mic: I would say you wouldn’t believe us but I think we’re past that point.
Jared: You think?
I also can’t say that I’ll miss the methheads. We were supposed to be touched by Pete’s redemption arc and love story with Angelina, but it just didn’t have the same pull as Mic and Zeke’s survivor love story.
Kory barely made a dent in the storyline aside from being a cool dude.
As for Jace, well, the world is better off without him.
We were wrong. We were so very wrong.
Ben
Olive’s discovery that they “all came back together so they will all be judged together” does change things for the passengers of Flight 828.
Up until now, they thought that following the Callings individually and being good people would lead them to defeat the death date.
But if they are all being judged collectively, staying alive is going to be much harder.
One bad apple can ruin it for everyone. And we already know that there’s someone out there — looking at you, Eagan — that’s doesn’t have pure intentions for following the Callings.
So, run of the mill crazy or is this cause you guys are magic? Either way, like every other man, he seems to be obsessed with you.
Drea
The revelation from the Egyptian symbols may have been shocking, but I feel like the signs were all there in hindsight.
After all, the series keeps pounding the fact that it’s all connected. If that’s the case, why wouldn’t the fates of the passengers be connected as well?
Plus, there are times when they get joint Callings, which means that they’re all being called upon to do the right thing.
If one of them messes up, it impacts everyone else.
Aside from Eagan, there’s also the situation with Saanvi as she eliminated her Callings (and accidentally killed The Major).
Does that mean she has sealed their fates for good?
It’s an interesting development that’ll likely change the course of Ben and Mic’s research going further.
And it places a lot more stock into the death date because now they know that there’s no guarantee that they’ll beat it.
Mic: What if the truth is impossible to believe?
Drea: You came back from the dead. I dare you to top that.
It also raises plenty of questions, including why the passengers of Flight 828? Are the Callings stemming from God? Why did the methheads return from the dead?
Vance, Saanvi, and the NSA were interested in studying Pete, and while I understand their desire to get answers, I’m slightly disappointed with Vance.
Whenever the government meddles in anything, they prevent people who are actually affected by getting the information they need.
Science is great, but as we’ve seen, this phenomenon defies science and logic.
The only way to get any real answers is to follow the Callings, which the government made much harder for Ben and Pete.
I’m almost to the point where I wish Vance would’ve just stayed rogue because they likely would’ve been able to accomplish more.
The episode — and Jace — spared no one.
Jace pulled a Lion King on Mic when he pushed her off the cliff and watched her fall. Thankfully, she only dislocated her shoulder, but it could’ve been really bad.
Ben: And you’re ok with this?
Saanvi: And what do you want me to do? Take on the NSA?
Then, he took out the NSA agent, which further proves that the government has absolutely no idea what they’re dealing with.
And finally, he came after Tarik in a heartbreaking scene.
When Tarik gave up Cal’s location, Jace could’ve spared him, but instead, he mercilessly stabbed him for the hell of it.
Of course, we knew that was going to happen the moment Tarik left the group and went to grab the shotgun. Cal also foreshadowed it when he called his uncle a superhero.
The only silver lining is that Tarik and Grace made amends and reconciled the past before his death.
Still, as Grace held her half-brother as he died in her arms, we saw something in her snap; she wanted revenge, and she wasn’t going to stop until she got it.
If it wasn’t for Jace’s time running out, I think Grace would’ve shot him.
Going forward, I think we’ll see a whole new side of her that isn’t going to be as eager to sit back as she was before.
I’m also glad that Mic partially looped Drea into what was happening.
Tarik: That might be the coolest thing I ever heard. My nephew is a real-life superhero.
Cal: So is my uncle.
Drea has been a trooper by assisting Mic on all these wild cases and chases without actually asking any questions.
But it’s about damn time that she put her foot down and asked for some kind of explanation.
Mic gave her a brief rundown about the Callings and promised that the full story would come with a drink. They should probably make that a double!
The NSA shot down Jared’s investigation into what happened to The Major as he was getting too close to figuring out the truth.
But doesn’t that seem too easy?
Jared may be fine with accepting that foreign assets killed the Major, but is Sarah going to give in so easily?
The NSA didn’t even have the nerve to tell her the truth about her mother.
The storyline seems far from over, and I still think The Major will return from the dead and be forced to defeat her own death date by becoming a better person.
There would be nothing more satisfying than watching the woman who treated the passengers like lab rats to become a lab rat herself!
What did you think of the episode?
Are you content with the revelation that everyone is judged together? Or do you still want more answers and clarity?
Let us know in the comments below, and watch Manifest online now to catch up!
Lizzy Buczak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter and read her personal blog at CraveYouTV.