Manifest Season 1 Episode 3: Turbulence Review

If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.

Synopsis: Ben and Michaela investigate a shocking murder in fear that it’s connected to Flight 828. Meanwhile, Ben struggles to accept the life Grace led in his absence, while Olive and Cal realize that being twins after five and a half years apart is harder than they thought. (TVGuide)

Writer: Gregory Nelson & Bobak Esfarjani

Director: Paul Holahan

Rating: TV-14

Running Time: 43 mins

Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CityTV (Canada)/NBC (United States)

“Turbulence”starts off with a flashback to the flight where the now deceased passenger Kelly is seen sitting across the aisle from the Stones. Michaela discusses how this trip was a great stress relief for Ben’s marriage as well as Michaela’s proposal decision. We overhear Kelly complaining about the flight saying she’d rather die than fly with them again. Cut to modern day where the police are investigating her house as a crime scene. News outlets start revealing Kelly’s death to the public causing Ben, Michaela and Grace to become worried about their own safety.

Cal goes upstairs to find Olive sneaking out her window and asks him to keep it as their little secret. Ben receives a call from Saanvi as they confide in each other over the death of a fellow passenger before she explains that Cal’s blood contains a protein marker that wasn’t produced by the cancer nor was it there before the flight. She’s hoping that some more tests might help discover what it is. Michaela heads out for work, but upon enter the driver’s seat for the first time, she has a flashback to her accident. She returns inside and asks Ben to drive her this one time.

Michaela is heading to the crime scene in order to learn more about Kelly’s mysterious death. Ben decides that he wants to help because whatever this is might come after his family next. At the crime scene, a sleuth of people are standing outside mourning Kelly. They walk by a potential suspect and run into a detective who allows them access to the house. That access is short-lived when Director Vance comes in claiming jurisdiction over the Flight 828-related investigation and escorts them out of the house.

The next day, Michaela watches Kelly’s interview to try to find clues as to why she was murdered. Jacob comes by and advises her to stop looking into this before she gets in over her head. She asks for his help and he reluctantly agrees. Michaela meets Ben outside as they discuss the latest message from the voice: Own your truth. They decide to meet with Kelly’s husband who says she’s been living by that mentality for the past few days and started acting out of character.

The housekeeper Christine reveals that Kelly went to the mall to get her haircut and returned with bruises on her body. Michaela has a hunch, but before they can leave they stumble into Kelly’s wake which prompts a tragic flashback for Michaela. At work, Grace opens up to Rob, a coworker, about ending her relationship with Danny because her husband is finally home. He doesn’t like that she’s been cheating on Danny and she agrees.

Michaela arrives at the home of Beverly, the mother of Evie who was killed in the DUI incident. Beverly welcomes her in, but its revealed that she has dementia when she calls out for Evie. Her husband confronts Michaela and explains he was done watching his wife break down every 15 minutes from the news. At the precinct, Jacob pleads with Michaela that she doesn’t live in her mistakes and embrace the second chance she has been given. He gives her some information about Kelly and her husband who owned a mall, the same mall she went to for her haircut.

At the house, Ben checks for any bugs that the government may have planted. He calls Saanvi and asks if she’s found anything weird. She reveals that by testing her blood that she also has the same marker as Cal meaning that the flight did something to the passengers. Suddenly, the doorbell rings where a strange teenager is waiting. Turns out it’s Cal’s best friend Kevin who is all grown up. He runs into Cal and as Ben tries to set up a hangout, Kevin reveals he is actually there to see Olive. Grace manages to defuse the situation, but inside Ben reveals that he found some footprints outside. Luckily, Cal knows who caused them and lets them know about Olive’s late night adventure. She gets mad that she isn’t allowed to see her boyfriend and storms off.

Grace goes to check in on her when Michaela arrives with her information. She wants to go to the mall and discover what Kelly’s truth was before they are next. Michaela tries to ask one of the store owners a question, but she turns, sees Michaela’s badge and flees. They corner her in a backroom where she reveals that many of the store owners are illegal and Kelly wanted to own her truth by shutting down the family business giving motive to her husband.

Olive confronts Cal about him breaking their code. He isn’t a fan of the fact that she stole Kevin, her best friend, from him, but she states that she was actually his best friend. He doesn’t feel close to her anymore because they may be twins, but they certainly don’t look it. At the precinct, Director Vance meets with the Captain and Jared about Michaela and her surprise breakthrough on the abduction case. The Captain leaves prompting Vance to try to convince Jared to work as his informant, threatening his job in the process.

They bring in Kelly’s husband who is going down for a slew of charges, but one of them is not murder as he has an airtight alibi. At the hospital, Saanvi is continuing to conduct her tests when she finds out that the differing markers in their blood are a sign of an Ischemic Stroke. Ben returns home to find the door ajar prompting him to slowly enter and grab a bat. He moves towards the noise and charges a strange man. Turns out it’s Lindsay, a man Grace gave a key to grab Olive’s shin guards. He leaves, but Ben breaks down asking how many other mysterious men might enter their home. She reassures him that her support circle was vital to survive losing him, but they would never be able to replace him.

Michaela visits the initial murder suspect, Isaiah, who believes the Flight 828 passengers to be the chosen. He goes on about wanting to protect her and setting the truth free. This interaction gives Michaela the impulse to visit Evie’s house again, but Beverly has apparently gone missing. She gets in her car to try to find her prompting another flashback to her night with Evie. They were both drinking and Evie persuades Michaela to drive her car home rather than call an Uber. She breaks down in the car, but composes herself and heads off to find her friend’s mom.

She looks all around the neighbourhood before finding Beverly staggering through the street as cars come close to hitting her. She manages to cut them off and protect Beverly prompting one of the vehicles to go off the road. She checks on the driver to find it’s Christine with Kelly’s stolen necklace in her front seat. At the precinct, she reveals that Kelly stole her life from her, because she had a relationship with Kelly’s husband, and she took it back. Jared confronts Michaela about her current winning streak and she opens up a bit about things being a bit weird, but doesn’t want to go down that rabbit hole until she learns more.

At the house, the twins start to rekindle their relationship as they chat and play games. Cal is glad that Olive is happy and she’s just happy that he’s home. Ben heads to the kitchen and asks Grace if she loves the other guy she has in her life. She never stopped loving him, but as they embrace she has a worried look on her face. Meanwhile. Michaela is at Evie’s playing cards with Beverly. Jared sits at the office looking over Vance’s business card before tearing it up. The episode ends with Ben finishing his resume when Michaela arrives saying they need to go see Saanvi. She explains the whole Ischemic Stroke idea, but to prove it she needs some brain tissues. Luckily there is a recently deceased passenger, but there is no record of a Kelly Taylor being brought to any morgue in the city. Ben pieces together that the Feds stepped in to take Kelly’s body and it is revealed that the government is doing their own autopsy.

Captain’s Log

• Who or what is the mysterious shadow figure?
• What is the mysterious voice?
• Will Cal be cured of his Leukemia?
• Will Grace change her mind about her relationship with Ben?
• Will Jared end up working for Director Vance?
• What does this stroke mean for the passengers of Flight 828?
• Who else will we meet from the manifest?

Overall, this was a good episode. While Michaela’s job allows for a murder of the week style show that would follow whatever the voice is telling them that given episode, it feels like thrusting this quickly into a routine without finishing the setup detracts from the major story of the series. There are so many questions revolving around the passengers of Flight 828 and yet it seemed to take a bit of a backseat in this episode to set up the potential episodic nature of the series. Regardless, the season is still young and it may have been a taste of what’s to come, but hopefully it continues to push forward with its more serialized elements. Thankfully this is supplemented well by the character drama that really helps to drive this show. The relationships between the Stone family members are so genuine that it’s hard not to feel empathy for these people. Here’s to hoping that Saanvi becomes a more prominent character and receives her own storyline outside helping her fellow passengers.

Score: 7.5/10

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