Absentia (TV series)
Absentia is an American thriller drama television series that premiered on September 25, 2017, on AXN. Directed by Oded Ruskin, the series stars Stana Katic and Patrick Heusinger. On June 19, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season.[1] The second season premiered on March 26, 2019, on AXN,[2] and premiered in the US on June 14, 2019.[3] On July 2, 2019, the series was renewed for a third season, which is set to premiere on July 17, 2020.[4][5][6]
| Absentia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by |
|
| Starring | |
| Composer(s) | Nami Melumad |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Production location(s) | Bulgaria |
| Cinematography | Nadav Hekselman |
| Running time | 42 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Masha Productions |
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | AXN |
| Original release | September 25, 2017 – present |
Premise
The series tells the story of FBI agent Emily Byrne who disappears without a trace while hunting one of Boston's most notorious serial killers, and she is declared dead in absentia. Six years later, she is found in a cabin in the woods, barely alive and with no memory of the years that she was missing. She returns home to learn that her husband has remarried and her son is being raised by the new wife, and she soon finds herself implicated in a new series of murders.[7]
Cast and characters
- Stana Katic as Special Agent Emily Byrne,[8][9] a former FBI special agent who disappeared while hunting one of Boston's most notorious serial killers and was presumed dead, but returns six years later with no memory of her abduction. While struggling to rebuild her life and unravel the mystery of her disappearance, she becomes the prime suspect in a string of shocking new murders, and becomes a fugitive.[10] Kalina Zaharieva plays a young Emily.
- Patrick Heusinger as Special Agent Nick Durand,[11] Emily's husband and fellow FBI agent who suffers with guilt that he stopped looking for Emily. He attempts to balance his life with Emily's return and his resurfacing feelings for her against his new marriage to Alice. After Emily goes on the run, his belief in her innocence crumbles and, after his family is endangered, relentlessly hunts her down.
- Cara Theobold as Alice Durand (seasons 1–2), Nick's new wife and Flynn's stepmother. Alice attempts to remain graceful and kind, but her behaviour towards Emily becomes increasingly harsh in the chaos after her return, believing she is a danger to Flynn and she is losing Nick's affection.
- Neil Jackson as Jack Byrne, Emily's older brother (after she is adopted), a former surgeon who lost his job and medical license due to heavy drinking caused by the trauma of Emily's disappearance. In first season he is unemployed. In second season, after getting his medical license back, he started working as an EMT and a paramedic working towards being reinstated as a medical doctor.
- Angel Bonanni as Detective Tommy Gibbs (seasons 1–2), an ambitious and relentless Boston Police detective in charge of investigating Emily for murder, who later teams up with Nick to hunt Emily down.
- Bruno Bichir as Dr. Daniel Vega (season 1), an FBI psychologist and profiler, who works with Emily to heal her psychological wounds and find her abductor.
- Paul Freeman as Warren Byrne, a retired Boston Police officer and Emily's adopted father.
- Ralph Ineson as Special Agent Adam Radford (season 1), the political and career-minded special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office, and Nick and Emily's boss. While he cares about Emily, he later coordinates a manhunt for Emily after she goes on the run.
- Christopher Colquhoun as Special Agent Derek Crown, an FBI agent and colleague of Emily and Nick, who is later promoted to agent in charge of the office after Radford's death.
- Patrick McAuley as Flynn Durand, Emily's 9-year-old son with Nick, who has almost no memory of his mother and so is estranged and uncomfortable around her, although they gradually build a relationship.
- Lydia Leonard as Logan Brandt / Laurie Colson (season 1; guest season 2), a journalist investigating Emily.
- Richard Brake as Conrad Harlow (season 1), a reclusive wealthy banker and prime suspect in the serial killer case Emily was investigating before her disappearance. While the FBI was never able to make a case against Harlow as the serial killer, he is convicted of Emily's kidnapping and murder and sent to prison. 6 years later, Emily's discovery results in his release.
- Matthew Le Nevez as Special Agent Cal Isaac (season 2–present), an FBI agent and colleague of Emily and Nick, as well as a rugged former Navy SEAL, who becomes Emily's similarly haunted, loyal and empathetic counterpart.
- Natasha Little as Special Agent Julianne Gunnarsen (season 2–present), a new member of the Boston Field Office who is regarded as the FBI's best profiler, and joins the office after a lethal terrorist attack impacts Boston.
- Hugh Quarshie as Dr. Semo Oduwale (season 2), Flynn's therapist and Alice's mentor.
- Geoff Bell as Colin Dawkins (season 3), a man tasked with helping Emily on her new case.
- Josette Simon as Rowena Kincade (season 3), Emily's former FBI instructor.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | ||||
| 1 | 10 | September 25, 2017 | November 20, 2017 | ||
| 2 | 10 | March 26, 2019 | May 28, 2019 | ||
Season 1 (2017)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Comeback" | Oded Ruskin | Gaia Violo | September 25, 2017 | |
| The story begins with videos of the happy Durand family - Nick, an FBI Agent, his wife Emily, also an agent, and their son Flynn - from 6 years ago interlaced with a present Emily trapped in a glass tank filling with water. Emily was kidnapped by someone and was presumed dead. The kidnapper, a known serial killer named Conrad Harlow, is tried for the murder and proven guilty. In the present time, Nick is remarried to Alice and Flynn has grown up accepting Alice as his mother. Nick receives a phone call from Harlow giving him directions to rescue Emily from the tank, which is in a cabin. She is found drowning. Nick is able to save her since the lock was timed. She is in a malnourished, abused state and has very little memory of what happened in the last 6 years while she was held captive. She has developed paranoia and PTSD, and attacks a journalist when she is in the hospital. She is devastated when she realises Nick is married and that she has missed out on her son's childhood. Emily meets Flynn and Alice, which does not go well. Nick is conflicted. She is taken in by her brother Jack. With the help of a psychiatrist, Emily associates the events with names of flowers. Nick realises Emily's earlier case, Robert Semerov, who accused of trafficking girls, must be involved, as he named his victims after flowers. Meanwhile, a decomposing body is found floating in the river and Tommy Gibbs from Boston police department starts to investigate. Nick and Emily visit a strip club where one of Semerov's girl who is friends with Emily leads them to catch Semerov. The FBI reach the place where the new shipment of girls is going to arrive, hoping to catch Sememrov. However, Semerov is not there and in a fit of rage, Emily starts beating up another trafficker. Nick and Adam, the head Agent, control her and she is locked in the car. Adam learns that the body in the river was Semerov's. Also, they find out that the DNA of the killer, which was under the nails of the body, belongs to Emily. Nick looks worriedly while Emily sits in the car unsure and confused. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Reset" | Oded Ruskin | Matt Cirulnick | September 25, 2017 | |
| Conrad Harlow is released and he expresses concern for Emily. A woman, Kelly Price meets detective Gibbs and tells him she saw Emily arguing with Semerov two weeks ago on a bridge. Emily is struggling to regain her former self and has anxiety attacks, imagining her kidnapper, a masked man, is still out to get her. Alice appears troubled by Emily's return and the effect it has on her family. Boston PD, now working with the FBI, want Emily for questioning as a suspect for murdering Semerov. Emily is shocked to learn about Semerov's death. She goes to meet Flynn to mend their relationship. Nick discovers Kelly Price is not who she claims to be, and that her real name is Regina. Her past associate, Cooper, tells them Regina worked for Semerov and also one of their FBI agents. Emily breaks into Harlow's house and confronts him but he denies kidnapping her. The police reach his house and arrest Emily for breaking in. Gibbs questions her again but lets her go. Nick tells Emily about the crooked agent. Emily is sure that the agent is also involved in her kidnapping, and they agree to hunt the agent down. Meanwhile Alice gets worried when Riggs, their dog starts barking at something outside. Gibbs discovers Kelly Price has vanished as he receives a distress call about a murder. Harlow is shown to be stabbed and murdered and floating in his pool. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Emily Show" | Oded Ruskin | Elaina Perpelitt | October 2, 2017 | |
| Emily is in therapy and describes a bleeding eye which she keeps seeing. Nick defends Emily before Gibbs and also tells him about the crooked agent. He asks for time to gather evidence and Gibbs relents. Emily starts getting worried as people are suspecting her more and more. She takes Flynn go-karting and he finally starts opening up to Emily. Just as they are having a fun race, Flynn loses control and he has an accident. In the hospital Emily is distraught although Flynn is fine. Alice blames Nick for letting Flynn go alone with Emily, but Nick brushes her off. Nick suspects Agent Crown to be involved with Semerov but Adam shuts him down. Nick and Emily break in to Harlow's place and discover some footprints. Nick investigates and discovers they are Adam's. Jack is overwhelmed by the journalists and is frustrated with Emily. He is revealed to be an alcoholic. Emily and Jack fight, revealing Emily was adopted. Emily goes to stay in a motel. Gibbs uncovers a cctv footage implicating Emily heavily in Harlow's murder and orders Nick to arrest her. Emily reveals to Nick that she was outside his home observing Alice and Flynn the night Harlow was murdered. Nick and Emily overcome by emotions have a sweet moment. Nick confronts Adam about Regina and Harlow's murder. Adam tells Nick he is blinded by Emily and gives him a warning. Emily is shown breaking into Adam's house where she discovers his diary. Inside there are various drawings depicting a bleeding eye which matches the visions Emily has been having. As Adam arrives and searches his house suspiciously, Emily escapes, but it is shown Adam knows. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Me You Him Me" | Oded Ruskin | Antoinette Stella | October 9, 2017 | |
| Adam knows Emily broke into his house. Emily convinces Nick about Adam but he tells her that boston police has issued a warrant for her. Alice doubts Emily's intentions more and more. Nick and Emily are drawn to each other and get intimate at her motel. Afterwards when Nick is in the bathroom, Emily escapes to buy more time and investigate the case herself. Jack gets an escort for himself just as Gibbs comes to his house to look for Emily. Nick lies to Alice about Emily. Adam suspends Nick for helping Emily escape. Gibbs questions Emily's father, Warren, a former FBI agent too. Just then Emily calls Warren for help and he motivates her to continue her journey. Emily kidnaps Adam and calls Nick on the way. Nick is able to judge where she has taken Adam and he along with Gibbs sets out to seek her. Adam confesses to Emily that he was involved with Semerov and helped Regina become Kelly, but is not involved in kidnapping her. He tells her bleeding eye is a place which he doesn't know about much but is driven to look for. Thus it became his obsession and landed in his diary. Nick and Gibbs reach the place and Emily makes a run for it. Just as Nick and Gibbs are to untie Adam, someone fires at them from the dark, killing Adam. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Dig" | Oded Ruskin | Kate Powers | October 16, 2017 | |
| Emily comes to her psychiatrist, Dr Vega for helping her understand about the bleeding eye. She doesn't seem to know about Adam's murder. Guided by Dr Vega Emily discovers bleeding eye is a tree where she used to play as a kid with other orphans. Meanwhile Agent Crown is made the new head agent who ends Nick's suspension. Alice discovers she is pregnant but her and Nick's relationship deteriorates as she guesses Nick slept with Emily and has feelings for her. Emily is in touch with Nick through a burner phone. She is on the run and is seen boarding a bus. Meanwhile Jack and Warren also have a fight about Emily and Jack tells him to give her up to the police. Emily reaches an old abandoned park called Nottingham park. After talking to Jack, Nick is able to deduce where Emily might be. Emily comes across the tree which is called the bleeding eye as it has patterns on it like thus. She starts digging around the tree as Nick and Gibbs close up on her. She discovers a human skeleton and is taken aback. As she sees the men approaching her she flees. However she is able to take with her a pacemaker from the skeletal remains. The men chase her down but she swims across the lake and escapes. She hides in an empty truck and is relieved when the truck driver boards and drives away. But the truck stops suddenly and the driver points a shotgun at her implying he knew she was there all along. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Nobody's Innocent" | Oded Ruskin | Matt Cirulnick | October 23, 2017 | |
| The driver knows who she is. Nevertheless he decides to help her. He drives her back to Boston. The FBI investigates the identity of the skeleton. They discover that it has the Harlow signature of murders which is cutting off the eyelids of the victim. The FBI are now convinced that Harlow has an accomplice, who they suspect to be Emily. Nick denies this although he looks broken. Back in Boston, Emily breaks into Jack's house and hides a cellphone in his cereal box. She tries to trace the pacemaker's owner's identity through Jack's laptop, as he is a doctor. She finds a letter from the hospital saying he was fired for unexplained absences from work and bad behaviour. She discovers some disturbing videos in his laptop, exhibiting his heavy bondage fetish and erotic asphyxiation. The videos of different girls are named after flowers. As the police are alerted about Emily, she once again escapes from his house. Nick interrogates a retired agent, Nash who first started the Harlow case. He comes to know that Emily was the first and only person who named Harlow in the case. The witness Emily spoke to who named Harlow as a suspect also died after talking to her. Emily tracks Jack meeting an escort at a bar. After following them she spies on them having violent intercourse. Gibbs reaches Jack's house and sees the disturbing videos. The police discovers a number of unexplained large cash deposits in Jack's account. Gibbs questions the hospital Jack worked for and discovers he was embezzling from the hospital. Emily follows the escort back to the club she works at and secretly questions her. The escort tells him Jack and her used to see each other but stopped when Emily was kidnapped. The club owner discovers her and she is chased out by them. In the process she gets shot. The FBI is convinced that Emily is the one behind the murders and that she framed Harlow after they undig 6 more bodies. Emily drives to her mother's grave, gravely injured and calls Jack on the cellphone she hid at his house. She asks him to meet her. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "A & B" | Oded Ruskin | Antoinette Stella | October 30, 2017 | |
| Emily wakes up in a room, her wound taken care of by Jack. He denies any association with the murders. Emily believes him and they try to trace the pacemaker's owner. Flynn fights with his friend who called Emily a murderer and wants Emily to come back. Nick tells him he still believes Emily to be innocent. Nick calls Jack, but Jack lies and cuts the call. Jack discovers that the pacemaker was Dr Shen's, who worked at Barrette house, Emily's orphanage. Emily goes to chinatown to talk to Shen's brother, Erik. He tells Emily Shen was dismissed from MIT for his controversial work after which he joined the orphanage. His research is still in storage, where Emily goes to recover it. Jack is attending AA, narrating how he operated on Emily overcoming his addiction at that point. The police arrives and arrests him. Emily listens to some tapes belonging to Dr Shen in storage. It is revealed that Dr Shen conducted some cold hearted, gruesome experiments on the children in the orphanage, in which the children were left screaming. Gibbs interrogates Jack but he doesn't talk. Someone creeps up behind Emily and kidnaps her. It is revealed to be two men who are after the bounty associated with handing over Emily to the FBI. She escapes from their van as it halts at a red light and drives off after stealing a car. Emily listens to the tape again and hears the name - Charles. She then remembers him from the orphanage where she beat him up for no reason. Nick goes to meet Alice and Flynn, who are staying with Alice's sister. He discovers that the house was broken into and they have been abducted. On Alice's phone he watches a video of Emily saying she will be with him soon and she loves him. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Brave Boy" | Oded Ruskin | Elaina Perpelitt | November 6, 2017 | |
| Nick has finally snapped and believes Emily is the culprit. He appeals to her in front of the media to return Flynn and Alice. Emily who has taken shelter with the other homeless is shaken up after discovering Flynn is abducted. She sets out to find out more about Charles. Meanwhile Alice and Flynn are trapped in a room. Jack is released. It is revealed his bail was posted by Laurie, the journalist Emily stabbed when she was sick. She offers assistance to him and believes Emily is innocent. The FBI are able to identify Dr. Shen's skeleton and trace his brother to investigate further. Warren and Jack reconcile and Warren helps to track down Charles. Charles is admitted in a mental hospital and Emily decides to go meet him. The masked man gives Alice and Flynn water and moldy bread and later takes Flynn away to the torture room. He shuts Flynn in the glass tank and fills it with water, same as Emily. Nick and Gibbs gather information about Shen and his secret experiments. The FBI is able to locate Charles and Nick and Gibbs set out to meet him. Emily arrives at the institute and is able to trick her way in. An inmate helps her to get to Charles by creating a diversion but warns her to be careful. Charles recognises Emily and they wrestle. Charles accused her of being bad and that she used to make people fight. Emily is unable to make him talk about the other person in the tape, subject A. Nick and Gibbs reach the institute and witness the diversion. Emily escapes but Nick chases her, finally catching up to her. They have a stand off, pointing guns at each other and Emily shoots Nick. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Child's Play" | Oded Ruskin | Kate Powers | November 13, 2017 | |
| Gibbs continues to chase Emily down but is unable to catch her as she escapes on a train. Alice regains consciousnesses, but finds Flynn missing. She is able to escape from the room. In the train Emily reads the book she stole from Charles. She finds repeated drawings of a pitchfork inside. Emily jumps from the train after she senses that the FBI is chasing her. Nick is not injured from the bullet as he was wearing protection. Gibbs points this out to Nick about Emily knowing he would be protected. Emily breaks in Erik Shen's restaurant and sees that the fish tank in the restaurant has the same mark as that in Charles book and also the one in which Shen conducted his experiment. She notes the name of the manufacturer of the tank. Emily breaks in a hotel to use the computer for researching about the manufacturer but as people notice her, she flees. Just as the police arrive at the hotel she hides in a delivery van, which drives away. She asks Jack to find out who ordered the tank in which she was tortured. Alice is able to find Flynn trapped inside and breaks open the tank and saves Flynn. They try to escape but Alice is shot by a dart by the masked man. Nick is told by Crown that Harlow was not in the country when some murders happened and that implies he definitely has a partner. Nick and Gibbs meet Charles. He tells them about his friend who hurt Dr. Shen and that there was candy in the air where the children got hurt. This leads them to the place where a molasses storage tank exploded years ago. Jack tells Emily that the tank was ordered 7 years ago and that she was the one who ordered the tank. Emily sets out to the address where the tank was ordered. Crown meets an ex-girlfriend of Harlow's, who he had abused. She tells Crown Harlow had an accomplice and that it was a woman. Emily arrives at the building and discovers Nick and Gibbs there too. Emily finds a picture as a clue and escapes before Nick and Gibbs realise she is there. Nick discovers that the shop on the opposite side sells the same masks as that used by the masked man Emily described. He now feels Emily is Harlow's mentor and not the accomplice as Harlow was not around when the children were tortured. With the help of the picture, Emily reaches a cabin and decides to go in. She calls up Nick and asks him to come there too but alone. Emily enters the cabin through a trap door. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Original Sin" | Oded Ruskin | Story by : Matthew Cirulnick and Gaia Violo Teleplay by : Matthew Cirulnick | November 20, 2017 | |
| Inside the cabin Emily has a panic attack and is attacked by the masked man. She wakes up in a room with an unconscious Alice, a tv and a camera. The Masked man talks to her through the tv. A flashback of the orphanage days shows a young Emily, eager to be adopted. She presents herself as a nice, well behaved kid so that people like her but is not so. Her psychological assessment makes her a liability and she doesn't get adopted. Emily hates this and replaces her psychological assessment with that of the masked man's who was with her in the orphanage, so that she can be adopted. This was the reason why Shen chose the masked man as his subject. Shen wanted children with an aggressive streak in them. Thus the masked man had to suffer from Shen's torture. Emily was lucky to escape his torture since she was adopted just before Shen took over. Present day Emily is shocked and sorry. The purpose of Shen's research is that he believed that childhood trauma like the one he inflicted, could train the children to be controllable unrelenting ruthless killers who could be used as weapons, as the masked man has become. The mask is taken off and the killer is revealed to be Laurie, whose real name is Logan. She and Harlow worked together and killed Shen. Laurie asks Emily to kill Alice in order to save Flynn. She reluctantly agrees but Nick arrives in time and holds Emily guilty. Alice wakes up and she along with Nick and Emily find Flynn and try to escape from the cabin but get shot at by Laurie. However, Laurie misses the shot and they escape. Nick realises Emily is innocent and they hunt Laurie down. Nick gets shot by Laurie and Emily chases her. She catches Laurie and suffocates her by drowning, but Laurie stabs Emily just before dying. The FBI reach the location and Emily is arrested. Later the news shows Crown stating that Laurie was the one responsible for all the murders and that she was killed by Emily in an act of self defence. Gibbs and Crown discuss Shen, Laurie and how she dedicated her life to revenge. Nick is recovering from the injury and Emily visits him. They resolve their conflicts and decide to not be together since they both have changed and become different people. Days later, Emily celebrates Flynn's birthday. Everyone seems to be getting along with each other. Flynn and Emily are happy and well adjusted with each other. Gibbs flirts with Emily. Emily notices water leaking in the kitchen and has another panic attack. As she sits on the floor mopping the water, she has a vision of Harlow floating in the water, dead, and Emily having murdered him. | ||||||
Season 2 (2019)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Casualties" | Oded Ruskin | Samantha Corbin-Miller | March 26, 2019 | |
| The season starts with a young man shooting someone multiple times. Emily is on with her own investigation to gain clarity over what happened when she was held captive. She has started using drugs to help her remember. Flynn is in therapy and counselling by Dr. Oduwale to get over the past events. Alice has had a miscarriage. Jack has been reissued his license but as an EMT not a surgeon. Emily and Tommy are seeing each other. Tommy is helping her look for answers and gives Emily her original adoption file. It leads her to Lester Mcnair. The shooter from before leads a fatal, poisonous gas attack on a federal building. FBI HQ sends in Agent Gunnarsen to Boston to investigate the attack along with Nick. Flynn and Emily spend time together. As Emily is out buying groceries for Flynn she senses someone following her, who turns out to be a woman. Alice decides to rejoin her work as a therapist. Tommy gets a warrant for Mcnair and they arrest him and his wife who turns out to be the woman following Emily. It is evident they have been tracking Emily's movements. The woman, Valerie Chandris reveals she is Emily's biological mother. | ||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Madness" | Oded Ruskin | Brendan Kelly | April 2, 2019 | |
| Emily initially untrusting of Valerie's claim to be her mother, finds out she was telling the truth. Crown and Gunnarsen clash at work. Emily gets Valerie home and Valerie tells her someone is following Valerie constantly and that her life is in danger. She also tells Emily that she gets injected periodically by someone and develops amnesia after that. Emily doesn't believe her and asks Valerie to leave. Valerie faints and Emily realizes she is diabetic and revives her with insulin. Emily decides to check on Valerie's story and goes to Boston Mercy hospital. Flynn comes to Emily's and is shocked to meet Valerie. Emily doesn't find anything concrete asks finally Valerie leaves. Later at a train station bathroom, someone attacks Valerie and kills her by injecting her with a drug. | ||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Guilty" | Oded Ruskin | Logan Slakter | April 9, 2019 | |
| Tommy informs Emily about Valerie's death. Emily finds the situation fishy and wants to investigate. FBI is successful in narrowing down the suspect based on a tool left behind during the attack. Tommy finds out the drug used to kill Valerie was Fentanyl. Flynn displays strong aggression towards another kid at the doctor's. CCTV footage leads Gunnarsen to the perpetrator being a member of a group called 'Patriotic Guardians'. Emily decides to rejoin FBI to investigate the fentanyl poisoning cases. She gets rid of all evidence which may lead FBI to find out that Valerie is Emily's birth mother. Tommy is heartbroken when he learns Emily has rejoined FBI and no longer needs him. Jack is reprimanded for performing a lifesaving tracheostomy on a patient because he was not authorized to do so, leaving Jack dejected. Nick's negligence to his family because of work, makes Alice seek solace in Jack. Emily is assigned to work on her case with Agent Cal Issac. They attend Valerie's autopsy. Nick cracks Colin Spencer, head of Patriotic Guardians who leads him to Tyler Brandon Mills. Nick and Gunnarsen talk to his parents and discover truth about Tyler's childhood and his disturbed psych. Tyler had predicted the FBI tracking him down to his parents and has already escaped. | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Offenders" | Oded Ruskin | Milla Bell-Hart | April 16, 2019 | |
| Tyler attacks a man and his daughter, Elsie, at their cabin, killing the man. Crown is shown to be involved with Erica Lyle, a reporter. Gunnarsen finds letters to Tyler from a woman called Liza Tutee, an admirer of his. Emily and Cal try to connect the various murders done using fentanyl, the latest one being of Congressman Eli Ramos, and find a common ground between the victims. They notice that the victims develop a peculiar rash. Emily reconciles with Tommy and he confesses his love for her. Emily and Cal are puzzled by another murder, this time the target being Clay Bishop, a first ballot Hall of Famer. They are able to collect a blood swab from the pet dog that attacked the murderer. Nick tactfully plants a tracking device in Liza's car and they locate Tyler hiding in the cabin along with Elsie, who he had kidnapped. The FBI captures Tyler and Nick is applauded for his work. Gunnarsen is assigned to work with Emily and Cal. Emily and Tommy grow closer and seem happy. However Tommy discovers Emily has been drugging herself with Sodium Pentothal in order to retrieve her memory and tries to counsel her. Emily pushes Tommy away but he persists. Her past paranoia returns, triggering Emily to get violent and attack Tommy. Emily in a fit of rage starts strangling Tommy but snaps just in time and stops. Emily apologizes but Tommy dejected once again, leaves her for good. | ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Bolo" | Adam Sanderson | Julia Cooperman | April 23, 2019 | |
| Tommy has stopped responding to Emily. Emily and Cal continue their investigation by interrogating Clay's partner. She tells them he demonstrated sudden explosive anger and memory loss attributing to CTE. Even Ramos had this in common and he attacked a police officer. Nick interrogates Tyler. Alice and Jack get closer. Flynn and Warren are playing games at the arcade when Warren collapses suddenly and is admitted to the hospital. As Warren recovers, he is discharged. Alice, Nick and Flynn are joined by Emily, Warren and Jack for a family dinner but Emily leaves the dinner midway after an argument. The FBI initiates transfer of Tyler to the courthouse. Cal and Emily find the DNA match for the murderer who turns out to be Rex Wolfe, who is involved in the operation of Tyler's transfer. Rex injures the other guard with him in the van and injects Tyler with fentanyl. He jumps from the van and takes off. Nick follows him but is outsmarted by Rex, who escapes. The FBI is baffled and Nick is disappointed. They decide to modify the events and hide Rex Wolfe's existence from the public. Crown dispatches Cal and Emily to Moldova to capture Rex. As Emily gets ready to leave for Moldova, she notices a connection between the murders and Catalyst Diagnostics Company. She asks help from Tommy to investigate while she is away. | ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Cover" | Adam Sanderson | Samantha Corbin-Miller | April 30, 2019 | |
| Crown fabricates a story about Tyler's death in such a way that Nick becomes the one who killed Tyler as he was escaping, avoiding any mention of Rex. Nick is doubtful but is left with no choice but to go with it. Emily disguises as a wealthy businesswoman and Cal as her bodyguard in Moldova. They are to maintain a low profile as they have no back up. Alice is diagnosed to have a medical condition where she will never conceive a baby, leaving her shattered. Nick and Alice drift apart even more. Emily learns about Nightwatch, a private military company. The company tracks and monitors its members 24/7 by a tracking chip embedded in the arm. Cal runs into an old associate, Holt, who is ex- Nightwatch member. Emily seduces one of the Nightwatch members, Jacques, but he attempts to rape her. She knocks him out and extracts the chip from his arm. Emily and Cal break into Nightwatch and are able to locate Rex. Just as they escape Nightwatch, Jacques and his men round up on them and lock them up. Meanwhile, Erica Lyle, the news reporter, tells Crown she knows that Tyler's death was fishy and there is something FBI is hiding. Crown negotiates with her and gets her an interview with Nick. Nick is worried since he can't contact Emily and suspects she might be in trouble. Crown gets Nick to agree for the interview by offering to help Emily escape Moldova. Emily and Cal escape from Jacques by swimming through a tunnel. Alice visits Dr. Oduwale for help regarding her deteriorating relationship with Nick. After their escape from Jacques, Emily and Cal are knocked out by two men. | ||||||
| 17 | 7 | "Boom" | Adam Sanderson | Brendan Kelly | May 7, 2019 | |
| Emily and Cal are taken captive and are shut in a van, being taken somewhere. Tommy decides to investigate about Catalyst Diagnostics after Emily's voicemail. He breaks into the lab and finds some incriminating evidence but is discovered. He is suspended from the Boston police, as he was not authorized to search without a warrant. He also loses the evidence from his phone. Emily and Cal are rescued by Holt and he takes them to his house. Alice begins an affair with Jack. Nick's interview with Erica goes as planned but he feels guilty. Emily meets Oksana, a Russian sniper and admires her. Nick suspects Alice is having an affair. The trio, Emily, Cal and Holt reach Rex's house. They engage in a crossfire with Rex and he stabs Holt and starts to escape. Emily follows him despite Cal's warning about minefield around and demands answers. Rex steps on a mine and freezes. He tells Emily he was just following orders to kill Tyler and that Emily should look for answers in her own backyard. He steps off the mine and is blown to pieces. Unfortunately, Holt also dies from the wound. Emily and Cal finally leave Moldova. Emily goes to meet Flynn and Nick, who appears upset. Emily looks shattered as Nick tells her that Tommy committed suicide by Carbon monoxide poisoning in his car. | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "Aggression" | Kasia Adamik | Logan Slakter | May 14, 2019 | |
| Emily learns Tommy was suspended from work as he was caught snooping around Catalyst Diagnostics. Emily looks determined to find the truth about Tommy's death. Crown wants to close the case after Rex's death but Cal insists on continuing. Emily convinces Cal to look into Catalyst Diagnostics as Tommy found something which lead to his death. Nick decides to spend more time with his family but Alice appears distant. Emily mourns for Tommy in his car and finds 'Quill' scribbled by him on the car window. Nick and Alice finally confront each other and make up. Cal finds out that Quill is a research project which has been discontinued. They reach out to Ulf Maston, the professor in charge of Quill. Ulf tells Emily Quill project was designed to help people cope with stressful situation and to help them develop resilience, with the help of a serum. But the results were unexpected as the rats, who acted as the subjects started showing unexplained aggression and violence. The project was shut down and never tested on humans. Ulf tells them they had a behavioral psychologist, Lu Fang Shen who was terminated as he wanted to try it on humans. Emily has a panic attack since Dr. Shen was the psychologist at Barrette house and the one who experimented on Laurie and Charles. She starts screaming when she notices Dr. Oduwale, Flynn's therapist, in the photograph of the scientists who were a part of Quill. | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Committed" | Kasia Adamik | Milla Bell-Hart | May 21, 2019 | |
| Emily instructs Nick to keep Flynn away from Dr. Oduwale after she discovers his role in Quill. She goes to interrogate him and notices he has the same painting on his wall as that made by Rex Wolfe in his home in Moldova. Dr. Oduwale also councils the same group of soldiers that Rex was a part of and also had sessions with Rex. Dr. Oduwale also has a connection with Catalyst Diagnostics. Alice tries to end things with Jack abruptly, which leaves Jack disheartened as he was serious about their relationship. Nick goes to talk to Tyler's mother to learn more about the therapy he went through as a kid. Mrs. Mills agrees that a doctor gave Tyler an experimental drug which was supposed to be help him, free of cost. She recognizes the doctor to be Oduwale. Oduwale is brought in for questioning by Gunnarsen and Cal. Nick and Emily probe further. Nick breaks into his office but finds nothing as it was already broken in by somebody. Emily goes to Oduwale's house and finds the poisoning tank used by Tyler in the FEMA attack. When Oduwale returns, Emily holds him hostage and pretends to use Phosgene on him, but is actually tear gas. She accuses him of manipulating Rex to kill people. Oduwale finally accepts he injected all those people, including Rex with resilience serum. It worked on Rex and showed the desirable effect, but not on others. Thus he had them killed. Oduwale was able to make the serum at last, after many attempts with the help of Emily's blood, which Laurie sent him when she held Emily captive. Nick and Cal reach Oduwale's house to stop Emily from harming Oduwale. Just then there is an explosion outside which draws Emily, Nick and Cal. It served as a distraction and Oduwale is shot by someone who was in the house the entire time. | ||||||
| 20 | 10 | "Accomplice" | Kasia Adamik | Julia Cooperman | May 28, 2019 | |
| Dr. Oduwale is shot dead and the investigation begins. Jack calls Alice and tells her he won't let her off the hook so easily. Alice is worried and suggests a camping trip with Nick and Flynn. Gunnarson is promoted to be the head of the branch, replacing Crown. Emily and Cal getter a closer look at Dr. Oduwale's phone records and emails. On the camping trip Alice tells Nick she doesn't feel well and leaves. Emily discovers that Flynn's blood samples were being used for a long time for research by Oduwale. Emily puts the pieces together and realizes Oduwale's accomplice is Alice. She worked with Oduwale all along and got close to Flynn and Nick after Emily's disappearance by acting as a therapist. On Oduwale's instructions she married Nick so that their research continues and she can keep an eye on Flynn. Emily tracks her down as she was escaping and confronts her. Alice claims she never knew what the true purpose of the research was and that she eventually truly started loving Flynn and Nick. Alice killed Oduwale when she realizes what he did to Emily and others. She begs Emily to let her go as she won't be able to face Flynn and Nick. Emily is about to let her escape when Gunnarsen shoots her and Alice dies. Emily is shown giving the news to Nick and Flynn. | ||||||
Production
Production was completed in Bulgaria on the ten-episode series, with every episode directed by Oded Ruskin.[12][13] The entire first season was shot together, as though it were one long movie.[14]
Release
The world premiere of Absentia was the opening selection at the 57th Monte Carlo Television Festival in June 2017.[15] Absentia was a featured panel at Sony Pictures Television for the annual TV Market.[16]
In Canada, Absentia was shown on Showcase in early 2018.[17] In the United States, the series was picked up by Amazon and was released on Amazon Video on February 2, 2018. It was released on Amazon Video in the United Kingdom and Australia.[18] The series was released in Sweden, Norway and Denmark on Viaplay December 5, 2017.[19][20][21]
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 50% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 5.78/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Absentia sticks too closely to the procedural handbook, leaving its capable lead and mildly intriguing mystery treading water."[22] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[23]
References
- Andreeva, Nellie (June 19, 2018). "'Absentia' Starring Stana Katic Renewed For Season 2 By Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- "Absentia". www.axn.es.
- Moreau, Jordan (2019-03-14). "TV News Roundup: Tiffany Haddish, Ali Wong Netflix Comedy 'Tuca and Bertie' Sets Premiere Date". Variety. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
- "Absentia: Season Three; Amazon Series to Be Renewed (Report)". July 3, 2019.
- Andreeva, Nellie (July 2, 2019). "Stana Katic Series 'Absentia' Nears Season 3 Renewal At Amazon". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- Mitovich, Matt Webb (June 18, 2020). "Stana Katic's Absentia Gets Season 3 Amazon Premiere Date and Trailer". TVLine. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- Petski, Denise (January 6, 2017). "'Absentia': Stana Katic AXN Thriller Series Adds Five To Cast". Deadline. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- Staff, Hollywood.com (September 24, 2016). "Absentia | TV Series | 2017". Hollywood.com. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- "Stana Katic Poised To Star In Thriller Drama Series 'Absentia' For Sony's AXN". Retrieved June 4, 2017.
- Mitovich, Matt Webb (May 9, 2017). "Stana Katic's FBI Thriller Absentia Gets Big Promo Push — Next, a U.S. Home?". TV Line.
- "'Absentia': Stana Katic AXN Thriller Series Adds Five To Cast". Retrieved June 4, 2017.
- "Instagram post by Stana Katic • Mar 2, 2017 at 6:28am UTC". Instagram. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
- Andreeva, Nellie (October 26, 2017). "Stana Katic Poised To Star In Thriller Drama Series 'Absentia' For Sony's AXN". Deadline. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
- "Strong Emotions and Shocking Scenes in the First Episode of Absentia". Stana Katic Central. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
- Vivarelli, Nick (May 9, 2017). "Monte Carlo TV Fest to Open With Sony's 'Absentia'". Variety. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
- Berkshire, Geoff (May 23, 2017). "L.A. Screenings: What Seven Major Studios Have on Tap". Variety. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- "Stana Katic series Absentia to air on Showcase in Canada". Retrieved December 8, 2014.
- Andreeva, Nellie (November 15, 2017). "Stana Katic's Thriller Drama Series 'Absentia' Picked Up By Amazon". Deadline. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
- "Thrillerserien Absentia kommer på Viaplay - Serienytt". 6 November 2017.
- ""Absentia" med Stana Katic på Viaplay - då är det premiär". bloggar.expressen.se.
- "Absentia - ny thrillerserie på Viaplay - Se det på Viaplay".
- "Absentia: Season 1 (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
- "Absentia: Season 1". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved May 8, 2019.
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