'Manifest' Season 2 Episode 15 Review: Olive and Ben grieve TJ together, but why is Adrian missing?
Spoiler alert Season 2 Episode 8: 'Carry On'
When we last saw 'Manifest', the events ended in a tragedy when a rogue follower of the Church of Believers, Isaiah, tried to kill all the Flight 828 passengers in order to ascend. This resulted in a lot of casualties, including the death of TJ Morisson (Garett Weaving) unfortunately.
This week's episode deals with the aftermath of it - Olive Stone (Luna Blaise) is going through the stages of loss with denial and anger coming on quickly when a burnt body is recovered from the nightclub with the bracelet that Olive gave TJ. It also turns out that the Church of Believers head and fellow 828 passenger, Adrian (Jared Grimes) is missing.
In the midst of all this, Olive's father Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) gets a calling of what sounds like Buddhist chantings. Oddly enough, he is the only one who gets these callings, when he asks his sister, Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) if she got the same calling, she denies it.
Ben comes to understand that callings must mean he and Olive need to do something, but at the moment, Olive wants nothing to do with the callings, a part of her feeling resentful that the callings failed to save TJ.
However, after the chantings lead Ben to a Buddhist meditation center, Olive gets interested, remembering that TJ's mom was a Buddhist. They believe the callings are meant for them to do a Buddhist "DIY" ceremony to remember TJ. However, Ben's callings don't stop.
These callings then lead them to a basement in the zen center and as Ben keeps following the callings, he realizes the callings are leading the two of them near the nightclub where the 828 passengers were trapped.
This is when Olive hears TJ's voice and both of them rush towards him. It turns out, TJ got the same calling as Ben, leading him to the nightclub's basement and thus, survive the fire. It was Isaiah's body that was recovered holding TJ's bracelet.
When we met Ben and Olive in Season 1, it was clear that father and daughter were inseparable before the flight disappeared. However, having to grow up without her father for five and a half years led to a gap between them.
This gap was made worse when Olive started volunteering with the Church of Believers. Ben wanted to warn Olive about the church but the communication gap between them only led to Olive growing more distant from her father.
In their attempt to grieve TJ, Ben and Olive are able to bridge that gap, though Olive showed some resistance in the beginning. It was refreshing to see this bond, even if it came at what we thought was the expense of a valuable character.
Speaking of, TJ's return could mean that he still has a bigger role to play within the whole 828 mystery. Ben is certain that the callings are trying to teach them something. What that is, much like the viewers, Ben does not know yet. But we are excited to learn about what it could be.
Another big question is what Adrian could be up to. He would certainly be shaken up by what happened with Isaiah and the nightclub, but does this mean he will work with Ben from now on or will he continue to peddle his Church of Believers?
'Manifest' airs on NBC on Monday nights at 10/9c.
