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Doctor Who,Sherlock,andPeaky Blindersprove that British shows make for some of the best television on the air. Neil Cross’sLutheris no exception. The show premiered on theBBCin 2010 and ran for five seasons before getting its own feature film.It’s a psychological crime thriller that grips its audience from the opening scene and never lets go. It’s not the first of its kind, but it’s one of the most compelling iterations in the genre out there.
Luthersuccessfully blurs the lines between right and wrong, sometimes making the hero of the series out to be the villain. It’s the lesson that intentions only get one so far in life, stressing the importance of not blurring those lines if possible.Any fan ofSherlockis going to loveLuther, as it gives audiences a different kind of detective. This detective is gritty and takes no nonsense for an answer. It’s the role that earned Idris Elba multiple awards, including a Golden Globe.
What is Luther About?
Procedural crime dramaswith police protagonists blurring the lines between right and wrong are nothing new on television. It’s not even rare to see those protagonists struggle with their internal demons. What setsLutherapart from other procedurals, besides Idris Elba playing the lead role, is that there’s no fat in the story. Each season of the series focuses on one or two cases while John Luther (Idris Elba) handles various personal matters. It’s very focused and succinct, which is why the first season only runs for six episodes.
After allowing a suspect to fall several stories, hoping it would kill him, Luther is put on suspension and spends some time in a psychiatric clinic. After several months there, his marriage falls apart, and he’s not exactly welcomed back with open arms by his colleagues. He has a new protege, and his boss, Rose Teller (Saskia Reeves), tells him in no uncertain terms that the brass doesn’t want him there. It’s an uphill battle for the seasoned detective from the start.
His first case back is a double homicide with limited clues that point to a suspect. However, he immediately deduces that the victims' daughter, Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), is responsible for their murders. She’s a clever little sociopath with an incredibly high IQwho fascinates DetectiveChief Inspector (DCI) Luther. She and him initiate a little cat-and-mouse game throughout the six episodes, using each other to their own ends. All the while, John repeatedly tries to win his wife Zoe back despite all signs of her moving on, including having a new beau named Mark North (Paul McGann).
In the penultimate episode, John discovers that his closest friend in the department, DCI Reed, is dirtier than himself and the reason several people are dead. While Luther genuinely wants to help Reed, Luther’s friend doesn’t trust him and sees him as a loose end.
6
Finale Date
Jul 25, 2025
In the penultimate episode of the season, DCI Ian Reed visits Zoe Luther to lure John to him. He asks for Zoe to call him, but when she does, she alerts John to Ian’s plan, and the detective reactively shoots Mrs. Luther. John quickly drives to Zoe’s house. Meanwhile, Reed thinks quickly and stages the scene of the crime.
In the final episode ofLuther’sfreshman season, the British detective goes on the run after his old friend, DCI Ian Reed, frames him for the murder of Zoe. With his behavior throughout the season, it wasn’t difficult for Reed to do such a thing. Everybody witnessed Luther throw and break objects whenever his anger rose. However, Lutherwas not without his loyalists.
Detective Seargent Ripley struggled to believe that John had anything to do with the death of his wife.As he investigated the crime scenewith Detective Superintendent Schenk, he saw signs contradicting the story Ian had orchestrated. Ripley wasn’t Luther’s only ally. The disgraced police detective turned to suspected murderer Alice Morgan, who took a liking to him in the pilot episode.
Using Ripley to stall around the crime scene and feed him pertinent information and Alice to do the dirty work, John formulated a plan to help clear his name. He knew the only way to clear his name was to get his hands on the diamonds Reed obtained in the penultimate episode, which connected him to everything. However, Luther needed to enlist one more ally for a vital task. That ally was Mark, Zoe’s new lover, after she and John split up. Naturally, Mark believed John to be the kind of man who would Kill Zoe in a fit of rage, so it took some convincing.
Luckily, Mark was willing to listen and believed Luther’s story. He successfully retrieved the diamonds from Reed’s locker after showing up at the police station, claiming he was there to discuss something with Luther’s former boss, Rose. Taking the diamonds put Reed hot on Mark’s trail, but this worked in Luther’s favor, as he and Alice were waiting for him when he caught up to Mark in an abandoned train station.
Despite Luther having the upper hand with a shotgun aimed at him and Ian begging his old friend to kill him, John refused. When Ian learned that John recorded his confession, he attacked Luther, only for Alice to geta hold of the shotgun. When she gave Mark the choice to let Ian live or die, Ian goaded Mark into letting him die. Despite Luther’s pleas to let Ian live, Alice pulled the trigger the moment Mark gave the order. Just in time, too, as Schenk and the police arrived on the scene.
Why Didn’t Luther kill DCI Reed?
Luther’s first season ends in a very poetic manner. The pilot episode started with DCI Luther chasing a suspect, Henry Madsen, through an abandoned building across a series of catwalks. Madsen ends up falling off the ledge and hanging on for Luther to leave him there until Madsentells the policewhere he is hiding his newest victim. By this point, Luther was fed up with not only Madsen’s killing spree but everyone’s. The detective allowed Madsen to fall, which put him in a coma. It was that case that landed Luther in a hospital.
That was old Luther. New Luther wanted to do the right thing. Sometimes, he cut corners and bent rules to accomplish this, but it was the right thing on paper. That’s why he refused to kill his old friend, Ian Reed. It didn’t matter that Reed killed his wife. If he killed Reed, he would be no better than him. It’s also poetic in that Alice is the one to kill Ian because she is the first primary case of the series. While Luther might have been upset because he really tried to keep Ian alive, he also wasn’t too heartbroken, considering what Ian had done.
