Summary
Episode 10 ends a brilliant season 3 but it leaves the audience wanting more. Let’s hope they decide to make a new story out of Abenstia because Emily is a brilliant character.
This recap of Amazon original series Absentia season 3, episode 10, “Iterum Nata” contains spoilers.
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How does Absentia season 3, episode 10, “Iterum Nata” open?
Emily opens the files and asks Nick to put in the password. It’s full of chemical purchases and communications — Emily states they don’t have time and takes the files, concerned that the bioagent is out there. Interpol arrives and arrests them. There’s a lot at stake in the finale — Elliot was injecting the refugees with a virus for a reason.
Warm return
Emily returns home to her family for a warm reunion. Flynn asks Emily if it was hard to rescue his father and thanks her for bringing him back. Meanwhile, the FBI go through the files which will take weeks to unwrap.
Dawkins phones
Emily is in the basement looking at photos of Julianne — she’s still suspicious of her. Her father gives her Dawkins’ phone. She asks someone to get into the residual data of the phone. Emily’s endgame was always Julianne, especially after she ruthlessly killed Alice.
A big coincidence
Emily and Crown meet up. Crown believes he has missed something with Foster. They both look intently at each other and Crown says they have to play smart. On the news, Brigitte Kerlan, CEO of Border Outreach is discussing the refugee break out — this woman was at the party that Emily snuck into at Berlin so she rings Cal — “It can’t be a coincidence that a woman who is in charge of a non-profit for refugees is at the party with the same guy who is testing on refugees”. The plot is thickening, even in the finale.
Emily in Meridian files
Emily is alerted by an investigator that she’s in the Meridian file as part of Project Quill. She asks for someone else to be checked in the files. Cal asks Emily if she’d like to have a drink but she rain-checks him. She’s following Julianne. There’s always a feeling this could end ugly in “Iterum Nata”.
Who is Brigitte?
Emily meets the investigator again regarding the files to see if there’s a link to Brigitte Kerlan and Meridian; Brigitte and her husband own one of the largest pharmaceutical companies — there are wire transfers between Kerlan Pharmaceuticals and Meridian’s offshore shell accounts processed by Elliot. Kerlan is pretending to be a saint with Border Outreach but she was working with Elliot. The truth is going full circle in the finale as Emily peels away the layers.
Let me know
Cal heads over to Emily’s house and they head to the basement as he wants to see where she lives. He apologizes to her about the phone and texts between him and Julianne — he states he was trying to buy her time to keep her safe. Emily says she doesn’t need protection so he asks her, “What do you need?” and as he’s about to kiss her he says “Let me know” and walks out. Cal knows there is more between them — he was testing his chances in this scene.
Bring Brigitte in
Nick heads to Kerlan Pharmaceuticals and asks to speak to Brigitte at reception. Brigitte refuses to go downstairs. Nick asks Julianne to bring Brigitte in but she doesn’t want Emily involved. Nick and Cal insist she has to because she’s met Brigitte. Time seems to be running out for Julianne as information keeps surfacing.
The interview
Cal and Nick interview Brigitte and accuse her of using Border Outreach for masking illegal experiments. They show her the wire transfers which Julianne did not know about so she walks into the room and stops the interview. Julianne is furious about sharing evidence that wasn’t vetted by her and asks that they keep her in the loop. It’s plainly obvious that Julianne is fretting that she’s about to get exposed.
The family are a target
At the halfway point of Absentia season 3, episode 10, “Iterum Nata”, Emily joins Brigitte in the elevator and asks her lawyer to leave. Brigitte tells Emily she knew who she was at the party — “This could get ugly”. They both threaten each other. When Emily gets home, a photo of her and Flynn is stuck on the window. The family is the target, again.
Looks like Julianne is the mole
The man looking at Dawkins’ phones rings Emily and gives her an update on the residual call logs. There are unlisted calls to Europe from Boston. He gives Emily the number; Emily rings it as she’s spying on Julianne — her phone rings but she doesn’t answer. Crown says it isn’t enough evidence but then Emily shares the texts — Julianne told Elliot where Kai was hiding before she died. Crown states they now need to link Julianne to Kerlan Pharmaceuticals. It was obvious by the time we reached the finale but it’s still a good story arc that Julianne turned out to be the mole.
Faking deaths
Emily leaves the house and jumps into the car with her father. As they drive away, the house blows up with Nick and Flynn inside — this is a holy sh*t moment! But Nick and Flynn are not really dead — they faked their own deaths for eyewitness protection so Emily can finish her mission knowing her family is safe. Before they leave for good, Emily stares at Flynn’s face to remember it for as long as she can. Nick tells Emily it’s the right thing to do and he will keep Flynn safe — he looks ready to be a full-time father; emotional but proud of their decision. This is a rather emotional moment as the family has been through plenty since the first season.
Brigitte is arrested
Getting to the later phases of “Iterum Nata”, while Brigitte holds a board meeting, news spreads that her company was involved in illegal medical research in organ harvesting. The news states the source of the information was a hacker called Kai. It’s almost fitting that Kai gets her moment. The FBI found biological agents and Brigitte is arrested.
Tracking Julianne
Crown tracks Julianne trying to copy and delete files in the office. Emily tails her and back up is on the way. Julianne is now on the roof of a building (sound familiar?) as Emily follows. Julianne meets a man and hands over the data — he punches Julianne to the ground so Emily starts shooting. She manages to get the man on the floor and they wrestle. It then turns into a fight. Eventually, Emily hits the man in the balls with a metal tube, smashes him in the face, and then impales him with it. They had to finish the season with a shocking sequence of violence from Emily for good measure.
Visiting Julianne
Emily then grabs Julianne and screams at her. Julianne starts crying and Emily lets her go. A few days later, Emily meets Julianne in federal prison; Julianne asks Emily why she didn’t kill her on the rooftop. Emily is not sure and asks Julianne why she killed Alice. Julianne talks of how rich and powerful people need others to clean up their mess as the rest of us are disposable — “Alice was stupid, soft”. Emily figures out that Julianne wanted to live in a world like them, a world of privilege, but then she figured out she was disposable too.
Julianne wanted to be special but Emily reminds her about valuing human life. I think this scene shows how different the women are — Emily embraces morals, Julianne embraces power.
How does Absentia season 3, episode 10, “Iterum Nata” end?
As the episode draws nearer the end, Emily is working behind a bar. Cal visits her with a big smile on his face and asks for a drink. The pair flirt and Emily is glad that Cal visited. Cal senses she’s working undercover and she is — she’s tracking a “black market arms dealer”. Emily whispers in Cal’s ear and says “later you could –“. We’re guessing whatever she said was sexual. Emily takes a break and asks Cal “Do you feel like working together again?” before leaving him a drink and walking off. Cal looks under the drink coaster and there is a hotel room key. Episode 10 ends a brilliant season 3 but it leaves the audience wanting more. Let’s hope they decide to make a new story out of Abenstia because Emily is a brilliant character.
