Luther (TV Series) Episode #4.2 (2015) User Reviews

A gripping two-parter

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 23 December 2015]

These comments refer to the entire two part story not just episode two.

After the events of the previous series Luther is on a leave of absence and living on the south coast. His new life is interrupted when police visit him to inform him that Alice Morgan has been found dead in Belgium; he can't believe it at first but DNA evidence confirms that it was her. The officers who come to tell him about Alice have another problem to worry about; there is a serial killer in London who is eating the body parts of his victims. Luther returns to London to confront the person he believes was responsible for having Alice murdered; inevitably he also gets involved in the hunt for the serial killer and ends up teamed up with DS Emma Lane when her partner is killed.

This was a gripping two-part story; I was initially disappointed to learn of Alice's death as she'd been a really good character; it did however give Luther the reason to return to London and get involved in two mysteries; Alice's death and the hunt for the cannibalistic serial killer. As expected Idris Elba does a great job as Luther; he manages to bring just the right amount of ambiguity to the role. He is ably supported be a good cast that includes John Heffernan and the suitable disturbing killer Steven Rose and Rose Leslie who impresses as DS Lane. There is plenty of excitement throughout as well as some shocks and disturbing moments. The story ends well in a way that sets things up for further stories.

A gritty conclusion that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 31 December 2015]

The mystery woman, Megan arrives with a message for Luther from Alice, simply 'Stacey has the owl,' she tells him other things, that only Alice could have known. Fuelled by annoyance Cornelius has put a price on Luther's head, so John has to deal with the Serial killer Rose, discover who's killed Alice and fight against several attempts on his life. Rose is finally tracked down, but he has victims captor, it falls on Luther and Lane to save them and bring Rose to justice. Mystery woman Megan has a big secret to tell Luther, could she have had a hand in Alice's death?

I enjoyed the opening episode very much, I had big expectations for the conclusion, it didn't disappoint.

Felt like we really had Luther back, I loved how he beat up his potential assassins.

I have praised Ruth Wilson on so many occasions, but I have to give plaudits to Laura Haddock for her performance as Megan, finally a performance and character that seemed up to the level that Wilson had set.

This was an excellent conclusion to the serial, what a shame we only had 2 episodes, let's hope it's not long before we get more, is Alice still alive? That's the big question we were all left with. 9/10

Back from the brink

[Lejink · 8/10 · 28 December 2015]

And so Idris Elba returns once more to the part of the genius, maverick cop John Luther, quite a coup by the BBC in respect of Elba's growing status as a movie actor in wider circles.

This two-part story gave us the usual deranged, serial-killer for Luther to chase, intertwined with the mysterious death of Luther's evil guardian angel Alice Morgan but who still manages to get a message to him conveying a vital clue about a long-past cold case he's never quite got over.

By the end of the two episodes, pretty much all is satisfactorily wound up with on the face of it a whole new different Alice-type female character ready to strike up another unusual relationship with him and which might lead to another series in time.

The problem with the previous series is that a good proportion of the strongest and most familiar characters got taken out, mostly physically (this happens quite a lot around Luther), with only his chief and tech-wizard Barney still around from before. This time around a new young female cop becomes his assistant, toughened up by the death of her previous partner at the hands of the new baddie. As usual, the killer gets an unusual M.O. Besides coming on like a combination of Norman Bates and Hannibal Lecter, he is able to creepily observe his prey from the computers he's previously installed for them. Also as usual, the murders themselves are suitably grisly and blood-spattered with Luther racing against the clock to stop him escalating his spree to kill the family of an ex-girlfriend who dropped him years ago.

There's one other complication for our hero as he severely ticks off a criminal overlord who then proceeds to order a hit on Luther out of spite. While I did miss the characters of Justin, Alice etc, I also liked the new girl helping out here, well played by Rose Leslie. Elba effortlessly dominates proceedings as ever combining a steely resolve to an emotional vulnerability. There's no new romantic interest, perhaps due to the shortened storyline but it wasn't missed.

All in all this was a fine production, well up to the standards of previous series. What next after this, another one-off special or even the talked-of movie? Either way, let's hope the big guy returns again, he'll be missed if he doesn't.

S4: Feels unnecessarily truncated and doesn't have the grimy, desperate tension the other seasons did so well

[bob the moo · 26 December 2015]

Despite really disliking the first season of this show, the rest has been roundly enjoyable in a dark and tense way. This 'season' was screened as two episodes in the UK, but as one special in the US – not sure of the difference (if any) but I watched it on catch-up as one sitting. Not sure if splitting them up over a week would have made a difference, but I found this 'season' of Luther to be way too short. Not just in terms of the count of episodes/time, but actually for what the story itself needed.

As a show it continues to play to the strengths that it had in the last few seasons, but it has less time to really bed it in and make it work. So we have the usual serial killer, we have the usual threats to Luther, and the usual 'off the books' approach; all of it here though feels squeezed and processed. It does still work reasonably well, but the sense of the narrative drawing you into the world is not as good – so I didn't get that sense of desperation, tension, and the grime of the world Luther moves in. Of course the show retains its two man strengths, and uses them well even in this short season.

London is one of these, and it looks great and makes the most of the new and old in the skyline and locations. Of course Elba is the main thing which drives this show, and he really does add a lot to it. He makes the dialogue work, he sells his character, and his sheer physicality (both in violence, and in weighed-down body language) is good. The shorter run may be partly due to his busy schedule, but at least he gives a lot to make up for it. Despite this though, the fourth season is not what it needed to be. It feels unsatisfying, undeveloped, and surprisingly ordinary. It does enough to be a decent watch, but that's about all.

As Far as I Can Go!

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 15 September 2017]

Since Netflix stops here, I'm going to have to be happy with what I've got. This is a very good two parter with Luther trying to deal with the death of Alice and the apprehension of the Cannibal killer. It shows excellent deduction as John tries to keeps his moral sense and his hatred of guns out of things. I think it has cost many their lives in this series. There is also a quid pro quo here concerning a promise made by Luther at an earlier time and the fact that the mob boss has put a hit out on him. But the plot moves along to a very satisfying conclusion. I wish I had access to the next seasons.

Texxx the show man

[francescovergoni · 9/10 · 13 March 2021]

Amazing Tex, great scene.. I watch it 4 times! Tex rules

Season 4 Review

[IPyaarCinema · 8/10 · 27 October 2020]

Review By Kamal K

Solid addition to the "Luther" series that suffers from being too short but even a little Idris Elba as John Luther goes a long way. As usual, the best thing is Elba's brilliant performance as Luther, continuing his turn as a tortured cop who does what he believes is right but knows he crosses the line more than once (at one point, he lectures his new partner, nicely played by Rose Leslie, to go by the book). The killer himself is pretty gruesome and you can understand why Luther comes out of retirement to track him down, particularly after certain events. However, this feels more like a TV movie than an addition to the series and the absence of Alice, Luther's nemesis/love of his life, is felt, though her spirit is felt throughout the episodes. Overall, probably the weakest of the seasons, though it is always great to have Luther back, even in the smallest doses.

Cruel Shooting

[ZegMaarJus · 8/10 · 18 August 2021]

This episode begins with John, he gets a message from Megan. The message came from Alice. Roberta Wise has been killed by Steven, he ate her brain. George put a bounty on John's head. John interviews Megan about Alice. John took down two man on a scooter, these were the bounty hunters. Steven killed Sean, he ubducted the rest of the family. Owen is save, he escaped out of the clinic. Emma shot down Steven with Luther's gun, he died instantly. John gave Alice her diamonds to George, to get the bounty from his head. Nice Final of Luther Season 4, just a double episode. This was a bit under the level of Season 3 but still nice!

Good But

[fprime-38349 · 7/10 · 14 May 2018]

It is good to see Luther back but the part where Alice dies didn't convinced me at all. I still prefer the 1st and 3rd Seasons

Season 4: Not Enough Time For The Luther Formula To Take Hold

[zkonedog · 6/10 · 26 October 2020]

At its core, Luther is a fairly formulaic show. The titular hero and company investigate serial murderers, while at the same time some personal crisis is going on with John behind the scenes. While both of those elements are very much in play during this fourth season, only having two episodes doesn't really allow them to mesh with each other like they had done in previous campaigns.

In these two episodes, Luther (Idris Elba)--living in hermit-mode after the events which ended S3--is brought back into the fold when he learns new information about Alice Morgan. At the same time, a cannibalistic murderer (played by John Heffernan) is on the loose, with new agents Theo (Darren Boyd) and Emma (Rose Leslie) on the case and hungry for any tips Luther can provide.

Simply put, the reason for S4 garnering my lowest ranking of the Luther seasons thus far is that two episodes just aren't enough to do this show justice. The "personal stuff" (dredging up an old case) surrounding Luther is actually very intriguing. Sadly, it isn't given any room to breath here. The same goes for the cannibal killer plot--it just plays out far too fast to ever have any stakes.

For me, the highlight of these episodes was Leslie as a new agent. Hers was the only character in which I could see the kind of raw emotion that makes Luther work. Besides her performance, though, everyone else just seems either underwhelming or (again) not given enough time to flourish.

I also was not a huge fan of using the Alice Morgan character as essentially a red herring (Ruth Wilson does not show up at all here) for Luther's return to action. I get what the writers were trying to do, but it struck me as a bit jump-the-shark-ish. At some point, simply pulling her name "out of the hat" each season wasn't going to be enough to create drama, and that moment was reached in S4 for me.

Overall, S4 of Luther isn't bad by any means. It contains all the basic elements and emotions that the show needs in order to succeed. It just compresses them into two episodes and thus doesn't have the balance like previous runs. I don't know why the decision was made to only produce two hours this go-round, but I'd have to say it was a poor choice for this show.

S4 Review

[r96sk · 7/10 · 23 September 2020]

A two-episode fourth season of 'Luther'.

It's peculiarly short, reportedly due to time constraints, as such I wasn't truly able to connect to any of the events onscreen. I still enjoyed what I saw and what they give, but it does feel a tad rushed/undercooked. A decent chunk of episode one focuses on new characters as opposed to Luther himself, which didn't feel right - though by the end, it was good that we got to know the characters of Rose Leslie and Darren Boyd. Laura Haddock's role isn't the best, I didn't connect with Megan to be honest. I did enjoy Patrick Malahide as Cornelius though.

Basically, in short, I rated the stuff involving Leslie and Boyd but the one about Luther and his own story wasn't that massively interesting to me. It's a season that still has its moments but is definitely hampered by the 120 minute run time, with the aforementioned premise involving Leslie and Boyd concluding kinda abruptly. Still, Idris Elba is a big enough reason to watch, he's great again. I remain excited for season five.

Is She REALLY Dead?

[Warin_West-El · 6/10 · 5 February 2023]

We're being told that Alice is dead. Which is a real let down considering the uplifting ending of last season. However, I'm wondering . . . Is Alice REALLY dead or was her death staged?

Although this season was just two episodes, the plot cleaned up a lot of loose ends that were hanging around. Guess they needed to have George Cornelius remain cuffed to Luther's radiator to justify the ending of this episode.

Another reviewer came to the same conclusion I have, namely that Luther is a rather formulaic show. It regularly angers me because it's always the same shtick: a murderer wails on a victim while horrified on-lookers stand frozen in fear. Once again it's a woman (DS Emma Lane) who finishes off the murderer while Luther stands around talking to him, pretending to be a man.

Did you notice the first victim of this episode was Roberta Wise, a professor of economics? Was it just me or were the screenwriters having a laugh? After all, it was the "WISE" woman who wound up being murdered. And previously an episode began with the murder of a woman who edited technical manuals. Could this be a commentary? A knock on women who seem to be SO intelligent and yet possess zero survival skills?

Well, I know one woman who DEFINITELY possesses survival skills . . . And that's Alice. I'm hoping she's NOT dead and that we'll get to see her next season.