Luther is an iconic series on our TV screens. If you’ve been living under a rock and aren’t familiar with the show, it’s a gritty (and I mean, this show would be next to the word ‘gritty’ in a dictionary) police detective drama infamous for its dark storylines and the formidable protagonist, DCI John Luther.
It’s fair to say series 5 kept to the Luther script. Incredibly dark straight from the off, with disturbing scenes, a maniacal villain and John Luther at his dodgy, hard-hitting, emotionally-disturbed, mentally-conflicted best.
Idris Elba, as always, is sublime. This part was sculpted for him, and he is John Luther. He maintains the character we love from the previous series and plays him with all those demons still haunting him, making him a more complex, multi-dimensional character now than the one we met in series 1.
Supported by the great cast including Ruth Wilson who returns as the formidable Alice Morgan, despite rumours she’d been killed off-screen. Wunmi Mosaku is brilliant as Luther’s new young, bright and intuitive sidekick Catherine Halliday, and Dermot Crowley is the stern Martin Schenk, Luther’s superior. Michael Smiley returns as the ever-reliable Benny, and the villains of the episode include Patrick Malahide as gangster boss George Cornelius, Hermione Norris as dodgy therapist Vivien Lake and Enzo Cilenti does a stunning job of playing the psychopathic Jeremy Lake.
In this 4-part series, we’re led on a whirlwind of emotions and excitement. Murders everywhere, with some sickening and troubling methods used to carry them out. There’s the main plot and the side plot, both of equal importance to Luther, and they happen side-by-side, often distracting him from the other.
His career is on the line, and eventually his life, too, as old friends and foes come back to haunt his present. While he’s trying to find a sick, smart serial killer, he’s being hunted by powerful enemies and suspected by his colleagues.
Each episode is action-packed, with the first episode an incredibly unsettling opener, a theme which is carried through to the second and set the scene brilliantly with excellent writing and tense scenes which keep you on the edge of your seat.
The two plotlines intertwine and throw Luther into more sinister situations, as he can’t escape his past or catch the villain who’s always one step ahead. They eventually lead to an explosive finale which culminates all the tension and buildup from the previous 3 episodes and unleashes it all in a shocking episode.
It’s intricately plotted and cleverly written, throwing twists and turns into the story when you least expect it. Luther really has met his match in this series and the battles, physical and mental, are immense, as he has to overcome several enemies in his mission to keep people safe. If you’re looking for a happy ending… you’re watching the wrong show.
