Midnight Special

Based on the Danish novel "The Keeper of Lost Causes" by Jussi Adler-Olsen and no doubt the 2013 Danish film, the Scottish series, "Dept.Q" cant quite fill the boots, of its scandi crime thriller, counterpart.

Lets look at the positives. The acting is undeniably superb. This series is backed by a strong cast, of veteran UK actors. As a result, the complex characterisations, are brought to full bodied life.

The script sensibly, adheres to a similar core story, to the one found in the Danish film, too. Its dark, disturbing and at times creepily unsettling, stuff.

Where it falls down, is its re-invention, of the main character.
Morck is presented as an "angry man", "the devil", ready to violently explode. By contrast, the Danish film's Morck is driven not by rage but instead, a meticulously obsessive, crime solver personality. One that brushes aside social norms and conventions, to close the case.

In summary, if you can look past the measure of sabotage, of the main character, then there's a decent crime drama on offer. Its not as outstanding, as its Scandinavian counterpart but its still compelling enough, to warrant a look.

Well-written and acted; especially Goode, Pirrie and Manvelov - but seriously, all of the actors were great. Also, a nice blend of humor and dark themes.
My only problem is with the Lyle Jennings angle. Merritt knew Lyle, and even though he would have changed due to age, she would have recognized him. I'm guessing some of us have known someone since we were in grade school or more recently, and were able to recognize them decades later. It's unlikely he would have been able to pass himself off as someone else to her.

"Haven't I seen this before? Department Q... [PONDERS] Wasn't this a movie?!"

At the end of episode 1, I was a bit confused, because I distinctly remembered watching something with [INSERT EPISODE 1 SPOILERS].

For about an hour after, I sat wondering if I should bother watching the rest of it because I've seen the movie adaptation from some years ago, so I know the general gist of the plot.

I decided to watch it anyway because the cast is good.

I'm not on the final episode of season 1 and I can safely say that even if you have watched the movie, you should still watch the series. It is well-acted and well-made.

"MovieGuys" brings up a point in their review, that the series falters in the characterization of the main character, "Morck". The bit that "MovieGuys" seems to not be aware of is that despite how successful those initial movies were, the writer of the novels did not like them, partially because the characters strayed from his vision, and after the fourth movie, the characters were recast and the writer and producer were replaced.

Don't let your nostalgia of the first movie (or any of the first four movies), as successful as it was, overshadow the performances in this new series. "Morck" is still a "meticulously obsessive, crime solver", he's just also an arsehole with a superiority complex and anger issues.

**SPOILERS AHEAD:**

I agree with "Darryl Oliver's" point concerning Lyle Jennings though. I feel like Merrick would have recognized Lyle. Some people become unrecognizable from weight gain or weight loss but Lyle's bodytype didn't change that much. He just got older and bulked up some.

I'm looking forward to future seasons since I do not recall seeing any of the movies other than the first one, and I haven't read the books.