‘Manifest’ Season 4 Episode 17 Recap: “Threshold”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Manifest Season 4 Episode 18 Recap
Melissa Roxburgh as Michaela Stone in ‘Manifest’ season 4 (Photo Cr. Netflix © 2022)

Netflix’s Manifest season four episode 17 takes an eight-month time jump to May 2, 2024, exactly one month prior to the Death Date. Drea (Ellen Tamaki) is about to give birth to Jared’s baby – which she didn’t tell him about when he got back together with Michaela – and returns home from shopping with her mom but won’t let her inside her the building. She claims she doesn’t want to show it off until she has it all fixed up, but the real reason is that there’s nothing inside.

She purchased the place near the detention center and has been busy attempting to break through the wall.

Inside the center, Ben (Josh Dallas) is now the unofficial mayor and everyone’s busy with their assigned jobs. There’s a healthy vegetable garden, but the rations are running low. The group in charge of the food will keep that info a secret so as not to scare everyone. Ration sizes will be cut, and maybe they’ll be able to stretch it until the Death Date.

Elsewhere, it’s been up to Jared (J.R. Ramirez) to track down and solve Cal’s callings. He’s exhausted but refuses to let Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) help, worried that she’ll get hurt. Cal (Ty Doran) is also exhausted and has been pulling all-nighters to access all the callings. He refuses to take time off; they only have a month left.

He slips back into a calling and is drawn to seat 14F. He takes a seat and immediately flowering vines attempt to strangle him. He gasps for air, and Michaela yanks him from the calling.

14F is Autumn Cox, and although they’re unhappy about helping her, they know it needs to be done.

Inside the detention center, the lights flicker because of a tremor, and then the center loses all power. The latest tremor short-circuited the system and now the ALNI patients on life support are dying. There’s a small generator that might be enough to power the life support systems but until it’s set up, Ben and a crew need to do everything by hand to keep them alive.

The generator works but not before they lose two of the patients. Plus, it’ll only last three hours.

Olive (Luna Blaise) believes their only option is to make a gigantic banner saying they need help. She thinks there are still 828 sympathizers who will come to their rescue.

Joe and Ben get to work on creating a flare to draw attention to the banner.

Back at Tarik’s house, Steve’s rehab is progressing and he’s able to slowly walk with the assistance of a cane. He joins his daughter and the group as they attempt to figure out Autumn’s location. She was at the original safe house, but they don’t know the location of the new safe house.

Cal recalls that he saw a white grid with a window’s reflection with slats behind it. Michaela realizes he’s describing Beverly’s house, but although she hasn’t lived there for months, it might not be empty. (Beverly was Michaela’s friend Evie’s mom, and she left her house to Michaela and Zeke.)

Michaela and Vance stay with Steve, while Cal and Jared head out to investigate. The 828ers are, in fact, using it as a safe house and they spot Angelina preaching to those assembled. Jared and Cal can’t figure out why Autumn, Astrid, and the rest are with a killer, but it’s obvious they’re there of their own free will.

Jared wants to figure out a plan but Cal busts in on Angelina’s sermon. She welcomes him to his own home and insists she was called there to be closer to him. If he joins her, he will be one of the righteous who survives.

She reaches for his hand, and Cal warns her not to touch him.

Jared questions Autumn about the vines and she refuses to answer. Jared spots a photo of her with the vines and snaps a photo.

Cal and Angelina argue over God, and Cal invites Autumn to come with him to solve her calling. It’s her path to redemption. But Angelina insists redemption is futile; only those who follow her will survive.

Autumn refuses to leave. She’s determined to be one of Angelina’s eight chosen people.

The building from Autumn’s photo housed a daycare center but it’s closed now. In a weird twist, Vance and Michaela discover that building is one block from the detention center and is now owned by Drea’s family.

Vance texts Jared with the update as Drea is being held at knifepoint by a man she hired to help her figure out how to knock out the wall.

Steve demands to see Ben and Michaela also wants a chance to see Ben and the girls. The Death Date is so close, and she doesn’t want to have any regrets. With Drea living so close by, it might be possible to at least wave at her family.

Michaela won’t take no for an answer. They’ll use the neighbor’s van to get close to the building.

Jared and Cal make it to the building and spot the vines. They hear Drea screaming and rush inside as the man’s tying her up. Jared places his gun to the man’s head and warns that if he ever returns, he’ll kill him.

It’s only at this moment that Jared realizes Drea is having his baby!

Their discussion about impending parenthood is interrupted by gunshots. Ben’s placed the banner on the detention center roof, and a guard shoots into the sky, ordering him back inside. Ben lights the flare, unaware that Cal and Jared are about to run over and help him. Drea stops them and shows them what she’s been working on.

If they knock down the wall, they can free the 828ers. Jared asks, “Are you trying to go full Shawshank here?” and Drea jokes that it’s a good mommy and me activity. She’s reached a point where she can’t break down the wall on her own, and Jared picks up the drill and gets to work.

Inside the detention center, time’s running out for the patients on life support. Joe and Ben are by the fuse box and electric panels, figuring out their next move, when they hear sawing. They race to the source and Ben is reunited with Cal! They hug, and then Ben tells them they need power – fast.

Drea and Jared get to work on that, and they MacGyver the electrical system to get the power on in the center. Drea’s ingenuity and hard work saves the day.

Cal fills his dad in on the callings, and that Autumn’s calling led him to Drea. Ben realizes there’s still hope in surviving the Death Date.

Michaela, Steve, and Vance also make it to Drea’s, and Michaela catches Ben up in a huge hug. Drea joins the happy group, and Michaela’s smile fades as she looks at Drea’s belly. It’s an awkward moment as they hug and exchange pleasantries.

Ben informs the 828ers that there’s a way out, if they want to go. But first, he introduces the group to Cal. Suffice it to say, they’re shocked Cal is so old. The passengers learn that Cal can access all of their callings, and if they remain together, they can solve them.

Michaela warns the passengers that it’s not good for 828ers on the outside, and Ben believes that solving the callings is the only way to survive the Death Date. They need to have hope and faith that they will live. He pleads with his friends to stay, and the group rumbles. A few choose to leave, but the majority opt to remain in the center.

Drea and Jared have a private chat, and he compliments everything that she’s managed on her own. She confesses she wanted to tell him but didn’t want him to stop trying to save the world. He asks, again, if he’s the father, and she confirms that biologically he is – but that doesn’t mean he has to be the actual parent. Jared admits that’s all he’s ever wanted.

Michaela watches as Jared feels the baby move and leaves without making her presence known.

Over at the safe house, Autumn hands Angelina a box of rat poison which apparently Angelina’s putting in the pills some of her followers are taking.

Although her best friend, Autumn, remained with Angelina, Astrid left the group and shows up at Drea’s place. She seems ill and rests, grabbing her pill bottle and swallowing a capsule.

Back at the detention center, Ben teases Jared about becoming a father while Joe shares a photo of his son and says he’s anxious to reunite with him now that the wall’s open.

Drea and Michaela chat, and Michaela says she’s happy for the three of them.

It’s a relaxing time for the group as they work on a puzzle and laugh.

Cal visits Marko, one of the patients on life support, and Marko reaches out and grabs Cal’s arm. His dragon scar lights up and he sees a gorgeous peacock with two blue lights on its feathers. When the blue lights touch, the resulting light is blinding, and Cal leaves the calling.

Cal recalls Angelina telling him they are the only two sapphires and are the only path to survival.




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