This week I watched
Dept. Q (2025) on Netflix. Set in Edinburgh, it stars Matthew Goode as a detective who is assigned to a newly formed cold case unit.
It was pretty good. (Spoilers)
It's based on a novel series and felt like it, not necessarily in a bad way. It had a bit more graphic violence & gore than I wanted to see, and a major part of the mystery they're investigating is highly disturbing, especially if you have claustrophobia.
Matthew Goode's character falls into the "brilliant asshole" type of detective, which I'm bored with, but Goode played it well and there were signs that he cares a little beneath his assholish exterior. I liked the rest of the team: Rose, Hardy, but especially Akram. I loved Akram!
Good to see Mark Bonnar again. :D
Mystery-wise? Meh. I think I'm too jaded. I had the whodunnit figured out early and could guess at why they did it, despite some major details kept until the final reveals. I'm always bothered by elaborate revenge schemes that involve sizable infrastructure and investment, and though the show leaned heavily into the disturbing atmosphere of it, I could never shake my feeling of "oh puhlease." At least there was some explanation for how they happened to have such things lying around, but I kept wondering about their electricity bills... But the thing that bugged me the most was that it took 4 years for Merritt to figure it out. Really? When she had literally nothing else to do?
Mehness about the mystery aside... I'd watch another season of it should there be one. Mainly for Akram. But also because I'm curious about the unsolved shooting that is probably going to lead to a major corruption scandal because these things usually do. And it was fun to see Edinburgh. For something completely different in tone, I started watching the Japanese series
Inheritance Detective | 相続探偵 (2025), also on Netflix, because it stars Akaso Eiji, who played Adachi in
Cherry Magic. I've only watched one episode so far but I enjoyed it enough to keep watching. It has the adapted-from-a-manga style and feel, but I'm kind of used to that by now.
After a groupwatch of it, I'm rewatching the Korean BL
Love Tractor | 트랙터는 사랑을 싣고 (2023). It's short (8 episodes of ~25 minutes each) and sweet, with humor and the right amount of seriousness. Great for escapist distraction.
New promo pics are out for upcoming
The Truth 3 Bai Yu costumes.
(Don't ask me. But compare it to
Liu Yuning's look for the same case.)
(IDEK) I feel like this season the show figured out half of the fun for the audience is seeing them dressed up in outlandish costumes and decided to run with it. (I don't think anything will top
the pirate look, though.)