Ep 1. Fasten Your Seatbelts

Manifest season 2 episode 1, "Fasten Your Seatbelts," picks up where the season 1 finale left off, with the passengers of Montego Air Flight 828 still struggling to make sense of their unexplainable "return from the dead" experience. The episode begins with a montage of news reports, revealing that the passengers of Flight 828 have become overnight celebrities. Meanwhile, the NSA is investigating the anomaly of the flight's disappearance and reappearance, and the passengers are being monitored for any potential threats to national security.

As the episode progresses, we see that the return of the passengers has led to a number of unexpected consequences. For one thing, many of the passengers are struggling to reconnect with their loved ones, who have moved on without them during the five and a half years they were gone. This is particularly true for Michaela Stone (Melissa Roxburgh) and her ex-boyfriend Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez), who have a tense and awkward reunion at the airport. Michaela also reconnects with her brother Ben (Josh Dallas), who has been working to unravel the mystery of what happened to Flight 828 while she was gone.

Meanwhile, Ben is struggling with some personal issues of his own. He has been having unexplainable "callings," which are visions or premonitions that seem to be connected to the other passengers of Flight 828. In the season premiere, Ben's calling leads him to a mysterious woman named Autumn (Shirley Rumierk), who seems to know more about the flight's disappearance than she's letting on. Ben teams up with Autumn to investigate the calling, and the two of them discover a shocking connection to a missing passenger from the flight.

As the episode progresses, tensions continue to mount as the NSA becomes more involved in the passengers' lives. The agency is particularly interested in a passenger named Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur), who is a medical researcher and may hold the key to understanding what happened to the flight. Saanvi is reluctant to work with the NSA, however, as she fears that they may use her research for nefarious purposes. Meanwhile, a new passenger named Zeke Landon (Matt Long) is introduced, and his arrival on the scene leads to even more questions and complications for the rest of the passengers.

Overall, "Fasten Your Seatbelts" sets the stage for a thrilling and mysterious second season of Manifest. The episode is full of twists, turns, and unexpected developments, and it leaves viewers hungry for more. With so many unanswered questions and unresolved storylines, it's clear that the passengers of Flight 828 are in for a wild ride as they try to make sense of their unexplainable return from the dead.