Manifest – Season 4 Episode 12 “Bug Out” Recap & Review

Bug Out

Episode 12 of Manifest season 4 starts in St Louis as Angelina is still alive and well. She’s been waiting for God to send her a sign and prepare for the final trial by fire and judgment day. She’s been called back into action given her hand started glowing too at the same time as Cal’s.

Michaela continues to experience visions of Zeke here too, giving her words of encouragement and the courage to continue fighting. However, she’s pulled out of this vision by Zimmer’s goons showing and bringing her in for her scheduled testing. She’s brought in to see a passenger called Joe Butler, who has had a Calling. Zimmer wants to solve this and in exchange, will allow him to see his kid, Charlie. The only thing Joe has to go on is that he heard violin music and a few numbers on ink-stained paper.

This falls to Michaela, who’s paired with Jared to solve this. Ben will be released from solitary but the only one with a law enforcement background is Michaela. She’s been chipped (hence the jab earlier in the episode) and she has to be back by 5pm. When Zimmer leaves, Vance urges her to get this done and get it right. They need a win right now.

Vance shows up to see Ben, and notices that he’s scratched a whole bunch of words all over the wall, including “Wake him up”. He’s entranced and in his own Calling. Saanvi realizes they need to let him finish this to figure it out. Vance agrees to buy them some time but he’s getting cold feet. Ben does eventually finish and snaps out of it, but he can’t remember any of this.

Back at the station, Jared hands over the few numbers they have to go on and it seems like they’re plat numbers for businesses. There’s seemingly 15 businesses to go on and with 9 down, Michaela moans about her assignment. Thankfully they do seem to find the right store, given it plays classical music and ticks all the boxes. However, it doesn’t seem to be the right place.

When Michaela rings Cal, he decides to try and intentionally get inside Joe Butler’s Calling and just like that, he manages it. He sits in Joe’s seat on the plane and sees what he original saw, including a chandelier and dots of ink falling on a clipboard.

The real tell here is the chandelier, and after feeding that over to Michaela, she’s on the hunt. Thankfully, Cal has another Calling right when the plot calls for it and he sees Angelina alive. She’s in her seat ad she points out that they’re connected. When Cal snaps out of this, he has blood on his hand.

Elsewhere, Saanvi and Ben sneak into the restricted areas and end up seeing Captain Daly. He’s not awake and his vitals are completely fine. It seems that Ben’s Calling of “wake him up” seems to be related to the captain. And jut like that, Saanvi hits him with a shot of adrenaline and wakes him up. However, there’s a head count so they need to race back before getting any answers.

Michaela and Ben track down the right spot inside this shop, realizing that there’s a fake wall in the basement. Despite not having a warrant, they knock down the wall and find all the kids inside – including Charlie. The owner is arrested and the kids are free to go. It seems to be a massive trafficking ring. Charlie wants to live with his father, but Michaela speak to him and reassures the kid that things will work themselves out soon.

Michaela and Ben return to the Detention center with good news. They’ve got Charlie here to see his dad and Charlie’s new foster family are going to let him see them whenever he wants. Joe is overcome with emotion, and understandably so.

Cal shows up at the orchard and begins looking around. There, he finds an apple on the floor and a trapdoor leading down to the basement. He recognizes the guy down there. As the episode closes out, Zimmer shows up to see Captain Daly, who ends up seizing in his bed. And when he opens his mouth, a whole plague of locusts protrudes forth.

The Episode Review

Most of this series has dabbled in religious callings, faith and the gift of foresight and this time we start to see the plagues. We’ve already seen the “Hell on Earth” idea with the end of episode 10 and now we get a plague of locusts from Captain Daly.

We’re slowly but surely getting closer to learning the truth about what’s happening but damn is this show taking its sweet time to actually give us any substantial answers. Given we’re now 4 seasons deep and 12 episodes down, we’re no closer to understanding what all of this is about. Instead, we continue to get the episodic Callings. Hopefully the chapters ahead remedy that and pick up the pace.