The latest drama from the BBC to make its way to BBC America is Luther, a taut and dark psychological six episode series. Idris Elba stars as John Luther, a man on the other side of a complete breakdown, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s mentally whole and sane. What may make the situation worse is that he is a cop, a Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) for London’s SCU (Serious Crime Unit). A case involving a sadistic child murderer is what lead to not only Luther’s mental breakdown, but a breakdown in his marriage as well. When Luther finally climbs out of the deep, dark hole he returns to work to find a boss, Detective Superintendent Rose Teller (Saskia Reeves) that has stuck her neck out for him, a best friend, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Reed (Steven Mackintosh), who still has faith in his friend and an eager, and young Detective Sergeant Justin Ripley (Warren Brown) who lobbied to be partnered with Luther. Outside of work Luther discovers that his wife, Zoe (Indira Varma), following their trial separation has decided to move on and is seeing another man, Mark North (Paul McGann).
The situation with his wife plus the special crimes he works on contribute to Luther oftentimes being on the brink of backsliding into once again breaking down. There is no doubt he is brilliant and can figure out even the most devious of crimes, but intuition and deductive reasoning seldom hold up in court without solid evidence and testimony. The DIC also is one who tends to let the law be more of a guideline. At times it is difficult to tell whether bringing someone to justice is more important than Luther proving he is right. We learn that all to well in his first case back, that of Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) and her murdered parents. While Luther eventually knows Alice is narcissistic psychopath, he is unable to produce a single shred of evidence, save that which he obtains illegally for the sole purpose of telling Alice he knows she did it.
While the first episode sets everything up and introduces us to all the key players, the second ups the ante as the SCU is faced with someone who is targeting uniformed police officers with lethal cunning. The race is one to find the assassin, but Luther is hampered by the constant presence of and phone calls from Alice. While the identity of the killer is quickly discovered, the means to locate him and stop him are not as easy to figure out and it results in a mad race to end the killing spree. Luther seems to be similar in format to the classic American series Columbo in that, while the identity of the killer each week (so far) is quickly ascertained, the action and drama is fueled by the detectives figuring out how they did it and finding a way to bring them to justice. In every sense, characters, story, dialogue, pacing, performances, Luther is a very clever series. The actors are a joy to watch on screen and the story is top-notch. John Luther may just be one of the most complex and enigmatic anti-heroes on television and Luther is another in a long line of exceptional British dramas and more than worth your time.
Watch Luther Sunday at 10:00 PM on BBC America.
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