Absentia discussion: The past, present for Stana Katic’s Emily Byrne

With every passing day, we are getting closer to the Absentia premiere date in some select countries. We are still waiting, alas, for more information to come out in regards to a U.S. premiere date. It’s the weekend, so we certainly don’t expect any news for the next day or two.

For the sake of this article, we thought it would be fun to juxtapose the past and the present for Stana Katic’s character of Emily Byrne. She’s the heart and soul of the series — mostly in that you see her heart in the time before her disappearance, and then her fractured soul after the fact when it’s clear that the life that she once knew no longer exists.

The first video below via the show’s official account gives you a small sense of her past, including the time that she was enjoying with her husband Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger) and son Flynn. This glimpse is representative of a happy family, and while gut-wrenching, it’s important for the show to include it. The producers/writers need you to understand what Emily lost in order to sympathize with her plight. If you are only seeing the character through the lens of the present, then there is a good chance that you are missing something and don’t fully understand some of her pain. You can see, even in these four seconds, that this family was her world. It was the reason why she worked so hard — to protect them and give them a better life. For Nick, we’re pretty darn confident that he felt the same way.

Consider this a glimpse at the calm; for the remainder of the series, you’re likely going to get the storm.

Emily Byrne in the present

We bring you the next glimpse of the Emily character below after the fact via the show’s Twitter. Now, you can see her in the present, struggling to figure out what her next move is. The caption of “everyone has a breaking point” is pretty darn telling. You can see it in her face and in the way that she carries herself — this is a fundamentally different person. She doesn’t have that world anymore; Nick and Flynn still exist, but they don’t care for her or acknowledge her the same way. She’s a living ghost, and a reminder of a past that doesn’t quite exist anymore.

As Absentia progresses, one of the main focuses could be seeing what Emily’s touchstone becomes as she tries to piece together her past. If she doesn’t have her family, what does she have? Is there a way that she can get them back, or does she have to move forward without them? We feel like she should persevere, but it will not be an easy journey.

For more Absentia news…

Odds are, you know where to go at this point: The link here! We’re going to continue to have more updates all about the show in the days ahead. (Photo: Sony.)