‘Manifest’ Season 4 Episode 18 Recap: “Lift/Drag”

By
Rebecca Murray
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Manifest Season 4 Episode 18 Recap
Ty Doran as Cal Stone, Daryl Edwards as Robert Vance and Josh Dallas as Ben Stone in ‘Manifest’ season 4 episode 18 (Photo Cr. Peter Kramer/Netflix © 2022)

The action picks up on May 31, 2024, two days before the Death Date, as Netflix’s Manifest season four episode 18 opens. The government can’t stop the volcanic activity and Saanvi’s being blamed for not helping them enough to get the situation under control.

The public’s being kept in the dark about the impending extinction-level event and have no idea what’s causing the seismic activity.

Troy (Ed Herbstman) suggests using an electromagnetic pulse to block the ULF, and he’s ordered to try it first on the black box. Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) is concerned the experiment will wipe out the box’s data – but that won’t matter if the world ends anyway.

Saanvi’s frustrated that she’s locked up doing this research when she should be helping the 828ers. She and Troy need to escape, and that might be possible if Troy cranks the pulse to 11 and wipes out all the electronics in the building, including keypads and security cameras.

Cal (Ty Doran) slips into a calling and Ben (Josh Dallas) tries to comfort him when he’s finished. Cal’s working non-stop to help solve all the callings, and he just received a batch that need investigating.

Ben rallies the passengers to help with the callings. First up, Cal experienced Captain Amuta’s which included a game of cricket, and TJ knows of fields nearby in Prospect Park. Bethany assigns Amuta to TJ’s team to follow the calling, and they’re reminded to be extra cautious while out in public.

Michaela’s calling was a saying: “Every life is worth saving.” She recalls seeing “every life is worth living” on a journal at Zeke’s work and telling him to write down his feelings when he was having a difficult time. Jared (J.R. Ramirez) offers to help, but Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) has to follow this calling alone.

Cal tells his dad that he had a calling with a buzzing noise and the numbers 1 1 2 1. Ben, Vance (Daryl Edwards), and Cal take a look at the research boards for anything referencing that number, and Ben figures out it’s the beginning of a NYC zip code. Vance discovers those digits could be associated with anything within 80 blocks. However, he’s able to narrow it down to a condemned block that appears to have new solar panels placed on a building. There are enough panels to power the Vegas Strip, which doesn’t make sense.

The threesome take off to investigate and discover the abandoned building is actually a government black site. Vance breaks in and they hear military chatter on the radio, but no alarms go off to signal intruders.

Saanvi and Troy activate the pulse, grab the black box’s data, and make their escape – right into the hallway with Vance, Ben, and Cal! Ben tells Saanvi that Cal can still access all their callings and that they’ve been busy solving them over the past month.

They hear guards and make a run for it. They can’t escape so Troy provides a diversion by giving himself up. “My freedom for yours. Easiest decision I’ve ever made,” says Troy.

Jared and Drea spend some time together, and Jared confesses he’s worried they aren’t solving enough callings. Plus, Cal’s getting weaker and so are the callings. With only two days left, they may not live to meet their baby.

They find Astrid passed out, and it appears to be an OD. She’s not breathing, but Drea doesn’t think anti-anxiety pills would cause this reaction. Jared successfully administers CPR, and Astrid gasps for air.

After getting Astrid to the medical unit, Drea confesses she’s sorry she’s put a strain on Jared and Michaela’s relationship. Jared believes that if they make it past the Death Date, they can figure out the situation. Jared’s committed to the child and to being a partner to Michaela.

Over at the new safe house, Autumn and Eagan (Ali Lopez-Sohaili) have a contentious conversation about true believers. Eagan wonders why Astrid would leave on her own and reveals he found one of her pills. Autumn brushes that off and suggests that Eagan follow her lead and get busy praying.

Angelina (Holly Taylor) addresses the group and points out that she needs to narrow the group by one. Eagan knows he’s the odd man out and drops to his knees, proposing marriage and claiming neither wants to be alone when the world ends. He slips in wording that he saw in her diary, and Angelina says yes.

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

Michaela arrives at Zeke’s old work and sees a banner with the saying next to four balloons. She has a flashback in which she tells Zeke to write a note with his problems, read it out loud, attach the note to a balloon, and let it go. (It was a trick Evie used to do.)

Unfortunately, one of Zeke’s co-workers recognizes her and wants to call the cops. A security guard arrives to throw Michaela out, and while they’re fighting Michaela falls down a flight of stairs. A face from the past stops the guard from going after Michaela. Carlos, the recipient of Evie’s heart, and Michaela hug and she thanks him for saving her.

They talk, and it’s only at this point that Michaela realizes Carlos was the intern that Zeke always talked about. Carlos says Zeke always called her his North Star and his Gemini, and claimed he wouldn’t be alive without her. Michaela made him think every single life is worth living.

Carlos shows her a stick figure drawing Zeke drew of him and Michaela touching hands, with three stars above them. Carlos interprets it as Zeke reaching out through space and time. Michaela wonders why she keeps hearing that every life is worth living, and Carlos believes it’s time for her to forgive herself about Evie.

Michaela asks for a balloon and lets go of her guilt.

Amuta and TJ solve Amuta’s calling, but the co-pilot’s concerned Cal’s callings are becoming increasingly incomplete. Bethany assures him they’re doing the best they can.

Ben’s group returns with Saanvi, so their investigation was also successful. Saanvi’s impressed with what they’ve done with the detention center.

Cal’s incredibly exhausted and pushing himself too hard. He can’t access the ALNI patients who are in comas and in constant callings, but he keeps trying and it’s wearing him out.

Ben tells Saanvi he really needed her as Jared asks her to help with Astrid. Saanvi does a little investigation and determines Astrid’s taking poison, not anti-anxiety meds.

Manifest Season 4 Episode 18 Recap
Ty Doran as Cal Stone in ‘Manifest’ season 4 episode 18 (Photo Cr. Netflix © 2022)

Cal uses his powers and returns to the plane, but this time not a single calling comes through. He begs for his callings to come and suddenly he’s yanked out of the plane and back into himself.

Michaela returns and admits to Ben that she just solved her hardest calling to date. They hug and she’s happy to hear Saanvi’s back.

Ben prepares everyone for a final push to solve callings. Cal joins the group, upset and scared that his callings are now gone too. He apologizes to the group and believes that if he would have been stronger, he might have collected more while they lasted.

Ben thinks there must be an explanation and that maybe they actually solved the ones they needed to.

Saanvi checks on the patients connected to the God frequency or ULF. She realizes she can use Troy’s theory to help them. She sets up the electromagnet charge, certain that if God kept these people in the callings, there must be a reason.

The charge sends a jolt through the ULF, but nothing changes. Their vitals didn’t spike after the EMP and Saanvi’s completely confused.

Ben thanks every member of the group and thinks now is the time to be with the people they love. He suggests they head home to be with their families, and TJ stays with the Stones since they’re his family now.

Meanwhile, Angelina and Eagan marry in a quick ceremony. She’s ecstatic, and Eagan forces a smile.

Michaela watches Jared and Drea hug before he returns to her and holds her hand.

Cal’s alone, crying, when Henry visits him to talk about his recent calling. It sent Henry to a popular toy shop that sold wooden figurines. Inside, he found a wooden dragon called Shenlong, the King of Storms. Henry believes it’s a sign meant for Cal.

Saanvi’s upset this is the end. She couldn’t figure out an answer, and Ben assures her that at least they went down fighting. Finally, they kiss. With the Death Date just hours away, they make love for the first time.

Angelina confesses to Eagan that Astrid didn’t make the cut and met her judgment “on God’s time.” (In other words, Angelina poisoned her.) A knock interrupts their private conversation, and it’s Eagan’s old partner in crime, fellow 828er Adrian.

The episode ends with Marko waking from his coma.




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