Dept Q Episode 5 and 6 Recap: Finding Answers in the Fog

In episodes 5 and 6 of ‘Department Q,‘ we jump further into the cesspool of information available on Sam Haig, a person of notable interest in Merritt’s disappearance case. Following the events of the previous episode, Carl and his team learn that Merritt has many hidden faces in her life, with each having a potential link to her current whereabouts. It only deepens the mystery surrounding the former prosecutor’s vanishing, leading our main trio toward a new direction of travel. In the meantime, a breakthrough takes place in the Leith Park shooting as Carl finds himself juggling two cases at once, albeit with varying degrees of involvement. Things also take a turn in the protagonist’s personal life as he tries to navigate his precarious bond with his stepson, Jasper. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Carl and Akram Dig Into Sam Haig’s Life

The fifth episode begins with Carl and Akram visiting the rock climbing center where Sam Haig was a frequent visitor. The place’s proprietors, Paul and Chloe Evans, provide more insight into Sam’s personal life and his interactions with them. According to them, Sam died during a solo rock climbing incident, one that surprised Paul but not Chloe because of the man’s alleged risk-taking nature. As the detective duo ponders over the details of Sam’s death, they realize that something does not fit into the overall picture. They keep probing into the matter by finding other people who knew him. In the meantime, we get a flashback scene explaining how Merritt got in touch with Sam for the first time, a date that eventually led to a deeper bond.

Worried about Carl’s health, Dr. Rachel stops by the Department Q office, where she runs into Rose. The pair help each other move a desk across the room while Rachel learns more about Rose’s OCD. As the two continue bonding further, she reiterates her need to sit down for another session with Carl, who remains busy tracking down leads for Merritt’s case. We see him and Akram visit The Scottish Telegraph building, the newspaper company where Sam used to work as an investigative journalist. Carl tries to get a better picture of Sam’s work by speaking with his boss. However, not much stands out in the way of alarming or interesting. On the way out of the office, Carl is confronted by a reporter named Dennis Piper, who asks him if he feels guilty about Anderson’s death. The protagonist loses his temper and gets physical with the man.

The Team Finds a Discrepancy in William’s Legal Guardianship

At the precinct, Akram helps Moira catch up with the latest findings on the case. The latter warns Akram about exercising his authority over civilians, especially because he is not a cop himself. Meanwhile, Carl stops by Hardy’s hospital room, where he learns that his partner is slowly regaining some control over his legs. Once the team is all together in their basement office, they go over the details of the case once more. During the exchange, Hardy mentions that William has access to a trust fund that can be operated by his legal guardian. They suddenly realize that Dr. Fiona Wallace made herself his legal guardian for that express reason, indicating a high degree of foul play. At the same time, Moira stops by Dr. Rachel’s office to talk to her about therapy, a discussion that eventually leads to Carl’s truancy. Moira suggests setting Carl up with other therapists, an idea seemingly backed by Rachel.

Carl and his team travel to Egley House, where the former confronts Fiona in her office. In the meantime, Akram and Rose visit the patient rooms to check up on William’s status. They find him drugged and lying on a bed, a strange mixture that is also replicated by the other patients. It turns out that Fiona has been drugging her patients and keeping them sedated while leeching their money off of them. Now that Carl knows her game, he threatens to out her for who she is, a plight that would entirely ruin her reputation and land her a berth in prison, most likely. However, the protagonist decides to let her go in exchange for taking William out of the institute. Subsequently, he takes him to Claire, who is more than willing to take over his caring duties.

Kirsty Atkins Makes a Giant Ripple in the Case

At the police station, Rose brings up a new lead she discovered by going through Merritt’s transaction receipts. She found out that Merritt used to frequent a laundry that was far from her usual route, suggesting that something important could be found there. Carl orders Akram to accompany her in her investigation. The pair find the place without much difficulty and eventually talk with the owner, who turns out to be Shirley Atkins, the mother of Kirsty Atkins, the woman Merritt failed to help. Shirley tells them that Merritt came by the place many times, hoping to apologize, only to lose her confidence at the last second. The duo then proceed to question Kirsty personally by visiting her at the Pentlands Prison, hoping she could have answers about Merritt no one else does.

Moira invites Carl to her office, where they discuss his loss of control in the newspaper building. She tells him to focus on what is important rather than losing his temper all the time, which could have detrimental effects on the investigation, particularly from a PR angle. However, she promises to continue watching his back as long as he gets the answers to Merritt’s case, which the previous investigator, Fergus Dunbar, never could. Meanwhile, Akram and Rose sit down with Kirsty to talk to her about Merritt. The woman tells them that she had met Graham Finch’s wife, Andrea, at a refugee camp earlier. So, she agreed to testify for the prosecution until Merritt stopped her, something the latter was forced into because of Stephen Burns. As a result, Kirsty was stabbed by her fellow inmates, losing an eye in the process. The incident shook her up and left Merritt feeling guilty.

Carl and Akram Prepare to Rattle Some Cages

At the beginning of episode 6, we see a flashback scene addressing how Merritt started spilling information about the Graham Finch case to Sam Haig in the hopes that he might use his journalism to run a bus through Finch’s underhanded tactics. In the present-day timeline, Carl and Akram stake out Finch’s shipping company, Finch Overseas Shipping, hoping to get more answers from the man once they’ve “rattled his cage.” After receiving a strange transmission, the duo stops by a church where they run into Fergus Dunbar, the former lead detective on Merritt’s disappearance case. It turns out that unknown attackers have assaulted Fergus, people Carl believes are working for Finch. It is evident that there is a lot of foul play going on with Finch at the center of it all.

After returning to the precinct, Carl is greeted in the lobby by Moira and Bruce, who have apparently made some type of breakthrough in the Leith Park shooting case. They’ve managed to identify a suspect after taking Carl’s information into account. However, the protagonist must confirm the identity of the person via a police lineup, something he postpones for the time being. Subsequently, he heads out to the house where the attack took place, using the time to go through the crime scene once more. There, he runs into Bruce’s two underlings, who tell him that they agree with his belief that there were two attackers during the incident, one shooter and one getaway driver. As Carl begins hypothesizing further, he suddenly states that the daughter of the murder victim, Archie Allen, may not even exist. As such, the crew has something else to look into.

Carl Loses His Temper After a Man Goes After Jasper

While stuck inside her pressure tank, Merritt has another flashback, remembering how she met with Sam in a secluded room one night. The tension and chemistry between them eventually led to them having sex. The present version of Merritt uses the memory as fuel to masturbate in her tank, much to the annoyance of the older woman who is keeping her in captivity. At the precinct, Carl, Akram, and Rose sit down with Liam Taylor to hash out the details of his involvement in the Graham Finch case alongside his affair with Merritt. The trio figures out that Finch used his immense wealth and influence to exert pressure on the jury and also members of the prosecution in the hopes of getting away scot-free. They suspect Stephen Burns, Merritt’s former boss, was also blackmailed or bribed by the businessman somehow.

Things take a dark turn for Carl’s personal life as his teenage stepson, Jasper, is targeted by an older gentleman. The man threatens to sell salacious videos of Jasper, indicating that he may be a child predator. Once he delivers his threats, he orders Jasper to relay the same information to Carl verbatim. However, the boy does not have to go that far because Carl arrives at the shop and realizes that something is not right. He pursues the man outside and beats him up next to a black car that seemingly belongs to him. During the altercation, Carl figures out that Graham Finch sent the man to discourage the detective from pursuing him any further. The whole physical assault is captured on multiple phone cameras belonging to the watching audience. As such, the incident quickly becomes a media sensation.

The Team Traces Everything Back to Graham Finch

Rose stops by Hardy’s hospital room once again, this time addressing the matter of Stephen Burns’ link to Graham Finch. Hardy states that Burns’ daughter was threatened by Finch, which could have forced the Lord Advocate’s hand into doing whatever he could to help the businessman escape the clutches of the law. In the meantime, Rose also tracks down the identity of the person who drove the child predator who threatened Jasper. Elsewhere, Carl visits the therapist’s office for his counseling session, only to realize that Dr. Sonnenberg, the regular doctor, is back in action. The protagonist is angered by the fact that Rachel is no longer going over his case and that he was not notified about Sonnenberg’s return. Clearly, his feelings towards Dr. Rachel have changed drastically over time.

Akram and Rose visit the man who drove Jasper’s predator away. After urging Rose to take a backseat, Akram uses his martial arts techniques and his presence of mind to take down the man first by dropping him down the stairs. Subsequently, he tortures him by stepping on his broken leg for a while, all to loosen him up before asking him about the name of the man who employed him. They head back to the station to inform Carl and Moira that Finch had arranged the whole thing through a shell company. Bruce interrupts their discussion to state that the police lineup is ready. Carl goes through the gathered suspects and identifies one among them. However, after seeing his face, he believes that the man is not responsible for the Leith Park shooting. Inside the pressure tank, Merritt starts seemingly hatching a plan of escape.