Next Week's 'Manifest' Will Uncover New Details About Flight 828

Manifest has six more episodes left in the first season, but the number of questions about the mystery of Flight 828 keeps piling up. That being said, the season has so far been well structured, with a winter premiere episode this past Monday taking a hard look at the events of the first nine episodes and then having the characters act on them. Ben gave up trying to get back with Grace, while Michaela and Jared fell into bed together. But it looks like next week will back-burner these stories, as the Manifest Season 1 Episode 11 promo promises an hour diving into how the plane may have traveled through time.

Next week's episode is entitled "KXTA." Like all episodes titles so far, this is based on flight jargon, but it's a bigger clue than usual. "KXTA" is the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) callsign for Homey Airport, better known as Area 51.

Here's the synopsis:

Willing to follow any lead to keep his son safe from The Major, Ben heeds Cal's calling to help Captain Daly clear his name for what happened to Flight 828. The journey uncovers a seeming conspiracy that stems all the way back to the day the plane disappeared. Meanwhile, Michaela assists Autumn in her own journey of redemption - but has Autumn truly set out to redeem herself, or is she still working against the passengers?

Here's the trailer:

It's interesting Cal will have a Calling to help Captain Daly since the end of the episode showed he, like Michaela, is having the same Snowstorm Calling. So far the show hasn't shown anyone experiencing multiple Callings at once, so either the blizzard is on hold for now, or Cal needs to get an answering service to handle all these different visions and keep them straight.

Meanwhile, the trailer shows Captain Daly attempting to take off and fly through "Black Lightning" to test the time travel theory Ben has gotten ahold of. Looking at the runway, it seems like he's taking off from New York, perhaps heading to Area 51? Could it be... aliens?

As for Autumn, fans already watched her try to rebel against the Major's orders this past week by throwing away the (surprisingly old school) dumb phone she was given, by tossing it into the ocean. Unfortunately, it didn't work. By the end of the hour, the Major's people were back with another new dumb phone for her to carry around, while the lady herself waited outside in the car so the two of them could have a meeting.

Autumn is caught between wanting to help her fellow passengers and the terror of what could be done to everyone if she doesn't follow orders. With only a few more episodes to go, how long until Michaela and Ben uncover her double agent status?

Will Captain Daly skip ahead to 2024? Somehow, I doubt it. Manifest likes sci-fi window dressing, but multiple timelines seem a little too complicated for a show still waiting to be renewed for Season 2.