“Pilot” is episode one of season one of Manifest.
A woman is narrating that no-one can explain what happened on April 7th, 2013, the day her life changed for ever. She, Michaela, is at an airport with her brother, Ben, his wife, Grace, and their twins, Cal and Olive, as well as Michaela and Ben’s parents. Cal has leukaemia that isn’t responding and Michaela is having nightmares about a car accident. With her mother pressing her about marriage, Michaela jumped at any chance to stay away from home for a few hours. The flight they’re on is overbooked and she volunteers for the next, along with Ben and Cal. Flight 828. One little decision ruined her life. And also saved it.
On the flight, Ben tells Michaela that Jared would make her happy. Say yes; she deserves it. Then the plane lurches, power goes down and it goes into a dive before recovering. The captain apologises for extreme turbulence from a sudden weather surge that wasn’t on the radar.
The captain contacts New York approach. He’s asked to repeat his callsign. The radio goes quiet and then he’s asked for his name and the number of passengers and crew on the manifest. William Daly, 191 souls. Who would love to touch down on one of the runways. The passengers are then told they’re being diverted, to Stewart airport in Newburgh.
When the plane lands, neither Ben nor Michaela have a signal. Daly tells the passengers they have been asked to deplane on the tarmac. There are emergency vehicles and others waiting. Michaela asks Ben when they do this. Never. With everyone off the plane, a man is speaking to Daly. Michaela asks him what’s going on. The man, Director Vance, says their plane departed Montego Bay, Jamaica, on April 7th, 2013. Today is November 4th, 2018. They’ve been missing, presumed dead, for five and a half years.
The passengers are housed in a hangar and Cal asks if it’s really been five years, how is he still alive? Ben asks Cal if he feels five years older. He doesn’t, and neither does Ben. The passengers and flight crew are all interviewed, and they all give the same story. Which doesn’t involve the plane landing somewhere.36 hours, their families arrive. Olive is so much older, Cal doesn’t recognise her. Michaela asks where Jared is; her father says he had a work emergency. Then she realises her mother is missing. It seems she didn’t cope well with the loss of half her family.
Michaela goes home with Ben’s family. Grace says they eventually had to let Michaela’s apartment go. Michaela asks for a phone; Grace gives her a mobile. They let go of the landline. She tries to contact Jared but gets his answerphone. Michaela says she will move out, but Grace tells her to stay as long as necessary. What happened a mere two days ago for Michaela is ancient history for Grace. The universe gave them a do-over and everything else goes out the window. As they hug, Michaela hears her own voice in her head say ‘All things,’ part of her mother’s favourite Biblical quote.
The plane is examined and the luggage is gone through. Vance is told that everyone has been interviewed. Nothing. And there’s no substance on the plane dating between when they took off and no. It’s as if the plane never left the sky. Vance says that’s impossible. The woman says that no-one on the plane has aged a day. She thinks impossible has been taken off the table.
Michaela heads to a New York police precinct; her own, as it happens. She talks to the sergeant, then to Jared, who is lead detective on a missing girls case. A lot has changed. Including he’s now married. To, it seems, Michaela’s best friend.
Cal is having a leukaemia check-up. His parents are told there’s good news. A new treatment protocol has been developed. It’s in Phase 3 trials, and if Cal is accepted, the odds are excellent. Ben said last time they were told it would take a miracle. Grace thinks a miracle has happened.
Whilst out shopping, Michaela sees a news story with Jared on it, about the missing girls. On a bus, she then hears her own voice in her head say to go slower. She tells the driver. He ignores her. The voice repeats, and she feels pain. She tells the driver to slow down now. And he does, braking just in time to not hit a young boy running into the road after his ball. Back home, she speaks to Ben. He advises her to keep this to herself. The government hasn’t forgotten about them and he doesn’t want anything to happen to her.
This is only the first occurrence of something strange happening to one of the people on Flight 828. Michaela has more by the end. Something strange is definitely going on. And over five years absence has changed a lot of personal things.