Absentia (TV Series) Comeback (2017) User Reviews

A good solid start to a long series.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 8 September 2020]

FBI agent Emily Byrne has been gone five years, it is assumed she was the victim of a killer, over that time things have moved on, including her husband and young son, one night her husband gets a call to say Emily is alive.

It's a very, very interesting premise, I quite liked this first episode. The characters are pretty good, it's just such an interesting setup, what will the impact be of her suddenly arriving out of the blue, the impact on her loved ones will surely be incalculable.

A very great start, enough drama to stop it feeling too sentimental or melodramatic.

I am a little out off by the length of each series, why can't some of these shows just be six episodes long?

Nice to see Brit Ralph Ineson in such a role, that is one terrific voice he has.

I'll stick with it, 7/10.

Let's Meet the Bigamist

[lavatch · 9/10 · 14 June 2019]

There is an old legality that stipulated that unless the body of a missing man were recovered, the wife could not remarry. This meant that she would live in perpetuity as a widow. In the opening episode of "Absentia," it is the husband whose wife has disappeared and no body was ever discovered. Emily has a headstone in the cemetery and is visited annually her husband Nick and their little boy Flynn. But Nick has also casually and remarried. Now, six years later, Emily miraculous turns up in a shark tank! The opening program might best be titled "Let's Meet the Bigamist."

There is a gritty realism to the filming style of "Absentia." The work has the look of a feature film, as opposed to a television series. The variety of sets and locations is impressive. Moreover, the performances of a cast of relatively unknown actors is terrific.

One has to feel compassion for the new wife, Alice (with a pronounced British accent), who has married the FBI man Nick Durand. But there is an equally profound empathy for Emily, who underwent a grueling six years in captivity and now returns home to a son who does not recognize her and a husband who has remarried.

Emily shacks up with her brother, a bookish, former M.D., who lost his license due to alcoholism after the traumatic disappearance of his sister. All of the characters have their issues stemming from the cold case in which they were the victims.

Another intriguing character is the apparently diabolical Conrad Harlow, the man convicted of the murder of Emily. Her reappearance now changes Harlow's world for he may only be guilty of abduction. The finger is pointed at Semerov, a shady figure involved in human trafficking. Emily's memory has been jogged to recall a group of flowers, whose names stand for the women Semerov has abducted.

It is at this point that the plot thickens!

Semerov's body has been discovered floating in a river, and the DNA underneath his fingernails is that of Emily herself! The filmmakers have succeeded in packing a tremendous amount a narrative into a forty-eight-minute opening episode. For that effort, the program merits a 9.

Episode 1

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 28 September 2017]

This was a good start to the show. It sort of had a Canadian drama feel to it, closely resembling Bellevue from earlier this year, albeit a bit stronger in all facets.

This show needs to get dark though. If it turns into another procedural where Emily and Nick go through the typical process of tracking a killer then viewers will be bored by episode five.

If it goes the more True Detective route, with a bit of psychological thriller thrown in then maybe this could end up being something special.

Strong Start, Not in Love With The Characters

[LorenBieg · 6/10 · 16 February 2018]

My +1 doesn't normally get into this type of story but is addicted to Absentia. Her statement to me was "I had to know wtf happened!" Comeback introduces us to Emily Byrne, a federal agent who has been presumed dead for 6 years, then returns to find her husband has remarried, her son barely remembers her and calls dad's new wife "mom", her memory is spotty, and a lot of unanswered questions about her disappearance, where she has been, and who was responsible for it. If you've seen Blindspot you will note similarities, though I found the tattoo/conspiracy angle in that series more interesting.

I love and hate this kind of story, where the tension is super high and the characters are 1) so stressed out they repeatedly do stupid things that incriminate themselves and 2) more details are revealed that seem to spread blame across an ever increasing web of those involved 3) many characters are who are not who they appear to be. At the middle of all of it is Nick, Emily's former husband who has *understandably* moved on after six years, but who is continuously freaking out, withholding information from his new wife (who's great) and putting up with Emily's constant "moved-on" shaming. He comes off to me as incompetent and weak. Emily is competent and one step ahead of everyone in clearing herself, but I didn't feel that much sympathy for her.

So from me, high marks for a tightly written script, strong acting, and an appropriately dark and intense tone. But, in the end I was watching to find the answer to the mystery, not because I cared that much about the characters or what happened to them, cuz I honestly didn't, for which I take marks away. I stayed engaged in this one the way I stay engaged with a season of 24, except that I actually root for Jack Bauer. Sadly, Absentia really didn't put me in the cheering sectoin for any of it's characters.

Ok start

[Lythas_85 · 6/10 · 28 July 2020]

It was more interesting than most shows I've started recently.. but of course, since it's a woman who got taken, I knew she'd just say it bluntly to the guy about his moving on... back in The Dead Zone, the main character dude who was in a coma never said a word about it

Interesting...

[jay-x-91512 · 5/10 · 31 May 2019]

Honestly I'm only half way through the series and the storyline it'self is really interesting but be prepared to be very annoyed at all main characters except Emily .It's honestly so jarring that the characters are being so fickle about the situations... the character of Nick is underwhelming and you kind of wonder what kind of man he is .. he knew his wife longer than she was missing but yet his actions show as if she was a random one night stand .. Hopefully it gets better once Emily can prove her innocence & hopefully the character of Alice can disappear I find her annoying rude and disrespectful.

Interesting, but falls short

[nfire-29741 · 5/10 · 14 September 2019]

Interesting plot, but doesn't keep my interest. All the subplots become lame. How many times do you have to think "That would never happen like that" before you get bored. Some of the storyline is plain dumb. Acting is about par for most actors.