Dept. Q is Netflix crime drama following detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) as he deals with the guilt of a shooting that left his partner paralysed and a younger officer dead.
As Carl returns to work, he's instructed to launch Department Q, a new arm of the police tasked with reopening cold cases. His first case, a missing prosecutor called Merritt Lingard, which threatens to throw his entire world into turmoil.
Here's a recap of everything that happened in Dept. Q episode 9.
The final episode opens on the interview with Lyle Jennings at Godhaven. He’s asked about his eye and he says he’s been hit harder there, at school and at home. He says they always deserved it because they were ungrateful. The interviewer asks if they’re his words and he says, "well, she didn’t really say anything". When asked who, Lyle says their mother. He explains that sometimes she wouldn’t talk to them for months. He says that not talking was worse than the beatings, but not as bad as the hyperbar. The interviewer asks what the hyperbar is and Lyle explains it’s a hyperbaric chamber. He explains it’s used on divers to help them acclimatise.
The interviewer asks if their mother put them in there as punishment. He says she did. He explains that he didn’t know how long they spent in there because she’d turn the lights on and off, but that him and Harry looked after each other. He says that after Harry died, she’d put them in there. The interviewer probes who the “them” is if Harry was dead and he said Harry was in there with him. Lyle explains that Harry would never leave him. When the interviewer asks if he’s a ghost, Lyle is offended. Then, he asks Lyle if Harry is there now, to which Lyle starts laughing.
The interviewer then asks about Sam Haig. When he asks why Lyle is bothering him and getting into fights, Lyle says that Sam is Harry. He says that Harry only beat him up for bothering him, but if he didn’t follow him around, Harry would be dead. While he talks, he smiles. When the interviewer tries to make Lyle understand that Harry is dead and that the other kid is Sam Haig, he can’t comprehend. He continues to say it’s Harry.
Carl, Rose, Hardy and Akram discuss where Lyle is now. Rose says she can’t find records of him after he was transferred to the EPD unit at Rampton, meaning Enhanced Personality Disorder. She says she found a L Jennings living at an address in Longay six years ago and that’s right across the way from Mhor. But, they don’t know if it’s Lyle as everything’s just in L. But, Rose reveals this L worked for the ferry. Rose says she spoke to his landlady, who is going to send over L’s driving license. Carl says they need to find Lyle and Hardy says if Lyle wanted to kill Merritt, he would have done it already.
At the police station, DCI Bruce comes to see Moira. She says they’ve gotten nowhere with Leith Park. He corrects her saying they think they’ve found a link between the victim and PC Anderson. They’ve found out that although Anderson said he was there because the victim's daughter called him to do a wellness check, he didn't have a daughter. She asks Bruce how he got the information and realizing that Carl has been helping, she threatens to take the case from Bruce. He says he can finish the case himself and she says to do it or she will take him off it.
The constable on Mhor, John Cunningham, goes to visit Ailsa, Lyle and Harry's mum. He takes off his walkie-talkie and leaves it in the car. She answers the door. John says that he got a 999 call the other day that pinged to where she is and it came from Ailsa’s mobile. She says she just watches TV all day, so John asks her how she got the bruise on her face. John asks if Ailsa’s son is around and that it’s not safe for her if he is. He asks if he was responsible for the bruise. John says he warned Lyle not to come around here again and Ailsa says he’s not there, he lives with a woman in Longay. As he goes to leave, he says he’ll come round more often.
As John goes to drive off, he stops to listen to the audio from the 999 call again. He listens to the echo-y screams of a woman. He decides to take a look around. Meanwhile, the pressure and heat has been turned up in the chamber. As Merritt looks out the window, she sees John’s face looking back at her. But, Lyle walks up to him and John asks him if he’s looking at what he thinks he’s looking at. He asks Lyle if he remembers their deal, that Merritt had fallen overboard on the ferry. He grabs Lyle and throws him to the ground. But, Lyle grabs a hammer from the floor and tells John to go and next time he comes back, Merritt will be gone. He says he can’t do that this time. So, Lyle beats him to death with the hammer.
Claire and William come to Dept. Q and Carl shows them a picture of Harry Jennings and asks William if he’s a good guy. William nods. So, Carl asks him why Harry attacked him. It cuts back to that night. William hears a noise in the house and grabs his hockey stick. When Harry walks into the room, William whacks him across the head before he realises who it is. It cuts back to Carl talking about how the constable on Mhor said Harry was angry and was always getting into fights, yet he didn’t have a criminal record. But, Lyle Jennings had one and was sent to Godhaven right after Harry died.
As William remembers that night, he looks at Harry on the ground as Harry apologises, Lyle appears from behind with the hockey stick and beats William savagely until Harry stops him. Harry asks him why he’s there and Lyle says he thought Harry was going to run off with Merritt. Harry tells him to go outside and get in the car. Lyle says it was good he was there or Harry would be dead. Knowing this not to be true, Harry knocks Lyle out and drags him out the house.
Back at Dept. Q, William stands up and appears angry, but Claire explains he’s not actually angry, he’s scared. Then, Akram notes that when William hit Merritt on the boat it was really because he was scared because he’d seen Lyle. They show him the photo of Lyle from his driver’s license and William nods. They realise that Lyle beat William that night and that Lyle is the man he was trying to draw all this time, wearing the hat.
Carl goes to Moira and says they need a coastguard to get to Mhor as soon as possible to see Ailsa and find out where her son is. Carl and Akram sit in the car on the ferry and Akram says that Rose can’t find the constable on Mhor. His son, Colin, hasn’t heard from him since yesterday morning. Carl grows suspicious that the constable never mentioned Lyle and instead painted Harry as the violent one.
At the chamber, Lyle is throwing away Merritt’s things and has shaved his beard. He looks at a photo of his time at Godhaven. He recalls when Sam Haig visited him and says he wanted to write about the place. Lyle says Sam doesn’t need his permission, but Sam wants him to be okay with it. Sam says he’s sorry for what he did to Lyle at Godhaven and that he wanted to make amends.
Lyle starts asking how Sam found him and Sam says it’s what he does. As Lyle tries to ask more about finding someone, Sam jokes that Lyle is trying to stalk someone. Sam says you just have to fake it and hands him his phone number, if he ever needs anything. He invites him to come climb with him at Cullen Crag sometime. As Sam gets in his car to leave, Lyle notes his license plate number and puts on his hat to work on the ferry.
In present day, Lyle packs away photos of Sam into a bag full of climbing gear. It cuts back, now at the climbing centre. Sam’s getting into his car and notices Lyle heading in. So, he follows him. He loses sight of Lyle, but as he rounds the corner, Lyle jumps out and beats him to death with a rock. He robs him of his keys and bag before and dragging him to the crag edge. Then, he rubs climbing chalk onto Sam’s hands, attaches his gear to his belt and changes his shoes. As Sam starts to wake up, Lyle throws him over the edge. Lyle goes back to Sam’s car and locks his gear inside, taking his keys.
In the chamber, Merritt lies under the dribbling shower to cool down as the pressure and heat continues to rise. She asks for more water to drink, but she’s ignored as Lyle and Ailsa tidy everything away. Ailsa turns everything off, except the pressure. They leave her in the dark and Lyle covers up the screens with sheets. Merritt watches through the window as Lyle packs up his car. He goes to the window and tells Merritt she won’t be able to break through the plastic because his dad invented it. She asks why would she want to break it? And he says so she can kill herself with depressurisation, rather than slowly suffocate to death from the pressure.
Before he goes, Lyle admits to Merritt that he was the one who beat William, not Harry. But when Merritt goes to blame Lyle, he says it was actually her that caused it. He only had to do it because all Harry could think about was Merritt. He says he knows she feels guilty and that’s why she came back for Harry’s funeral. He says crimes always catch up to a person and leaves. Merritt recalls what she said after Graham Finch’s trial that no-one ever truly gets away with a crime. She hallucinates that Harry and Lyle were in the chamber when they were little, craving their initials into the side, “L. H.”
Elsewhere, Rose and Hardy are on a video call looking at Lyle’s young offenders file and Carl and Akram have arrived on Mhor. Akram talks about his wife and Carl says he’d like to meet her, to which Akram said she died back in Syria. He says his wife wanted his daughters to study medicine, though they’re not interested. His daughter Mina wants to become a TikTok influencer. When Carl asks Akram how his wife died, he says she operated on the wrong person.
Rose and Hardy read through Lyle’s file, noting that when he was eight he killed a dog for barking at him at a parade and committed several more animal killings at an early age. He was first sent to Godhaven for stalking a boy from school. The parents of the kid found Lyle sleeping next to their son’s bed when he was 12. Rose reads that Ailsa went to psychiatric care for 19 months after her husband died, leaving Lyle and Harry on their own. Meanwhile, Carl and Akram arrive to talk to Ailsa.
Rose then explains that Ailsa would put Lyle and Harry in the hyperbaric chamber at the Shorebird property. Lyle thought these punishments were “perfectly normal”. It cuts to Carl and Akram at the property, Akram looks in Ailsa’s window and notes that she left in a hurry. Elsewhere, Hardy reads that Ailsa acted even worse towards Lyle after Harry died. They then read that Clive died from a fire, smoking in bed with Lyle, the only other person home. They wonder if Lyle killed his own father.
At the property, Carl approaches the door and Akram warns him that Moira said not to do what he’s about to do. As Carl rattles at the door handle, Ailsa is inside holding a gun up to the door. Akram offers to open the door for Carl. Hardy and Rose continue to read, noting that Lyle lured a boy into the chamber when he was 15.
Rose calls Carl. She tells him what Lyle did as Akram points towards where they should go, instead of opening Ailsa's door. Carl thought Rose had checked the buildings, but she said one was closed off for hazardous materials and Colin wouldn’t let her in. Carl tells her to phone Colin and ask when it was shut off. Akram leads Carl towards a shredded sign, on it they can see the cormorant bird from the logo on the man’s hat.
Dept. Q ending explained
At home, Hardy looks up Shorebird Ocean Systems on his laptop and finds the same logo within the O. In the chamber, Merritt hallucinates her younger self as she lays on the floor. Rose calls Carl back and tells him Colin said it was shut a little over four years ago. Carl and Akram tell Rose they’re going to investigate. Inside, they find a police car hidden under a sheet. It’s John Cunningham’s and his dead body is in the boot. Meanwhile, Hardy is looking up hyperbaric chambers online.
Carl and Akram enter the office and start to uncover the screens. Carl turns one on and sees a woman lying on the floor inside the chamber. They head downstairs and Carl bangs on the window, seeing Merritt inside. Carl looks at the controls and sees that uncontrolled decompression can be fatal. They don’t know how to shut it off.
Meanwhile, Merritt’s speech from Finch’s trial plays over and over on the speakers. Merritt struggles to breathe as the pressure increases. Carl calls Hardy and he says he needs a second to tell Carl how to get her out safely. Hardy tells Carl that he needs to stabilise the pressure. Then, they need the Navy or the coastguard to get her out with a hyperbaric stretcher.
As they search for a level to turn the pressure down, Lyle walks in with a shotgun. Carl stands in front of Akram to shield him and is shot in the arm, throwing them both backwards. As Merritt crawls along the floor of the chamber, she shouts up at Lyle and distracts him giving Akram an opportunity to pull out a knife from his pocket and throw it at Lyle’s neck. He then grabs the barrel of Lyle's gun and takes hold of it, shooting Lyle in the face. Merritt sees Lyle’s dead body from the window and passes out.
Carl steps forwards and turns the pressure down, telling Hardy that they’re okay. Akram goes inside the chamber and tells Merritt they’re going to take her home. A helicopter arrives with Moira and William, while the emergency services remove John Cunningham’s body. Merritt is inside the hyperbaric stretcher and William smiles at her through the window, both of them holding their hands to it.
Elsewhere, Ailsa has escaped on the ferry. But, when she goes to drive off, the police are barricading her exit. She grabs the gun beside her and kills herself. Later that day, the police drop Carl home. Rachel is inside sitting with Jasper and Martin. He tells them he was shot again, but only buckshot, so he’ll be okay. Jasper wants to know what happened, but Carl says they can talk about it tomorrow. Rachel hands him a tennis ball to squeeze.
It cuts to three months later. Merritt has come to thank Moira for reopening the case. She says she’s thanked everyone in Dept. Q, but she hasn’t met Carl. She tells her he took time off. Merritt says she’s going away, too. She says she’s going to take William home to Mhor to spend time with their dad. It cuts to Stephen. Carl has paid him a visit. He tells him he’s not going to report Stephen for what happened during the Graham Finch trial. He says he can’t promise Kirsty Atkins will be as forgiving.
To this, Carl demands that Stephen is going to double his budget. Or, he corrects himself, the money he should’ve originally had in his budget. He also wants someone fast-tracked to DI rank. He’s talking about Akram. Before he goes, he also asks for a new car. At the police station, Merritt heads down to Dept. Q. She stares at the board for the investigation into her disappearance. As she leaves in the lift upstairs, she bumps into Carl but she doesn’t know who he is. He watches her go and heads back down to Dept. Q. He starts to unload more case files to look through as Rose and Akram come downstairs to join him.
Hardy comes into the office using his crutches. Moira greets him and says once he’s sorted downstairs, she has something she wants him to look at. Not for him and Carl, just for him. He heads downstairs to join the others looking for a new case to reopen, but he can’t get past the stairs. As he shouts out to Carl, he turns around and smiles.
All episodes of Dept. Q are available to stream on Netflix.
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