Manifest – Season 4 Episode 14 “Fata Morgana” Recap & Review

Fata Morgana

Episode 14 of Manifest season 4 starts with Cal and Olive shocked that Fiona has passed away. Both of them are struggling to understand how the straw “fell out” and ended up on the table at Fiona’s bedside table. Honestly, these characters are a few fries short of a Happy Meal sometimes.

In the morning, Eden brings up with Cal and Olive that the latter spoke to her and told her to remove the straw. Olive is confused and isn’t sure how all of this is linked. Eventually, after all this time, they decide to check the baby monitor and realize that she’s probably communicating with Angelina. However, it happens 20 minutes into this episode. Finally, the pair realize that Angelina has been projecting over to Eden, using her sapphire.

In the Detention Center, Ben sees another Calling, this time of Captain Daly staring at him while he has blood all over his hands. At the same time, Jared heads in to see Michaela and apologizes about their awkward encounter last episode. We didn’t write it in the recap to be fair, but Jared almost kisses Michaela after they go for a run together and let off some steam.

Jared isn’t just there to apologize though. He also has a photo of Angelina’s van. She’s back in town and that’s got Michaela rattled. As Jared heads off to search for more info, ghost Zeke shows up again and tells her to move on without him. He can feel everything sipping away, and just like that he seems to have lost his memory.

Meanwhile, Saanvi gets her request approved by Zimmer. She’s got Daly’s estranged son, Patrick, in to help out with the whole Captain Daly situation. She wants Patrick to speak to him but he refuses, knowing they’re nothing alike and refusing to cooperate. However, his IV fluid and all the different glasses and vials of water around them turn to blood.

This is enough for Patrick to change his mind, especially as it seems like there’s another plague at hand. This plague extends out to the whole detention center too, as a lockdown goes into effect. But as we know, the security here is absolutely shocking and Ben decides to skip out when he gets the chance, catching up with Saanvi. Together, they prep Patrick ready for

Polly ends up getting stressed and after being pushed over in the chaos, is worried about losing her baby. She needs Saanvi but there’s no doctors or guards around where they’re situated (shocker!) and so they’re on their own. And Polly is 6 weeks early too. Thankfully, she does manage to give birth and it seems everything is well.

Meanwhile, Cal uses his skills to project over and speak to Angelina. She encourages her not to do this and stop with her “chosen” spiel and points out that ending the world is a terrible thing to wish for. Angelina though, wants them to team up. “There is no we, Angelina.” Cal says, and disappears. He does point out what he’s seen to Jared, including the I-80 highway bridge and the exact spot she’s hiding out in. This seems to be enough to bring Angelina in, so Jared heads off to make that happen. Without back-up I may add.

Patrick eventually heads in to see his father, admitting that he’s glad he came as there’s something he wants to get off his chest. Patrick blames his father for everything that’s happened with the plane. Patrick admits that he hates him and he deserves to die. Only… this isn’t Patrick is it? Nope, it’s actually Angelina and she’s got close enough to take him out.

Unfortunately, as Daly leaves the room, armed guards suddenly look set to open fire. Despite Ben showing and pleading with them to stop, a gunshot pierces straight through him, as he passes away, which is a shame as Jared manages to apprehend Angelina just as this happens, arresting her.

Michaela manages to speak to Zeke one more time that evening while at the detention center. Ironically, it’s when he’s back in the cave, freezing. Michaela, realizing that this is part of the timeline, tells him to find Michaela. This completes the circle, and explains why Zeke went back and was originally looking for her when we first saw him in season 1.

With Daly and Fiona now dead, the former’s body drips blood which leads out into the river and completely bathes the area in red. As this occurs, Angelina is brought into the detention center in handcuffs. Uh oh!

The Episode Review

So we’re almost at the halfway point and Manifest starts to show more of its hand, ever-so-slightly anyway. We’re still very much in the dark about the overarching mystery but the religious symbology and the ideas around what’s causing these Callings and ideas in the first place.

With both “witnesses” now dead, it remains to be seen what consequences the bleeding river is going to have, while there’s more than a few people that will want to put Angelina in the ground. How is she going to survive? Well, given the terrible security, I’d imagine she’ll just waltz out the area without much trouble!

The lackadaisical writing continues, and that much is especially true when it comes to Olive and Cal’s little investigation into who took the straw out from Fiona’s chest. The fact that they thought it “fell out” is laughable and one of the unintentional bits of comedy in the show. Less funny though is the number of contrivances and plot issues that hold this back from being a better title. Still, at least we’re getting a few answers, as evidenced by the neat ending to Zeke and Michaela’s arc.