WRITER: Neil Cross[SPOILERS] It's silly, but I like it. The twaddle in Luther isn't exasperating to me, because it's just written with a slight disregard for logic and desire to deliver something different. It mixes the ridiculous with cliché to create something that looks and feels like an everyday cop drama, but refuses to be as boring as that implies.
DIRECTOR: Brian Kirk
GUEST CAST: Ruth Wilson, Sean Pertwee, Sam Spruell, Anton Saunders, Matthew Marsh, Geoffrey Lumb, Diveen Henry, Gary Shelford & Louise Rose
In episode 2, Luther (Idris Elba) and the Serious Crimes Unit are after a gunman who's shooting cops in cold blood on the streets of London. Having exposed a killer by their inability to yawn last week, here Luther realizes the killer has a military background because he walks with confidence on CCTV footage. Heaven help if you scratch your groin, Luther will probably determine you're a sex pest. I don't have a lot to say about the finer workings of Luther, because there isn't any. It's just an entertaining ramble of provocative events. The story opens with Luther standing on the precipice of a rooftop like Batman, symbolizing he's a "man on the edge." Get it? The shooter, Owen Lynch (Sam Spruell) plays sniper with a bunch of cops who arrive at a crime scene to investigate the death of a colleague. Sean Pertwee is revealed as the shooter's jailbird dad Terry, blackmailed into helping Luther when he threatens to plant child porn in his cell. The climax involves a tense game of Russian Roulette between Luther and Owen. All fun stuff.
It's also unusual that last week's storyline with femme fatale Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) isn't over, as she lurks on the edge of this story because she's started her own investigation into Luther's actions when apprehending a child killer who fell from a gantry and into a coma. Wilson's fantastic value as a devious genius, treating her mind-games as a kind of flirtation with Luther, even claiming their "friends" when her investigation into Luther's wife Zoe (Indira Varma) concludes. And she has a peculiar, froggy mouth that's oddly inviting.Overall, I like the idea of a detective who tries to psychologically manipulate villains into making mistakes, the show looks good visually, the simple story kept my interest, there were a few memorable scenes, and Elba and Wilson are putting in an effort with stereotyped characters. It's nowhere near as well-written and clever as this material needs to be for it to fly, the supporting characters are all very weak, and it's shot through with silliness (made worse because that's clearly not intended), but Luther's still a surprisingly likeable hour of drama. It may be dumb, but at least it's not dull.
Asides
- Cliché watch: Ex-soldier Owen will only gives his name, rank and number when interviewed by the police. Luther standing on the edge of a rooftop overlooking the city (see also: Captain Jack in Torchwood), although Luther at least had a psychological reason. Any more?
- How odd is Saskia Reeves' cockney accent? Worse than that, her character's a very ineffective boss. Indeed, everyone at SCU appear to be lobotomized and just chasing Luther's shirttails. The serious crime rate must have skyrocketed when Luther was off duty. I hope he doesn't take many holidays.
