Dept. Q TV Pilot Beat Sheet Analysis

Why We Chose to Do a Save a Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis of the Dept. Q Pilot

We always like to break down series that hit #1 on Netflix. Plus, Scott Frank is one of the best writers on the planet.

Dept. Q

Written by: Chandni Lakhani and Scott Frank
Based on the book The Keeper of Lost Causes by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Directed by: Scott Frank

S1 E1: “Episode 1”

The World: Scotland’s beleaguered police department and the newly-established Department Q, created to investigate unsolved crimes

Franchise Type: Whydunit

Platform: Netflix

TV Genre: Hourlong drama/thriller

Story DNA

Hero: Carl Morck, an acerbic and emotionally scarred Scottish detective

Goal: To establish Department Q and solve his first cold case, a woman who’s been missing for four years

Obstacles: Very little funding, dealing with his hastily-assembled team of misfit officers, and his own trauma and guilt over a recent shooting incident in which Morck’s colleague and friend was paralyzed

Stakes: The lives of Morck’s depressed colleague, who is on the verge of suicide, and the missing woman Morck is trying to find—plus Morck’s own tenuous sanity

Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Analysis for the Dept. Q TV Pilot

Opening Image

The brilliant teaser of Dept. Q is seen through the bodycam POV of a uniformed policeman, PC Anderson (Angus Yellowlees), who is chronicling Carl Morck’s (Matthew Goode) and his colleague James Hardy’s (Jamie Sives) initial investigation of a crime scene in a dingy apartment. As Anderson is mocked for his inexperience, the camera’s POV itself seems to wince at Morck’s harsh arrogance.

When Anderson finally turns away to check the apartment’s windows, per Morck’s orders, a masked and armed man suddenly steps into the frame—and shoots us! Obviously, it’s Anderson who is shot, but the bodycam visual trick is so shocking and personal, we are utterly pulled into this world, albeit as an unwilling participant. With three bullets, Anderson, Hardy, and Morck are down, and we are the witnesses to the crime, whether we like it or not.

Theme Stated

Prosecutor Lingard insists that the jury in her murder case will see things clearly and convict. Her boss responds, “Will they? Or do you just expect them to think you’re right?” Lingard and Morck share the trait of a fierce intelligence that borders on insufferable arrogance, a superiority complex that can blind them to others’ humanity. Will their mysterious connection reset their broken compasses?

Set-Up

We first meet barrister Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie) in court as she works to convict Graham Finch (Douglas Russell), a businessman who’s accused of killing his wife. It’s unclear how Lingard’s story will intersect with Morck’s; all we know thus far is that she lives with and cares for her disabled, non-verbal brother, William (Tom Bulpett), and she’s being stalked by someone who’s leaving her anonymous death threats.

Carl Morck physically recovers and returns four months after the Opening Image shooting, but his first appointment with police psychologist Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald) is a bust; there are so many things that need fixing and his emotional walls are so high and thick, the good doctor bails after a few moments and retreats to her desk to eat a sandwich.

Morck’s thesis world is like a funhouse mirror version of his former life. He was always disliked by the other detectives for his overall dickish personality, but now he fears their disdain will be magnified by an unspoken question, “Why the hell did you have to be the one to survive?”

After standing outside the station compulsively squeezing a stress ball, Morck pulls himself together and sashays in with his usual withering sarcasm and studied nonchalance, but we see the cracks in his façade. He immediately goes to his desk and starts replaying the footage of the shooting, trying to figure out how it all happened, but with the added memory of his now-paralyzed friend, Hardy, walking beside him as they approached the building.

Catalyst

In a clever retroactive Catalyst, we see the moment where everything changed, discovering that Morck and Hardy weren’t even supposed to be at the crime scene. They were not the official response team, they just happened to be nearby, but when the lowly, three-months-on-the-job PC Anderson dares to question his presence, Morck’s hackles go up and he presses forward at his own peril.

Debate

In present day, Morck continues to watch the footage and recall the events until, anguished and haunted, he dashes out to take some anxiety medication. Unfortunately, the water fountain happens to be right by a bulletin board with a makeshift memorial to PC Anderson, and Morck can hear the whispers of other detectives talking about how badly he fucked up.

Morck can only do what he knows how to do: rip into the detectives for how badly they’ve fucked up by missing clues from the crime scene. Of course, he’s right, although the attack is clearly a defense against his own fear and vulnerability. Everyone knows that Morck’s own arrogance led to this disaster and the loss of even the grudging respect they once had for his skills, if not his abrasive personality, is unbearable.

Visiting Hardy in the hospital, Morck toys with the idea of quitting, packing it all in and hanging out with his friend shooting the shit every day. It’s yet another emotional miscalculation, however, as he doesn’t perceive how despondent Hardy really is over the loss of his legs… and his purpose. It just feels like Morck will never learn how to relate to other humans.

Break into Two

Unbeknownst to Morck, he is about to embark on an antithesis world journey that is truly upside-down, even from the standpoint of his altered thesis world. Two government officials visit Morck’s commanding officer, Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie), to float an idea: a new department devoted to solving cold cases, Department Q, and she immediately knows who she’s going to assign, both for his brilliance and so no one in her department has to deal with him anymore.

B Story

There are numerous B Story relationships for Morck—Hardy, Dr. Irving, his stepson Jasper (Aaron McVeigh)—but the “love story” credentials appear to be going to Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a Syrian immigrant who becomes his new assistant. As in many romances (and bromances), opposites attract, and Salim is kind, polite, and deferential. He is also every bit as smart as his boss, which will make Morck all swoony, in a “from the neck up” sort of crush.

Fun and Games

Morck’s journey down—and down, and down—to Department Q in the sub-basement provides some actual fun and games to this intense drama, particularly when he sees the faded sign for “Shower Quarters” with most of the “Q” intact. It is absolutely gross down there, but somehow the forced solitude works for Morck, since we’ve already established that human interaction is not his cup of tea. However, once DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne) brings him the abundance of cold case files, even the self-sufficient Morck knows he can’t possibly tackle this on his own.

Meanwhile, Commander Jacobson is busy using up all of Q’s budget on her badly under-resourced main offices and staff, so when Morck threatens to have a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary while sitting on the urinals in Dept. Q, she grudgingly agrees to find him an assistant.

Midpoint

In a double-bump Midpoint, barrister Lingard loses her court case and Salim introduces himself as Morck’s new assistant. We sense that A and B Stories are crossing, although we still don’t know the connection between them, and the stakes have been raised, although what those stakes are is still a tantalizing mystery.

Bad Guys Close In

Immediately after her stinging loss, Lingard gets a very ominous threat from her unknown stalker. Genuinely terrified now, she goes home, only to find her brother William in a highly agitated state after finding an old picture of the two of them before his accident disabled him.

Morck is pissed that he’s been handed someone who isn’t even on the force, as Salim is from the IT department, and after chewing Rose’s head off for sending him someone eager and wanting to please (or in Morck’s words, “a pain in the ass”), he declares his new “helper” will mop the floors and do his dirty work.

He finally relents and says that Salim can read through the case files and categorize them, but Morck is not exactly hopeful about the outcome.

All Is Lost

Morck is called to the bedside of Hardy, who’s had a rather bizarre accident; he’d fallen out of bed but somehow ended up over by the window. Within seconds, it becomes apparent that it wasn’t an accident at all but a suicide attempt, and that Hardy wants Morck to help him be successful next time.

Dark Night of the Soul

Morck cycles rapidly between being horrified, angry, and so, so scared. Not only is Hardy his best (read: only) friend, but the guilt and shame of having caused this situation nearly overwhelms him.

Break into Three/Break into Series

Slowly and eerily, the connection between A and B Stories starts to emerge: Lingard takes William out on a boat ride to escape their difficult lives for a bit. Receiving another death threat by text, she tosses her phone into the water. Meanwhile, Salim reads through files, trying to decide which can be solved, and Morck rants to Hardy about how none of them will.

Just as Lingard stalks away from her brother after a scuffle on deck and disappears into the lower deck of the boat, Salim hands Morck the cold case he’s certain can be cracked: that of one Merritt Lingard, a prominent attorney who’s been missing for four years. It’s a satisfying synthesis as we realize that we’ve been moving back and forth in time and the mystery that Morck will solve during this entire series has been playing out right in front of our eyes in a well-structured pilot.

Final Image

Just as the Opening Image bodycam shot tricked us into being part of the action, the Final Image of Lingard four years later, gaunt and filthy in some undisclosed location, “tricks” us into wanting to come back for Episode 2 and beyond, living with these characters who’ve craftily burrowed into our psyches and walking closely with Morck, the quintessential anti-hero, to solve a doozy of a case. We are hooked!