Absentia finale review: When the water stops dripping
Suffice it to say, the Amazon series certainly did that. (Warning: There are some major spoilers coming up. Don’t read until you’ve watched the entire season.)
In the finale, it was revealed that the killer was none other than Logan Brandt, a character otherwise known to us as Laurie Colson. This is probably a twist we should have seen coming but didn’t: The killer was someone who changed and hid their entire identity — they could navigate around completely free and without any suspicion at all. This is what Laurie did, as we interacted with the character throughout the season. She offered to help Jack Byrne, and we wonder if at a certain point she wanted Emily to end up back in her prison. She realized that all of the experiments that Emily underwent as a child just didn’t work. She wouldn’t kill Alice or anyone else for the mere sport of it. With that, she had to try and force her to do the deed.
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Perhaps the most gut-wrenching moment of the entire finale was when Laurie tried to make Emily kill Alice in order to save Flynn. Were it not for Nick rushing in at the right time, she probably would have done it. He helped the entire family escape, though not before threatening Emily’s life a good hundred times thinking that she was still the killer. Given how he found her, we get it.
The showdown eventually went outside and it was, to be frank, a bloodbath. Laurie did die at Emily’s hand, so that does make one character in which she actually killed. Yet, that was ruled self-defense in the end and Emily was declared a free woman. For the first time all season, we could finally catch a deep breath and celebrate.
The party
The final scene of the Absentia finale was an interesting one. We went to Flynn’s first birthday party, a time in which everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. Emily seemed to be content with Nick having his new life and wasn’t trying to get in the way of that; yet, she also had her own relationship with Flynn. Was Tommy trying to hit on Emily while she was explaining that she wanted to go back to the FBI in due time? Maybe.
Let’s not waste any more time here, since we have to talk about that final scene. The dishwasher acts up and in the process of that, Emily starts to feel her brain slip back into the trauma. Then, she has a vision of herself seemingly drowning someone else. Was she more impacted by the “doctor’s” training than she thought? Did the experiments work, or was she acting out of pure malice? The implication, or at least the one we take from this, is that she may have been brainwashed on such a level to do that act. We don’t hold Emily entirely culpable since we don’t think she was of her own mind; yet, this tells Emily that she is still capable of this on some level, and that is a burden she must carry with her in the future. That terrifying pain still lives within her brain anytime the water starts to flow.
CarterMatt Verdict
We would make an argument that the finale was too short, but we’d prefer something less than 40 minutes and tight than another American Horror Story where the episodes are over an hour long every time and stuffed with fluff. This was a very strong finale with a twist ending that made at least sense for the show’s world. Remember, though, this really wasn’t just about the end — it was the twisted path that got us there.
What did you think about the Absentia finale and everything that we had a chance to see over the course of it? Share now in the comments! Also, you can like CarterMatt on Facebook in the event you want some other news on Absentia right away. (Photo: Sony.)