Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Copenhagen, 2018. A frightening discovery is made in an old apartment. The subsequent investigation of Department Q leads them to an infamous institution for girls that was suddenly closed in the early sixties.
The fourth Department Q entry follows the established Nordic noir formula competently — cold case linked to historical institutional abuse, morally complex detectives, grim Danish atmosphere — but offers little that distinguishes it from its predecessors or the broader Scandinavian crime wave. The 1960s institution storyline provides genuine dramatic weight and the dual timeline structure works reasonably well, keeping tension alive. Acting from Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Fares Fares remains reliably solid, their odd-couple chemistry a franchise strength, though the ensemble rarely surprises. Cinematography is polished but workmanlike — appropriately bleak and desaturated without any standout visual choices. Novelty is the weak point: by the fourth installment the template is firmly set and this entry recycles familiar Department Q beats without reinventing anything. The ending resolves satisfyingly within genre expectations but lacks the punch to elevate it above the series average.