It has now been over a week since Detective Chief Inspector John Luther (Idris Elba) graced our television screens for the last time and yes, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms. The finale saw Luther down a partner after Ripley (Warren Brown) was gunned down by the vigilante killer Tom Marwood (Elliot Cowan) and possibly a girlfriend after Marwood goes after Mary Day (Sienna Guillory). He's also still the subject of a rather ham-fisted investigation into his activity by DCU Stark (David O'Hara) and the now rather conflicted DCI Erin Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird). However, as these threads begin to unravel and tie him up in knots, an old friend in the form of psychotic Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) shows up to help out.
I'm still in two minds about this finale because it felt like an episode of two halves. On the one hand, you had the culmination of the Marwood plotline which followed directly on from the previous episode and featured some of the tensest scenes Luther has been involved in. On the other, there was the desire to wrap up Luther's story in a satisfying way to ensure that the fans got the ending that the character deserved. We also had this ongoing investigation into his methods, which by this point was weaving between the two narratives, but is very much a leaden weight to both. It's an odd mix and Neil Cross managed to largely succeed in making both plotlines work, but not necessarily together.
First of all, the Marwood narrative is one of the more interesting ones tackled by Cross; the idea of a vigilante killer in Luther's messed up world poses some intriguing questions for both the audience and Luther, as discussed in last week's review. Yet in his brutal killing of Ripley, an innocent, Marwood crosses a line and in this episode, he crosses that line and then sprints some way into the distance. Thus ensuring that we know he's completely unhinged by kidnapping an innocent woman to persuade her husband into killing the imprisoned murderer of Marwood's wife. Elliot Cowan's performance has been excellent throughout; Marwood's a broken man trying desperately to get some recognition for what he's done.
It's that desperation that Luther latches on to and there is an absolutely brilliant scene in which he and Alice wear Marwood down, filming him with his own camera in order to puncture his vigilante hero reputation. Any scene between Cowan and Elba was a delight, but the extra spark of the excellent Ruth Wilson elevated it above the rest. It was one of two key scenes in Marwood's plot that stood out from the episode, the other being the confrontation on the top of Paragon Tower safe house in which he tried to force Luther to choose between Mary and Alice. The tensions was ramped up the right amount but came more from the fact I didn't really care about Mary but was desperate that Alice survived. Luther's clever decision picking Alice (who would've let Mary die) ensuring that Mary saved her was a good twist and provided a most satisfying ending for Marwood.
And then there was the other plot thread in which Stark's demented investigation continued, but managed to suck any tension out of the proceedings once the odd couple of him and Gray appeared onscreen. Arresting Luther for the murder of Ripley and attempted murder of Mary was just a bit ridiculous on both level of plot and in terms of the characters' decision. Plotwise, it seemed to be there just to continue the parallels to Zoe's death in the first series and to put Luther in an adverse position, which he sort of was already. Granted, it did introduce Alice back into the mix (and what an entrance), but it didn't feel necessary to the proceeding hour.
In fact, the investigation plot didn't feel necessary in these last two episodes full stop. O'Hara's performance became a grizzly one note that wasn't menacing, but irritating and I was curiously indifferent to the moment in which Stark got blasted away. Gray's sudden change of heart just felt like a last minute attempt to redeem the character. It was a plot that was wrapped up in the second episode with the declaration from Ripley in which it provided an interesting dynamic to the fetish killer narrative. Here, however, it was just a dead weight. I would have much rather have spent more time with Marwood's plot and allowed that to breathe more; it was the much more compelling storyline.
The performances in this episode were largely excellent, particularly Cowan as I have mentioned. Yet it is to the two starring roles that we must turn because, when all is said and done, Alice came back. A fascinating character in her own right, Wilson's Alice is so gleefully demented that she provides a great balance to Elba's darker introspection. The actors' chemistry is electric and this episode proved that the third series really missed the banter that passed between them. With rumours of a movie and an Alice spin-off, Luther's ending left it suitably open-ended, but one thing was absolutely clear; Luther and Alice were going off together.
And let's face it, that was the ending we always wanted. He could've kept the coat though...
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of the previous episode here.
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Just as he finds a little romance and bromance in his life, Luther is faced with a vigilante, a man determined to exact his own justice as publicly as possible and the stakes get personal extremely quickly.
The episode begins in a typically Lutherian brutal fashion; two young people have been out with friends and romantically get together in the car on the way home. The happiness won't last though as the pair are attacked by a gang of hoodies, but a figure appears out of the dark with a sawn-off shotgun and blasts the ringleader away. Said figure is Tom Marwood (Elliot Cowan), a self-proclaimed vigilante killer out to make the criminal world pay for the horrific rape and murder of his wife. Luther (Idris Elba) gets on the case and, now reunited with Ripley (Warren Brown), must track down the killer before he strikes again.
The vigilante aspect of the killer makes for an intriguing change of pace from the previous two episodes in which the fetish killer was all about silence and taking his time in killing and arranging the bodies. In contrast, Marwood is loud, violent and most of all, in the public eye. It produces a different level of discomfort for the audience because the build-up this time isn't about where the killer is, but who he is going after and why. And in a canny use of the internet, Marwood captures his own audience and goes after the most public hate figures he can. It's viral violence, a vigilantism that garners support almost instantly.
Unlike previous killers, in which we automatically know they're completely in the wrong for murdering young women in their beds, the morality surrounding Marwood is immediately a nasty shade of grey. As Luther observes when the pair confront each other, it's not his motive that is wrong, it's his means. But this is also a sympathetic figure; the man lost his wife and was failed by the criminal justice system. He is also a man that will publicly hang people and therefore not to be approved of. The scene between Elba and Cowan was wonderfully constructed, facing each other across the canal bank, forming two sides of the argument with only the disparity of the gun between them.
The episode also takes a big step in the development of Luther as a character; he begins with Mary (Sienna Guillory) in his flat, he introduces Ripley is his friend and everything seems to be going swimmingly. But a happy Luther is not an interesting Luther and it's not long before it all goes to pot. From the minute that they decided it was a good idea to get the victim of a paedophile to plead for her tormentor's life in a live press conference, it was apparent it was all going to go completely wrong and poor, brave Ripley paid for it with his life.
Brown's performance in his final scene was just excellent, calmly refusing to let Cowan go and the moment packed an emotional, though not wholly unexpected punch. Structurally, the moment bore remarkable similarities to the death of Zoe Luther (Indira Varma) in the first series with Luther arriving too late and huddling over the body. It's clear it's going to have a massive impact on the character, losing his only friend to a vigilante who had previously only targeted criminals. It marks a massive shift for Luther over the course of the episode and psychologically speaking, he's never been the most stable. With the promised return of Alice (Ruth Wilson) next week (YAY), I'm hoping for a finale with the same amount of impact and drama as the one from the first series.
The only duff note in an otherwise strong episode is the continuation of the internal investigation into Luther's methods by the impossibly gruff-voiced Stark and the now morally conflicted Erin Gray. Quite why she thought this was a good idea to begin with when Stark is clearly deranged is never broached by the show, nor does it feel as if their inclusion is necessary now Ripley has confirmed that Luther hasn't done anything illegal. Their pursuit of Mary lacked any sort of impact because we don't know the character well enough - my criticism of this stands for the end of the episode too. I was still distraught about Ripley to worry about someone I met a couple of weeks ago. The 'whirlwind' speech was an excellent moment however.
What it does do, albeit in a rather oblique and unsuccessful way, is ask the question of what is going to happen to Luther now Ripley, his moral compass of sorts, is out of the picture. Will he go off the rails? Probably. Will he run off into the night with Alice before returning for the next series? Let's hope so.
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of Episode Two here.
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Following on from last week's nailbiting terror of an episode, Luther (Idris Elba) finds himself investigating the murder of the woman and her husband and attempting to track down the fetish killer before he strikes again. He also had a successful date with Mary Day (Sienna Guillory), though spends most of the episode trying to get back in touch with her. DS Ripley (Warren Brown) is still working with DCI Erin Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird) and DSU Stark (David O'Hara) to bring down Luther by observing his unorthodox methods and reporting back to the pair of solemn investigators. Ripley is also trying to wrap up the murder of Jared Cass on his own whilst Luther busies himself with the other killer.
Anyone worried that the second episode of Luther couldn't live up to the sheer thriller that was the opening needn't have bothered. The same tension was not present at the beginning of the episode but writer Neil Cross and director Sam Miller kept up the chilling atmosphere throughout before ramping it up to near-unbearable levels once again as we followed the two nurses around their home, knowing that the killer was in there. Miller is an assured hand and let the lengthy POV shots speak for themselves, lingering on the victims and teasing the audience for what seemed like an age before the killer reveal.
The link back to the previous cases proved to be an interesting development and the scenes between the fetish killer and cancer-suffering murderer William Carney (Ned Dennehy) were creepy to say the least. It also leant an interesting development to Paul Ellis, the killer, and rather than being the silent absolute of a serial killer, the audience was granted an insight into his past as well as his current life. Clearly we are never meant to empathise with him (the dependence on murdering women in their homes puts paid to that), but it is always refreshing to find villains presented as multi-dimensional characters too, building into the believability of Luther's already heightened version of reality.
Elba is, as ever, the dependable centre of the show, brings such presence to Luther; he's the strong centre of the show, yet, as evidenced here, that comes with a certain level of self-doubt. His relationship with Ripley has been the one constant throughout the three series and watching it fracture in last week's episode was an odd development, as I discussed previously. However, it seems that my fears were unfounded as Ripley, recorded on a dictaphone, gave an impassioned defence of his boss. Elba's performance in this particular scene was wonderfully understated and his sense of relief is palpable.
Speaking of Ripley, Warren Brown's performance over the last two episodes has been excellent, particularly in this instalment as he faces pressure to wrap up the Jared Cass murder as well as rat on his boss. His scenes with Lucian Msamati as the grieving and now one-handed Mr Barnaby were the calmest moments in the episode, yet imbued with that same sense of dread. It takes someone very special to be able to deliver a line like "your hand is now with our forensics team" and not even blink.
Elsewhere in the episode, we also had the developing romance between Luther and Mary, who thankfully toned down the Manic Pixie Dream Girl aspect of her character this week, just enough for me to start liking her. However, it is also looking likely that she has something to do with the vendetta that is keeping our DCU Stark so dogged on the trail for Luther. The women in Luther's life are always an interesting study, though it seems we've finally escaped the shadow of his deceased wife Zoe. I'm still rooting for Alice to appear though because Mary may be lovely, but there is nothing like the chemistry between Elba and Ruth Wilson.
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of Luther's first episode here.
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