Manifest Season 2 Episode 2 Recap: “Grounded”

By
Kevin Finnerty
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Manifest Season 2 Episode 2
Garrett Wareing as TJ Morrison, Josh Dallas as Ben Stone, and J.R. Ramirez as Jared Vasquez in ‘Manifest’ season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

“Oh my god, you just had a calling!” says Ben (Josh Dallas) to his wife Grace (Athena Karkanis) as they were just about to take a paternity test in season two episode two of NBC’s mystery drama, Manifest. As the nurse had been about to draw Grace’s blood, she heard her own voice telling her loudly to stop. Grace followed her inner voice and the couple realize this means Ben is the father and he’s passed on the “calling” gene to their unborn baby.

A flashback shows Agent Vance (Daryl Edwards) being put into an ambulance and driven off after the explosion. He sits up in the ambulance and tells his people he wants the Major and her followers to think they succeeded in killing him.

Jump forward to present day and Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) is with Ben, learning how Vance survived. Vance is using the Plan & Go Travel Agency as his headquarters, and we learn his people have been doing some digging and have discovered the Major’s funding has greatly increased. Ben offers to do some snooping, but Vance suggests they leave that to him.

Ben heads out to meet up with another passenger from 828, a college student named TJ Morrison (Garrett Wareing) who tells Ben that he’s had a calling and saw his own grave. Ben’s sympathetic and explains he and his sister have had callings as well.

At Ben’s house, Michaela and Cal (Jack Messina) talk about their calling and how Zeke (Matt Long) was on the plane but couldn’t hear or see them. Cal tells Michaela she needs to talk to Zeke. He also confesses he’s going to miss her since she’s going to go back to living in her apartment.

Michaela attempts to visit Zeke in lockup but is told he’s not allowing any visitors. She then heads to her precinct and is given a warm welcome back from medical leave. Well, a warm welcome with the exception of Jared (J.R. Ramirez) who’s still obviously upset.

The new Captain informs Michaela she’ll have a new partner which further upsets Jared. However, Michaela believes it might be for the best that they have a clean break.

Ben receives a text from TJ and agrees to meet him. TJ’s discovered it wasn’t his grave he saw in the calling but instead the grave of a young woman who was a student on the same campus. Ben calls the police and Jared decides to respond when he sees it’s Ben. He takes both of them to the precinct, suspecting TJ is the killer.

Michaela attends Zeke’s arraignment and, to her horror, hears he’s decided to represent himself and to plead guilty to all charges. Michaela tries to stop him by shouting at him to stop and that he can fight the charges. She ends up being dragged out of court by the court cops.

Olive (Luna Blaise) is out with Grace when she’s approached by a young blonde who’s part of a believers group. Grace orders her to avoid those people, but Olive thinks the girl is nice. Grace shares that the baby is Ben’s and tells Olive about the calling she had. Olive’s stunned and becomes upset when she realizes she’s the only one in the family not getting a calling.

Back at the precinct, Ben and Michaela talk and he brings her up to speed about TJ while she tells him about Zeke. Michaela’s called into the Captain’s office and given a dressing down about going to the arraignment.

Jared informs Michaela that TJ’s fingerprints were found all over the victim’s room and he’s going to arrest him.

TJ tells Ben about missing his mom and that three months after he disappeared on flight 828 his mom overdosed on pills thinking she had lost him. Jared interrupts and arrests TJ who swears he didn’t kill the dead woman.

Michaela, Cal, and Zeke experience a new type of calling, one where they shake violently. When it’s over, Michaela tells Ben it felt like turbulence on a plane. Ben thinks it’s a sign for them to save TJ who he believes is innocent. Michaela says the evidence is starting to indicate he might be guilty and that Ben is a very trusting soul – which she loves about him – but he doesn’t really know TJ. Ben pushes for Michaela to dig deeper. She agrees but warns that if she finds more incriminating evidence, she will help put TJ away for good.

Over at Ben’s house, Cal asks Olive to take him to see Michaela at the precinct. She asks why and he tells her he needs her help figuring something out. Olive suggests she can help him, but he says she wouldn’t understand because it has to do with the callings.

Olive, upset, goes to her room and starts to cry.

Mick and her new partner, Detective Drea Mikami (Ellen Tamaki), check out the murdered college student’s room and discover a bunch of TJ’s belongings there. When he went missing for five years, his stuff was thrown out. The victim grabbed it and used it for her artwork. Michaela realizes that’s why his fingerprints were found in her room when TJ was never in that room. Michaela also finds an extra student ID of the victim and heads off to Campus Security to discover when it was issued.

Grace talks to Olive about not having the callings and Olive confesses she’s terrified she will lose everyone she loves on the death date. Olive walks off, upset and scared.

Meanwhile, Dr. Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) has been working in secret on Grace’s blood to see if gene transfer is possible from the baby to the mother. She’s been doing it while trying to avoid the helpful and overly interested/curious tech who’s constantly trying to find out more about her. Saanvi tells her therapist (aka the Major, played by Elizabeth Marvel) about her new research.

Over at campus security, Michaela and her partner realize after just a few questions that the security guard killed the college girl. (He probably shouldn’t have denied issuing her a new ID.) Michaela arrests him and clears TJ.

Manifest Season 2 Episode 2
Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone and Josh Dallas as Ben Stone in ‘Manifest’ season 2 episode 2 (Photo by: Peter Kramer/NBC)

Back at the precinct, Ben thanks Michaela and apologizes for pushing so hard. She apologizes for not trusting him. The Captain calls Michaela and Jared into her office and tells them not to work on the same cases anymore. She’s suspicious and doesn’t want to hear about any more anonymous tips that have helped Michaela solve cases.

Olive meets up with the friendly blonde and goes to a believers meeting.

Ben goes to see Vance who has figured out that somehow the Major is onto the whole genetic transference possibility of the passengers on 828. Ben has no idea how the Major would know about Saanvi’s research.

Michaela goes home and starts to write a letter to Zeke. Just then, she, Cal, and Zeke experience another turbulent calling. She and Cal are on 828 calling to Zeke who can’t hear or see them. Michaela sees the wall and window of the plane next to her catch on fire. She tries to undo the seatbelt but can’t. The last scene is Zeke, strapped down in the med bay of the prison after hitting a guard during the last turbulence calling, being given drugs to calm him down.




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