Speak Up Saturday

[feurioo]

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

Comments

[feurioo]

What did you think of Dept. Q?

[shadowkat]

I agree with the critics, great characters and performances, but poorly plotted. I had to explain the plot to my mother who got lost in the last couple of episodes. And I had to rewatch an episode to figure it out. It has very convoluted plotting that didn't quite work, which is a problem in the mystery genre. I got very frustrated by the plotting. Apparently it closely follows the books, except for the location, which may have been a mistake. (I wouldn't know I've not read the books? But I've noticed that those who did - had no issues following the plot and loved it. So it may work better for you - if you read the books first? Don't know.)

It does what a lot of mystery shows do - attempt to throw the audience off course with a lots of twists and turns. Except the twists and turns don't make a lot of sense. And various timelines don't quite fit.

I got a bit lost in it. Not helped by the fact that the main mystery is a bit horrific like something out of Criminal Minds. It's a very dark and gritty series, with a lot of graphic violence - some of which is towards women.

But Mathew Goode is excellent in it, and it has some interesting characters who are very compelling. I'd watch S2 for the characters. And I really liked the characters. But whomever is responsible for the plotting, sucks at plotting. (I've been told it's the original writer - so maybe they need to veer away from the source material?)

[feurioo]

I enjoyed the characters too much for the plot to be a big issue for me, but there was at least one twist that I rolled my eyes at. I was also a little disappointed that there was no resolution to the first mystery. If there is a second season, I hope we will finally get more answers.

[shadowkat]

I felt much the same way. The characters made it possible for me to handwave the plot. I want a second season - because there is no resolution to the first mystery in the first season - and I was actually more interested in it.