Luther (TV Series) Episode #1.5 (2010) User Reviews

Best episode of the series so far

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 6 June 2010]

This series has been very up and down so far but as it approaches its final episode it seems to have founds it footing, providing a gripping story which sets things up nicely for next week's conclusion. Just as a couple are about to leave the country for a new life abroad a violent group storm into the house and demand the man hands over eighteen high quality diamonds which were stolen from the wrong person, to show they mean business they cuts his wife's tongue out and threaten worse if he doesn't give them what they want in two hours. There is just one problem; she has swallowed them and he is sure they would kill her to get them out. He goes to the police and Luther persuades his boss to let the payment go ahead using diamonds stored in the evidence locker for another case. It looks like the exchange will go according to plan until the man does a runner with the gems. This means Luther must find the kidnapper and persuade him that he can still get what he wants without harming the woman further. Things are somewhat complicated by the fact that unbeknownst to him his colleague DCI Reed was involved in the initial robbery and is running a parallel inquiry to make sure he isn't implicated in any crime. This leads to people dying including somebody very close the Luther.

It is a shame that this series didn't really find its footing until so near to the end but those who stuck with it will be rewarded with this episode which features far less of Alice and spends far less time dealing with the relationships between Luther, his wife and her new boyfriend. Once again Idris Elba puts in a good performance as the eponymous Luther but the real acting credit goes to Steven Mackintosh who plays his friend DCI Reed, a police officer who will do anything to keep his colleagues from finding out what he has done. I won't spoil the ending but will say it came as a real shock and has left me looking forward to next week's concluding episode to see how it is resolved.

Who Has the Real Integrity and Love?

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 11 September 2017]

Once again this insanely violent series rises to the top. Luther gets a case of a kidnapped woman who is part of a fraudulent effort to pass off phony art. When a group of villains come to double cross them, the man is sent to come up with diamonds that were given as payment. He goes to the police, but he is crooked and can't be candid. She has her tongue cut out by the bad guys (I said it is violent). Everything goes south, including the fact that Luther's colleague, Ian, is in on the heist, not realizing where it would go sour. Unfortunately, everything leads to a huge price being paid for his actions. Like "Game of Thrones," characters are subject to being erased to progress the plot. While this is excellent cinema, it's very hard to watch.

A true rollarcoaster ride of nail biting tension with a heartbreaking conclusion.

[maureen_smith5 · 10/10 · 27 April 2015]

The first four episodes of this truly legendary show were amazing especially the second and fourth but the fifth and penultimate episode of series one takes it to another level with the acting out of this world,twists and turns galore and one of the most heartbreaking and emotional conclusions I have ever seen setting up a storming finale.

A rich couple are about to move abroad when a group of thugs break into their home and demand some stolen diamonds back but problem is the wife has swallowed them though luckily the gang don't know this,they order hubby to get them the diamonds by an hour and to prove they are serious they cut the wife's tongue out and kidnap her. DCI John Luther(a just majestic Idris Elba)takes on the case when the hubby informs of it and tries to fool the bad guys by using evidence locker diamonds to give to the hubby for the exchange. All this goes wrong though and Luther soon finds to his horror his mate and colleague DCI Ian Reed(an astonishing Steven Mackintosh)is involved in the kidnapping and covers his tracks by taking out the gang members. But Luther is on to him and after a confrontation in which Reed gets away tragedy strikes as Reed to frame John for everything murders someone very dear to his heart so he can get away,after this things will never be the same again.

This is a quite breathtaking hour of television and takes Luther to another level into classic status with it gripping from first second to heart wrenching final moments and the acting of Elba and Mackintosh deserves award after award and their showdown is fantastic.

As I said before the acting is just stunning with Elba just for once topped by Mackintosh who's Ian Reed turns from smallish role into a top villain and is the definition of a dodgy copper and his constant sweating and lies will have you gripped and we see someone who covers his tracks in any way how including eliminating somebody he probably really liked and not caring for his so called best friend Luther,Mackintosh is simply off the scale brilliant here and deserves to be remembered in the history of this show and for this episode alone.Elba it goes without saying is superb as all the other times before this episode and this episode has one of the best confrontations between Luther and Reed in a hotel room and their meeting will make your hairs stand on end,the final scene too will break your heart and Luther's reaction will make you think of anyone who loses a loved one especially in this way.The actors are all excellent but don't get to have a lot of top moments and for once the wonderful Ruth Wilson's Alice Morgan is sidelined a tad but her scenes still are excellent.Warren Brown(Justin),Paul McGann(Mark)and Saskia Reeves(Rose Tellar)all make their mark along with the husband and wife and the kidnappers.The only other person who comes close to Elba and Mackintosh in acting is Indira Varma who plays Luther's wife Zoe who after small appearances has her chance to shine and she may appear to be a strong willed person but becomes vulnerable as this goes along and despite not being with him she still deeply loves Luther,she is terrific.

This is a rip roaring episode and takes the series to the level it is at now,right from the start it sets up the cliffhanger the episode ends on with the kidnapping setting up Luther getting involved before the exchange goes wrong before Luther finds out Reed is involved before they meet in a showdown at the hotel before finally Reed kills the loved one in a edge of your seat sequence,all of it is like a constant series of twists and turns before it ends in such a upsetting and thrilling style that many shows would never get near it for tension.

I can't really think of a negative apart from Wilson's Alice was underused and the kidnapping plot is slightly forgotten a bit.

At the end of the day this is just stunning and thrilling television with Elba and Mackintosh giving arguably career best performances along with Varma having her moment to shine along with a charged exchange between Luther and Reed and a heartbreaking finale.

Television at its staggering best.

A super confusing episode that made NO SENSE at all

[interestingstuff · 22 April 2022]

This is one of the most confusing episodes of a TV show I've ever seen and it was absolute nonsense from beginning to the end. Apart from all the plot holes and tons of continuity errors within the episode, none of the characters acted in a consistent manner that made an ounce of sense in the entire episode. It's as if they wanted to film the most confusing episode of a TV show ever made just to mess with people.

They didn't really explain anything and why anyone behaved the way they did including Ian. What's Ian even doing in this episode and why is he even doing any of the things he's doing? His behavior was totally random as if he just rolled some dice and acted in total random way that made zero sense whatsoever. In every single scene, he acted like a totally different person. Does Ian have 7-split personalities or what?

Also how did they find the bad guys that easily within minutes without any evidence or actual detective work? Just go to the airport, ask a random guy in a car if he makes fake passports and he just happens to know where the bad guy is. Are you kidding me? Was this episode written by a 12 year old kid who was high on extreme amounts of sugar? What happened to common sense these days?

I guess an episode can totally lack common sense and still get 9/10 rating when there are so many fake reviews that are posted for promotion purposes.

The In isn't evil, it's just indifferent.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 31 March 2021]

James and Jessica are attacked in their new home, she's kidnapped and held for ransom.

Luther is on the case, and worse, he's got one of his own team working against him.

This episode will have you absolutely on the edge of your seat, it's fast paced, energetic, one of those that starves you of oxygen, as you're frightened to breathe and miss something.

The twist comes as yet another layer, outstanding.

It's terrific, everything is on point, best of all though, the acting, Elba and Wilson once again are fiendishly good.

Ross McCallis absolutely wonderful as Sugarman, it's a showstopping performance from him, I can't remember detesting a character so much.

Tremendous, 10/10.

A Freaky Robbery

[ZegMaarJus · 9/10 · 15 August 2021]

This episode begins with James, he sees that the transport leaves. Tom, Daniel and Evangeline came into James his house without permission. James came to the police station, his wife is still at his house. Daniel cut out Jessica's tounge. Justin arrested Evie at the mall. John found Jessica and Tom, they have been killed by Daniel. Daniel took the diamonds out of Jessica's body. Ian strangles Bill to death. John found Daniel at the hotel, they fight in Daniel's room. Ian points a gun on Daniel. Ian shot a bullet trough Daniel's head, he died instantly. Ian tells to John that he knew about the robbery. Ian shoots on John, he runs away. Ian succeed his escape. Justin discovered that the diamonds are fake. Ian visits Zoe, he threatens her. Ian shot down Zoe, she died instantly. John sees Zoe's body, he cries. Amazing Episode of Luther Season 1, what a great episode. Ian goes mad and killed Zoe, John wants revenge. But he is also a suspect for killing Zoe!

Insane episode, television at its finest

[Horst_In_Translation · 10/10 · 9 April 2022]

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.

Made NO Sense

[Warin_West-El · 1/10 · 7 February 2023]

LUTHER: Boss, these are very special circumstances. Same rules do not apply.

Without a doubt, one of the most confusing episodes of a series that I've ever seen. None of the characters acted in a consistent manner. Which was compounded by major plot holes and continuity errors.

What was Ian even doing in this episode and why did he do any of the things he did? In every scene he acted like he was a totally different person.

MAGIC POLICE: How did they find the bad guys within minutes without any evidence or actual detective work? What happened to common sense these days?

But of course, we cannot expect this episode or the characters within it to possess even a modicum of common sense. After all, same rules do not apply !!!!