Spoiler warning: Spoilers for Manifest Season 4 follow. Your favorite Calling-solving, mythology know-it-alls, and 828ers are back to continue their journey of solving the Flight 828 Death Date. The highly-anticipated Manifest Season 4 Part 2 premiered June 2 on Netflix. The series’ final season was a race to solve the Death Date — June 2, 2024 — that followed them after mysteriously returning on Flight 828 after five and a half years of the flight being gone. Siblings Michaela and Ben Stone, played by Melissa Roxburgh and Josh Dallas, are the captains of the 828ers’ “lifeboat,” aka the show’s phrase correlated with all the passengers’ working together to solve the looming Death Date. But, even with Callings, the solution to the Death Date remains unclear.
If all the Callings and clues weren’t confusing enough, Season 4 Part 2 picks up after a time gap from Part 1, which was released on Netflix Nov. 4, 2022. But how much time has actually passed? Here’s a breakdown of the time difference between the two parts and a recap on the group’s latest discoveries.
What happened in Season 4 Part 1?
Manifest Season 4 Part 1 picks up two years after the finale of Season 3. To jog your memory, in the finale of Season 3, Cal, Ben’s son, touched the tailfin of 828 that was found in the ocean and vanished. On top of that, fellow 828er Angelina kidnapped the Stone’s family youngest daughter, Eden, thinking they are connected in some way, and killed the mother Grace. So, after the tumultuous ending, Ben was distraught for two years after losing both Grace and his daughter. But, in the world of 828, when someone vanishes, you can’t believe they are truly gone. Cal returns in Season 4 Part 1 five and a half years older, aka the amount of time he didn’t age when he was on Flight 828.
On a mission to find his daughter in Season 4 Part 1 despite everyone thinking he can’t, Ben follows his Callings — inexplicable visions granted to the passengers thanks to 828 — hoping they would lead him to Eden. He eventually gets kidnapped and injured due to his persistence. However, with the help of Cal, Zeke (Michaela’s husband), and Jared (Michaela’s ex), they rescue Ben and Eden due to Cal’s Calling, which brought them to Angelina. The family is back together again!
Despite being now 20 and reunited with family, Cal’s cancer, which had been magically cured after returning home on 828, comes back in Season 4 Part 1. Zeke, who became a hyperempath after surviving his own Death Date (long story, I know), essentially absorbs the disease from Cal to save humanity. BTW, the Death Date isn’t just for passengers — it’s for all of the world.
You would think the bad news stopped there, but Angelina strikes again. In the earlier episodes of Part 1, she gets her hands on the Omega Sapphire, a powerful stone that can bring on Callings. In an attempt to get Eden back, she uses it to make Ben and Cal have Callings of Grace. She failed at this, but at the end of Part 1, she gets into a Calling fight with Cal (who has sapphire within him) and the sapphire breaks, embedding a piece into her hand. ICYMI: the Omega Sapphire is also producing lava underground that is cracking the Earth.
So, now you have a looming Death Date, lava spreading, and Angelina with the power of sapphire, but what about the other passengers and the research that fellow 828er Dr. Saanvi was working on? That’s where Part 2 picks up.
How long was the time gap between Part 1 and Part 2?
If you can remember, Part 1 ends with the government confiscating all the research Saanvi had been working on, as well as detaining all the 828 passengers. Fans were curious where the dystopian-like world for the passengers would go leading up to Part 2, and let’s just say, it got worse.
Part 2 picks up in a detention center where all 828 passengers are being held by the National Security Agency, except for some that the government can’t seem to track (yes, Angelina is included in that, unfortunately). It seems that no time has passed since Part 1, but scarily enough, a lot has.
Eight months have passed since the fissures that sprouted from the sapphire caused worldly problems and the passengers have been detained like prisoners. And it seems like they aren’t any closer to solving the Death Date, which is nine months away at the start of Part 2.
The Death Date is based on the amount of time the passengers were gone for and the countdown started on the date they returned. So, if you do the math, Part 2 starts four years and roughly 10 months after they returned home on Flight 828 on Nov. 4, 2018. The plane first disappeared on April 7, 2013, making the start of Part 2 10 years and around 5 months after its original disappearance. I guess time flies when you’re out saving the world.
Now that we have the time jump and timeline figured out, it’s time to beat the Death Date. It’s team 828 or nothing!