Absentia Season 3 Ending Explained: Are Nick and Flynn Dead?

In ‘Absentia,’ Emily Byrne has had to frequently deal with foundational changes to her life. Season 3 finds her in a much similar place. Her future career as an FBI Agent is up in the air, and her personal life is on a path of constant evolution. In overseeing her role as Flynn’s co-parent, she has moved in with Nick Durand, her ex-husband, with whom he now shares a largely platonic dynamic. Even so, his abrupt disappearance in connection with an investigation revolving around an underground organ harvesting ring shakes up her life in drastic ways. As a result, without any badge or jurisdiction, Emily finds herself jumping headfirst into Nick’s rescue. This leads her to uncover a large international criminal syndicate with an evil plot at its forefront. Thus, before she knows it, a self-sanctioned rescue mission turns into something bigger than anyone ever expected. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Absentia Season 3 Recap

In the aftermath of Alice’s death, Emily, Nick, and Flynn are trying to settle into a new life, with their parents attempting to navigate a relationship as just friends and co-parents. While the mother is backed into taking a break from her professional life as an FBI Agent, Nick continues working on cases. As a result, one night, a strange young woman, Nick’s covert source in his latest case, shows up outside the duo’s house with some pressing information. Although Emily remains worried about how this might put their son’s life at risk, she agrees to tag along with her ex-husband as he leaves to check out the source’s intel. As a result, the Agent discovers the existence of an underground organ harvesting ring operating out of Boston. Soon afterward, the source calls for another meeting with Nick. As it turns out, her cover has been blown, and the organization is now out for her blood.

Simultaneously, some men also go after Nick and Emily. Although Cal manages to find Emily in the nick of time to ensure she only sustains a few near-fatal injuries from the encounter, her ex-husband isn’t so lucky, as he ends up abducted. In the aftermath, Emily finds herself restless, unable to sit still without looking for her son’s missing father. Connecting a few dots, she manages to track down Nick’s source, Kai. Although the latter is reluctant to trust the former Agent, she agrees to give her some information once the other woman offers her relative safety from the hired hands on her tail. This helps Emily track down one of her attackers and extract information from him about Meridian, the overarching European criminal organization behind the underground ring. Furthermore, thanks to Cal, who has some ambiguous past with the syndicate, she also learns about Dawkins, the “problem solver” assigned to Nick’s case.

Initially, Emily tries to trick Dawkins by luring him into a trap with Kai’s stolen Meridian files, the thing that the organization is truly after. However, someone, likely from the FBI, manages to tip him off about the entire plan, which ultimately leads to Kai’s death. With her options rapidly closing, the ex-agent decides to make a risky play. She strikes up an actual deal with Dawkins to exchange the files in exchange for tagging along back to the facility where Nick is being detained and tortured. However, as it turns out, she has pulled some overseas strings to pull off a fake kidnapping scheme to get away from the fixer once they arrive in Berlin. Meanwhile, Cal manages to convince Julianne to let him travel to Berlin on an off-the-books case. From there, it doesn’t take long for the duo to team up in their search for Nick. Simultaneously, Crown conducts a private investigation into his department to figure out who the mole is.

Back in Berlin, Emily and Cal break into the prison facility where Nick was held captive. However, by the time they arrive, the people in charge have already mostly emptied out the place. Still, some action-filled snooping around the place gives them an idea about where the Agent might be. Yet, by then, Emily begins to doubt her ally, compelling her to sever ties with him. Eventually, she finds her ex-husband, who was on his way back to a camp after managing to stage a brief, successful escape. Nonetheless, despite his beaten and bruised state, he isn’t prepared to go back home just yet. Instead, he wants to charge into the exploitative refugee camp, which is currently being used in the covert Jericho project, and rescue the people within. This leads to more action and bloodshed. Even so, once Emily destroys the facility’s head, Elliot, a different fight begins—one that targets the heavy-pocketed individuals and traitors behind the entire thing.

Absentia Season 3 Ending: Are Nick and Flynn Dead?

Once Emily brings Nick back home, things begin to return to a level of normalcy. During the parents’ overseas adventures, Flynn had to retreat into the countryside with his grandpa, Warren, for his own safety. Even so, when Elliot attempts to torture Emily to get his hands on Kai’s files, he sends Dawkins after the kid to gain some leverage. This puts Flynn, Warren, and Jack in a precarious situation where they find themselves facing off against a trained killer. Still, the kid manages to hold his own against the fixer using his novice archery skills and sharp wit. Nonetheless, the incident proves one thing: Emily and Nick’s dangerous career is bound to put their son’s life at risk again and again. Worse yet, their current investigation into Meridian promises to gain them even more powerful and influential enemies.

This is because in the aftermath of Berlin, Emily begins to put some pieces together. During her international mission, she had infiltrated a charity event, where she first ran into Elliot. At the same party, she also crossed paths with Brigitte, the owner of the Border Outreach, a charity for refugees. Therefore, when she sees the woman again on the news, she realizes it’s incredibly likely that the entrepreneur and her charity are connected to Elliot and the Jericho program in some way or another. From there, all it takes is a brush through of the Meridian files to find a connection between Kerlan Pharma, Brigitte’s pharmaceutical company, and Elliot. In the beginning, Nick attempts to go through the proper channels to investigate the businesswoman. However, it becomes evident that she would bury them in paperwork and courtroom rounds before allowing the case to progress any further.

As such, their only plan of action remains to go after Brigitte on the offensive. Nonetheless, they can’t do that without directly putting themselves and their family in the line of fire. Ultimately, a sacrifice has to be made. For the same reason, Nick and Flynn fake their deaths in a huge house fire. As a result, the incident and the ensuing funeral attract media attention, cementing their deaths in the minds of the public. This allows Emily to go through with her plan to take down Brigitte without having to fear for her son’s life. In turn, although Nick has to sacrifice his professional life as an FBI Agent, he’s glad to take on the mantle of a father full-time, keeping his son safe and sound.

Who is the Mole?

Throughout season 3, Emily and her allies worry about a possible mole in the FBI department. On multiple occasions, Meridian seems to hold highly classified intel that can only be explained away by an inside source. It’s the same reason that the former Agent quits her job and refuses to play by the Bureau’s rules in her quest to find Nick. Furthermore, this also causes a perpetual paranoia, which drives a wedge between her and Cal. Meanwhile, back in Boston, Crown’s secret internal investigation into the matter results in the death of his close ally and new Agent, Thompson. Shortly after this death, he and Julianne manage to zero in on Foster Webb as the most likely suspect. In fact, after they manage to find a financial paper trail connecting the higher Agent to possible instances of bribery, they stage a confrontation. Unfortunately, once in his hotel room, they only find Webb hanging from his room’s ceiling. The suicide and the files found in his possession cement his identity as the mole.

Nonetheless, Crown remains distrustful of the entire debacle. Therefore, when Emily shares his suspicions, it leads the duo to conduct their own private investigation. Fortunately for them, Dawkins’ cellphone, which he left behind at Warren’s safehouse, comes in handy for this very investigation. Although the call logs have been erased from the device, the ex-agent knows exactly who to go to salvage any and all possible evidence. Eventually, the call logs reveal that Dawkins’ ally is in Boston. Afterward, they also catch Julianne attempting to copy and delete the Meridian files from the FBI’s database. Consequently, this gives them enough evidence to implicate the Agent. In the end, Emily finds herself in a rooftop confrontation with Julianne and Jericho, the man behind the project. Although she kills the latter, she decides to spare Julianne’s life, instead preferring for the traitorous Agent to live out her life in prison for her crimes.

What Does Emily do With Kai’s Files? What Happens to Brigitte?

Kai’s files remain at the center of this season’s narrative. It’s the reason why Nick was targeted in the first place, since Jericho believed he would know the files’ location as well as the passcode needed to access them. Nonetheless, the Agent refuses to give up the crucial information even in the face of endless physical and psychological torture. The files contain highly sensitive information that the Meridian organization has been using to its advantage for years. This includes everything from their own dirty laundry to blackmail material on powerful political and social leaders from around the world. Brigitte’s connection to the Jericho case is a combination of both.

Brigitte is the owner of a refugee charity organization, Border Outreach. On the other hand, Jericho and his experiment involve creating a hazardous viral bioagent and its cure. By creating both the disease and its exclusive cure, Meridian intends to rake in some big money. By the looks of it, Brigitte is in on the entire charade. Project Jericho routinely abducts refugees to use them in a torturous round of human testing to successfully create their bioagents. As such, it becomes evident that Border Outreach is supplying the criminal organization with refugees for their human experimentation. In the end, Emily realizes it would be useless to go after the businesswoman through the proper legal channels since she has the money and influence to squash any such attempts. For the same reason, she decides to leak all of Kai’s Meridian files to the public, airing out Brigitte’s true nature and the receipts for it. Thus, in the face of unshakable evidence, the authorities have no choice but to arrest the entrepreneur.

Do Emily and Cal End Up Together?

Emily and Cal’s relationship has been charged with a romantic and sexual undercurrent for some time now. However, in season 3, the duo finally act upon the attraction between them in the aftermath of a particularly violent altercation with their enemies. Initially, after hooking up on the train, things remain normal between the pair. There’s a looming potential for their relationship to grow into something more. However, they’re both focused on the mission at hand, happy to leave any conversations about their dynamic for the future. Yet, around the same time, Emily begins to grow suspicious of her ally. Cal has a past with Meridian that he never told her, or anyone else, about. Therefore, she’s worried that he’s the mole in the Bureau they have been looking for this entire time.

Eventually, the thing that breaks the camel’s back is Cal’s connection to Julianne. Ever since Alice’s death, Emily has remained suspicious of the Agent in Charge. Therefore, Cal invites her mistrust by keeping the fact that he’s in contact with Julianne from her. This leads the duo to momentarily diverge paths. By the end of the mission in Berlin, Emily manages to forgive him for his secrets. Even so, things are bound to be complicated between them until the ex-agent can figure out what exactly she wants from the other man. The duo’s relationship remains ambiguous until the end. Nevertheless, six months after the end of the Meridian case, the two meet again. Emily is now working as a spy, working on busting an underground arms dealer. The conversation between her and Cal, wherein she slips him her hotel room key, makes it obvious that she’s the one who invited him to meet up again. Thus, while the couple’s relationship seems to remain new and unlabeled, it’s evident that the two are ready to give their romance a fighting chance.