My theory: She was bagged in the car parking area, in a blind spot from the cameras. She was then forced into Ailsa’s car (perhaps into the boot), and then Ailsa calmly drove the car off the ferry. Seeing the license plate of the car would have been completely unremarkable, as Ailsa probably would have been a frequent traveler on the ferry.
When Merritt was bagged there was a car in the background with its rear hatch open. Possibly the same car in which Ailsa offed herself (to the disgust of the police).
Here’s my question: how could the villains have possibly known Merritt would go down the car level on the ferry without her brother? Did their entire plan hinge on the brother maybe throwing his hat off the boat, the wind maybe carrying it down to the cars, and Merritt maybe going to retrieve it alone?
Maybe I missed something.
Wasn’t there a comment by Morck or one of his team about how it was a crime of opportunity? No prior planning involved other than a burning desire to make Merritt admit her culpability in her boyfriend’s death.
So, yes, definite crime of opportunity, they talk about that, and I agree it requires a blind spot in the cameras. One thing you’ll see is that when Ailsa calls Merritt’s name she’s opened the back of a hatchback with a wide glass window, so it’s not a boot, but presumably Merritt could be stashed under random blankets or whatever. They kind of seem to be slobs, so maybe a bunch of McFlurry cups.
All that said, it doesn’t hang together 100% for me - it’s spontaneous, but he knows the blind spots? They have plenty of pictures of the cars, but don’t do a search on the plates? But I don’t care all that much because the show is really good.
One thing I missed the first time around, when they first visit the climbing area, they find one picture of Sam Haig on the board, which they take…except his face is almost completely obscured by him pointing his middle finger at the camera.
I finally finished it and will watch a second season if it comes. The overplayed torture, the unbelievable villains and their lair, the excessive “f**ks”, and the drawn out hallucination scenes are definite minuses for me. The strong and interesting DQ team however are quite fun to watch. Here’s hoping for a better cold case for them next time.
I watched 2 episodes and decided it was not for me. I fast forwarded through the torture scenes and am glad I did. I read reviews with spoilers and the plot seemed so belabored and confusing for no reason.
I just finished it. I liked it. The team is a great foil to Carl’s crumudgeon-ness.
I liked the writing. There were so many twists and turns and characters but it didn’t get to be too overwhelming.
That’s what I liked about The Residence too.
Oh also…the first time we saw Lyle as a teen I was like “wait is that Sam Haig?” I’m a goddamn genius.
I stumbled on the YouTube interview with the three principals today. Check out Akram as himself. Holy cow-- talk about drop-dead gorgeous. I have always liked Matthew Goode, but next to Alexej Mavelov, Matthew is a slice of plain pound cake next to a dark, date-filled, luscious honey cake. 
That was fun. Really looking forward to next season.
I felt similarly about the murder of Sam Haig. So Lyle turns up to the climbing club car park on a Sunday when it’s closed, and walks up the steep path to the top of the precipice - what if Sam had called out to him in the car park, or had run after him to catch him up? Even the murder weapon (the boulder) was handily available, yet Lyle applyjng the climbing chalk suggested the plan was premeditated.
Maybe we’re supposed to conclude that Lyle is just very good at spontaneous kidnap/murder, having always been a wrong 'un..
I too like the show enough to ignore this stuff largely though.
I enjoyed the show, but the thing that drove me truly crazy was the “the heroes are the only Police officers in the UK” trope that literally every British police drama uses. They were on the scene in the final episode, found the cormorant symbol that the brother had painted, then found the body of a very recently murdered police officer and still didn’t call in for backup.
That plus the “it’s just a flesh wound” - Carl took a shotgun in the shoulder from close range, from the same gun that instantly killed Lyle a few seconds later, got patched up on the scene and went home. No screaming in agony, no stretcher & trip in the ambulance, no hospital stay, just put on an Ambulance coat and had dinner with the family.
Exactly.
It isn’t that sort of television show. 
I agree with that trope really being a problem, but it bothered me less in this instance. They did ask for help before going out there, and the dead cop they found was the only backup they could call on Mhor (I mean, his son was pretty feckless)…plus they were racing to find Merritt.
There were many things that bothered me in that scene, but to be clear, Lyle died from a knife thrown expertly into his neck (you could see arterial blood spurting)(that knife throw being one of my issues, though it was so deftly shown that I enjoyed it anyway).
As for the shotgun, I figured they were very old shells, and it was shot, which can be erratic. Fortunately, however, none of it hit either of our heroes in the face. That said, I have no idea why they were both briefly unconscious from that blast. They stumbled back and hit their heads? I don’t know.
The attraction of this show is clearly the well written characters and not the ridiculous circumstances they find themselves in.
They could have called for backup while proceeding with their investigation. I would have been fine with that.
Hmm, there was blood spurting, but hard to say if it was arterial. The knife did change model and size within the span of a few seconds too - smooth brushed steel handle in Akram’s hand to much longer textured carbon fiber handle in Lyle’s neck.
It doesn’t matter what it was. There was shot embedded in his shoulder. Did he bite on a piece of wood while a paramedic removed them? Sure, if it’s an old Western where it’s his pardner with a dirty knife, and there’s whiskey involved for both participants. But in 2025, I expect some higher level of medical care, even in Scotland.
But on the unconscious bit, I think Akram was faking hoping that Lyle would get close enough for him to grab the gun. When Lyle was distracted by Merrit, Akram immediately took advantage.
How much police backup do you think there generally is on small Scottish islands?
Not much. But I’m guessing what there is will drop what they’re doing and head to your location when you find a dead policeman in the trunk of his own car.
The only backup was the dead cop’s son. Carl believed his lying boss when she said the department didn’t have any helicopters available. As far as they knew, backup was hours away.