Holy heck! After Absentia Season 1 Episode 8 I'm left thinking that this series may be one of the most intense thrillers I've ever seen on the small screen. 

Because now it's not just Emily's life on the line, but Flynn and Alice's too. 

And Nick's life as well, I suppose, depending where that gun shot hit him. 

I was a little surprised at Maura's vehemence that Emily was behind the abduction, but then again, all that Maura knows about Emily comes from Alice, and Alice certainly hasn't been Emily's biggest fan. 

I get Maura believing the worst, but it was Nick falling down that same rabbit hole that was disturbing. 

He was married to Emily. They had a child together. He once told her that he trusted her because he knew her. 

But know he believes she's a serial killer who kidnaped her own child and his step-mother. 

I realize that Nick is desperate. He's been through hell and he's probably just as exhausted as Emily, but it astounds me that he's unwilling to look at other possibilities. 

The best scene came with Warren telling Nick off in this Absentia quote...

Jack: You need to pick a side, Warren. You need to pick a side. Your daughter's or your grandson's.
Warren: You were never good enough for her. She ran rings around you as an agent, she's running rings around you now, and when she's cleared her name and caught this killer she'll have made you and the whole damn bureau look like the morons you are.

• Permalink: You were never good enough for her. She ran rings around you as an agent, she's running rings...

In the first few episodes of the series, I was rooting for a Nick and Emily reunion. Now I don't see how that can ever happen. 

Of course in Absentia Season 1 Episode 6 I thought that Jack was irredeemable, so I suppose that anything is possible.

But Nick has publicly accused Emily of stealing Flynn, and being guilty of multiple murders. I just don't see how they come back from that. 

And then, of course, there's the bullet Emily just put in Nick. I can't imagine he'll get over that any time soon.

Emily's choices were limited in that moment. Either give herself up and attempt to convince the FBI that someone else had her son, or shoot Nick and make a run for it to try and solve this case herself. 

Considering what a bang up job the Feds have done so far, I couldn't blame her for taking option B. 

Jack and Warren have been more help figuring out the truth than law enforcement, and I was relieved to hear Warren and Jack have an honest conversation about their past, the difficult feelings surrounding Emily's adoption and the mistakes that were made.

That was obviously a conversation that was long over due. 

I'm also left wondering if Laurie Colson, the reporter who bailed out Jack, will turn up again in the near future...

If I gambled and lost I can live with that, but I'm betting that you want someone to tell her side.

Laurie

• Permalink: If I gambled and lost I can live with that, but I'm betting that you want someone to tell her...

It's difficult to know who to trust, but Emily could really use someone who is willing to tell her side of the story. 

Perhaps with Jack's help, Laurie Colson could be that person.

Goodness knows they could use someone on Emily's side, considering everyone from the FBI to the Boston PD, to her own husband and neighborhood kids on the street all believe the worst of Emily. 

And then there's Alice and Flynn.

That basement, or whatever they were being held in, was driving me crazy because it was so darn dark I could barely make out what was happening. I hate that!

When Alice immediately had her and Flynn drink the water and eat the moldy bread I know it was a bad idea. 

Apparently Alice hasn't watched enough crime shows and movies to realize that captors are known to drug the food and water to keep their abductees compliant. 

That's what made it so easy to separate Flynn from Alice. 

Talk about terrifying. That kid is going to have nightmares for the rest of his life, but he'll always know he was able to protect Alice.

Which means Alice's nightmares will probably be far worse, because she was unable to protect him. 

When Flynn and Alice get out of this, and I have to believe they will or I will be woefully disappointed, Flynn and Emily will have an entirely new yet horrifying bond. 

Although I do wonder if Alice will still blame Emily for the hell they've all been through, even though she isn't behind it.

But Emily's foray into the mental institution didn't give her much more to go on. We know that their was a subject B, but we still don't know who that person is, and if they are holding Alice and Flynn. 

I don't know where this investigation takes Emily next, but I can't wait to figure it out. 

So on to Absentia Season 1 Episode 9, as we continue to binge watch Absentia online here at TV Fanatic!

C. Orlando was a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.