Manifest recap: Is Capt. Daly onto the real cause of Flight 828’s disappearance?

On the latest episode of NBC’s Manifest, Captain Daly (Frank Deal) gets to the bottom of what happened on Flight 828. At the same time, Michaela deals with an unknown intruder in her home.

In Manifest’s eleventh episode, the plot thickens further. Ben Stone (Josh Dallas) has been following leads wherever he can but more dead-ends keep him from uncovering the truth. Luckily, Ben gets help from a surprising source — Captain Daly (Frank Deal).

During a meet with Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh), Ben discusses any possible leads — as well as questioning why Cal (Jack Messina) told him that he’d be helping someone the following day. Ben has no idea what Cal is talking about until he receives a phone call from Captain Daly, the pilot of Flight 828.

Daly wants to meet with Ben in hopes of figuring out the truth. It’s become his main goal what with everyone blaming him for the Flight 828 disaster. Daly’s prime suspect in the case is Fiona (Francesca Faridany) since she possessed knowledge of the shared consciousness theory before the plane disappeared. This gives Daly a reason to suspect foul play.

When Ben and Daly finally meet, they head over to a flight simulator that’s been programmed to simulate the night that Flight 828 disappeared. The two of them start up the machine and it doesn’t take long for Ben to notice that the weather conditions are strangely calm — at least in comparison to the level of turbulence they felt.

Once they’re out of the simulator, Daly explains that the records and stats were altered to conceal the strange occurrences which took place. Daly pulls out a folder full of documents on the night’s events and they all point towards government tampering. Ben is a bit shocked by Daly’s findings but begins to believe that a cover-up is in the works.

Shortly after digging through the binder, Ben finds a lead in one of Daly’s documents. Roger Mencin (Bruce MacVitte), a meteorologist who was in the area studying coral erosion, gathered scientific data on the night’s events but never made his findings public. Mencin also went into hiding after sending the data over to the government agency investigating Flight 828, giving Ben yet another reason to seek him out.

More from Netflix News

• The true story behind The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984
• Bridgerton season 3 skipping Benedict is disappointing for book fans
• School Spirits parents guide: Is the teen series safe for kids to watch?
• The Railway Men cast: Get to know the cast of the Indian Netflix series
• Outer Banks season 4 officially resumes production following actors’ strike

It doesn’t take Ben long for him to venture out to Mencin’s secluded home. There, Ben and Daly find Mencin fishing. He’s apprehensive to all visitors and has a speech prepared to dissuade people from getting any closer to him. Ben, however, doesn’t give up so easily.

Somehow, Ben convinces Mencin to share the data he collected. It contains information on “Dark Lighting”, a strange atmospheric event with unknown properties. Mencin believes that their plane went through a Dark Lightning storm, becoming irradiated by the energy in the process —and that event caused the vessel to disappear. Ben and Daly then gather all they can from Mencin.

While they’re collecting this information, Ben calls Michaela to give her an update on the situation. Ben tells her about Mencin’s data but makes the mistake of not keeping it private.

Michaela, who has no idea that Autumn (Shirley Rumierk) is a spy working for the Major, accidentally reveals that Ben is looking into Mencin. Autumn sitting in the same room overhears the conversation and is immediately triggered by the mention of Mencin’s location. She doesn’t jolt out of the room or anything like that, but we learn shortly after that Autumn’s eavesdropping has unfortunate consequences.

The next day, Michaela arrives at the police precinct to find that Mencin was killed in a boating accident. Immediately, this seems strange considering Mencin had his own dock to fish from. Why would he all of a sudden venture out further into the water? Something smells fishy.

Michaela phones Ben to inform him of Mencin, which causes them to panic. They don’t understand how anyone found out about the meteorologist, but then it hits them.

Neither Ben or Michaela thought about it but Autumn was sitting in the room while Ben briefed his sister on the Mencin situation. She was the only other person who knew about Mencin’s whereabouts. Michaela then reasons out that Autumn could be a mole for the Major.

Once again, Ben is shocked by the potentially disastrous situation. He knows that Autumn was hanging out with Cal the entire day and she could’ve easily picked up on the prophecies/callings that Cal was receiving. In doing so, Autumn would have worthwhile information for the Major — information that would lead to Cal’s capture.

Worried about this potentiality, Ben attempts to contact Grace (Athena Karkanis) in hopes of securing Cal before it’s too late. He calls multiple times but Grace doesn’t pick up the phone.

At the Stone’s home, Grace is preparing to tuck the kids in for bed. She calls up to Cal but gets no response. She continues to call out but hears nothing. Becoming equally worried, Grace rushes to her son’s bedroom. She finds it empty and no sight of Cal anywhere.

The episode ends without revealing Cal’s whereabouts but we all know that Autumn or someone working for the Major abducted him. The question is, what are they planning to do with Cal now that they have their Holy Grail?

Manifest airs Mondays on NBC. Episodes are uploaded to Hulu the following day. For more on Manifest, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.