For our review of last episode of Manifest, click here.
Synopsis: When Cal is discovered missing from his bedroom, Grace and Ben launch a desperate search that takes them to the remote mountains of upstate New York. A tantalizing trail of breadcrumbs leads them to a startling, game-changing discovery. Meanwhile, Michaela confronts the deceptive Autumn, and the shadowy “Major” finally makes an appearance. (TVGuide)
Writers: Jeff Rake and Gregory Nelson
Director: Millicent Shelton
Rating: TV-14
Running Time: 43mins
Airs: Mondays at 10pm on CityTV (Canada)/NBC (United States)
“Vanishing Point”starts off with Ben frantically driving home where police have set up camp for Cal’s search and rescue. A detective questions Grace about anything wrong in the family that could have caused this when Ben arrives and has no information on who might’ve wanted to take Cal. Meanwhile, Michaela breaks into Autumn’s house and interrogates her concerning the Major and Cal’s disappearance, but she can’t waste any time as the Olive calls concerned that the detective wants to pin the kidnapping on Ben.
With Grace freaking out, Ben and Michaela tell her everything about the flight, the Major and the Callings. She doesn’t want to be left in the dark so Ben reveals Cal’s drawings of the future and that the Major might know about this gift. It freaks them out when they see a drawing of the very moment they are currently living and progress forward to find a scared Cal and an ominous figure.
They are interrupted when Jared arrives with the good news that Cal was with his grandfather getting the cops to leave, but it was all a ruse so they can do the search themselves. They need a vehicle and when Grace suggests Danny’s truck Ben agrees. Ben and Grace head towards a landmark from one of their trips with Cal while Michaela and Jared interrogate Autumn at the precinct about the missing page from his sketchbook.
At Harrisville, Grace and Ben have no luck finding Cal while Olive uses her twin intuition to think like Cal and discover a clue he left behind. This piece of information interrupts Grace chastising Ben’s obsession with the passengers that drove the wedge between him and his family and to make matters worse some government agents are seen lurking around the small town. The good news is that means they haven’t found Cal yet!
As Ben and Grace drive off looking for Cal’s cabin in the woods, they notice they are being followed. This prompts Ben to go off-road and hopefully evade their pursuers. Meanwhile, Cal is in a cabin by himself, setting up camp and slowly getting colder. Michael looks into Autumn’s past, while feeling increasingly cold, when she discovered that the leverage the Major has concerns Autumn’s biological daughter. If they can get her back then maybe Autumn will tell them everything. Autumn calls the Major’s agent Jansen and informs him that she knows where Cal is.
The truck diverts away from following Ben and heads to a remote cabin where a group of agents barge in, but find no one there. Turns out Autumn gave the Major a fake message to take them off their scent and in return Michaela gives her the location of her daughter. Autumn reveals the torn photo is a picture of her and her daughter which is why she wanted to rip it out, but the other side is the location of the cabin. Michaela tells Ben and Grace not to engage if they find the cabin until she arrives, but she becomes distracted by only snow that she can see. Jared snaps her out of it, but they waste not time to race off after her brother.
Ben and Grace arrive at the cabin which looks identical to Cal’s photo. They ignore her message and enter the cabin where Cal reveals he’s waiting for someone. Suddenly there is someone banging on the door before he barges in and collapses on the floor. While they tend to the mysterious man, Jansen calls into the Major as we finally see her face (Elizabeth Marvel, Homeland and House of Cards).
Ben questions who the man is because his face isn’t recognizable from the manifest while Grace apologizes for being so harsh on Ben. Michaela arrives and reveals that the man at the cabin is the one from her Callings showing his connection to the passengers. The man named Zeke awakes and reveals he got lost while hiking and an image of Michaela from a magazine helped him persevere. He is confused how she can be there because she had died, but upon looking at his magazine they learn that Zeke’s two-week hike turned into a year-long disappearance proving that there are more people like those from the manifest.
Captain’s Log
- What is Zeke’s deal?
- How many others have been affected by these events?
- Are Fiona and Captain Daly really dead?
- What is the Majors plan?
- How long until Lourdes finds out?
- Who else will we meet from the manifest?
Overall, Vanishing Point was a great episode. As the original penultimate episode, it reveals a lot regarding the passengers’ stories, the connected Callings of Cal and Michaela and finally the big bad villain of the season. The removal of the overused trope of hiding the truth from your loved ones allows for this season to be a little less predictable in its storytelling and bring a refreshing take to this government conspiracy drama series. With more questions than answers, how many of these loose ends will be tied up by season’s end?
Score: 9/10
What did you think of “Vanishing Pointâ€? Let me know in the comments below!
On top of writing content for this site, I also post videos on my YouTube channel The Film Fanatic where we discuss movie and TV reviews, movie recommendations, countdown lists and more! Head on over and join the Fanatic family!
If you liked this, check out my other reviews here and my website! Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Instagram and like us on Facebook.
