Episode #2.4
- Episode aired Oct 20, 2011
- TV-14
- 58m
Luther's personal and professional life spirals out of control as he tries to cover up Toby's death and appease a suspicious Baba. He must also protect Jenny from any further harm.Luther's personal and professional life spirals out of control as he tries to cover up Toby's death and appease a suspicious Baba. He must also protect Jenny from any further harm.Luther's personal and professional life spirals out of control as he tries to cover up Toby's death and appease a suspicious Baba. He must also protect Jenny from any further harm.
- Luther's PA
- (uncredited)
- Suited Man
- (uncredited)
- Police Officer
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDS Erin Gray says: "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which." She is quoting the last sentence from the book Animal Farm by George Orwell.
- GoofsWhen Luther and Ripley are driving in Luther's Volvo, there is a roof shot as the car moves through London. The roof of the car is smooth and uninterrupted, no sunroof. The next shots are from within the Volvo: the shots of Luther clearly show a glass sun roof.
- Quotes
Jenny Jones: You didn't really do that, did you?
DCI John Luther: Do what?
Jenny Jones: Like, call up some totally psycho killer girl?
DCI John Luther: Her name's Alice.
Jenny Jones: Whatever.
DCI John Luther: I dunno, what do you think?
Jenny Jones: Mmmmm... dunno. I do know you were totally epic though.
DCI John Luther: Totally.
It starts a little sluggishly because we have to tidy up the mess left by season 1. It does this as best it can while also being as brisk about it as possible – Alice is shifted away, demoted officers reinstated, Luther briefly suggests suicidial tenancies etc but ultimately once the first murder happens we're moving away from things as fast as possible. This clean break is where the show gets much better than the first season and it does it by focusing on the strengths of the show and not doing too much that stretches it. The two main plot lines are serial killers of different sorts but they both have a random brutality in common. This has left the show open to accusations of being very violent – almost sadistic, and in a way I sort of agree because Luther is very brutal this season and some of the crimes are impacting, saddening and bloody – often to the point where it doesn't feel like entertainment.
However this feeling is worth it because it is preferable to murders in, say, CSI, where there is no emotion to it. With Luther the two serial killer plots see the public targeted at random, with no "justice" or reason for why any specific individual is killed. It raises the tension in the show and it makes it brutally engaging and quite chilling. It helps that it is well filmed to maximise this impact and scenes in which a blank-faced killer walks into an office and starts killing and maiming with random abandon is chilling because ultimately most of our day-to-day "safety" exists because nobody wants to make it unsafe – but it could be easily done; the murders in Luther carry that chill and the show benefit from it. Outside of these two threads, we have a smaller thread involving Luther in trouble over helping a girl out of sexual exploitation – it links to the first season but it doesn't really matter. This plot is not over played and allowed to build well – but most importantly it is not made the whole deal in the way Alice was. This means that although this subplot is not particularly good, it never has to carry too much weight.
In combination with this, the characters are made simpler and the plots more manageable. In season 1 the motivations of the characters changed with the wind and never made sense, while the plots involved family, new partners etc and just got messy fast. Season 2 keeps it clean – Luther is played much straighter and Elba benefits by being able to deliver consistently even if there is nowhere near the meat he has had before (you know where). I was glad of this because it felt like the writers were acknowledging that complexity, characters and the like are not their goal and doing them just causes problems –I agree and the tight focus and solid plots help cover up the weaknesses in writing from season 1 – not by improving them, but just by avoiding the same holes.
The supporting cast match this by being solid and doing what is required but never being asked too much. Brown returns and is welcome as he underplays and is never more than support. No offence to McGann or Wilson, but the show did the right thing in showing they exist but then getting them out of the picture with minimal fuss – long may they remain so. The addition of Amuka-Bird is a good one – she is a good actress and she was a good moral foil for Luther. Edwards is decent but her character was a necessary plot device for the subplot rather than a great addition. Robertson and Ingleby both do really great jobs as the killers – they are chilling and effective in different ways. Mostly everyone does well because the plots, motivations and actions are all simpler and more focused this season – which benefits cast and show.
Overall, I came to this season with low expectations but actually it performed very well. The writers seem aware of where the show was weak before and have mostly avoided the subjects on which they could stumble and instead focused on the aspects of the show that work. By doing this they produce two dramatic, tense and chilling story lines that move fast enough and hard enough to cover up the weaknesses in the telling. The bridging subplot is simple but effective and again pace and impact stops the viewer questioning too much. Not perfect but significantly better than the first season and more than enough to put me there when the third season comes.
- bob the moo
- Sep 21, 2011
Details
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1
- 16:9 HD