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Any well -revised criminal drama that makes many comparisons with Brilliant Slow Horses of Apple TV will easily gain a place on my Watch list, but as soon as the Q department struck Netflix last week, I hit the game without hesitation. The reason why I was so in a hurry to dive is that I live in Edinburgh – the city where the new detective show takes place.
Edinburgh is often used as a set of filming, but most of the time, it simply provides a picturesque and / or historical backdrop for a television program or a film – it is more of the aesthetic effect rather than playing a central role in the plot.
The Q department is different. The detective blasé Carl Morck, played by a Grizzled Matthew Goode, who recoveries a shooting who killed a police officer, almost killed him and paralyzed his partner during a call, was responsible for leading a new diving department in the cold cases of Edinburgh. The case that Goode chooses, as well as the circumstances surrounding his shooting, has complex and knotty links with the Judicial system of Edinburgh and the criminal world.
Here, the city offers more than a pretty horizon line – it entered the foreground, the key players moving between the great courts of the famous Royal Mile d’Edinburgh and the dirty parts of the city that tourists never see. As a person who calls Edinburgh at home, I am more than familiar with the monuments, but I do not recognize the side of the city I see in the show at all. This does not mean that it is not correct.
The Château d’Edinburgh is obviously a familiar spectacle for me.
Of course, Edinburgh is not exactly a home of violent crimes compared to the other cities of the United Kingdom and certainly compared to the cities of the United States. During the five years that I have lived here, I only remember one deadly shooting making the news. But I also fully recognize that the majority of organized crime is often hidden at the sight of those who are not immersed in this world.
On occasion, violent incidents, police raids or tests spread, sending undulations of anxiety in the neighborhoods and emerging in the headlines. But artistic representations, although often exaggerated for a dramatic effect, can expose us to versions of places that could remain hidden.
As a city famous for its beauty, often considered minor and rather calm, it is interesting to see Edinburgh depicts as a place much more than the tourist ideal. Not since the 1996 film, Trainspotting has a less romantic vision of the city on the screen.
The Q department was not originally originally in Edinburgh – it is in fact adapted from a Danish novel of the same name – but as a resident, I appreciated the way it provided a different perspective on the place I know and that I love. It was also fun to identify parts of the city that I know intimately appear in a relatively high show – the view of the castle from the outside of my favorite independent record store, for example.
There are a lot of defects with DEPT Q, Little Niggles (which local journalist can afford to drive a Porsche?) To rhythm problems – especially in the first episode. The intrigue is so fleshy that it sometimes becomes convoluted. But despite all that, I found myself standing in front of my bedtime to watch “just one more episode” – like my husband and I were saying with a lateral look, fully aware that we would succumb to a complete frenzy.
Is it perfect? No. Am I already in mind after season 2? Absolutely. Hopefully Edinburgh will be even greater in future episodes? I ask well – Yes, please.
