“Dead Reckoning” – Aired on November 26, 2018
Written by: Laura Putney & Margaret Easley
Directed by: Paul Holahan
Grade: 3,5 out of 5
Notice: All episode reviews contain spoilers
If I had to judge this fall finale based solely on action and production quality, I would give it a spotless five-star rating. Events occurred at an exciting pace, often leaving the viewers breathless and wondering what will happen next. Ben, Michaela, Jared, Director Vance, his squad, Dr. Fiona Clarke, Laurence the Singularity Project guy, the 11 passengers, and even Cal, all ended up at the same location (the warehouse) from converging plot-lines for an explosive (literally) conclusion to the storyline involving the experiments. The fact that the above events were not even spread throughout the hour, but rather squeezed into the first two-thirds of the episode, was even more striking.
“Dead Reckoning” begins with one of the missing passengers, Autumn Cox (Shirley Rumierk), magically showing up injured, outside the Stone household. She is specifically looking for Ben. She claims to have escaped from a van in which “they” were taking her somewhere! Somehow, Ben does not get suspicious at all about this woman’s sudden materialization out of the blues and reassures her, “we’re all in this together. You are safe now.”
He is not the only one swimming in the lake of naivety. Sooner than later, Vance, Saanvi, Clarke, and Director Vance (who would usually act like the epitome of suspicion) join Ben to brainstorm and make plans to save the 11 passengers, right in front of Autumn! Needless to say, she is an informer for the bad guys. This is only revealed at the very end of the episode and it comes across as a poor man’s cliffhanger because it was pretty much ‘telegraphed’ within a minute of her first appearance.
What I find more intriguing, however, is Autumn’s motivation. Is she a bona fide member of the “bad guys” or are they coercing her into snooping on Ben, Michaela and company, using her past criminal record as leverage? There is a flashback scene at the beginning of the episode that shows her being taken into custody from the facility where Flight 828 passengers were held, back in the first two episodes. Some guy in a suit gives Vance the outstanding warrants for her arrest as he is interviewing her. Vance lets the authorities take Autumn into custody, although she adamantly claims that she “didn’t do any of those things.”
Back to the present time, where Vance and Ben have located the warehouse with the 11 missing passengers. Ben calls Michaela to inform her that he is going there with Fiona and Vance. Michaela will, of course, join them, along with Jared who happened to stand by Michaela at the precinct when she received the call. He heard the conversation and insisted on tagging along. This sets up an exciting sequence that takes place at the warehouse.
At first, Vance and his tactical unit do not find anyone, but then Cal shows up out of nowhere (more on this later) and insists that they search the smaller structure adjacent to the warehouse. He points to that location on his drawing from earlier in the day and exclaims, “They’re still here.” The squad finds a passage on the structure’s outside wall, one that leads them to the underground location where the experiments are conducted. Once the armed conflict begins, the action is potent, thoroughly entertaining, and greatly enhanced by director Paul Honahan’s skilled camera work, as well as by composer Danny Lux’s fitting score.
Alas, as is often the case with high-octane-action outings, parts of the narrative do not hold up very well under close scrutiny. I expect some gaps in storylines in a serialized format because one can always assume – or hope – that questions will be answered sooner or later. The long-term storytelling would fill in the missing pieces of the individual episodes. The other side of the coin is that those questions may never get answered, which would then point to slapdash writing. Unfortunately, a few (and important) details in “Dead Reckoning” appear to fit into the latter category.
Let’s take for example Cal’s storyline and his behavior. Ben calls Olive and asks her to check on Cal, because he knows that the experiments have resumed at the warehouse with the 11 passengers. Cal is indeed feeling the pain along with Marko like he first did back in “Off Radar.” Yet, when Olive goes upstairs to check on him, sees Cal (from behind) drawing something, and asks him if he is okay, Cal replies that he is fine, while bleeding from his nose and drawing a warehouse on a paper (Cal can see things, Cal can do a lot of things).
Why did Cal not simply tell Olive the truth? My wild guess is that he lied so he can escape the house without anyone noticing in order to make his way to the site himself. He leaves a note behind for his mom saying, “Dad needed me.” Could he not have told his father over the phone what he later told him face-to-face? Yes, he points to another structure adjacent to the warehouse on his drawing once he gets there to show his dad where to look, but he could have easily pointed his dad in the right direction over the phone and saved valuable time. It’s not like Ben would dismiss Cal’s word just because he said it over the phone. But no, he must lie to Olive, escape from the house so that his sister and mother can worry to death for the rest of the afternoon, and get to the warehouse himself.
And get there, Cal does, in the most outré manner possible. He appears at the remote site in the blink of an eye. No, Scotty did not beam up him up, although I could swear that Cal must have made it there at warp-speed nine. Make it so, Ensign Cal!
Oh, but wait, he took the bus! I kid you not! Naturally, he knew which bus line to take and at which stop to get off, because he has superpowers and just “knows” (which, on a more serious note, will hopefully be clarified at some point in the future). Chicago Transit Authority evidently has bus lines that can take you at lightning speed to remote locations in the middle of nowhere. They even drop you off near warehouses surrounded by the NSA’s squad team about to engage in an operation. And if you are a kid, you can seemingly walk right up to within a few feet of a group of people composed of the NSA director, his tactical unit team members with machine guns, and detectives, and still remain unnoticed until you use your voice!! O-kay.
Finally, toward the end of the episode, when the Stone household finds itself smack in the middle of a crisis moment and Grace needs some answers as to what happened during the chaotic day, Cal is nowhere to be found. He could have easily told his mother what happened to help her understand. Or, he could disappear from the view during family scenes and do nothing to stop them from splitting up. He does the latter, although he is well aware of the rift forming between his mom and dad. He is even there to hug his dad as he is forced to leave. And playing the “he is only a kid” card goes only so far because he was not “just a kid” when he concocted a plan earlier in the day to lie to his sister, sneak out of the house by himself, while remaining cool-headed enough to leave a note behind for her mother, take the warp-speed bus, and join his dad, the NSA tactical unit, and others, just outside the warehouse of horrors. Corroborating his dad’s story to at least assuage some his mom’s concerns, I assure you, would have taken far less effort and planning than all the above.
Speaking of the Stone household crisis, Ben and Grace once again put forth the best that Manifest has to offer. Their storyline has been the most poignant one of the series so far and credit goes to Josh Dallas and Athena Karkanis for bringing alive the emotional roller-coaster that each character has experienced throughout the nine episodes. It is undeniable that their relationship either triggers the viewers’ sympathy, or stirs their anger, to the point where they take sides with far more frequency that in any other combination of characters in the series. If people care this much about them, it means that the writing room has succeeded in creating a winning synergy between Ben and Grace, and that the two actors in question have done a fine job of conveying that synergy to the viewers.
Let’s quickly examine what each had to go through in just this episode. One small advice before you read any further: drop your Ben/Josh-worship/hate or Athena/Grace-worship/hate fan boy-girl stance, and put on your impartiality hat (or else, the next three paragraphs will prove to be a futile exercise for you).
Consider Ben’s situation first and remember to limit yourself to only his perspective. Knowing that the experiments on the passengers are resuming, and having already endured a jolt himself, Ben’s urgent need to save the 11 passengers and his son increases exponentially. His window of opportunity is closing. Once he is at the site of the warehouse, he feels the bitter disappointment of not finding anything at first. Then, his son Cal shows up out of the blues and confirms that the passengers are there. Furthermore, as if Ben did not have enough pressure on him already, Cal designates Ben as the chosen one to save the survivors. Once underground, Ben indeed begins to see things nobody else can. Moments later, he gets mixed up in a deadly shoot-out. A bit later, he sees his sister fly 10 feet across the air following an explosion. He momentarily passes out himself. Once the passengers are saved (or so he believes, more on that later) and Cal is safe with him, he comes back home, only to face an angry wife who blames him for putting Cal in harm’s way. Worse still, she calls for an ending to their marriage later that evening. Can it get more roller-coaster-y than that? It’s hard not to feel bad for Ben.
Let’s now turn to Grace. Remember again to consider only her perspective and not what you know as the viewer. Her husband first goes back on his promise to spend the afternoon playing laser tag with Olive and Cal, saying “something came up with work.” Later that day, she cannot get in touch with him because Ben is neither answering his phone nor returning her calls despite her voice messages. She has to learn from a some agent in a suit, a complete stranger to her, who showed up unannounced at her home, that that he is not actually at work, that they are looking for him, and that his job had been terminated the evening before. In other words, she just found out that Ben lied to her more than once earlier in the morning about “something with work.” To make matters worse, Cal sneaks out of the house leaving a vague note about helping his dad. The next time she sees them is hours later when they arrive to the house in a car that appears to have came out of the war zone. They both look messy themselves and Ben has blood stains on his face. Later that evening, when Grace seeks answers, the only explanation Ben offers is that Cal just “showed up.” Grace actually has to push further by asking, “why didn’t you bring him home immediately?” To that, Ben gives the ultimate dodge answer: “You don’t understand. You weren’t on the plane.” Cal, who could help clarify things, is not speaking either. It’s hard not feel bad for Grace.
The point here is that the Ben-Grace storyline is engaging and well-written, with both short and long-term consequences being taken into consideration. I am not even sure that the Danny complication is necessary at this point. The Grace-Ben dynamics offer compelling enough drama (and dilemma) by themselves, and at some point, Danny’s insertion into the storyline as a third-wheel wrecking-ball character will begin to come across forced and petty – it already does at some level. He appears in the promo for the upcoming episodes after the break, so it is obvious that the writers want to keep him in the picture.
I just hope it’s not one of these “she ran to Danny’s arms after her husband left” type of plot advancement that they have in mind because not only would it feel artificial, but it would also not make much sense. Grace had already quit seeing Danny – despite her involvement with him prior to Flight 828’s reappearance – and directly told him so, emphasizing that she was going to work on rebuilding her family. In other words, she made a conscious choice, and followed it through with a genuine effort to make it work between her and Ben. The couple seemed happy together last week, taking major steps to restore their relationship. Hooking Grace and Danny up after this episode’s bad day at the office for the Stones would not only come across ham-fisted but also feel as yet another one of those tired narratives designed to make the woman appear as if she needs a man in her life to feel safe. Her husband left (never mind that she pushed him out), so she must move on to the next man available, because she cannot be without one – talk about the Danny’s role being reduced to an orbital tool!!
And what about Lourdes, the other “third-wheel” character of Manifest? Where was she in this episode? After a brief and somewhat otiose appearance in last week’s “Point of No Return,” Lourdes does not show up at all this time. The irony is that it would have only made sense for her to appear in this one as opposed to last week’s episode. Her husband is gravely injured at the hospital following the explosion, and Michaela is waiting by his side. He wakes up eventually, which means that he has now been at the hospital for a while, and Michaela is still the only one by his side. According to her, “Lourdes is on her way,” and that’s it. The writing room may have gotten the last two episodes mixed up in terms of giving Lourdes a week off.
I will miss Vance. Anytime a character grows in complexity and relevance through a number of episodes, I find it questionable to eliminate him/her from the show. This is what happened with Vance here. Actor Daryl Edwards brought his A game to the character, making him appear hateful or sympathetic, depending on the context du jour.
Speaking of recurring characters’ fates, it is hard to tell if Laurence is dead or not. He looks dead as Michaela walks by his unconscious body after the explosion, but one cannot be certain. He was the closest character Manifest had at this point to a one-dimensional villain. I am a lot more interested in Fiona, perhaps the most enigmatic recurring character in the show.
Fiona does play a major role in saving the 11 passengers from the warehouse in “Dead Reckoning,” but I am afraid Ben, Saanvi, Vance, and company are getting duped by her in the same way they got duped by Autumn in the beginning of the hour (even though they were both ‘telegraphed’). Fiona is last seen leaving the site in charge of the van transporting the 11 passengers away from the remote facility to safety. She says to Ben, “I found a remote property. I am going to take them there. They’ll be safe with me.” Ben agrees without a hesitation, naturally. Never mind that 11 missing passengers are possibly the most important group of people in the world at that moment, and that they are being transported to a facility in a truck with just Fiona and a driver, following a raid that caused the NSA Director and members of his tactical unit to die. In any case, I can’t help but think that Fiona is the “Ma’am” from whom the shady scientist was receiving orders on the phone in “Off Radar.”
Last-minute thoughts:
– I don’t know if people get to see those brief promotion spots on Xfinity’s OnDemand menu featuring Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas, but I find them corny as heck.
– I repeat, Cal’s increasing superpowers will need some type of an explanation.
– I know some ‘Manifesters’ hope that Vance is not dead or that somehow he may have faked his own death. I wrote this review with the assumption that he died. People involved in the show have put up posts on social media thanking Edwards for his performance as Vance and saying that they will miss him. Unless they are pulling a massive wool over the eyes of everyone, Vance is gone.
– I should underline again the high-quality of the production during the action scenes in the warehouse. The explosion shot with Michaela (or her stunt) flying back in the air, and the few seconds following it were also very well filmed.
– Michaela’s explanation for Jared not dying in the explosion like Vance sounds too flimsy for me at this point. It has to do with her asking whoever is communicating the callings to spare Jared’s life, or something. I am curious to see if the writers are willing to delve into this narrative, and in case they do, how they would make it work.
– Back in October, NBC ordered three more episodes of Manifest. It will be interesting to see how the storylines will be handled once the season 1 mid-season premiere airs on January 7th. I would be curious to know if Jeff Rake and company changed anything of importance once they found out they had three episodes of extra room to tell stories.
– Dear Mr. Rake, please bring back Captain William Daly (Frank Deal) in one of the future episodes.
Until the next episode…