Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Manifest’ weaves a convoluted tale where “everything’s connected” becomes the story’s central theme. It begins with the mysterious disappearance of Flight 828, which left Jamaica for New York in 2013 but landed five and a half years later. The passengers return to a life very different from the one they had. They also have visions, which they refer to as the Callings, that lead them to other people they need to save and do good in the world.
One such calling leads Michaela Stone to Zeke Landon. She discovers that their stories intertwine more deeply than she’d imagined, as Zeke also seems to have gone through the same things in his life. While dying and coming back to life one year later is quite a thing, what haunts him the most is the death of his sister Chloe. What happened to her, and how did her death impact Zeke’s life? Let’s find out. SPOILERS AHEAD
Chloe’s Fatal Fall into Water
In 2006, Zeke and his family went camping near Tannersville, New York. Zeke was fifteen, and his sister, Chloe, was a few years younger than him. They had been hanging out together, and Zeke was supposed to watch his sister. However, when he got a phone call from a girl he liked in school, he forgot to take care of Chloe, who fell into the water and died. Her dead body was later pulled out from the ravine. Zeke blamed himself for this, wondering what could have happened had he not been distracted by a girl who didn’t even matter to him.
Zeke’s guilt was fostered by his parents, who blamed him too. This led to a fractured relationship between them, with Zeke falling into the wrong things as he grew up. The guilt of his sister’s death followed Zeke into adulthood, and to numb the pain, he started taking drugs. His life spiraled further as it became increasingly difficult for him to function. He was so traumatized by it that he never visited the memorial for his sister in the place where her body was found.
Years later, Zeke hikes to the ravine to confront his pain and guilt but is caught in a snowstorm. He hides in a cave where he almost dies of hypothermia but is saved, only to discover that one year has passed since he entered the cave. This is when he meets Michaela, and his life turns around. Talking to her about his guilt helps him find closure as Michaela understands his feelings because she has been through something similar.
While he might have traveled a year into the future, it doesn’t do anything to lessen his pain. He almost disappears back into the woods, but Michaela finds him and helps him through it. He talks about the good times he had with his sister, and sharing those fond memories helps him remember that there is more to him than the one bad thing he did. He also reveals that he kept the gold star necklace that his sister loved in her memory.
He had struggled to go to the memorial before, but accompanied by Michaela, he finds the strength to take that journey and revisit the tragedy to find closure for his feelings. He reveals that this hike had been a part of his 12-Step Program in Alcoholics Anonymous, where he was supposed to “admit to a higher power, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.” In his sister’s memory, he and Michaela bird a cairn, which Chloe loved and called “fairy towers.” He leaves the necklace by the cairn and expresses his love for her, but he is also ready to move on with his life.
Read More: How Are Grace and Zeke Alive in Manifest, Explained
