Absentia

- Season 3

(2020)

Emily is serving out the final days of her FBI suspension while struggling to come to terms with the consequences of her actions from the last two seasons. Hyper-vigilant and distrusting of others, Emily sees threats everywhere and takes a closer look at everyone.

Following the deadly events, Emily must race against time to find and save Nick, with the help of his mysterious informant, Kai. Upon tracking his location, Emily realizes there is a more complex conspiracy afoot and is left to grapple with the possibility that Nick has been killed.

The FBI identifies a prime suspect in Nick's abduction - Colin Dawkins - but they can't find him. Meanwhile, Emily does her best to protect Kai; and the two of them work together on a plan to trap Dawkins and locate Nick.

Emily's demand for the FBI to go after Nick is met with resistance, which leads her to set in motion a risky plan that puts her face-to-face with the one man who can lead her to Nick. Meanwhile somewhere in Europe, Nick is being drugged and psychologically tortured, revealing his buried guilt and his insecurities as an FBI agent, a husband, and as a father.

Emily flies with Dawkins to Berlin to trade the stolen files for Nick, without telling Dawkins that she doesn't have the encryption key. She connects with an old friend from Quantico to get a line on Meridian, Nick's captors. Meanwhile Nick, under the influence of psychotropic drugs and his own feelings of guilt, sees Alice. Back at the FBI, Crown is convinced that there's a mole, so he begins an investigation of his own. And Cal reaches out to old contacts in Berlin in an effort to locate Meridian & Emily.

Cal connects with Emily in Germany, and together they pursue the lead to Jericho, where they're positive Nick is being held. Gunnarsen and Crown declare a detente and decide to work together to find the mole. Beatings and drugs have failed, so now Nick's captors resort to straight up torture to get him to give up the encryption key. But their time may be running out.

Emily tries one last time to trade Kai's stolen info for Nick's life, unaware that Nick has made a bold escape attempt. Webb swoops in to take over the search for Nick, frustrating Gunnarsen. Meanwhile, the search for the mole at the FBI exacts a high cost from one agent. Ghosts from Cal's past involvement with Meridian cause Emily to question his loyalty.

Emily rescues Nick, and together they devise a plan to liberate the refugees from the Meridian camp. Meanwhile Cal, pretending to be a Meridian guard, has infiltrated the camp. In the wake of Thompson's murder, Crown and Gunnarsen uncover clues pointing to a surprising suspect. Warren and Flynn have been safe at the farmhouse, but a surprise visit from Jack brings danger in the form of an old foe who follows him there.

As Nick and Emily work to free the refugees from the Meridian compound, Emily gets captured. At the farm, Dawkins stalks Emily's family in a final attempt to leverage them for her cooperation. Gunnarsen and Crown zero in on Assistant Director Webb as the agency's mole. And Cal comes face-to-face with Armstrong.

Emily and Nick are finally reunited with Flynn back in Boston, but the threat of Elliot's bioweapon still looms large. Emily resorts to drastic measures and make a dangerous choice to ensure her family's safety.