Alexej Manvelov

I agree about the interesting counterbalance thing, it fucks with my brain a little that he has fewer grey hair than Goode, who generally (and intentionally) looks like a mess on this show.

I'm enjoying the show, but the scene where he tells his boss never to interrupt him again while he's praying (at work!) was ridiculous. I wonder what would happen to me if I said that to my boss. It shows that the first book was written more than a decade ago when sentiment in Denmark and elsewhere towards these excesses was a bit different.

He was kind of a stud, several years back. Such big dark expressive eyes. click the link for a fashion photo spread.

Matthew Goode is maybe too thin now. He looks haggard for 47. He's a competent TV actor but never more. Though I would be delighted to discover a wonderful performance.

Well, Goode's great on this show,. His scenes with Kelly Macdonald in particular are like acting magic.

He's very competent but I sometimes hear all the script. Maybe it's the writing.

He definitely has a lot of screen presence. My focus is always on him whenever he’s in a scene. And I find his voice and accent very sexy.

Blond actor Steven Miller has quite a body.

Aaron Dochard is also a cute twink in this. They slapped a wig with a mullet and an idiot fringe on him and it just works, makes him and his co-worker look like a couple of precogs.

Don't look at his regular photos though, it's a severe downgrade. He should just keep this wig, be like Blake Ritson.

The step-son is a cute UK twink. His verbal rape by the bad man wasn't necessary.

Omg, spoilers, you bitch! I'm only on the third episode and the show hasn't even been out a week!

Okay, I just finished it and kept dreading an actual rape because I didn't see the "verbal" part in r9's reply. So glad that didn't happen. And yes, he and the actor playing Sam are Scottish excellence, I need them both inside me deeply etc.

This was an awesome first season, everyone who enjoys stuff like Slow Horses or Mare of Easttown should watch it, so it gets renewed. It made me want to move to Edinburgh!

SPOILER

SPOILER EPISODE 8 and 9

I am kind of pissed off at continuity issue. Teen lyle is in the reform school home and meets teen Sam Haig and takes him for his dead brother Harry, so Lyle is entering into psychosis. Teen Sam Haig DOES look like Lyle dead brother Harry. Years later, adult Sam Haig is a dead ringer for adult Lyle. Lyle looked nothing like Harry. The director has pulled a fast one. It's helpful for the plot I guess. that Sam and lyle now look alike. But it betrays the logic set up earlier.

Color me pissed.

r12 I read that very slowly four times and I think I'm just too dumb to fully get what you were trying to convey. However, I will say that I intuitively sensed something was off during that whole setup, so they for sure could have executed that backstory more elegantly.

SPOILERS SPOILERS

I SAID SPIOILERS

Netflix explains the Sam Haig backstory, here:

My issue is they cast a teen actor for Sam Haig, who looks like teen Harry Jennings. So Lyle Jennings becomes obsessed with teen Sam and takes Sam for his dead brother, Harry. Later, when Sam reappears in the adult story line. Sam now looks quite like Lyle, not Harry. Lyle is going to kill him and assume his identity so it helps the plot that the adult Sam and Lyle look alike. Like you, something was off in that plot line to the point I stopped the damn episode and went back to episode with video interview of teen Sam and thats when I clocked the casting switcheroo.

Also, we never learn why Morck and his partner were shot. Another mystery discussed in the Netflix roundup, posted. here.

Oh god, I finally understand what you were trying to say. Feels so good, like an actual breakthrough, lol. Yes, that's exactly what was throwing me off.

HOWEVER, I just went back to compare teenage Sam (played by Jackson Reid, not credited on IMDb) and adult Sam, played by Jack Greenlees, and they don't look that far off at all, facially. Problem is, they gave adult Sam substantial facial hair to make him appear more similar to adult Lyle (who eventually shaved it off in the finale for some reason). So I think the production was aware of this tricky issue and tried their best to pull off the switcheroo.

[quote]Also, we never learn why Morck and his partner were shot.

I wasn't bothered by this. Yeah, I kinda expected for the mystery to be solved by the end of the season, but it became clear later on this would be a multi-season arc. I'm more intrigued by that spider thing Morck's boss has going on and how/if that connects to said plot.

I love this series and hope it returns. A long time since I cared about characters and wished them well.

No love for Kewpie doll Rose? She looks like she should be in a 30s comedy.

I actually really enjoyed the entire cast, especially “I am Akram”.

Yeah, Rose was great. I've seen some people making fun of her hairstyle, but I like it. It's retro, it's chic, it's trendy all in one. Actress is a relative newbie as well, hasn't been in much stuff.

I would like to give my own shout out to Kate Dickie, who's always an awesome presence in anything she's in. Her swearing up an absolute storm in that Scottish accent was one of the highlights of the season for me. It made me wish I was Scottish!

And of course, Kelly Macdonald doing Oscar-level facial acting in her sparkling scenes with Goode.

The one thing I strongly disliked was William's psychiatrist, played by the Scottish-Canadian actress Michelle Duncan. She was fine, but the way they styled her and her office came across like she was doing Agatha Christie cosplay. I get the reasoning behind it – "look at her, she's loaded!" – but it was too much and too jarring, took me right out of the show.

R19 I think that someone was styling the series in that way. Sort of dystopian camp. There was Rose the redhead, William's minder, and the Twink twin detectives who looked like ChatGPT illustrations. I liked that and the overdone dystopian Brutalist basement. The designer was onto something different, and it was another thing that made the show.

Steven Miller - he of the incredible body (any screen captures?) - also plays Reverend Alan Calder, the brother of DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) in ’Shetland’. And ‘Dept Q’ gay copper Colin Cunningham also appears in ’Shetland’ as Donnie Russell (husband of Tosh).

A growing Scottish cabal of good actors to rival the British cabal.

(Stay away from IMDB on 'Dept Q' if you haven't finished the series. There's a rather usually innocuous entry that gives away a plot point.)

Thanks, R21! I thought they looked familiar.

I should have named the actor that plays Colin in 'Dept Q' and Donnie in 'Shetland'; he's adorable actor Angus Miller.

I remember him from Outlander as well. Handsome.

I like the stylishness of it all. Scott Frank, the show runner, sort of specializes in that...it's not quite as over the top as The Queen's Gambit but still very carefully designed.

I'm liking the show but trying not to get hung up by the ridiculousness of it. I mean, having her locked up for any amount of time is unlikely but...FOUR YEARS?!?!? REALLY? I think it should have been a year at most.

And the home stuff with the obnoxiously bratty son and the annoying roommate aren't doing much for me.

[quote]Steven Miller - he of the incredible body (any screen captures?)

Here's his fabulous ass.

I dont see how the ex-wife forced the cop to raise her son, since the brat isn't his biological son, and has no redeeming qualities excect his purdy face and big blow job lips.

He said the kid's grandma was the one who actually got the kid, but he was even more miserable there, so he took a pity on him. So, she "forced" him to raise her kid more in quotation marks.

I was more surprised by the fact that the mom was just an air stewardess. Isn't that a young woman's job? It's not exactly something you want to be doing until you retire, plus they need them nimble up there.

some companies feature ancient stewardesses, female and male.

I would love to have a young man like Jasper under my roof. Set him straight, so to speak. But in a compassionate way, not like DCI Morck. Fuck that army shit, although structure is often good for troubled young men.

You can imagine this is me, going through the course material they used at school that day. Hopefully he would be grateful enough to check in on me now and then in old age, and bury me when the time comes.

Loved the art direction, direction, characters and acting. But any mystery plot that relies on a lookalike villain veers into "soap opera, surprise evil twin" territory for me. I assume it was a similar plot device in the book too, but it's a cheat in fiction as well. A huge part of any great mystery is for the viewer/reader to reach the end and think "It was all right there in the clues! Why didn't I solve it?" But when the revelation is a twist kept hidden from the audience, it takes the fun out of it. But I'd watch another season for the characters. Slow Horses is miles better though.

Another great British show with numerous plot holes. Considering (the rest of) the writing is so good, it's disappointing.

The "four years" is a big problem for me, too, but I haven't finished yet so maybe I'll get some answers to my questions. I'm hoping for some resolutions of plot holes when it ends because they are obvious and many.

Plot holes just don't bother me like they used to.

There are no answers to plot holes. That is what they are.

One year of captivity would not have been enough, you need enough time for the people to move on and the missing person to be semi-forgotten. Hence the newly-established cold case department reopening her case.

Is there any point in starting a thread just for - and specific to - this show, or is this thread serving the purpose? I wonder how many more people would contribute if they saw the name of the show - 'Dept Q' - in the title.

Yeah, I get the whole plot hole thing and I am also getting used to them - recent example is plot hole ridden 'Black Doves', which I liked very much - but sometimes what initially appears as a plot hole to me is in reality something I missed or didn't understand. That's more what I meant by resolution by the end.

[quote]The "four years" is a big problem for me,

I think in the book she was even held captive for 5 years

r36 I was wondering that as well. However, I created last season's Slow Horses thread and there were only like one or two posters in there, and I think they're both here anyway. I don't know how much appeal a show like this has on DL, unless there's someone like Kate Winslet in it.

Gave it a try. Maybe we can copy a few comments from here to there.