The Biggest 'Dept Q' Theories About Moira, Carl's Mysterious Boss

Elle

22-06-2025

While Dept. Q actually tied up its central mystery regarding Merritt Lingard at the end of season 1, it also left us wanting more. There are still loads of questions about what really happened to Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) and James Hardy (Jamie Sives) at that shooting—could their commanding officer, Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie), have something to do with it?
Maybe we've been watching too many detective dramas, but when it comes to who you can trust in your local grizzly police department full of troubled souls, it's usually a short list. With that in mind, we had to get a few thoughts and theories off our chest.
At several points through the last episodes of Dept Q, we see Moira doing some kind of immersion therapy with spiders. Her fear of spiders is signposted at the beginning of the series and then we continue to see her surveying case files with a fake spider nearby and some kind of audio playing, designed to help you conquer your fears.
But what does it all mean? Is it just one of Moira's quirks? Or should we start drawing big predictable metaphors about Moira being trapped in a spider's web? Is she at the heart of something she doesn't know how to escape?
Could it be that Moira uses the spider fear tapes when she's looking at something that she really fears? Like double immersion therapy? If that was the case, it would signal that when Moira is looking at the Leith Park case file (the one that pertains to Carl and James's shooting), there's something in there she's really scared of. And if that's the case...
As the new Dept. Q team assembles in their toilet basement home, we see Hardy returning to the office for the first time, when he's approached by Jacobson.
'Hardy, when you get yourself all sorted down there, I have something I'd like you to look at,' she says.
'Something for me and Carl?' asks Hardy.
'Something for you.'
Returning to her desk, Jacobson looks meaningfully at the Leith Park file and closes it, revealing that spider again. Why does she want Hardy to look at the case file without Morck? Could it just be that she thinks he offers a different point of view—or is she worried that Morck is leading the case in a certain way and he could be covering something up?
What's going on with all the new computers and screens? And why can't Dept. Q get any of the budget that's theirs?
With the department suffering from slashed budgets and low conviction rates, Jacobson seems to open Dept. Q to unlock a new budget stream, which she then uses to spend on everyone but them.
It could just be a case of smart spreadsheeting and unlocking funds to do more community policing, but it seems like the cash is being wastefully thrown about—we feel like there's more to it. Is Moira setting Carl up to fail? (Let's not forget the press conference she throws him into, knowing full well he's not ready for it.)
Sure, we're supposed to believe Carl Morck is one of the best detectives on the Edinburgh force, but it does feel like the team investigating the shooting of their colleague are perhaps deliberately sub-par.
Why did it take Morck to realize that there was never a daughter that could've called in a welfare check on the original victim? That seems like a day-one discovery.
Are we supposed to believe that Morck is the only decent detective on the force, or has Jacobson deliberately chosen a team who will overlook certain details?