Manifest: Bogey

Eagan: “What the hell is going on, Professor?”

A lion shows up in a Calling; Ben and Eagan are forced to work together; and Saanvi confesses to Michaela.

Zeke and Michaela invite Jared and Sarah over. One reason is to show approval to the couple, but Michaela also wants to know if Zeke gets any vibes from Sarah. This may seem a little self-serving – Zeke warned Cal about abuse of gifts in the last episode – but Sarah is the daughter of the Major, a woman who harassed and tortured the passengers. It’s not so much self-serving as it is self-preservation. Zeke is willing to help, but he doesn’t seem to be able to control his empathic abilities. They come and they go.

Several passengers experience a Calling including a dark cloud, which is a symbol of Eureka, the way a heartbeat signals Evie’s family to Michaela. Ben also gets a flood! He’s freaking out at the water pouring into the garage – he thinks the washer broke – only to have Grace tell him that there is no water. We see again that it’s useful to have people not getting the Callings in the vicinity, so we can distinguish between normal world and Calling world. Also, the same Calling drives Eagan – also getting soaked, but also threatened by a lion, which is weird – to the Stones’ front door.

Although most of Manifest is shown from the perspective of the Stones and a few other “good” characters, such as Saanvi, Zeke, Jared and Vance, sometimes the Callings seem to have another attitude. Grace does not want Eagan in their house, and Ben does not want Eagan in his garage, but apparently the Callings want them to work together. I’m not sure that Eagan’s presence was needed to resolve this Calling – Ben could have figured out everything on his own – but his being in Ben’s garage exposes him to a lot of additional information (and Eagan is always fun). He flips through the pages of the Al-Zuras journal – and sees Saanvi in the screaming crowd, which we in the audience have noticed before but apparently was missed by Ben.

Bleeding eyes are also noticed by Michaela, actually on Michaela in her reflection, which is an indication that she needs to do more than the others. After consulting with Ben, they figure out Saanvi is in trouble. Michaela abandons her own dinner party to go to Eureka. Saanvi’s eyes are bleeding for real, and have been since she inflicted simulated dark lightning on the fragment of Noah's Ark.

Olive, going to the campus to do research, discovers (through Levi) the story of the lion with bleeding eyes, a flood, and the village who lied to the woman. I loved this story, as I loved the previous story of the last trial. Again we have emphasized to us that responsibility is not always individual, but can be collective. I think this such a wonderful metaphor for the fate of the human race, and I am so thrilled with how Manifest is making a point of it.

Sarah is beautiful with Beverly. My father had dementia before he died, and I remember dealing with the frustration and confusion. After a while, there is little point in arguing with a dementia sufferer's worldview; you just go with it. Sarah accepts her role as Michaela – maybe Bev would call any young white woman that name – and helps clean her up and takes her to bed.

Olive is nasty to Angelina. I can understand that Olive must be getting annoyed at sharing her wardrobe and her mother and her little sister with her. Of course, Angelina is in a really lousy position: when she fled Costa Rica, she had absolutely nothing. But the hair coloring is weird. The trying to press close to Levi is weird, especially as Levi seems interested in Olive. On the other hand, what about TJ? It seems rather greedy of Olive to claim both young men. On the other other hand, Angelina is tiresome.

I love how Vance looks on the interaction between Michaela and Saanvi. He is ready to continue to lie, but he’s also willing to let Saanvi tell the truth. The truth puts Michaela in a terrible position. She’s a cop, and Saanvi just confessed to a murder.

Bev tells Zeke an uncomfortable truth about his insecurity – Michaela expected their marriage to last only one night – but Zeke doesn’t interpret it as her having insight. No, he thinks she’s feeling what he was feeling, which is interesting.

Title musings: “Bogey” is the title of the episode, and in aviation it means an unidentified enemy aircraft (or at least it’s suspected to be an enemy, if it’s not identified, how do you know? I’m not sure who the enemy is in this episode: Eagan? Angelina? Dr. Gupta? A nice title.

Bits and pieces

Bleeding eyes are really creepy. The makeup in Manifest isn’t always perfect in this, but the concept is cool.

Timing? Thirty-three days have passed since the driftwood fragment arrived, so that puts us sometime in August of 2020.

It must have been annoying for Josh Dallas (Ben Stone) and Ali Lopez-Sohaili (Eagan Tehrani) to stand in water for the filming of several scenes, and to keep switching between dry Ben and wet Ben. Also, they would have to be very, very careful not to electrocute anyone.

Has Grace had any Callings since giving birth to Eden? I don’t think so.

Washers are often in the basement just so they can’t flood the rest of the house if a pipe breaks. On the other hand, this may mean going up and down the stairs for a homeowner to do that laundry.

Quotes

Jared: Good on you, man, hosting the most awkward dinner party ever.
Zeke: Ha! Good on you to come.
Jared: Yeah, well, Mick didn't really give me much of a choice.

Grace: Ben, the man kidnapped you. Why would you even let him in the door?
Ben: I don't like this any more than you do, but he's excellent at deciphering the Callings, and, clearly, the Universe wants us to work together.
Grace: I don't want you going anywhere with him. And I don't want him in my house.

Beverly: Michaela, help me, please. Help me. Michaela!
Sarah: Yes, ma'am. Here we go. It's gonna be okay.

Olive: Really? Because I see you. I see you sucking up to my mom and pretending to be Eden's big sister and pushing me out so you can...
Angelina: No, I wouldn't do that. I – I just wanted to be a part of this family. You guys are all so nice.
Olive: Nice? We pity you.

Saanvi: You both know that you're not gonna fix me. Once I go on a vent, I'm not gonna come back.
Michaela: Saanvi, you have to let her do whatever she can to save you right now.
Saanvi: She can't save me. No one can.
Michaela: Saanvi, your tears of blood, your body breaking down, it's because you can't get Callings anymore, which is why my Calling led me to you. It's about a lie. What are you hiding?

Michaela: You're not the only one who's taken a life. Me. Zeke. He felt responsible for his sister's death. But he made amends, he followed the Calling, and he survived his Death Date.
Saanvi: That's not the same.
Michaela: No, it is not, because you thought the Major had a cure for Zeke, and on top of that, she kidnapped and tortured passengers. She killed people, Saanvi, so if her death isn't justifiable, I don't know whose is.
Saanvi: But still, like, how do I redeem myself from murder?
Michaela: I wish I knew. But the Calling, it wanted you to come clean. Maybe that's the first step.
Saanvi: Now what? I just confessed to murder. You're a cop. You have a responsibility.

Overall rating

Lots of good stuff in this episode: Saanvi finally confesses; Eagan is back; I love the stories and the collective responsibility. Three and a half out of four imaginary lions.

Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.

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