Manifest S01E02 "Reentry" Recap

The NSA keeps the Flight 828 passengers/crew in custody to question them about the plane's explosion but have to let them go since they don't know anything and there's no hard evidence that will allow them to be detained any longer. They are however, warned to not speak to the media.

Ben's strange new abilities are escalating to the point of him beginning to hear music. While walking around he follows it until it leads him to a fellow passenger playing the same melody on a violin on the street. The man's name is Radd and he says he's been hearing the melody all day just like Ben. It's unclear why they are hearing it but Ben learns that Radd needs help contacting his son Adio who ended up behind bars while Adio was on the flight. He was only thirteen when Radd left to play with a philharmonic in Jamaica and now Adio is in Rikers Island for a robbery he says he didn't commit.

Michaela has to meet with a psychiatrist to discuss her experiences to prove she is competent to return to her duties as a police officer. She is approved to return to the job but must continue her sessions. Michaela is further thrown off when she has an awkward encounter with Lourdes, her former best friend who married Jared while Michaela went missing. Ben enlists Michaela's help to get him and Radd the opportunity to visit Adio in prison. They two continue to investigate the robbery to try to ascertain what actually happened.

Michaela overhears Grace speaking on the phone with a man she was involved with while Ben was gone. Grace plans to tell Ben but simply hasn't found the right time to do so. She feels conflicted and guilty, not wanting anyone to get hurt in the process despite its inevitability.

Michaela later goes through her Facebook anncount and finds that Lourdes had been consistently writing her messages and annual birthday well-wishes while she was missing. With the help of the counseling she is reinstated but will need to continue her visits. She decides to forgive Lourdes and the two mend their fractured friendship, with Michaela lying to her saying that she had planned to decline Jared's proposal despite flashbacks proving the contrary to be the case.

Olive brings Ben to a storage locker where she had kept old possessions belonging to her brother. In the process she admits to Ben that Grace has been seeing someone. Ben hears the music in his head once again and it leads him to another storage locker nearby where the store owner's son has stashed the robbed items and is talking on the phone to an accomplice. He was the real criminal and framed Adio. He offers to give Ben half the supply but Ben punches him unconscious instead and calls the police. The man is arrested and Adio is freed. Ben struggles to understand what's happening and struggles while discussing the strange happenings with Michaela.

Ben returns home with Olive from the storage unit, who brings her brother a box of his old things so he can feel more acclimated to returning home despite everything else having changed. While Ben helps his son unpack the box, Grace brings Olive outside the room. Olive tells her mother that she is now the one who needs to let go, referring to the other relationship she has been in while Ben was missing. Ben and Grace later discuss her other relationship, with Ben promising that he forgives her and still loves her. He wants to start their relationship anew and Grace agrees, reaffirming their mutual love.

Finally, Kelly, another one of the passengers from Flight 828 is murdered. Kelly was the one passenger that had defied orders and spoken to the media.

Manifest airs on Mondays on NBC at 10/9c.