Dept. Q is the Scottish remake of the Danish television series Serie Q and an own version to film the books by Jussi Adler-Olsen. It's a bull's eye! Where Series Q contains five films of almost two hours, Dept. Q is a real television series with nine episodes. The great success of the Scottish series is mainly due to the dynamics between the different actors. The extra dimension that Dept. Q gives to the story is that it is about an Englishman, Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), who plays the arrogant asshole in Scotland. This does not improve when he is shot in an incident and his partner James Hardy (Jamie Sives) is paralyzed. The result is that Carl becomes even more grumpy and irritating. His sense of guilt towards his partner ensures that Carl visits James every day. In addition, there is a lot of attention for Carl's private situation. In it, he has to deal with his pubescent stepson. That does not exactly go smoothly either.
The biggest problem for his boss is that Carl's intelligence helps him solve the most difficult cases. On the other hand, nobody wants to work with him anymore because everyone hates him. That is not only because he is English. When an opportunity arises to give Carl another job within the department, his boss grabs it with both hands. In the hope of getting him out of sight, Carl starts working on cold cases in the basement. At first, he absolutely does not want to do that. That changes when Akram (Alexej Manvelov), a Syrian who is looking for work and is allowed to support Carl administratively, starts helping him find the right case.
This is a top read and highly recommended for year-end lists.
In addition to his boss, Carl has to deal with two other women. His psychologist Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald) tries to get him in line. Carl clearly doesn't feel like it and regularly fails to show up for his appointments. This causes the psychologist to use alternative methods to reach him. The other is police officer Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne). Rose has suffered her own trauma. She is insecure in her work but is also done with the administrative tasks she now performs. Her insecurity does not show in her very sharp tongue. Rose quickly has her answer ready. She comes across as naive but has more in her than she suspects. Even Carl cannot ignore that.
By pouring a story into nine episodes, there is a lot of attention for the people behind the characters. Carl is and remains a grump but can also thaw. He does this in his own way. The mutual relationship between Carl, Akram, Rose and James provides sharp dialogues and a lot of humor. Carl who is attracted but also repelled by psychologist Rachel Irving is, despite the fact that it is not always very realistic, also one of the strong stories in Dept. Q. In addition, the dynamic between Carl and his boss can also be called quite special.
The fact that the story, based on The Woman in the Cage, is very strong and exciting of course helps. The tension that this creates and the flashbacks that tell the story of the kidnapping are a perfect addition to the dynamics of all the events surrounding Carl. The various backgrounds are delved deeper to explain the disappearance of Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie). It also shows why her brother is the way he is. The fact that you gradually learn more about what happened to Merritt creates more tension and unexpected plot twists this time. It is an added value that they use those flashbacks to delve deeper into the case. The only disadvantage is that you sometimes have to pay attention to the time period in which it is set.
It's clear that the makers of the equally impressive The Queen's Gambit are behind Dept. Q.
Dept. Q scores very high points. It is an excellent choice to choose the historical Edinburgh as the place where it all takes place. This, supplemented with the vast environment that has the same dark characteristics as Scandinavia, completes the picture. The images shot become darker by themselves. Without losing any sharpness, however. Despite the fact that the story has been stretched to nine episodes, the pace is good. This is mainly due to the strong acting, the mutual dynamics and the tension of the main story. This is reinforced by paying a lot of attention to the background of the various stories and characters. It is clear that the makers of the also impressive The Queen's Gambit are behind Dept. Q. This is a top film and a recommendation for the year lists.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
