User Reviews

After two fantastic episodes to start off this first series of Luther the form very slightly dips if only a fraction as its still supremely acted,totally gripping and extremely grisly and shocking and pushes the boundaries of normal British television series.

Luther is on the case of Lucian Burgess a devil worshipper who abducts a mother from her home and leaves messages written in blood on her wall for police to find.Teller finds out the killer is Burgess because of a case ten years before of another murder of another lady even though he got away with it because of a undercover cop went to far and beat him up badly. Luther and Ripley (Warren Brown) hunt him down to a boat but might be too late,Luther goes over the top trying to stop him by pushing his role of policeman too far but is determined to catch him. Luther also again has his mind on his marriage and psycho Alice (a jaw dropping Ruth Wilson,she seems to get better each time) who is trying to stir things up and tries to have Luther's wife Zoe's lover Mark (Paul McGann) beaten up so John gets the blame though she coolly tells Mark to drop any charges.

Though this is a slight downturn its still excellent drama with the acting just superb especially from Elba who seems to be getting out of hand in catching the killer or is it Alice winding him up,his performance deserves award after award as he plays a man constantly on edge that he could boil over any minute.Wilson as Alice is just sensational and I think is the closest we have ever been to a female version of The Joker as she certainly ain't all there in the head but she is so funny,creepy and cool as a psycho that anyone will love her character and completes the Luther puzzle,her putting down of Mark is a wonderful scene.Others play there part especially Brown as sidekick Ripley and the killer played by Paul Rhys who is just so slimy and nasty he would make your skin crawl.

This is more a psychological thriller than the previous episodes action thriller type but there were still some excellent moments including the shocking opening sequence,Luther knocking the killer down in the street,Mark getting beaten up,Alice warning Mark off where she says something like 'I will go now but I may come back' and Luther meeting the killer in a tense head to head.

A slower episode than before but still dripping with tension as well as masterclass acting from Elba and Wilson and a episode similar in spirit to the likes of Silence Of The Lambs and Se7en.

Now for the outstanding last three episodes of series one.

These once again approximately 52 minutes we got here were the third episode from the successful British crime/cop drama series Luther. This also aired over ten years ago for the first time, so no huge surprise that the show is over by now, especially in the face of lead actor Idris Elba's Hollywood success, but these episodes are nonetheless very much worth watching today in the early 2020s. No matter if we are talking first watch or rewatch which it was in my case. The writer is once again Neil Cross for whom this show may still be the biggest career achievement and the director here was Sam Miller, who has enjoyed very recent success too awards-wise with his newest project. But we shall talk about that one later on. Instead, let's take a look at what happens in this Luther episode. Once again, we have one key antagonist at the center of it all and this is an occult killer played by Paul Rhys. His character, after a terrible crime, many, many years ago, with which he got away, returns and takes on a new victim. This one here starts with the villain at work just like it was the case with episode two. Also in terms of disguise. We have this killer pose as a cop and ring the door of his victim. Definitely one of the most haunting scenes, also with how Rhys really has it here to look very creepy. Yet competent at the same time. Physically, he reminded me a bit of the young Dieter Laser, especially with the connection to Dr. Heiter from The Human Centipede and the two are equally insanse. I mean Heiter and Rhys' character. The case felt a bit like the very first one from Luther's series premiere because Elba's character is on the bad guy's trail right away and it is all about finding a woman/girl quickly enough so that she will live. Can Luther succeed again? Watch for yourself. I must say that with how much I liked almost everything else about the killer and the investigation here, the eventual solution and how the villain is caught did not impress me too much. Still, just a minor criticism, but I did not think the psychopath would have surrendered as quickly as we are led to believe here. His lack of physical strength was not a problem, but with his mind I expected more resistance. I still like how with these first three episodes, probably more, the question "Who did it?" is never at the center of the story.

In addition to all of that, the plots from the previous episode(s) are continued. Alice Morgan almost turns into a bit of an aide this time already and to me it feels as if we should at least see her as more likable than the rival when it comes to vying for the affection of Luther's wife, especially in that scene in which Alice and said rival share the screen. By the way, they still tried their very best here, just like also in the previous episodes, to make this rival seem as incompetent and despicable as possible. His key story here is that he is beaten up by a bunch of girls, maybe junkies. Enough said. As for the wife, she is almost not present in this film at all. The big exception is the final shot in which we really see that Luther can hope again to somehow get her back. He could actually not be any more different than his competitor. Also like in the previous episodes, Luther is struggling with internal affairs as usual. This almost feels like a running gag by now to be honest and, also as always, he once again manages to get away unharmed in the end. Still there are conflicts, especially with his closest colleague at work and how that one is not totally ready to risk his own job for Luther. In any case, I can say again that these over 50 minutes flew by quickly. They are probably a better watch even when you see it the first time, but the rewatch was still good enough for me to hand out a pretty high rating once more. It was also those small moments that counted. Take the antagonist's tongue in the first scene. Take the first meeting between him and Luther (posing as a fan), take the idea of Luther maybe also becoming as savage as the other cop who almost killed the bad guy years ago or finally take the idea that Alice Morgan maybe really thought in her sociopathic mind that she could help Luther with what he did. Well, actually she did in the end. Was that really the plan? Is she romantically attracted to Luther? I think in terms of sexual attraction, there cannot be any doubt. The relationship between these two is in any case one of the best things about this series and great choice to turn Wilson into a recurring character. This series has been really good with episodes one and two and the high level continues with this one. One of the very best crime series from the 2010s without a doubt. Keep watching.

This episode begins with Kirsten, she is playing with her kid. Lucien threatens Kirsten and ubducted her. John arrived at the crime scene, there are weird blood texts written on the wall. Mark has been beaten up, Alice arranged this. John interviews Richard about Lucien. Lucien drinks Kirsten her blood. John pays Lucien a visit to get his finger prints. Lucien gives a press conference, he tells to the audience that he will be arrested. John and Justin found Kirsten, but she already died. John knocked down Lucien to take a blood sample, he succeed. Ian is Lucien his 'helper', Ian can 'help' him. John arrested Lucien. John blackmailsa Alice to get rid of her. John is kissing Zoe, Alice sees it. Nice Episode of Luther Season 1, a really great episode again. I really like the show so far!

The third episode of this series was fairly standard; we knew who the culprit was from the opening scene, the only mystery was whether or not Luther would find where he was hiding the kidnapped woman before he killed her. Once again Luther broke the rules to entrap the chief suspect who had been accused of an identical crime ten years previously. It is hard to imagine that a police officer would manage to stay in the force long enough to become a DCI given the methods he uses... punching a suspect in the nose to obtain a blood sample to plant at a crime scene is hardly standard procedure. While he is investigating one crime he himself is being investigated after his ex's new boyfriend is beaten up by a group of street kids and he believes Luther sent then; in fact they were sent by Alice, the suspect from episode one who continues to interfere in Luther's life.

While the plot is fairly ridiculous it passes the time well enough largely due to Idris Elba's portrayal of the unconventional eponymous hero. Paul Rhys does a reasonable job as suspect Lucien Burgess although the character is such a caricature that he is even less plausible than Luther.

A woman opens her door to a man claiming to be a police officer without demanding to see his badge FIRST?

Luther sees the video of Mark being assaulted on his computer. At that point 1) He fails to call Zoe 2) He fails to immediately talk to his boss. That's just implausible.

Luther went to Zoe's house and instead of articulating himself, everything he said was abstract word salad. Essentially, he ACTS in an untrustworthy manner while asking Mark and Zoe to "trust him." Hmmmm.

At this point the script jumps the shark. Luther tells a superior he'll be right with him AND THEN HE DUCKS OUT. . . WHAT ??? Let's see . . . You're being investigated. So the best thing to do is inflame an already bad situation ???? Would never happen in real life.

At this point, the episode has become WILDLY unrealistic. But wait . . .

Luther and Justin have discovered the location of the dead victim and instead of letting Justin phone the location in, Luther stops him shouting, "Trust Me!" The premise was so ridiculous, I actually burst out laughing.

It's also ludicrous that we're supposed to believe Luther still works for the police department. A REAL person would have been fired years ago.

Get real.