Absentia discussion: The grave of Stana Katic’s Emily Byrne
In the new teaser below, as posted by the prolific folks over at the show’s official Twitter account, you can see Patrick Heusinger’s character of Nick Durand standing above her grave. The gravestone gives you a little bit of information about her character, beginning with that she was born in December 1980 only to die in March 2011. Meanwhile, the inscription reads “LOVING WIFE, MOTHER SISTER AND DAUGHTER.” It’s simple, but often many gravestone inscriptions are.
There are two subtle things about this stone that are a surprise on a certain level.
1. Emily either has no middle name, or it was decided somewhere that it not be included, either it be by Nick or in a will.
2. There is no specific birthday or date of death given beyond the month. Maybe a part of this is due to the fact that Nick doesn’t know the specific date she died because her body was never found. It may have felt strange to include a birthday but no date of death, so there is a little more of a state of symmetry present here.
When the camera is focused on the gravestone, it appears almost as though there are two bodies standing above it. Nick is seen, but the other person is not. It’s possible that this is a tree or something else inanimate, but it’s a little detail worth pointing out. Based on the position Nick is standing, it looks as though he is there with someone else. At the three-minute mark, you see something that could either be another shoulder or a gravestone in the background.
The question of time
When is Nick visiting Emily’s grave? This is mostly important in informing us as a viewer how close of an attachment he still has to her, and how he could feel after he learns that she is really still alive. Even if he has remarried in the present, it does still make sense that he would visit her grave on occasion — Emily was a big part of her life, and almost anyone would understand wanting to occasionally pay respects. If he was still visiting her every day for extended periods of time, however, that could be seen as more of an indicator that he is potentially still stuck within that time.
Further Absentia coverage
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