Dept. Q - First episode

In the Netflix series Dept. Q, arrogant detective Carl Morck investigates cold cases while trying to figure out who was responsible for the shooting of him and his colleagues. Detective Carl Morck's (Matthew Goode) life is turned upside down when he is shot while on the job. Another officer who was also present at the shooting does not survive the drama and Carl's partner is paralyzed from the waist down by a bullet. Four months later, Carl tries to get his life back on track. He goes back to work and also visits a psychologist, although the latter is not entirely voluntary. How Carl fares back at the police station while the perpetrator of the shooting has not yet been found can be seen in the new Netflix series Dept. Q.

Merritt's storyline seems completely separate from Carl's, but gradually they come together.

Carl is anything but sympathetic and reminds one of the eccentric Dr. House from the series House M.D. Although that series was about a doctor and in this case it is about a police officer, there are still several similarities. For example, Carl is also very good at his job but not exactly charming in his interactions. His grumpy character is accompanied by the necessary black humor and he thinks he is better than everyone. When a new department is developed to handle cold cases, Carl is asked to lead it and thus 'department Q', referring to the office space of this team, is born.

Dept. Q is a British series by the makers of The Queen's Gambit, set in Scotland. The story itself has its origins in a Danish book series, written by Jussi Adler-Olsen, and has also provided many successful films in that country. The way of telling is somewhat slow and dark, but at the same time intriguing and the acting is very strong. Despite the character of the main character, you still sympathize with him and as a viewer you soon notice that deep down there is a lot going on with him. His loyalty to his partner, whom he still visits daily in the hospital, is a good example of this.



We soon get to know Merritt (Chloe Pirrie). She is an ambitious prosecutor who is being harassed by a stalker. Things aren’t easy at home either. She lives with her disabled brother William (Tom Bulpett) who is being cared for by Claire (Shirley Henderson, who I immediately recognized as ‘Moaning Myrtle’ from the Harry Potter films). They don’t quite see eye to eye when it comes to the care William needs. The pressure of it all seems to be getting to her because her boss isn’t happy with her attitude at work. Merritt’s storyline seems completely separate from Carl’s but gradually they start to come together.

What surprised me most positively were the unexpected twists in the story.

IT'er Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov) walks into the police station looking for a job. He comes from Syria, where he also did detective work, and hopes to grow in this career in Scotland. Although employee Rose (Leah Byrne) has sympathy for him, her boss Moira (Kate Dickie) brushes him off. She has other things on her mind, with budgetary problems within the force and poor solution figures that the managers are not happy with. When Carl starts up his new cold case team and asks for help, Rose hires Akram to assist him. Although Carl initially sees him as little more than a drudge, he soon notices that Akram has more to offer than he initially thinks.

What surprised me most positively were the unexpected twists in the story. Several times things happened that I did not see coming and especially the end of the first episode was a big shock for me. This is one of those beginnings after which you immediately want to continue watching because you are so curious about the rest of the story. With nine episodes that have all been released on Netflix at the same time, this is fortunately not a problem. I can't wait to see how it ends with Carl, Merritt and all the other characters and after watching this start I am completely into it. Whether the rest of the series will be just as surprising remains to be seen of course, but a good start is half the battle, they say.