Episode Title: “Episode 2”
Writer: Neil Cross
Director: Sam Miller
Previously on “Luther:”
The second installment in this third “Luther” series manages to be just as scary and gross as the first. This time around we get to watch a deranged fetish killer shove an entire household’s toothbrushes in his mouth as he scopes his victims’ home. Not quite as bad as a hand in a blender but still…
While the killer was preying on his latest victims, Luther (Idris Elba) pulled an all nighter on a date with Mary Day (Sienna Guillory), the woman whose car he hit earlier on. The accident turns out to be a happy one for Luther as the two hit it off. But after their marathon coffee date, Mary has a hard time getting a hold of him.
That’s because he’s caught between two demented killers and an anti-corruption investigation of which he is the focus. At the scene of the fetish killer’s latest crime, Luther tells Ripley (Warren Brown) he was about to talk to the victims when Ripley came barging into the station, accusing Luther of tipping off Barnaby. No pun intended…
Ripley tells Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird) he wants to “make things right,” presumably by putting Luther out of the detective business. But as the investigation progresses, Ripley comes to realize that Luther is the one whom he needs to make things right with. Luther tells Ripley he has no problem with him arresting Barnaby for the murder of his tormentor. but it’s obvious he wouldn’t have done the same. And when Barnaby tells Ripley that his wife, who suffers from MS, will be left alone should he go to jail, we’ve got to wonder what’s going on in Ripley’s head.
In the meantime, Luther asks to meet with Gray to talk about Ripley, whom he believes she’s having an affair with. Gray confirms that she intends to take him down “with relish,” but Luther’s main concern is that she not break Justin’s heart. Luther knows people who get too close to him tend to die, or at least get badly hurt. And while Luther doesn’t seem too concerned with Gray’s witch hunt, he knows Ripley could end up a casualty.
We also see Gray begin to question DSU Stark’s (David O’Hara) methods when he insists they break into Luther’s flat. Stark reminds her that she “started this” and that they must control how the investigation goes. When she suggests they get a search warrant, Stark asks, “Where’s the fun in that?” It makes you wonder if by the end of this series we’ll be watching Gray and Ripley try to save Luther from Stark.
Aside from Gray and Stark’s obsessive dirt digging, there’s a murder to be solved in this episode. The break in the fetish killer case comes when convicted murderer, William Carney comes up in the late DCI Ronnie Holland’s files. Luther visits Carney, who’s now living in a nursing home and learns that he had a recent visitor named Paul Ellis. Carney describes Ellis as “a fan,” but further investigation reveals Ellis is the son a prostitute Carney murdered. After killing Ellis’ mother in front of him, Carney took the boy under his wing, developing a twisted father-son type relationship with him.
Though Carney is unwilling to give up the identity of Ellis’ next victim, Luther surmises it’s one of the young nurses from the home. It’s a reasonable assumption and it turns out to be right. In another one of the series’ scariest scenes, we watch Ellis watching the girls from inside a bedroom closet. It looks like Luther might be too late, as Carney had hoped. But Luther beats Ellis at his own game, hiding next to one of roommates as the killer enters the room.
After a brief scuffle, Ellis throws himself out a window and Luther takes a picture with the three girls, all very much alive, to taunt Carney. Though it feels like the case might have ended a bit too soon, “Luther” does an excellent job at packing suspenseful storytelling into a tight-fitting miniseries.
The other big showdown at the end of the hour comes when Luther drops in on Stark and Gray in middle of interviewing Ripley in their restaurant hideout. What’s interesting here is that Luther doesn’t deny he’s done anything wrong when confronting Stark. That’s probably because he knows he’s done plenty. And so does Ripley. But to Luther’s surprise, that’s not what he told Stark and Gray in his interview.
Luther walks out of Stark’s place with his evidence and tape recorder. Listening to the interview on the way home, Luther hears Justin talk about how “honored” he is to work with such an excellent detective. It looks like Ripley isn’t the one to turn on Luther, which leads us to the only other person he’s close to at the moment: Mary. If Luther’s latest love interest seems a bit pointless it looks like that’s all about to change, judging by the preview for tonight’s episode.
This second hour equals, if not exceeds the first in keeping the suspense high and the mood dark and ominous. How about that blood dripping from chandelier? Despite what feels like a somewhat abrupt though exciting end to the fetish killer case, we get two more hours to find out what kind of trouble Luther can get himself into and how much he’ll make to get out.
