Questions We Have About ‘Manifest’ Season 2 Episode 10 ‘Course Deviation’

Manifest Season 2 Episode 10, ‘Course Deviation,’ could indicate a directional change in thinking about the Callings. In the previous episode, ‘Airplane Bottles,’ Ben and TJ deduced that their survival depends upon following the Callings. ‘Course Deviation,’ takes a sharp turn in a different direction and presents thought-provoking questions from an unlikely source. Adrian plants seeds of doubt by raising valid concerns and asking tough questions about the Callings. With that in mind, here are a few points to ponder from Manifest Season 2 Episode 10.

Are the Callings good or evil?

Adrian had been absent from Manifest since the end of Season 2 Episode 7, ‘Emergency Exit.’ He disappeared after his parishioner, Isaiah, trapped Flight 828 passengers and several bystanders inside a nightclub and set fire to the place. As a suspected accomplice, Adrian has been on the run from authorities since the fire that killed and maimed several people.

In ‘Course Deviation,’ Adrian resurfaces and reveals that prior to the fire, he had a Calling that involved charred bodies and champagne flutes. He told Isaiah about the vision, and the Believer attempted to recreate it in a misguided effort to prove the 828ers’ divinity.

Ben tells Adrian that the Calling was a warning that gave Adrian a chance to save the passengers. But Adrian counters, saying that the Calling is what caused the fire in the first place.

Adrian doubles down on his opinion that the Callings are causing bad things to happen when Grace ends up in the hospital due to premature labor. Earlier in the episode, Grace has a Calling that leads her to the banks of the Harlem River, and Adrian arrives in the same location led by a Calling of his own.

Grace stumbles on the rocks, her water breaks, and Ben rushes her to the hospital. Adrian stays behind and ends up saving a kayaker from drowning in the river, and they both hightail it to the hospital.

Miraculously the kayaker is a surgical specialist who saves both Grace and her baby. While Ben thanks the Callings for the miracle, Adrian notes that Grace’s medical emergency was likely caused by the tumble she took at the river where the Callings led her in the first place.

Who or what sends the Callings?

Adrian, the son of a preacher, points to Biblical references to support his theory that the Callings are indeed sent by an evil source. Adrian suggests that the Callings put people in danger to trick the 828ers into believing they are saving others.

Adrian claims, “That’s what the Callings have been doing all along — manipulating us, teaching us to trust so we will eventually blindly obey. Not caring whether we’re doing good or evil.”

Ben believes that Adrian’s act of saving the doctor, who in turn saved his wife and daughter, is proof that the Callings are good. But Adrian cites a “signs and wonders,” phrase which comes from the Bible scripture, Matthew 24:24. The passage reads:

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

Based on his knowledge of the scriptural readings, Adrian concludes that the Flight 828 passengers are now “agents of the apocalypse.” Could the source of the Callings be malevolent forces working to bring about the end of days that is prophesied?

Could spiritual readings be the key to beating the Death Date?

While Ben rebuffs Adrian’s ideas as “deluded,” he continues to rely on the Stone family mantra “All things work together for good,” which is taken from the Biblical passage, Romans 8:28. That is an obvious reference to Flight 828, and the phrase is repeated several times in the episode by different members of the Stone family.

Also present in the episode are large, shadowy figures which appear to both Adrian and Cal in separate Callings. Could this be a reference to Psalm 23:4, which reads in part, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”?

The Death Date that looms over 828ers could be interpreted as “the shadow of death,” so more answers could lie within the Good Book. Fans can only hope for more exploration of signs, hints, and clues about Flight 828, the Callings, and the Death Date in the final three episodes of Manifest Season 2. Manifest airs on Mondays a 10 p.m. on NBC.

Read more: ‘Manifest’: Parveen Kaur Beats Josh Dallas in a Game of Wits