Why Absentia should earn Stana Katic Emmy consideration
We’ll admit that from the moment this show was first announced, it was easy to have an almost-immediate proclivity to it. We appreciated Stana Katic’s work on Castle over the years, and to go along with that, mysteries are one of our favorite television genres. We live in a world that demands such certainty, where everyone either has an answer or demands one. If they don’t get one, they just craft an answer in their mind that suits their desired narrative (often, unfortunately so). Yet, television offers up a medium in which it’s okay to guess and not have all of the answers. A part of what makes the genre so fun is the discussion, the debate, and the attempt to piece together the clues and figure out if you are right in the end.
If you love a good mystery, we’re pleased to inform you that you will adore Absentia. It’s haunting, twisted, dramatic, and it does legitimately keep the hairs of your brain (do brains have hairs?) standing on end.
Beyond that, it also features the best Stana Katic performance we’ve ever seen. You knew that she was great from Castle (provided you watched it), but there are a few episodes and scenes that will blow you away. She truly gives an Emmy-worthy performance, and this should be the icing on the cake of all of the different reasons you give this show a shot. Her character, Emily Byrne, enters the picture as a tragic figure — she was kidnapped years before and while captive and presumed dead, everyone she loved eventually moved forward with their lives. She returns to find a life that is broken and severed, and she struggles to find a place within it. Beyond that, she also find herself subject to a serious of other terrible circumstances that make her question, even after her imprisonment, whether or not she has a future on the outside world.
Katic taps into every emotion possible and you feel Emily’s pain and suffering; yet, there is also an air of ambiguity about the character. There are questions of trust and debates as to whether or not her motives align with what you think they would be. She’s compelling, heartbreaking, and yet somehow terrifying all at once.
There are certainly questions as to whether Absentia would be submitted as either a Drama or Limited Series, but there will be opportunities to visit this discussion down the road. For now, know this: While Katic’s performance may not be the only selling point of Absentia, this is going to be one of the things you will be talking about for weeks after you finish binge-watching the season.
Related – Have you seen Katic’s Facebook Live session?
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