Manifest season 1 episode 9 reaction: The unexpected death, break up, and twist

NBC’s new hit series, Manifest, ended its first half of its season with one heck of a ride! The hour promised a suspenseful road for our heroes, but what we got was not what we expected… in a good way.

It all started when the group managed to pin down the location of the Red Hood warehouse where the missing passengers are being kept. Ben wanted to attack immediately, but after hearing Vance’s opinion, the team decides to wait.

At home, Cal and Ben are shooting hoops outside when one of the missing passengers, Autumn Cox, shows up out of the blue needing help. Ben springs into action and Michaela, Vance, Saanvi, and Fiona meet at the bunker where they are curious to see the burn marks on Autumn’s head. As the team discusses their next move, they are interrupted by a high-pitch piercing noise that sends them all into a pain-filled sensation. Vance and Fiona are unaffected, but it gives Vance enough evidence to finally send in a tactical team.

Meanwhile, Grace prepares for her surprise BBQ party for Ben with Olive and Cal’s help. However, Cal ends up with a bloody nose and as a result of the high-pitch noise and sneaks out of the house to help Ben. When Cal arrives at the warehouse, the team are disappointed because the warehouse is empty. However, Cal frantically explains that they are still there and with his help, Ben, Fiona, Michaela, Jared, and Vance along with the tactical team journey into a secret bunker to find the Singularity Project and its boss man Belson and the passengers.

This sequence was a truly touching moment between father and son because it showed that Ben is so trusting and protective of Cal, but also understands that he holds the secret to unlocking this mystery. We can see Ben’s torn decision between getting his son out of harms way and letting him stick around to help the team. It was an authentic moment and one that any parent would struggle with.

While they manage to free the missing men and women with the calling guiding Ben – Vance, Jared, and Belson and his doctors get caught in an explosion. Michaela goes in after Jared claiming she can’t leave without him. For her, she left him once and lost him, so this time she wasn’t going to ever let him out of her sight. It was a great moment because we finally saw Michaela admit to herself that she still deeply loved Jared despite her attempts to move on from him.

Unfortunately, Vance did not survive the blast while Jared ended up unconscious in a hospital bed. This scene in the episode again spoke volumes because so far we have seen the calling give orders to the group, but never has the group asked for something in return, until this scene. Devastated over Jared, Michaela begs the calling to bring Jared back and make him better. Later in the day Jared woke up to see the only person he would ever want to see; Michaela. While she said she would go get Lourdes, Jared finally admitted he wanted her.

However, the fall finale wasn’t done making us emotional because the episode’s most heartbreaking moment was watching Grace break up with Ben because she felt like she didn’t know who he was anymore. As Ben tearfully exited his home, we could see that he had officially broke. He stayed strong through so much up until this moment, but his wife asking him to leave was his breaking moment.

To conclude this intense episode, we learned that Autumn Cox wasn’t who she said she was. While Belson died in the explosion, prior to her showing up at Ben’s house, Belson released her and used Cox’s criminal record to spy on them. The question that remains now is who will Autumn Cox be taking orders from now?

Manifest returns January 7 on NBC at 10pm. For more news related to Manifest, be sure to visit this link.

This article was written by Samantha D’Amico. If you want to follow her on Twitter, you can do so at SAM_iamXO. (Photo: NBC)