I love dark and moody detective thrillers. Throw a psychological (or even supernatural) bend in there, and I’m in. I’ve devoured prestige series like True Detective, Mindhunter, The Fall, and Broadchurch, to name a few, and I actively seek them out. But every so often, Netflix recommends something so generic you almost scroll right past it.
That’s exactly what I did with Absentia, a gritty crime drama with a vaguely familiar face on its thumbnail that had just enough intrigue to get me to click. Fast-forward a few nights, and my wife and I have surprisingly ripped through two seasons. As it turns out, Absentia isn’t new at all, though. The Prime Video original ran for three seasons from 2017 to 2020 before being canceled, and has been enjoying a rejuvenation on Netflix recently. If you’re looking for a highly-bingable, slightly twisted suspense mystery, read on.
What is Absentia all about?
If you ever watched the popular ABC cop-romance drama Castle, then you’re probably familiar with Stana Katic, who costarred with Nathan Fillion in the series as Kate Beckett, a NYPD detective with a big crush on Fillion’s Castle. A far cry from Kate Beckett, in Absentia, Katic plays Emily Byrne, a Boston FBI agent who vanishes while on the hunt for a brutal serial killer and is presumed dead. Six years later, however, Emily is found alive in an abandoned cabin in the woods after suffering brutal abuse at the hands of an unknown captor. To make matters worse, her only memories of the missing years come in the form of nightmares and flashbacks, and those responsible are still at large.
If that’s not enough to deal with, it turns out being “dead” for six years can have serious effects on your personal life. Emily’s husband Nick (Patrick Heusinger), who’s also an FBI agent, has remarried, their son Flynn (Patrick McAuley) doesn’t know who she is, and he now calls his stepmom Alice (Cara Theobold) “mom.” That’s just the setup of Absentia, which just gets deeper and darker from there.
As Emily rebuilds her life and pieces her memory back together to help the FBI understand what happened, the mysterious and conspiratorial details of her disappearance unravel. But suddenly, a new murder appears that seems to have been done by the killer who took her. The FBI, and even Nick, turn on her as she becomes a suspect and must clear her name by getting to the bottom of her abduction.
And that’s just season one. Over its 30 episodes and three seasons, Absentia evolves into a blend of detective show, psychological thriller, and intense family drama.
From canceled Prime original to the Netflix Top 10
Part of the fun of Absentia is feeling like you’re in on a secret stash of some sort, as new life is being breathed into something long buried. The show premiered internationally in 2017, and after three seasons and mixed critical reviews, it was canceled in 2020 before a fourth season could be ordered. I’ve been a Prime Video subscriber for more than a decade, but somehow I’m not surprised it never crossed my algorithm.
But detective and crime shows are hot, and with Emmy-bait series like Apple TV’s Slow Horses and HBO Max’s Mare of Easttown drawing loads of fans, and Netflix’s own hits like Mindhunter and The Sinner scoring, it’s not too surprising that Netflix threw Absentia a lifeline. Licensing all three seasons, the show started streaming in mid-November, and it seems to have worked out. Absentia quickly surged into the Netflix Top 10, peaking at No. 2 globally and landing on the home screen, which is where I found it.
Maybe part of its success has to do with it being a binge show now, as opposed to its weekly cadence—I’m not sure I’d have stuck with it if that was the case. This gives the show, which can be a bit of a slow burn, a more instant and satisfying payoff. There’s no cliffhanger anxiety, no renewal ambiguity, and from what I’ve read (no spoilers), it has a satisfying conclusion.
Why you should watch Absentia
There are so many things aboutAbsentiathat set it apart from other detective shows, making it a unique and entertaining watch. Fine, on paper, it has a few eye-rolling tropes like amnesia, killers with masks, FBI politics, and family drama (I’m not a big fan of kids in TV shows in general), but somehowAbsentiadoes a good job at blending it all together.
Emily’s psychological trauma and the details surrounding her captivity are some of the show’s strongest driving forces. She’s not just the detective, she’s also the mystery, and this is infinitely more interesting than another hotshot or brooding cop that gets to the bottom of the crime. Its “gone for six years” element throws a unique personal drama element in that I don’t think I have seen before. There are love interests in a lot of police procedural shows, but this one’s way more of a mind job.
It should also be said that Katic’s performance is excellent. The horrific trauma Emily is dealing with is played with realism and authenticity, and as far as action scenes go, the woman can fight. If you’re into rabbit-hole detective shows like The Sinner, True Detective, The Fall, or even HBO’s recent hit Task—ones with damaged, complicated leads who just keep unraveling like a spool of yarn, then Absentia is well worth adding to your watchlist. Its bingeable episodes give you the freedom to keep clicking “Next Episode” until your questions are answered to your satisfaction, which I am certain you will find.
Absentia
- Release Date
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2017 – 2020-00-00
- Directors
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Oded Ruskin, Kasia Adamik, Greg Zglinski, Adam Sanderson
- Writers
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Gaia, Violo, Matt Cirulnick
If your Netflix recommendations have gotten a little stale lately, don’t sleep on this once-canceled gem just because it was dead and buried for five years. Absentia is twisty, dark, and thrilling, and with a complete run of three seasons, don’t be surprised if you get as hooked as I have.
- Subscription with ads
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Yes, $8/month
- Simultaneous streams
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Two or four
Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.
