Manifest – Crosswinds

By: Luke Joseph

“All good things. I wouldn’t say I don’t believe. I’d say that I want to because I don’t know what’s happening to us. I will say one thing. I want my life back,” Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) confesses upon visiting her mother’s grave. It’s been ten days since the explosion and things are still a mess. The government deems them to be criminals while others see them as angels, saints or guinea pigs that have been experimented on. She’s still finding herself longing for Jared while Ben (Josh Dallas) continues going out of his mind trying to figure everything out because he longs to be with his family again. He decides to head to Vance’s memorial service out of respect, but also because he’s hoping the “big bad” will make an appearance. While he looks on, Agent Powell (Tim Moriarty) approaches Ben who isn’t all that thrilled to see him. “You have some nerve showing up here. Show some respect and leave,” he tells him. Not wanting to cause problems or be disrespectful Ben takes his leave, but he’s confronted with a journalist by the name of Aaron (Marquis Rodriguez) who runs a podcast that’s dedicated to 828. He wants Ben to go on the record as a guest, but Ben declines. Wanting to peak his interest Aaron reveals that one hour before the Red Hook incident someone known as “The Major” had arrived at the site via Black Hawk chopper.

While visiting Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) and the rest of the missing passengers, Michaela recognizes one of them. His name is Paul (Kerry Malloy) and Saanvi explains how he’s married, but his wife hadn’t shown up at the hanger to reunite with him. Feeling empathetic towards him because she experienced the same thing ,she reaches for him only for her to be transported somewhere in a blizzard and hearing the statement “find her.” A second later, he wakes up and seems completely disoriented and Saanvi gathers that he has a case of amnesia. Saanvi encourages Michaela to touch another passenger and she reaches out to Marco, but he remains in his catatonic state. She tells Michaela that because she heard the calling it means she’s connected to Paul and needs to find his missing wife.

The passengers including the pilot (Frank Deal) that were on Flight 828 come together to discuss everything that has been happening upon their return. They all seem very distressed including Captain Daly because since he was the one piloting the plane everyone is placing the blame on him. Autumn (Shirley Rumierk) overhears the discussion and when Ben spots her lingering she approaches him. He brings up the Major and she tells him how she had heard a conversation in which the Major had mentioned “money was no problem” because the “holy grail is priceless.” She also mentions how the Major is a woman.

Doing as Saanvi requested Michaela returns to work and begins searching for the missing wife. Jared (J.R. Ramirez) makes his return, they share a hug and he tells her how he wants to talk to her, yet she needs to focus on finding the missing person. They head to the house and find that Helen (Frances Eve) isn’t there. She suggests that Jared stay back and look through the mail while she heads to the beach house to see Paul. He still doesn’t remember anything. Michaela experiences another calling that brings her back into the blizzard where she hears “find her.” Jared gets a lead and reaches out to Michaela, so she leaves the beach house and heads to the location. They announce they’re NYPD there on her husband’s behalf and the door opens displaying a frazzled Helen holding a gun. She explains to them how she thought Paul had hired them to come kill her because he’s come close a couple of times before. He’s abused her in the past. She believed her prayers to be answered when the plane disappeared, but then when it came back, she feared her life was at risk again. “His coming back was like this wrecking ball wrecking everything that I built,” she confesses. Helen’s admission makes Michaela realize that she is the wrecking ball in Jared’s life and believes the best route is to stay away from Jared.

While listening to Aaron’s podcast Ben hears “Chapter 6 Closing in on the Holy Grail,” causing him to seek him out and ask where the term comes from. Aaron reveals that one of his sources had heard the senator station say, “It’s the holy grail…we have to be the first or 828 blows up in our faces.” In turn, Ben reveals to Aaron that the Major is a woman. So, Aaron agrees to work with him. Knowing that they need more resources on their side, he confronts Agent Powell and opens up to him about everything. He advises Powell to look into the Black Hawk that visited Red Hook. Though Powell seems hesitant Ben asks what he thinks Vance would do and from the look alone it seems like Powell is considering helping.

Thanks to Olive’s (Luna Blaise) meddling she insists that Danny (Daniel Sunjata) be their dinner guest for a home cooked meal. Her actions come from the heart because she’s worried about her mom’s current state, but is she trying to replace your father already? That’s cold. What’s worse is that she still believes Danny is part of the family. No wait, that’s not the worst thing. It’s actually when Cal (Jack Messina) reaches out to Ben saying something is wrong with Olive and Grace (Athena Karkanis), which is enough for Ben to rush over and find Danny there. He’s far from happy and he wants Danny out of his life and away from his family. “You are the whole reason this family is messed up. I’m trying to pick up the pieces,” Danny states and it’s enough to cause Ben to snap as he roughly pushes him. Ben gets a punch to the gut when Olive confesses how she invited Danny over and Grace adds another punch when she tells him how he just walked back into their lives thinking everything that happened within his absence was no longer there. Ben confesses, “I only thought about how much you got back. Not what you lost.” He’s completely distraught and instead of proceeding to kick Danny out he leaves.

After the brief encounter with Jared, it seems Michaela is anything but empathetic when she meets up with Paul who is requesting to see his wife. She passionately states that he doesn’t get to be a wrecking ball and reveals how he had abused Helen. Yeah, she doesn’t want Paul destroying Helen’s life, but really we know she’s viewing herself as the bad guy because of everything going on with Jared. Though she’s trying to keep her distance Jared isn’t one for it because he confronts her that evening and tells her she needs to let him talk. Michael sweetly says, “You’re not a wrecking ball. You’re my soulmate. I still wake up expecting to find you next to me. I still look at you and the rest of the world goes away. I love you. It’s always been you. I didn’t cheat death to live half a life and neither did you.” After that the clothes come off and you can guess what happens…Jared seems to have forgotten that he’s married and is trying to have a baby.

The Black Hawk has been discovered. The name is classified, but Powell warns Ben to watch his six because whoever the Major is she’s coming. Ben goes on Aaron’s podcast to discuss what happened with him and the other passengers. He says, “I don’t know her name. All we did was get on a plane because of that our lives have never been the same. Everyone on that flight has gotten a second chance, but that comes with a price and now there’s a new danger facing us. I don’t know what holy grail the Major is closing in on, but I do know this…I will not let my family be collateral damage in her quest.” It seems like one hell of a discussion, but he makes it clear to Aaron this podcast can’t go public. Instead, it’s Ben’s insurance policy on the off chance things take a turn for the worst.

Michaela has another calling being told to “find her,” but she no longer believes they are meant to find anyone because the voice that is happening in her head isn’t her voice. Saanvi reveals to Ben and Michaela that the holy grail isn’t a what but a whom. Red Hook had been testing to see which passengers were the most sensitive to the callings. We all know that out of the entire passengers it’s Cal who seems most susceptible and it’s proven when later that evening as he sleeps he awakens to a similar calling that Michaela has been experiencing. The only difference? The person walking through the blizzard is holding a photograph of Michaela. As Cal experiences this calling he also feels the bitterness of the weather resulting in his hands turning blue due to frostbite.