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| The serial litter bug continued to elude DCI Luther’s grasp. |
Luther is scary, for sure. But only because
it borrows, so liberally, the techniques and tropes of slasher horror:
Camera angles from the killer’s
point of view, the victim’s
point of view. Shadows and reflections; we see things
the victim can’t.
Loud Psycho strings bursting
the silence. Female
characters are seen disrobing; vulnerable,
exposed.
Did I hear a noise?
Oh, no, it must be nothing (the spurned chance
for the victim
to escape). You can believe
this behaviour in a teen slasher flick cheerleader, but of an educated, professional
woman? She hides behind a slatted door for Christ’s
sake!
 |
Wargh! A Ghost!
No, wait; it’s just a serial killer
in the attic...
WAARRGGHHH!
|
The schlock-horror jars with the detective who doesn’t play by the rules in a gritty
city premise. There is nothing
wrong with being a bit grim; the underlying eeriness
of Les Revenants, the starkness of The Killing, and the realism
of Stinger Bell’s own The Wire. Yet all these shows have light against
the shade, which makes their dark sides all the more powerful.
The unremitting bleakness
of Luther makes all the serial
killing seem mundane.
Luther wants to incorporate
the psychological thriller
aspects of a Silence
of the Lambs
or a Se7en. There are plans for a Luther
movie; maybe it is better
suited to the big screen,
where serial killers
can be larger
than life. And the big case feels like a once in a career
event, not just another day at the office.
Luther is ambitious, and has many brilliant aspects
for which it must be commended, not least of all the magnetic performance
of its lead: Idris Elba undoubtedly has both the charisma, and the talent,
to carry a movie. Hopefully
London’s favourite copper
will have a chance to shine on the silver
screen. But as a TV police procedural,
it has its Wires crossed.
3 Stars.
 |
Has someone fetish-murdered Detective
Superintendent Martin Schenk’s
brain? Why has he gone from the sharpest of the intelligent
coppers to the dullest?
|
 |
Fanboy favourite Alice returns for the season
finale.
|
 |
I was the fourth coolest
character in The Wire,
which makes me the fourth
coolest cat in the world.
|
 |
Crossed Wires: It’s like a Touch
of Frost with Stringer. This BBC crime drama is saved by the Bell. It’s like if James Patterson wrote The Bill
(The Bell?) [Use these half finished puns? Only at the very bottom where no one will see].
|
Funny Andrew Collins
Guardian video blog with Luther clips:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/video/2013/jul/09/luther-dates-skins-scandal-route-masters-video
