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Dan Da Dan
Dan Da Dan may be a comedy, but the sensuality, violence and spiritual elements within it make it a tragedy for viewers.
When Det. Chief Inspector Carl Morck survived a gunshot wound to the head, it left his Scottish police department admittedly a little disappointed.
Put simply, no one likes Carl Morck. He’s a jerk, he’s arrogant, and he’s (frustratingly) often right when it comes to cracking cases. When asked by his therapist if he feels superior to other people, Carl simply responds, “It’s a low bar, isn’t it?” It’s no surprise that all those “welcome backs” from his fellow officers likewise come with a scowl or two to match Carl’s own.
That’s when Superintendent Moira Jacobson tells Carl to pack his things. He’s not being fired; he’s being moved to the abandoned basement of the building to head up a brand-new task force down in the dusty Department Q. His job? To see if he can’t take a crack at some of the cold cases they’ve long-since allowed to collect as much dust as lies on Carl’s new desk.
In truth, Moira’s been looking for a way to boost the department’s budget, and her higherups are hoping to raise public opinion on the department’s policework. Starting this new task force will hopefully get them both what they want. But sequestering Carl’s gloomy arrogance away from the rest of the team is a bonus, too.
Carl soon cracks open the first file: Merritt Lingard. She’s been missing for four years after seemingly vanishing off the face of the Earth while riding a ferry. Carl scoffs. Her body is probably somewhere at the bottom of the sea.
But somewhere, hidden from all eyes, Merritt desperately wonders if anyone is still looking for her.
As Carl (or, more accurately, his assistant Akram) opens up file after file, determining which case to take on, he’s forced to sift through some pretty troubling stuff. And the viewer sifts through those issues right with him.
In some episodes, we see male and female nudity. In others, we watch as characters endure heavy blood loss, such as when a man’s femur snaps out of his leg, or when a woman gets tortured via her captors. We even watch as a man threatens a teen boy by saying that he’ll send other men to sexually assault him if his father doesn’t stop investigating a case against him. The f-word often feels like the show’s word of the day.
Viewers should also know that Akram’s Islamic faith pops up occasionally, too.
Carl endures much to solve his first cold case, much more than most in his position would care to do. But the audience will endure it along with him, too.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Having recovered from his traumatic injury, Det. Chief Inspector Morck is made head of a the new Department Q, which has been tasked with investigating cold cases.
We briefly see a woman’s naked rear as a man closes an explicit webpage.
There’s a dead body in a chair, a knife sticking out of its head. Three men get shot; one of them dies, and there’s a lot of blood. Someone threatens to rip a woman’s heart from her chest and feed it to her. A case deals with a woman who either fell or was pushed down a flight of stairs, which killed her; we see a few of the resultant scrapes and wounds. A hopeless man silently begs someone to end his life. A man punches a woman. We’re told that some of the cold cases include “murders, kidnappings, rapes and assaults.”
A man takes antidepressants. We hear that a man wet himself. A woman uses the restroom.
People drink beer, liquor and wine. One character drinks until she is inebriated.
Characters use the f-word more 40 times and the s-word six times. There’s a smattering of other crudities, too, such as “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “h—,” “p-ss” and “pr-ck.” There’s a crude anatomical reference. Someone uses a vulgar hand gesture. God’s name is used in vain once, and Jesus’ name is likewise used in vain twice.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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