Dept. Q – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Review Geek

29-05-2025

The Stray Bullet
Episode 1 of Dept Q begins with a crime scene being examined by officers. However, things soon take a turn for the worst when a masked man arrives and shoots all of them. DCI Carl Morck is among them and as the killer looks over him, Carl loses consciousness.
However, he's still alive and survives this near-fatal incident. His fellow officer, Hardy, is also still alive but he's paralyzed and in hospital for the foreseeable future.
Carl is not happy about the mandatory therapy he has to attend and flippantly brushes over the after-effects of this with his therapist, Rachel. Carl is not sleeping, he has anxiety and he also seems to have a superiority complex too.
Elsewhere, we meet a prosecutor called Merritt Lingard. She's right in the midst of handling the case involving a husband on trial for killing his wife. The evidence is quite substantial against him, Merritt is overly emotional and hot-headed. Merritt walks right into the trap of allowing Finch to empathize with the jury, convincing them that he's innocent.
Along with failing the case, Merritt continues to be haunted by the ghosts of her past, stemming from emails and texts she's receiving from someone threatening her. Merritt also has a brother, William, who's disabled and is looked after by a carer called Claire while she's not there.
Spooked by one of her more recent messages, Merritt decides to pack up her stuff and head off with William on a trip together. Unfortunately, she receives a text while on the boat together, telling her she can't hide.
Back at the station, Carl turns heads when he rocks up ready to return to work. He trades banter with a fiery redhead called Rose, before ripping into the officers on his case, given they have no evidence and no witnesses (despite having one that's changed their statement at the last second).
Carl looks at all the evidence they've got so far and scrutinizes their ineptitude. He immediately points out a McDonalds cup under one of the car's wheels, demanding they check the CCTV footage from the nearby McDonalds to see if they catch a break with the killer.
While this is going on, the Cabinet Secretary is proposing setting up a new department to look into more cases. Superintendent Moira Jacobson is the one running things here and she's quick to shoot the proposal down. They're stretched thin as it is, with barely enough manpower to cover the cases they do have.
However, when she finds out that the department will have its own budget and full control over which cases to be chosen, it certainly piques her interest. And the man she's thinking of bringing into this? Yep, it's Carl. He's going to be investigating Cold Cases from all over the country but he's not particularly happy about it.
The office is in the basement, and the place is a complete mess. It's clear now that Moira is using the allocated funds for this new department to beef up the main office, all whilst finding a place to relegate Carl away from the others. He's not stupid and understands what's happening here, but he also needs a secretary to help sift through all the files. He wants Rose to help but instead, she brings Akram down, a man who works part-time in IT but wants to move into their department.
Funnily enough, Akram has a fair amount in common with Carl. He's confident, intelligent and he's read through many of these Cold Cases. He used to be a police officer back in Syria so he's well-equipped to handle tough cases and he could be just what Carl needs to make a dent here.
Carl brings him onboard, where Akram sifts through and finds a case they can use. This case happens to be Merritt Lingard's disappearance. It's here we learn that she went missing four years back. The last place she was found was on that boat we saw earlier on, and we cleverly learn now that these are two different timelines.
In reality, Merritt is still alive but she's being kept captive in a steel pressurized tank somewhere secluded.
The Episode Review
After the success of The Queen's Gambit, Director Scott Frank is back with Dept Q, bringing a great tone and atmosphere already across this extended chapter. The first episode gets off to an excellent start, with two intertwined timelines, and an intriguing introduction to our characters.
The drama involving Carl is a nice way of establishing the stakes and the personal demons affecting our titular character. Meanwhile, Merritt is emotional and clearly this incident with her stalker has become serious, and whoever has her, is clearly not messing about.
The cinematography is great across the board, and the acting is excellent so far too. This one is definitely shaping up to be a great watch but we'll have to wait and see where this one goes next.
Next Episode
Expect A Full Season Write-Up When This Season Concludes!