Dept. Q episode 2 recap: Carl struggles with the past and the search for Merritt begins

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 2.

The episode begins on the container with Merritt trapped inside. She’s being watched on a camera and the walls of the container have names and criminal charges scribbled all over it. She opens a small door to take out a delivery of toilet paper. She’s also given fruit and water. Merritt takes a shower in the middle of the container from a small vent and continues to scribble names; “Kirsty Atkins, drug possession, 2017”.

Elsewhere, Akram tells Carl there were 18 cameras with eyes on Merritt when she was on the ferry and she just disappeared. Carl thinks she fell overboard. They then discuss the possibility of someone pushing her over, but they figure someone would’ve seen it happen. Then, Akram suggests she was kidnapped. But Carl thinks kidnapping someone at sea on a ferry is a bad idea. Also, he raises the question as to why there wasn’t a ransom.

Moira comes down to see them. She wants the report of the first case. Carl and her argue over him finding a case, but Akram steps in and presents her with Merritt Lingard’s. He explains that there were no witnesses, but also no body found. Moira remembers that Merritt was a prosecutor that many people would’ve wanted dead. As Moira leaves, Carl is angry at Akram for showing Moira the case.

Upstairs, DCI Bruce is discussing the Leith Park shooting with another officer. They’re looking at the witness, Caroline Kerr. Carl interrupts and says that Caroline knows everyone in that area and DCI Bruce says they’re watching her and they haven’t seen anyone with her. Carl says that whoever did this would be watching them watch her. Carl mentions the name Fergus Dunbar and says he wants to talk to him. The other officers say he’s in rehab at a weird church.

Carl goes to visit Fergus. He’s an ex-policeman. Carl asks him about Merritt and says he’s thinking of reopening the case. Fergus says he’s not getting blamed for not finding her because he had the water and coastline searching for weeks. He also says he interviewed everyone on the ferry and the other boat in the water that day. Nothing was found, apart from the footage of the brother who was fighting Merritt. They arrested him, but determined it wasn’t him. He was still the only witness that day.

Back at Dept. Q, Akram is praying and Carl interrupts him to demand the name of Merritt’s brother. Akram reveals he's called William and he lives in a treatment facility called Egley House. They go together to pay the facility a visit. In the car, Akram talks about his daughters and explains they came to Edinburgh because his wife was a surgeon in Syria. When Carl asks again if he worked for the police, he takes a moment and sighs, answering yes.

At Egley House, they’re told by the owner that William isn’t allowed visitors. She says she allowed officers to question him before and it made him worse. She tells Carl that William has aphasia, meaning his language, expression and comprehension is damaged. She explains that while he used to make some non-verbal communication, now he won’t interact with anyone. Instead, he draws.

Carl pushes to see William, but the woman in charge of the facility says she is now his legal guardian, as decided by the court, and she'll protect him. She says she’s done and if they want to speak again, he’ll need to come with a warrant. Carl says he’ll come back with one, but not just for William, for the financial records too.

As she leaves, Akram finds out from the front desk that William does still have one visitor, despite what they were told. It's a woman that comes once a week, Mrs. Claire Marsh, the housekeeper. Then, they set off to visit Claire and as they leave, William watches from the window. At Claire’s, Carl knocks on the door, but there’s no answer. Akram says he hears something and heads round the back of the house, jumping the fence. Claire is in the greenhouse.

They ask her about Merritt Lingard and her brother, William. She says she hasn’t thought of them in years, but Carl says he knows about her visits to Egley House. She invites them in for tea and says she’s protective of William. She reveals it was only Merritt and William and when Dr Wallace found William at a care facility, she wanted to study him. Claire reveals that William suffered serious head trauma in an accident when he was 16, but Merritt wouldn’t tell her what exactly happened.

Carl asks about the fight on the boat and Claire explains that William used to get frustrated. When he asks if he was ever violent with Claire, she says never. Carl asks how Merritt was in the weeks up to her disappearance. Claire explains she was on edge about a case, but that was not unusual. She would keep her work and home separate, living in the middle of nowhere. Claire says she didn’t even know about the trip Merritt and William were taking until she turned up to work and they were gone. She says William would’ve done anything for Merritt and that Merritt wouldn’t leave him on his own like she did.

Afterwards, Carl gets a call from his son, Jasper’s, headteacher. She says she hasn’t seen Jasper at school that day. Carl goes home to the same loud music and cuts the electricity. Martin comes out of his room and they hear adult videos playing in Jasper’s room, so they wait. Then, Jasper comes out of his room with a girl. They get their bags and leave.

Akram comes to visit Rose at her desk. He wants all the files to do with Merritt Lingard. She says Carl is up to something and that he’ll be using Akram. She said she knows because she was a junior on his old team before he got shot. Akram asks how she got into the job she has now and she says she had a minor issue, but won't say what. She agrees to get him the records.

In the bathroom, Rose takes a pill as Moira walks in. She asks Moira if she can get back out on the field and that she hasn’t had an episode in months. Moira tells her it’s not the right time and while she tries to argue that Carl has been allowed his own department, Moira doesn’t want to discuss it any further.

Carl goes to visit the therapist again, Dr. Irving. She says they should talk about the fact he blames himself for Hardy getting shot. She says he made a mistake. She then asks him why he came back and he says because he was ordered to. When she argues that he wouldn’t follow orders, he says he came because she’s pretty and he wanted to see her again. He notes she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring last time he was there. Taken aback, she offers to start over. He steps out and says he’ll come back in again, but instead he drives off.

When Carl goes to visit Hardy at the hospital, he’s not there and the bed is being made. While Carl begins to panic, Hardy is wheeled back into his room and lifted back into bed. When he tries to make conversation, Hardy is short with him. So, he leaves, but he drops off Merritt’s file first.

It cuts to Merritt in her container, sleeping on a small bed on the floor. The lights come on outside, waking her up. Now, an older woman and a man are in the room above and this time, the woman comes to the microphone and says, “Good morning, Merritt”. She says they’ve returned from their holiday and the man talks about their time away. The woman says she didn’t want to miss today and when Merritt asks what today is, she says it’s the end of the month.

For this, they turn on all the lights and ask her why she’s there. She recites the name of one of the people she's had convicted, Kirsty Atkins. It cuts to Merritt visiting Kirsty in prison. Kirsty has asked her to come and asks about Merritt offering to help her if she testified in court, but Merritt said they tried that and Kirsty wasted her time.

Kirsty mentions Graham Finch being free. She says before she says anymore, she wants her sentence suspended. While Merritt tries to deny her request, Kirsty says she knew Graham Finch’s wife, meeting her at a Women’s Aid refuge two years ago. Merritt says Kirsty would have to testify in court, but Kirsty wants out. She says she can’t get her out until she testifies. Kirsty gets angry and goes to grab her violently. Kirsty is restrained by officers and pulled away as Merritt leaves.

The voices over the speaker ask Merritt why she didn’t help Kirsty. Merritt says she thought Kirsty was lying and starts to cry. The older woman says that Merritt is the one who needs to pay and she should feel good getting it all out there. Merritt says it feels very good. Merritt tries to guess that the people talking to her know Kirsty. When they laugh, she continues to guess more names, but they said she’d guessed them all already. She says she doesn’t want to play anymore of these games and she’d rather die. They reply that she could’ve stopped eating or found another way, if she really wanted to.

At Dept. Q, Carl calls a woman named Victoria and reaches her voicemail. He says he doesn’t know why he’s calling, but he talks about Jasper and how he’s got a girl he’s sleeping with and hasn’t been to school. He says though they thought Jasper would be better off with him, he thinks Jasper should go and Carl would be better off alone. He’s interrupted by Merritt’s old boss arriving. He introduces himself as Stephen Burns.

Stephen says he’s there because he knows Carl is reopening the case and Carl asks about how Stephen and Merritt were working on the Finch case together. Carl says that Merritt wouldn’t have liked losing and Stephen says she wanted to go straight back after them.

Carl then asks Stephen why he told the police he thought Merritt had taken her own life. He says he thinks she was upset about losing the case, but that she had a dark side. Stephen asks Carl if he thinks Merritt is still out there and he says no. Akram comes in and tells Carl that a press conference is about to happen upstairs that he needs to go to. They leave and Moira meets him as a press liaison hands him a statement to read.

In the press conference, Moira introduces the new department and signals Carl to stand. He reveals, thanks to the pre-written statement, that they’re reopening Merritt’s case. It cuts to the older woman watching over Merritt listening to the news. She’s angry. When a member of the press asks Carl if there has been any new evidence, he says he can’t disclose. He’s then asked multiple questions about Leith Park, including the accusation that him and Hardy knew Archie Allen, the man who was stabbed, because he was a paid informant. Carl is ushered off as it becomes too much.

It cuts to William watching the news. He grabs the TV and throws it out the window. He then charges downstairs. As Dr. Wallace goes to his room, she sees that he’s run off and screams after him. Meanwhile, Carl leaves the police station and starts to have a panic attack, remembering the shooting over and over again. Akram finds him and tells him to breathe. As they sit together on the side of the street, Akram tells Carl not to interrupt him when he’s praying again and Carl agrees.

All episodes of Dept. Q are available to stream on Netflix.