Upamanyu Biswas
Netflix’s ‘Department Q’ centers on a down-on-his-luck police detective named Carl Morck whose life is turned upside down after he survives a brutal attack that leaves his partner paralyzed and another police officer dead. As he struggles to make amends with the tragedy, Carl receives an unorthodox assignment from his higher-ups to become the face of a newly appointed department within the force (Department Q), dedicated to solving cold cases from the past. In the first two episodes of the series, the protagonist comes face-to-face with his personal demons while trying to readjust to his life back in the police ranks. While struggling to rehash the broken pieces of his existence back together, he must also turn his attention to an intriguing case from the past that seems to have insidious roots stretching far back in time. SPOILERS AHEAD.
A Terrible Tragedy Kicks Things Into Gear
Episode 1 begins with body cam footage showing three police officers heading inside a house where a murder has been committed. Disturbingly, the victim has a knife sticking out of his head. The three cops in question – DCI Carl Morck, DS Hardy, and Patrol Officer Anderson – assess the situation inside the house. After Carl tells Anderson to stake out the other parts of the house, a masked gunman enters the house from another entrance and shoots the three officers down. The entire incident unfolds so swiftly that no one has the chance to react to the situation in time. As such, it is in the death of Anderson while Carl and Hardy survive, albeit severely injured in the process. Before losing consciousness, the protagonist notices the masked gunman looking at him before walking away.
Following months of medical care, we learn that Carl is relatively back in business while his partner is paralyzed because of damage to his spine. He has to attend counseling sessions with Dr. Rachel Irving, who finds him a difficult patient to converse with. Through their conversations, it becomes evident that Carl has a superiority complex that makes him look at others as beneath his station. However, his bigger problem is his inability to be vulnerable when needed, a trait that has ruined his relationship with his stepson, Jasper, and the other cops in the department. In the meantime, we also follow another storyline centered around a prosecutor named Merritt Lingard. Although she is busy trying to pin the blame for a woman’s death on her husband, Graham Finch, her legal strategy does not work out as planned. Her colleagues remind her that she is losing the case.
Carl is Chosen to Spearhead a Newly Appointed Department
Carl returns to the police precinct to resume his work as a detective. Despite having a keen interest in assisting, he is kept away from the investigation into the attack that injured him and paralyzed Hardy. Instead, the case is handled by Bruce, a cop who has a fractious relationship with the protagonist. His boss, Moira, also urges him to lay low and slowly integrate himself back into the force over time. However, it is clear that no one in the department likes having Carl among them. Elsewhere, Merritt and her prosecution team sit pensively in court as they await the jury’s verdict on the Graham Finch case. Before long, she learns that Finch has been absolved of his charges, which is a crushing defeat for Merritt. She immediately leaves the court and gets a taxi cab back home.
Because of the dwindling reputation of the police, Moira is told by her higher-ups that something must be done to change the status of law enforcement around the country. They suggest opening a new department, titled “Department Q,” which could focus on dealing with mysterious cold cases that never saw the light of day. Although Moira is against the notion originally, she is swayed by the prospect of enormous amounts of funding being filtered into her grasp via this new initiative. However, she has to find someone to head the department first. That person turns out to be Carl. She tasks him with being the face of Department Q, handing him the entire basement as his floor of operation. In exchange, he must choose a case from a boatload of cold cases as his first assignment.
A New Assistant Offers Carl His Latest Case
Reluctantly, Carl explores his new office space, which turns out to be a dust haven. He arranges a desk and table for himself while pondering his next move. Meanwhile, Merritt arrives home after a long drive in the cab. Her house is a lavish establishment that is remotely located, far from any nearby settlement. There, she lives with her brother William, who is cognitively impaired owing to a traumatic head injury in the past. A house nurse named Claire Marsh takes care of him when Merritt is away from home for her job, which is quite a lot. Merritt is concerned that Claire is developing too much of a dependency on William, even though she is just the hired help. When she is on her own, she tries to treat William like he is a normal person, which has no significant impact on his health or recovery.
Carl’s new job in the basement takes on a new dimension when he is provided an assistant to take care of his logistical needs around the office. Intriguingly, the assistant is a man named Akram Salim, a Syrian refugee who moved to Scotland and has been working in the IT department of the police station. Akram begins handling all the cleaning around the office, including the sorting of different files that Carl has been sent in the hopes he might choose the first case for Department Q. At the same time, a distraught Merritt tells her brother one day that they should head out for a vacation trip of their own. That trip turns out to be a boat ride across the sea, as Merritt and William have some time alone. However, a fight breaks out onboard between the siblings, and Merritt heads away.
After carefully reviewing every file, Akram leaves one case for Carl to find on his desk. He evidently finds it interesting enough for the protagonist to probe into. At this point, we are finally made to realize that the Merritt storyline we have been seeing is taking place in the past, specifically four years before the present-day events. In fact, Merritt disappeared without a trace during the boat ride with her brother, never to be seen again. Thus, the file Akram leaves with Carl is Merritt’s – a mysterious case about a prosecutor who vanished from thin air after an altercation with her brother. The final scene of the episode is Merritt waking up in some containment cell where her hair and visage seem shaggy and haggardly, indicating that she has been kept captive for years.
Carl Starts Probing Into Merritt’s Disappearance
The second episode starts precisely where the first episode drops off – Akram urging Carl to investigate Merritt’s case. He is vehemently opposed to the idea because he believes she is already dead. On the other hand, Akram thinks she is alive, doubling down on the notion because of his experiences in Syria with missing people. Moira drops by the office to check on the protagonist’s choice of a case. Although he is antagonistic towards her meddling in his business, Akram tells her that Carl is thinking of investigating Merritt’s disappearance. In the meantime, we are provided a more distinct look into Merritt’s life in captivity as she collects things from an air hatch that routinely delivers her things. Meanwhile, she scribbles Kristy Atkins’ name inside the cell.
Although hesitant, Carl starts looking into Merritt’s case with a degree of interest, tracking down the previous inspector who was leading the investigation – Fergus Dunbar. From a routine conversation, the protagonist understands that the case was not treated with the highest degree of diligence. As such, he and Akram decide to follow up on their most prominent lead in the mystery – William Lingard, Merritt’s brother. After Merritt’s disappearance, he was moved to the Egley House hospital, where he is kept under constant supervision by the institute’s head doctor, Fiona Wallace. Carl and Akram ask Wallace’s permission to question William about his recollection of the day his sister went missing. However, Wallace is against the idea and sends them away. She also informs them that William can no longer speak because of damage to the part of his brain linked with speech.
The Unlikely Duo Tracks Down William’s Only Visitor
Despite the whole trip seeming like a waste of time, Akram uses his resourcefulness to chat up the receptionist, who tells him that William still receives a visitor once every weekend. The visitor turns out to be Claire Marsh, William’s old nurse/caretaker. Carl and Akram stop by her place to question her about her links with William. At first, she feigns innocence in the matter, stating that she has nothing to do with the Lingard family at all. However, the detective duo pulls her up on her lies by telling her they know about her clandestine visits to William’s place. She tells them whatever she knows about Merritt and William, including the fact that the disappearance had nothing to do with the latter. Additionally, she believes that Merritt also loved William wholeheartedly.
After receiving a phone call from the school, Carl returns home to find his stepson Jasper having sex with another girl from school. He berates him for his indiscretion but is forced to swallow the rest of his complaint because Jasper walks out. Subsequently, he attends yet another session with Dr. Rachel Irving, which is even less impactful than the previous one. However, during the course of the exchange, we learn that Carl may be attracted to his therapist, a development that turns the air between them awkward. Meanwhile, in her pressure chamber, Merritt is questioned by her captors about her involvement with Kristy Atkins, a junkie who came to her asking for help. Merritt turned down the woman, believing she was lying. The captors continue to torture Merritt for not being able to figure out why she is being kept imprisoned.
Carl Runs Into Problems at the Press Conference
At the precinct, Carl receives a surprise visit from Stephen Burns, Merritt’s boss in the judicial department. He acquaints himself with Carl, especially after learning that the detective plans to reopen the disappearance case of his former underling. The discussion between them is fraught with tension. Clearly, there is something off about Stephens, and Carl can sense it from the get-go. After the brief chat, the protagonist is rushed upstairs, and Moira tells him to get dressed in better clothes. Unbeknownst to him, a press conference has been organized to announce the launch of Department Q with Carl as its main representative. He is provided a pre-written script while Moira handles the introductions. Moments later, Carl walks out in front of a room full of journalists and delivers the message surrounding Merritt’s case reopening.
Although the initial parts of the speech are well-received, the questions from the journalists soon start to chafe Carl’s confidence. Before long, he starts hyperventilating and panicking. Things get blurry in front of his eyes while his mind goes back to the seminal moment when the masked gunman jumped him, Hardy, and Anderson. As he relives the incident, he suffers an enormous panic attack, forcing him to wrap up his answers on short notice and head outside with as much swiftness as possible. Akram follows him outside and manages to stop him on a curb, where he helps calm him down by telling him to relax his breathing. Meanwhile, at Egley House, William grows agitated after seeing his sister’s face pop onscreen during the news coverage of Carl’s press conference. He runs away from the hospital as everyone starts looking for him.
Read More: Where is Dept Q Filmed?
