Absentia Season 1 Episode 6 Review: Nobody’s Innocent
Christine Orlando
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I didn't like Jack Byrne long before Absentia Season 1 Episode 6.
He bugged me when he was quick to take the bed and allow his sister, who just left the hospital, to sleep on the couch on Absentia Season 1 Episode 1.
I recall thinking, what kind of man, brother, heck, what kind of person does that?
Then Jack got drunk and told Emily all the reasons why his life was better without her in it, and I despised him for it.
Add to that the torture porn videos he has hidden on his computer and Jack falls pretty far down my list of redeemable human beings.
But could he have really been involved in abducting and torturing his own sister?
If he's not, the coincidences are overwhelming.
The guy calls the women in those videos, and the stripper he has sex with, by the names of flowers. He had a history of unexplained absences during the years of Emily's disappearance, and he stopped and then started seeing Violet coinciding with Emily's disappearance and return.
It's circumstantial, but it's also darn suspicious.
Even if Jack's not involved, I'm glad he's giving the police another suspect to consider because if they're certain the only suspect is Emily, then they'll only look for evidence to convict her.
Let's face it, Emily needs all the breaks she can get.
But this time around, other than Jack and his secret water porn and flower fetish, it was Alice who surprised me the most.
My feelings for Alice swing like a pendulum.
First I was angry that she'd move to her sister's, and take Flynn with her, and not plan to tell Nick face to face. I know she has reason to be angry with him, but having him come home to find his wife and son gone seemed downright mean given all he's dealing with.
Then I began to see things from Alice's point of view as she explained in this Absentia quote...
Our whole life together, it's just a consolation, isn't it? Admit it, I'm only in the picture because she left it. This, us, this was never your choice, not your first choice. This is you settling and I can't be that.
Alice
It must be a horrible thing to feel like someone's second choice, especially with your own husband.
Even worse when you're carrying his baby.
I'm glad Alice told him about the pregnancy. As bad as the timing is, and as rocky as their marriage may be right now, Jack as the right to know.
His reaction to the news was somewhat predictable...
Nick: I thought my past was behind us, and then it came back out of no where, but this is what I want now. This is my life. You and me and our children. I'm done with the past, I swear to you.
Alice: I think you want to be, but you won’t be. Not until there's closure. Find her, Nick. End this and then we’ll talk.
He swears he wants Alice, but I have to wonder if he'd sound so convincing if he didn't believe that Emily was a murderer.
If Emily is proven innocent, will his feelings change once again?
At that point I couldn't blame Alice one bit for leaving him to this investigation and giving them some space.
No one should have to feel like the person they love's consolation prize.
Back to Emily...
That truck driver reacted exactly how I had hoped. Having him give her a ride to Boston was both plausible, and helped jump the story forward a bit, for which I was grateful; I didn't want to have to watch Emily try to board another bus.
I never expected her trip to the strip club to turn into a shoot out. That's certainly going to add to the body count the authorities are attributing to Emily, and this time they really do belong to her.
When she got away, bleeding heavily from a gun shot wound, I couldn't figure out where she'd go or who'd she call.
If she called Nick, he would definitely turn her in, which might be her only way of staying alive at this point.
I never expected her to call Jack, but it made sense.
Emily said she'd rather die trying to find answers than let her son believe she' a murderer, and she definitely needs some answers from Jack.
And with his medical experience he is the one person who may actually be able to save her life.
But will he? Even if he's not involved in abducting her, he certainly resents Emily, even hates her.
Plus, he's not the most stable individual.
And if not Jack, then who would have had a reason to hold Emily and torture her for six years?
And who is the serial killer who began stockpiling bodies in Nottingham Park so many years ago?
I have no idea where all of this is leading, but please don't let it be Emily! I don't think I'd take that type of twist very well.
Check back in for my next review of Absential Season 1 Episode 7, and continue to binge watch Absentia online with me here at TV Fanatic.
C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.
