Episode Title: “Episode 3”
Writer: Neil Cross
Director: Farren Blackburn
Previously on “Luther:”
Though this third series of “Luther” stands well on its own, fans who have been following the brilliant detective since the first series should appreciate this episode and its allusions to his troubled past.
In this hour, we watch Luther (Idris Elba) and Ripley (Warren Brown) pursue Tom Marwood (Hey, it’s Elliot Cowan from “Da Vinci’s Demons”), who goes on a Dexter-like vigilante killing spree as an homage to his wife who was raped and murdered four years earlier.
Marwood epitomizes the law-abiding citizen who is pushed over the edge when the justice system fails him. When Luther encounters him, Marwood defends his actions by pointing out the the system’s failure to keep predators like the man who killed his wife off the street. Luther tells Marwood it’s not his motive he has a problem with, but his methods. Marwood tries to appeal to Luther’s sense of purpose as a detective, to keep bad people off the street. Interestingly, Luther responds by saying he doesn’t have a right to administer justice outside the law.
Though he may try to appear to be a by-the-book copper to Marwood, we know Luther has a history of interpreting justice differently than his job dictates. Like the time he let child killer, Henry Madsen fall from a ledge, not to mention his complex relationship with Alice Morgan, one which Stark and Gray would, no doubt, love to hear all about.
Watching Luther hunt down Marwood as he prepares to hang a pedophile, live on the Internet with a mob of supportive onlookers in attendance, you have to wonder if he’s turned a corner somewhere. With the media frenzy surrounding Marwood’s “bread and circus” executions, it’s hard for Luther to do anything but try to stop him. Yet, there’s something slightly hypocritical in his motivation. Especially when just a few days earlier he warned Barnaby about his impending arrest. Luther denied it to Ripley, but we know him all too well.
The Marwood case is also somewhat ironic is that no one besides the police wants the killer stopped. That means when Luther finally does catch Marwood, he might be London’s most unpopular detective. And yet he’s doing “the right thing,” for once. Then again, the public’s attitude towards Marwood might change when the media learns he murdered DS Ripley.
Yup, the big shocker in this episode isn’t that Gray (Nikki Amuka-Bird) finally gets off her “broomstick” after she and Stark (David O’Hara) scare the hell out of Mary (Sienna Guillory), but the offing of another main character in Ripley. Marwood gives Ripley chase after the police show up at the public hanging, but Ripley finally catches up with him. Facing off, unarmed, against a killer with a sawed-off shotgun and no back up in sight turned out to be Ripley’s last rookie move. Why Marwood, who claims to have no interest in killing anyone but bottom-feeders didn’t just run, is puzzling. But it serves the plot in that we get this season’s big character death and now Luther has a reason to go after Marwood, full force.
Ripley’s death shouldn’t come as a total surprise, however. There was some foreshadowing early on, with Gray warning him to be careful around Luther, (though we can’t pin this one on him). That, along with his redemption after turning on Luther meant that Ripley’s days were numbered.
As for Gray, she too, is nearing redemption (though hopefully, she’ll stick around if there’s another series). Stark’s unsavory methods are starting to creep her out and she drops by the station to talk with Luther about it. Instead, she gets Ripley, who offers to meet her for a drink to sort things out. Unfortunately, that won’t happen, but Gray might find Luther ready to listen.
Finally, there’s the matter of Mary Day and her role in Luther’s life. She’s totally freaked out by the file Stark shows her on Luther and insists he tell her the truth about what happened to Zoe. Luther promises to spill “every drop” of his distasteful past, that is if he every gets a moment with Mary that doesn’t end in a call from work.
Though the previous two episodes were excellent, in this third hour the series really starts humming. I complained about the last case ending too quickly, but I’ll shut about that now that we’ve got a much more exciting one on our hands. With one hour left, “Luther” reminds us that these short series runs are a kind a Catch-22. They’re so great you want them to go on longer but it might just be the brevity that makes these pulse-pounding mini-series so damn good.
