Dept. Q

Say what you will about Jussi Adler-Olsen, his novels about the unorthodox investigator Carl Mørck, and classic crime stories such as the {Department Q} books, but they have been a huge success - not just here at home but all over the world, riding the wave of the "Nordic Noir" fascination abroad, which has ensured similar success for other Scandinavian murder mysteries over the past 20 years.

It was therefore inevitable that {Department Q} would be picked up internationally in the long run, but instead of a grandiose film adaptation, Netflix has acquired the rights to bring us a different take on the same story, roughly known to many Danes as "Kvinden i Buret" or "The Keeper of Lost Causes", the first book in a series of now 11 books.

And Netflix actually takes a number of creative risks with the source material, which makes this a rather compelling and ultimately captivating and well-constructed crime series that deserves special credit for taking what could probably be called a fairly solid narrative and playing around with time and place.

You see, this is the story of Carl Mørck, Akram Salim, and Merete Lynggaard, but instead of giving us a kind of interpretation of the Danish legal system, the Danish landscape, and Danish cultural norms, the series moves the action all the way to Scotland, and not only uses primarily Scottish actors with the thickest accents you can imagine, but also anchors the story in Scottish geography, scenography, and culture.

It may be a bit of a gimmick, and loyal fans of the novel may scoff at this need to make the setting more relatable to an English-speaking audience, but this is far from the typical "Americanisation" we see in Hollywood interpretations. This is suddenly an exciting insight into Scotland as a nation, as a culture, and as a place, which is effectively portrayed over the nine episodes that it lasts - and at the same time, the primary narrative about {The Keeper of Lost Causes} is also handled with grace and elegance. The plot is there, but this different setting is woven seamlessly into the narrative.

Matthew Goode is therefore "Carl Morck" and does a creditable job, especially after his character breaks a little more with his almost caricatured framework after a few episodes. Morck is supposed to be "unlikeable", an anti-hero, a failed but extremely talented police officer who struggles with inner demons, but at first Goode directs his sarcastic energy at everyone, and eventually you find yourself rolling your eyes every time he does, and that happens far too often. Fortunately, as the series progresses, Morck begins to direct all his apathy and anger towards solving this case, and the series therefore takes shape and finishes much stronger than it starts.

Goode is assisted by Alexej Manvelov, who does a masterful job as Akram Salim. Like Fares Fares in the otherwise fine Danish film based on the same novel, he is the anchor of the story, the catalyst that gets Morck out of his chair, and he is undoubtedly the series' most convincing, lively, and credible character. The rest of the cast also delivers, from psychologist Kelly Macdonald, who plays Rachel Irving, and in particular Chloe Pirrie, who has the far more physical and demanding task of playing the victim, Merrit Lingard.

The result is suitably dark, but also a little easier to digest than many similar Nordic-inspired crime stories, where there is a little more room for a smile, a cheeky remark, or real justice in a world that can seem dark and depressing.

It takes {Dept. Q} (the name of the series) a few episodes to get going, and it also takes Goode a few episodes to open up the Morck character, but {Dept. Q} is undoubtedly recommendable, and considering how well they finish, there is every reason to keep an eye on what the showrunners behind it come up with next.