'Manifest' Season 2 Episode 9: Will Saanvi's symptoms be permanent or does the serum actually work?
The article contains spoilers for 'Manifest' Season 2 Episode 9 — 'Airplane Bottles'!
As the mystery of the disappearance of Flight 828 deepens on 'Manifest', the show is raising the stakes for the heroes of the show, especially for Dr. Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) and Zeke Landon (Matt Long).
In the episode featuring the nightclub fire, Saanvi administered a serum that she made with the help of her former girlfriend Dr. Alex Bates (Sydney Morton) to cure the death date genetic anomaly.
She found that the serum works — Saanvi is not getting callings anymore. However, in the previous episodes, we learn that Saanvi is going through blackouts and memory losses. The side effects of the serum are further explored in this week's episode.
Zeke's death date is much earlier considering he disappeared for less than a year. After he learns that he is dying of frostbite, he goes to Saanvi to get the cure. However, when he meets her in this week's episode after having passed the preliminary tests, he senses something is wrong.
Saanvi is jumpy and jittery when he meets her. She keeps repeating conversations and repeatedly asking where an object is. Seeing this, Zeke talks Saanvi into getting medical help and tracks down Alex. When Alex tests Saanvi's blood, she sees that the dopamine levels are high.
Alex treats Saanvi with an anti-dopamine agent. However, Saanvi keeps insisting that the serum works — except for her "impulse control issues." Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) and TJ Morrison (Garett Wareing) discover, however, that Saanvi's symptoms will most likely be permanent.
In their shared calling in this week's episode, Ben and TJ learn that Yusuv Al-Zuras wrote about the men on his ship (which disappeared like Flight 828) going mad with some even jumping overboard — these men were trying to rid themselves of the callings.
Ben also understands that the only way to survive the death date is by accepting the callings — something Saanvi seems intent on not doing. In Al-Zuras's illustration of his men going mad, one face looks quite familiar — it's Saanvi's.
Does this mean Saanvi's fate is set in stone? Considering she has administered the serum, we don't know if there is a way for her to get the callings back. Unless, of course, Alex is clued in on what's going on and she helps make an anti-serum that could help Saanvi.
With what Ben learns, we know what can save Zeke — if Ben is right, that is. Should Zeke accept the callings as a part of his life, the issue of his frostbitten fingers will be dealt with. Taking a chance on this option is more favorable than taking the serum for Zeke, since "impulse control issues" for a recovering addict is a bad combination, as Zeke himself pointed out.
But will he risk it in the event that he does not believe in Ben's conclusion? He might if he thinks it is the way he can spend more time with Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh). If he does take the serum, Zeke's addiction issues could come back and may even fulfill his death date prediction.
'Manifest' airs on NBC on Monday nights at 10/9c.