Cal’s latest calling turns into a shared experience for him, Ben, Grace and TJ – but will they interpret the strange riddle in time? Michaela’s decision to speak to Internal Affairs about Jared has unexpected consequences. Zeke ends up having to help out Saanvi when her ‘cure’ leaves her with more problems.

Now that The Major is apparently gone, the Manifest writers’ room is really doubling down on this wide-ranging conspiracy against the 828 passengers. This week it starts to really pull back the curtain more on the extent of that, while asking some questions about exactly where the loyalties of certain players lie, and exactly how high up the thing goes.

Not that the Stone household has any involvement in this. In an odd twist, Cal has a dream which motivates him to try to recreate something he saw in it using various household items. As Ben, Grace and even TJ get dragged into this, trying to calm the boy down, things take a turn for the decidedly odd. One of the clever things the show has done so far is mix in sci-fi elements with mystical ones and here it continues that trend. Seems there may be a more solid link between the 828 passengers and Al-Zuras and his crew centuries ago. Before they can get anywhere near that, the Stones must contend with a shared calling which leaves all of them a little off kilter except for Olive, who has her hands full keeping her family and her boyfriend on an even keel as events unfold.

Back at the police station, Michaela sits down with a pair of Internal Affairs representatives to talk about her suspicions and findings with regards to Jared. This being Manifest, it doesn’t turn out to be as straightforward as she might expect. Jared is obviously getting help from sources within the department, but the connections go even deeper than that and by the close of the episode, it really isn’t clear who is on what side and for what reason. At least now we have an explanation for why Jared ‘you torched my career’ Vasquez still seems to have his job despite everything that’s happened so far.

Meanwhile, Saanvi’s ‘cure’ isn’t reacting all that well for her, meaning that when Zeke comes to her for testing it ends up being him helping her as his addict background leaves him easily able to recognise someone on the verge of a major crash. The one person who might be able to help is the last person Saanvi wants to see, but when the stakes are this high, that’s really not a distinction she can afford to make.

The three subplots are spliced together quite well, scenes jumping from one to the other, meaning that none of it has chance to get boring (it is difficult to make a bunch of people trying to MacGyver an unknown item from household objects compelling for too long) and overall the pacing means that the episode will be over before you’ve even noticed. Having been left with more questions than answers by the time the credits roll, I can wait to see where this goes next.

Verdict: Tense, pacey and compelling. Another solid episode. 9/10

Greg D. Smith