“Airplane Bottles” – Aired on March 9, 2020
Writer: Mathew Lau & MJ Cartozian Wilson
Director: Ramaa Mosley
Grade: 5 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
Another exceptional installment of Manifest follows the stellar “Carry On” from the week before, and while there is still the matter of sticking the landing in the last few episodes to follow, the latter half of season 2 may go down as the definitive period in persuading the powers that be at NBC of Manifest‘s potential as an established, long-standing sci-fi drama on primetime TV — a rare combination in the post-2010 era of weekly TV series.
“Airplane Bottles” is a unique entry in the show’s lore with a distinctive pattern in comparison to the 20+ episodes that aired so far. It manages to have ample plot advancements in the show’s overall arc with no action-packed sequences, while keeping its A, B, and C stories tightly compartmentalized. In fact, the storylines are so pigeonholed that the hour essentially takes place in three disparate – or even, ‘claustrophobic’ – locations with a small group of people engaged in lengthy, but meaningful, discussions.
It should also be noted that for the first time in a long while, the entire main cast of Manifest is full-tilt under the spotlight, with the Stone household and Saanvi’s lab sequences contributing to the overarching mythology of Manifest, while the precinct scenes advance the more grounded Jared-Michaela narrative.
For the second outing in a row, the episode begins with a dream sequence instead of a flashback, although Cal’s dream is indeed what the viewers saw as a flashback in season one’s “Connecting Flights” when he looked out the window of Flight 828, saw the glaring light in the sky, and uttered the words, “it’s all connected.” He wakes up in a sweat and anxiously walks around the house before we switch to a happier scene featuring Michaela and Zeke having breakfast and making rosy plans for the future, assuming that Zeke’s frostbite problem gets solved. Having passed the preliminary testing for Saanvi’s serum, Zeke is keen on moving to phase 2 of the treatment. Michaela, for her part, is not looking forward to her scheduled meeting with Internal Affairs (IA) investigators at the precinct with regard to Jared’s involvement with the Xers.
Back at the Stone household, Olive is ready delve deeper into the Al-Zuras journal with TJ. Ben and Grace find Cal in a room upstairs, frantically trying to put together parts of a crib to build… something. He makes a vague reference to a “spider web,” saying that “it’s all connected,” and wondering “why won’t it work? For now, let’s put aside the highly charged Stone household storyline and move forward with the two other locations.
Zeke enters Saanvi’s lab for phase 2 of the test but is alarmed to see her behave in a super-duper-wired manner. She brushes it off to the adjustment period from the sudden withdrawals of callings, saying they are “minor impulse-control issues,” but frankly, neither Zeke nor the viewers are buying it! After about two minutes of watching this off-the-wall version of Saanvi (slightly over-dramatized by Parveen Kaur), Zeke has seen enough. He is not proceeding with the injection and he wants Saanvi to see a doctor. The problem is that she would lose her job, thus access to her lab, if any doctor were to learn that she tested unproven meds on herself. Enter her ex-lover Alex who, upon Zeke’s insistence, agrees to help her. She gives Saanvi an injection to temporarily calm her down. They will have to wait and see for the long-term effects.
Matt Long puts on display one of his best performances to date as Zeke by meticulously walking the thin line between portraying the one who is genuinely concerned for his friend’s well-being and the one who is first and foremost looking out for himself. Both could be valid in this case and not mutually exclusive. Long makes it work beautifully because Zeke’s sympathy for Saanvi comes across as authentic as possible as he tries to help her in any way that he can, taking into account her sensibilities, even if it means delaying a possible solution to his existing conundrum.
Michaela arrives at the precinct where a less-than-thrilled Jared accosts her to make her change her mind, but to no avail. He represents, however, the least of Michaela’s worries. She is unknowingly walking into an ambush meeting during which the two AI investigators, Fong and Blandpied (played by Johnny WU and Chastity Dotson with the adequate icy tone of such agents) become increasingly antagonistic throughout the hour to the point of accusing Michaela of masterminding the disastrous fire at the club. This is conveyed through a series of interview-room scenes detailing with clarity each stage of Michaela’s growing frustration. It also helps that Melissa Roxburgh is decisively up to the task.
There is also a secondary dynamic in play between Jared and Captain Bowers in these precinct sequences. Our ex-good-now-bad Det. Vasquez is becoming fidgety because he is getting the impression that things are about to blow up in his face with the involvement of IA investigators. Capt. Bowers (whose ethical and by-the-book image has long since faded) says, “I’ve got all bases covered,” in an attempt to calm him down. Jared’s paranoia barometer skyrockets even higher a bit later when he learns that a union representative has also been added to the mix (more on the union rep. later). To make matters worse, Bowers does not sound as reassuring as before when Jared presses her a second time. Apparently, Simon made a last-second change of plans and turned Michaela’s files over to Internal Affairs. Bowers strongly advises Jared to ask Simon “how much of a hole” they are in!
Flirting with a nervous breakdown, Jared heads over to Simon’s office at the university. He chastises Simon for going beyond the initial plan, which was to merely dump information about Flight 828 passengers onto the web, and did not include feeding Michaela’s cases to IA. Simon explains it away by saying that they have new information about the passengers which called for a change of plan.
Jared is bewildered to say the least when Simon accuses the passengers of keeping the truth from everyone. He claims that they can see the future and that “they are manipulating the events around us.” He exclaims, “one of them is coming after us,” referring to Michaela. As far as Simon is concerned, she is a threat and he will “do what needs to be done” to neutralize her.
Despite the substantial amount of time spent on this particular dynamic, the intricacies of the Bowers-Jared-Simon connection still remain somewhat murky, perhaps by design. How exactly does Captain Bowers know that Simon gave Michaela’s case files to Internal Affairs? Did Simon directly tell her or did she find out through a third party? Why did Simon feel the need to do that? Or rather, did he really feel like they were in a “hole” or is Captain Bowers assuming the worst? Were the Investigators Fong and Blandpied part of the conspiracy against Michaela or were they simply doing their job?
What is perfectly clear, on the other hand, is that not only is Captain Bowers well aware of the ambush on Michaela, but also of Simon’s role with the Xers, as well as Jared’s connection with them.
At one point in the interrogation room, Investigator Blanpied explicitly mentions the possibility of a “long prison term” for Michaela, prompting her to ask for a union representative to be present. Enter Officer Dibacco (Lou Martini Jr.) who comes across as much-needed relief for Michaela at first, fiercely dishing back to the investigators everything that they throw Michaela’s way – more questions: what was Blanpied’s purpose in mentioning the prison sentence? Why did she think it was a good idea to completely put Michaela on the defensive? Dibacco even forces their hand into moving the meeting to a neutral site, accusing them and Det. Vasquez of setting Michaela up.
Except that Officer Dibacco is not the champion he appears to be!
This is an excellent twist and unless you are one of the most astute observers ever known to humankind (Jared is one of those, apparently), you missed that Dibacco was present at the Xers meeting led by Simon in “Carry On” and that he was the man who briefly appeared on screen to shake Simon’s hand before Simon and Jared had the private conversation about keeping a check on sleazy Billy. One of Manifest’s strongest assets is the effective use of nods to events and characters from previous episodes, and here, that skill is put to good use to create the wow effect. The twist takes place right when the audience is probably giving Officer Dibacco a hero’s welcome for busting the investigators’ chops.
Once he recognizes Dibacco, it dawns on Jared that with Dibacco by her side, Michaela may not even make it alive to the neutral site to continue the interview. His on-the-spot solution? Arrest Michaela to stop her from leaving the precinct. He handcuffs her and takes her to a cell while anyone and everyone, including Michaela herself, are screaming foul at him. Jared does not mince his words as he shoves Michaela into the cell: “you have to keep your mouth shut. I just saved your life.”
Now, let’s return to the Stone household!
According to his journal, Al-Zuras and his people arrive a decade later on a boat to their destination, although it appears as if no time had passed for them: “each of us was as young as when we left” (like the 828 passengers when they reappeared in 2018). He adds, “Only now, we could hear the word of God” (surely a reference to the callings). However, they believe it (them) to be a curse: “for every blessing a price must be paid”; “for every good that comes from the Voice, a trial must follow.” TJ believes that if they can learn what Al-Zuras and his people did to cope with the death date centuries ago, it could guide them in their own quest to solve the death-date puzzle in the present.
In the meantime, everyone except Olive appears to have suddenly grown a short fuse, throwing temper tantrums, as the storm outside gains epic proportions. They are either mad at themselves (Cal, TJ), or scolding one another (Ben with TJ and Cal), or feeling sick or lethargic (Grace). It dawns on Olive at that point that the others have made references to thunder and lightning outside. In another well-guided revelation scene – and well-directed, capturing the visceral impact of the revelation on each character –, we find out through Olive (the only one not privy to callings and visions) that the weather is actually beautiful outside. She even has her phone’s weather app to prove it to everyone else in the room.
The rest of them are indeed in the middle of an extended calling!
Apart from the storm outside, it also feels to them as if the house is rocking back and forth! Ben recalls Captain Daly (remember the pilot of Flight 828? If not, a re-watch of first season’s “Contrails” is highly recommended) mentioning seeing electrical storms (reference to ‘dark lightning’) as he piloted Flight 828 on that fateful night. According to TJ, Al-Zuras also talks of electrical storms in his journal. Olive and TJ told Ben and Grace earlier that Al-Zuras often talks of a silver dragon and in his journal. Silver dragon, spider web, electrical storms, what does it all mean?
There is a remarkable crescendo effect through the next few minutes as the episode builds the mystery up with great success, using brief shots of everyone turning progressively edgy, visual effects to make it seem like the house is rocking back and forth, and zoom-ins on pertinent images in the Al-Zuras journal. It all culminates in the biggest revelation of the hour. Ben, Grace, TJ, and Cal find themselves on Al-Zuras’s boat in the 16th century (presumably), with thunder and lightning in the skies, and Flight 828 flying above them!
Once the vision ends, they are back in the house, and it’s sunny and beautiful outside. Ben murmurs the same question that everyone in the audience is probably asking themselves: did Flight 828 and Al-Zuras’s boat cross each other at a certain location, at the same point in time?
Ben and TJ draw a parallel between how they were growing agitated earlier and how Al-Zuras described some his men going insane and others committing suicide in their efforts to cheat their death date. Al-Zuras says, “There is no way to get rid of the Voice. The only way to survive is to accept.” He also writes, “all other paths lead to disaster.” Ben suddenly realizes that Saanvi has been working hard to cheat the death rate and even found a way to stop the callings. However, if what Al-Zuras says in his journal has any grain of truth in it, she will either go insane or die. Among the many deranged faces of people going insane in a particular image in the Al-Zuras journal, Ben is terrified to notice the face of a woman who peculiarly resembles Saanvi!
Couple of last-minute thoughts:
– Editing nitpick: In the early conversation between TJ and Olive, when TJ jokes about the Al-Zuras journal and ‘google translate,’ he finishes his joke with “great” as Olive has her head turned toward him, looking straight into his eyes. Cut to the angle where we now face Olive, and her immediate response to TJ begins with, “Well, I do […],” except that she is looking forward, away from TJ.
– I noted above Manifest’s dexterity in nodding to events and characters from previous episodes, and “Airplane Bottles” has plenty of them. I mentioned a few of them in my review, hopefully I did not miss any other significant ones.
– TJ has apparently moved in with the Stones, at least temporarily.
Until the next episode…
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