Created by Scott Frank and primarily based on the long-running Danish ebook collection by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Netflix’s new British whodunit collection Dept. Q is a darkish, typically darkly comedic police procedural with promise. Matthew Goode (finest recognized to worldwide audiences for his work in The Crown and Downton Abbey) is terrific as an archetypal no-nonsense cop, and the perfect a part of a collection that’s fleetingly good and persistently entertaining. Whereas the season boasts some tough edges, general Dept. Q has greater than sufficient potential to proceed if it is renewed for a second season.
What Is ‘Dept. Q’ About?
Dept. Q opens with fairly a literal bang. Through flashback, an improvised investigation goes horribly, tragically incorrect. Virtuoso Edinburgh detective Carl Morck, performed by Goode, is reasonably cockily sloppy in securing a murder website, and the incident leaves his companion paralyzed and a youthful cop murdered. Morck suffers from layers of survivor’s guilt and PTSD following the incident, and his lack of a heat welcome as soon as he is again at work — his colleagues principally cannot stand him — someday later solely exacerbates this.
Morck is relegated to the grungy basement of the police station by his superiors, and the outdated rusting former bathe facility is repurposed to turn into a brand new division devoted to chilly circumstances. Considerably not directly, he is additionally paired with formidable cadet Rose (Leah Byrne) and Syrian refugee Akram (Alexej Manvelov), and the trio investigates the years-old disappearance of infamous native prosecutor Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie). In the meantime, Morck struggles along with his personal damaged household life, in addition to his intensely adversarial, mandated remedy periods with police counselor Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald).
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‘Dept. Q’ Is Uneven and Convoluted, however Nicely-Acted
There is a solution to do a whodunit that is continuously one step forward of the viewers in the best manner — which is, maybe, the best possible form of whodunit. That stated, it is onerous to not typically really feel a step behind Dept. Q‘s story, and never in a complimentary sense. Because the investigation into Merritt’s disappearance beneficial properties traction, there is a grueling variety of leads, contacts, and interrogations over 9 episodes that possible would have benefited extra from being seven or eight. The collection by no means missteps in any substantial manner, however the narrative and sprawling solid of characters are bloated to a level that takes some urgency away from the central thriller, and threatens to overshadow Dept. Q‘s stronger belongings.
Thankfully, Goode has by no means been higher. The gruff, salty investigator is a personality archetype that is been executed to oblivion elsewhere, however Goode nimbly defies any cemented expectation with darkish humor and no scarcity of surprises. Goode is mesmerizing in Dept. Q, no much less so within the bits coping with his messy private life, particularly his interactions and complicated relationship with stepson Jasper Stewart (Aaron McVeigh). Their scenes collectively are actually well-acted in that oblique, intermittently stifled manner through which males typically talk.
The opposite actual standout in Dept. Q is Macdonald. From her breakout in Trainspotting to roles in movies like No Nation for Outdated Males and Goodbye Christopher Robin, Macdonald has persistently remained some of the underappreciated and effortlessly interesting actors round. The psychological exchanges between Carl and Rachel are a combination of empathy and aggression, and are the perfect components of this collection for causes having extra to do with the actors than with the writing. Dept. Q suffers from being an excessive amount of of too many issues at instances, however it is an important present within the scenes that play out between Goode and Macdonald.
Dept. Q‘s performances usually are robust, although it is value mentioning one clear side of missed potential. Manvelov is definitely sport, however the script by no means offers his character Akram a lot shading; he is typically simply quietly useful, with bursts of aggression. Absolutely a number of the display time devoted to investigating lead after lead would have been higher spent giving Akram extra depth and backstory. It is reasonably consultant of a thriller present that makes an attempt to do greater than it ought to, reasonably than focusing intently on what it must do.
Dept. Q will possible grip followers of whodunit fare nicely sufficient, however with some essential tweaks, it isn’t onerous to think about it changing into a greater present if additional seasons are to comply with. Adler-Olsen has written ten novels and counting (the Danish setting of the books has been moved to Scotland for Netflix’s collection), so if Dept. Q finds an viewers, there ought to be loads of materials to work with shifting ahead. If that occurs, hopefully, future installments of the collection will probably be nearly as good as its appearing.
All episodes of Dept. Q at the moment are streaming on Netflix.
Dept. Q is an entertaining, convoluted whodunit with good performances from Matthew Goode and Kelly Macdonald.
- Launch Date
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Could 29, 2025
- Community
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Netflix
- Matthew Goode and Kelly Macdonald are terrific. The present is nice each time they’re each on-screen.
- Dept. Q delivers the products as a whodunit, nevertheless it’s extra gripping as a psychological drama.
- Dept Q. suffers from a bloated narrative.
- Among the modifying and results photographs are hardly seamless.