This is the fifth episode from season one of Idris Elba's Luther and I watched this one a few years ago for the first time and really loved it back then and today I decided to give it a rewatch and even now this episode blew me really away. Especially the longer it went. Maybe I would only give 8 out of 10 this time, but still I will stick with my original rating. It is this good and deserving. The first season is getting close to an end now as there are only six episodes in total, but I'll take that anytime over a series that has 12 or even over 20 episodes and does not deliver 10% of Luther's level and tension. I am pretty sure many people thought they would kill off Alice for the season finale (and it is still an option of course) because they could not go on forever with her story and of course justice must be served as well. However, probably nobody expected this. Alice was barely present this episode, one brief conversation with Luther that did not add much, but instead all the focus in terms of female characters turns out to be on Luther's romantic interest. She had an affair with Luther before this episode, despite her new man, and he finds out and the consequence is that she has to say goodbye to Luther to not lose her new partner. She does so and it turns out to be a fully different goodbye with how everything escalates in the second half of these over 50 minutes. We have a crooked cop who is part of a crime himself and that was unexpected because the man was a close friend and loyal colleague to Luther. No one's safe and what they wrote for this character was just so surprising. But it worked. They did not only get away with it, they delivered one of the finest television hours of 2010 in the process. This is why Luther is so top-notch. No way CSI for example could have gotten away with it on the same level. Same probably for L&O, at least in terms of SVU. If anything, then Criminal Intent might have succeeded because D'Onofrio would have it inside of him just like Elba does.
This episode starts completely different though. This was already quite tense. You knew something was very off when the lorry returned and the man realizes something is wrong. So this is about all kinds of stuff. Art. Priceless gems. Robbery. Murder. Several murders in fact. Corruption inside the force. Conflicts between friends. Conflicts between kidnappers. Losing loved ones. And more. Oh, by the way one character looked like Ron Perlman here. Just saying. He also did not make it out alive. Pretty telling that it is Ian's character who killed a shocking amount of three other characters during this episode. Who would have guessed, with how it all begins. The image here on imdb is not really fitting by the way. The character you see there has zero impact on the story of this fifth episode and also barely any screen time. Just like Alice you could say. Luther's brightest moments this time include him realizing the face tattoos were actually fake tattoos (sorry, I just had to) and also knowing that his friend would not come to the place they agreed on for their meeting. You have to dig deep for weaknesses here. Maybe you could say that one weakness would be that Ian confessed everything to Luther inside the hotel room. If you are really looking for those, then you will find one or two others, maybe how one of the bad guys after a phone call decides so quickly to try to help the kidnapping victim get away. But aside from that, this episode is close to perfection.
The song choices used herein added more excellence to already memorable sequences. I wonder if anybody in their sane mind would decide to not watch the final episode from season one after the cliffhanger ending we have here. And be it only to see raging Luther going after his (former) friend in the upcoming episode 1.6. This episode here contains tragedy in the most mesmerizing state. Luther's tears towards the end will break your heart for sure. Like everybody else's. He may be a beast and a brute, but there's this one woman out there that he loves more than anything and one can only imagine what losing her (again) will turn him into. Or stop imagining and go watch the following episode immediately. Why do I even tell you? Of course you will. So if I can give you one suggestion that you may actually need, then it would have to do with the previous episodes and not with the one that follows. You should have seen those not too long before this one here, so you still have the Ian character fresh on your mind, who he is, what bond he has with Luther and so on. It helps if you remember it all very precisely. If you follow this advice, then you will enjoy this masterclass episode even more. Thank me later. Highly, highly recommended. Difficult to see any other show on the level of Luther when this came out back at the beginning of the second decade of the third millennium. Or 21st century I could say too. Already so long ago. Unreal how time flies. About as fast as this episode flew by during my watch.
This episode starts completely different though. This was already quite tense. You knew something was very off when the lorry returned and the man realizes something is wrong. So this is about all kinds of stuff. Art. Priceless gems. Robbery. Murder. Several murders in fact. Corruption inside the force. Conflicts between friends. Conflicts between kidnappers. Losing loved ones. And more. Oh, by the way one character looked like Ron Perlman here. Just saying. He also did not make it out alive. Pretty telling that it is Ian's character who killed a shocking amount of three other characters during this episode. Who would have guessed, with how it all begins. The image here on imdb is not really fitting by the way. The character you see there has zero impact on the story of this fifth episode and also barely any screen time. Just like Alice you could say. Luther's brightest moments this time include him realizing the face tattoos were actually fake tattoos (sorry, I just had to) and also knowing that his friend would not come to the place they agreed on for their meeting. You have to dig deep for weaknesses here. Maybe you could say that one weakness would be that Ian confessed everything to Luther inside the hotel room. If you are really looking for those, then you will find one or two others, maybe how one of the bad guys after a phone call decides so quickly to try to help the kidnapping victim get away. But aside from that, this episode is close to perfection.
The song choices used herein added more excellence to already memorable sequences. I wonder if anybody in their sane mind would decide to not watch the final episode from season one after the cliffhanger ending we have here. And be it only to see raging Luther going after his (former) friend in the upcoming episode 1.6. This episode here contains tragedy in the most mesmerizing state. Luther's tears towards the end will break your heart for sure. Like everybody else's. He may be a beast and a brute, but there's this one woman out there that he loves more than anything and one can only imagine what losing her (again) will turn him into. Or stop imagining and go watch the following episode immediately. Why do I even tell you? Of course you will. So if I can give you one suggestion that you may actually need, then it would have to do with the previous episodes and not with the one that follows. You should have seen those not too long before this one here, so you still have the Ian character fresh on your mind, who he is, what bond he has with Luther and so on. It helps if you remember it all very precisely. If you follow this advice, then you will enjoy this masterclass episode even more. Thank me later. Highly, highly recommended. Difficult to see any other show on the level of Luther when this came out back at the beginning of the second decade of the third millennium. Or 21st century I could say too. Already so long ago. Unreal how time flies. About as fast as this episode flew by during my watch.