Dept. Q: Season 1, Episode 8 - Episode 8 (2025)

Carl Morck arrives at a car garage and greets Caroline Kerr in the office, introducing himself as he mentions remembering her walking past that day in Leith Park. Caroline denies seeing them, but Carl presses that while she is lying, he is not there to discuss that, instead asking if she knew PC Anderson since they both grew up in Leith Park. She insists she does not know him or any crime connected to him. Carl then heads toward Charlie Bell, holds out a gun toward him, and armed officers raise their guns as DCI Bruce arrests Charlie. As Carl walks away, Charlie calls after him, antagonizing him about Hardy, prompting Carl to turn and shoot Charlie in the head. Hardy suddenly appears in his hospital gown and says, "now he's done it." Carl then wakes up at home, realizing it was a dream while holding the case file on Caroline Kerr and Charlie Bell, and he takes the notebook next to his bed to write down the dream.

Carl meets Rachel at a restaurant where she is on a date, having pinged her phone to find her, and she demands he leave because she is meeting someone. Carl insists on telling her about his dream of repeatedly shooting people from his past, but Rachel asks if he hears gunshots or reloads, and when he questions the meaning, she says she does not care. Rachel's date arrives, and she introduces Carl as her brother who is leaving, so Carl departs.

Merritt Lingard's captor brings her back into the hyperbaric chamber, delivering a monologue about caring for her and remembering their time together.

A flashback reveals that Merritt conspired with her high school boyfriend Harry Jennings to steal her mother's jewelry to raise money for a new life, but her younger brother William intervened during the robbery, leading Harry to injure William badly and cause a traumatic brain injury.

Merritt realizes her captivity stems from Harry Jennings, whom she loved but who attacked William into a coma and later died, with Ailsa, Harry's mother, blaming Merritt for his death.

Ailsa confronts Merritt with rage over her son Harry's death, but Merritt defiantly refuses to apologize to Ailsa or Harry's psychotic brother for what Harry did to William.

Merritt stands up straight, spreads her arms, and declares Harry deserved to die, preparing for what she believes will be her death.

Someone pounds heavily on one of the windows, and when Merritt looks, she sees Sam's hurt face outside.

Merritt identifies Sam as her lover who was actually Lyall Jennings, Harry's brother, who has been posing as Sam Haig in disguise to remain undetected.

Merritt processes that Sam's behavior toward her at the cemetery was manipulation, with every word chosen to make her feel small, unbalanced, uncertain, and lacking confidence, convincing her she was in a world she did not understand while he did.

A local police constable on Mhòr hears Merritt's mysterious 911 call where she only screams and travels to Ailsa's residence.

The constable finds Merritt inside the hyperbaric chamber and is approached by Lyall Jennings.

The constable says to Lyall, "Boy, tell me I am not looking at what I'm looking at. Tell me that is not Merritt fucking Lingard."

Lyall murders the police constable, having previously told others that Merritt fell overboard on the ferry, describing it as poetic justice for what happened to Harry years earlier.

The Dept. Q team learns that when Lyall was a teenager, he kidnapped another kid and locked them in a hyperbaric chamber for several days.

Carl and Akram decide to visit Lyall's mother Ailsa at her trailer, receiving no response.

Carl and Akram enter an industrial building on Ailsa's land and discover the murdered police constable.

Nearby, they find the hyperbaric chamber with Merritt inside and rush to the control room to stop the pressure from increasing, which would kill her.

Carl surprises Merritt's boss, Lord Advocate Stephen Burns, and asks him to officially allow Akram, a refugee from Syria, to become a police detective.

In return, Carl promises he will not tell anyone about Stephen's involvement in the witness tampering that took place in Merritt's final case before her kidnapping.

In the finale of Dept. Q Season 1 Episode 8, Carl Morck and his team rescue Merritt Lingard from her captors, Lyle and Ailsa Jennings, after a violent confrontation; Lyle is killed, Ailsa shoots herself, and Dept. Q secures a brighter future through blackmail.

The Dept. Q team--Carl Morck, Akram, and Rose--realize there are two different Sam Haigs involved in the case, one connected to Merritt Lingard and Paul Evans, which rejuvenates their stalled investigation into her four-year disappearance. They track leads to Mhor in the Scottish Highlands, near where Merritt grew up, and head to the property owned by Ailsa Jennings and her son Lyle, the duo behind the kidnapping. Carl and Akram arrive first at Ailsa's land, finding no response at her trailer, so they enter an industrial building nearby. Inside, they discover the body of Constable Cunningham, murdered by Lyle, lying on the floor. Moments later, they locate the hyperbaric chamber where Merritt has been held captive for years, its pressure controls in a nearby room showing signs of increasing dangerously. As they rush to the control room to stop the pressure buildup that could kill Merritt, Lyle ambushes them from the shadows. Lyle opens fire, and Carl dives in front of Akram, taking a bullet in the shoulder to protect him. Akram fights back fiercely, disarming Lyle with skilled hand-to-hand combat using a concealed dagger technique, then kills Lyle by stabbing him fatally. With Lyle dead on the ground, Carl and Akram free Merritt from the chamber; she emerges weakened but alive, her face pale and marked by years of isolation, and they rush her to safety. Merritt is soon reunited with her brother William at a hospital, the two embracing tearfully as she learns of the events that led to her captivity tied to their shared past with Harry Jennings, Ailsa's other son and Merritt's high school boyfriend who died after attacking William.

Meanwhile, Ailsa Jennings flees the scene by boarding a ferry to escape the police closing in. Cornered with no way out, she pulls a gun from her coat, places it to her head, and shoots herself, her body slumping to the deck as officers watch from a distance.

Three months pass. Carl meets with his superior Burns in a dimly lit office, leveraging evidence of Burns' corruption from the Leith Park shooting investigation. In exchange for Carl's silence, Burns agrees to grant Dept. Q increased funding, a new car for the team, and official detective status for Akram, who stands taller now with his promotion formalized. Later, Merritt visits the Dept. Q basement headquarters, walking through the empty room with cautious steps, searching for the investigators who saved her. She nearly collides with Carl in the elevator as she exits, their eyes meeting briefly, but Carl chooses not to reveal his identity, stepping aside silently and letting her pass. In the final moments, Carl carries a heavy box of new cold case files to his cluttered desk, joined by Akram, Rose, and the recovering Detective Hardy, who has returned to work using crutches after his paralysis from the waist down in the series-opening shooting. Upstairs, head of force Moira Jacobson assigns Hardy to investigate the still-unsolved Leith Park shooting that wounded Carl and killed DC Anderson, handing him the case file as he nods determinedly.

Fates of main characters in the ending: Merritt Lingard is rescued alive, reunited with brother William, and visits Dept. Q without learning her rescuers' identities; Carl Morck survives his shoulder wound, blackmails Burns for Dept. Q's future, and continues cold case work; Akram is promoted to official detective after killing Lyle, joins Carl at the desk; Rose remains part of the core team, present at the desk; Lyle Jennings is killed by Akram during the ambush; Ailsa Jennings shoots herself dead on the ferry; Detective Hardy walks on crutches, returns to duty on the Leith Park case; Burns yields to Carl's blackmail, funding Dept. Q; William Lingard reunites emotionally with rescued sister Merritt.

No, there is no post-credit scene in Dept. Q Season 1 Episode 8. The episode concludes with the climactic rescue sequence in the hyperbaric chamber, where Carl Morck and Akram confront and kill Lyle Jennings after he shoots Carl in the shoulder, allowing them to safely lower the pressure and extract Merritt Lingard alive, followed by Ailsa Jennings' off-screen suicide attempt as police intercept her ferry escape. Recaps describe this as the penultimate episode's tense finale without mention of any additional post-credits content, aligning with the season's structure leading into the ninth episode's three-month time jump and ambiguous Carl-Merritt encounter.

In Episode 8, Carl confronts Caroline Kerr about her rescinded testimony regarding the shooting at Leith Park. He reveals that Caroline had a relationship with PC Anderson and that the local crime racket is run by Eugene Errington. Caroline's child is actually Eugene's, which complicates the dynamics in the area. This connection is crucial as it ties Caroline, Anderson, and the criminal underworld together, influencing the investigation's direction.

Merritt Lingard's captors are revealed to be Harry Jennings' mother, Ailsa, and his brother, Lyle Jennings. Lyle has assumed the identity of Sam Haig, whom Merritt believed she was seeing. They blame Merritt for Harry's death, and this revelation explains how they were able to be in the right place at the right time during Merritt's disappearance.

The episode includes flashbacks showing Merritt and Harry Jennings in a relationship. Harry had beaten up William on a significant day, and they planned to run away together. Harry's mother was unstable, nearly burning their house down, an event blamed on Lyle. Harry considered stealing a ring from his mother to fund their escape, despite Merritt's objections. This backstory provides context for the current tensions and motivations of the characters involved in Merritt's kidnapping.

Carl experiences a dream where he lays out all the cards regarding Caroline Kerr, Anderson, and the crime racket, culminating in him shooting a man in the head, effectively solving the case. Upon waking, he scribbles the dream on a notepad but is confused about its meaning. This dream sequence symbolizes Carl's subconscious processing of the case and foreshadows developments in the investigation.

Later in the episode, Carl gate-crashes Rachel's coffee date after putting a tracker on her phone. Rachel questions him about his feelings and then asks him to leave. This interaction highlights Carl's personal struggles and his complicated relationship with Rachel, adding depth to his character amidst the unfolding case.

I cannot provide a detailed content advisory for Dept. Q Season 1 Episode 8 specifically, as the search results do not contain information about that particular episode's content, scenes, or age-appropriateness ratings.

The available search results offer only general information about the series--that it is a crime thriller adapted by Scott Frank, features a team investigating cold cases in Edinburgh, and contains emotional depth around characters' trauma and PTSD. However, they do not detail specific content warnings, violence levels, language, or potentially disturbing scenes that would appear in Episode 8.

To obtain accurate information about whether Episode 8 is family-friendly and what objectionable content it may contain, I recommend:

• Checking Netflix's official content rating and parental guidance information for the episode
• Consulting Common Sense Media or similar parental review sites, which often provide episode-specific breakdowns
• Reviewing the episode's IMDb parents guide section
• Contacting Netflix customer support directly

Since Dept. Q is a crime thriller series centered on cold cases and criminal investigations, the show likely contains mature themes typical of the genre, but I cannot specify what appears in Episode 8 without access to that information.