Luther Season 4 Review: We Definitely Need More Luther In Our Lives!

The fourth season of "Luther" (which aired in 2015) is comprised of only two episodes.See my previous reviews here Idris Elba is a busy man-- being a movie star, potential new James Bond, and Sexiest Man Alive.

The episode opens with John standing on a high building overlooking London. It's very BatMan-esqe. He asks Ripley "Do you ever do this? Do you ever come up to a really high place and wonder what it would be like to fall?" We know it's not real since sadly Justin was killed last season. Next John is standing on a cliff at the ocean. He's just daydreaming. But Luther's self imposed isolation is short lived as two members of London's finest arrive to give him bad news. Alice Morgan is dead. Remember we last saw Alice, she and John were heading off together for points unknown. But more on that later.

Despite it's brevity, this season brings us one of the most shocking serial killers of the series (which is saying something). A cannibal is stalking the streets of London. Luther once again dons his suit, buys a new overcoat and settles back into work.

DCI's Theo Bloom and Emma Jones are on the case. Theo ends up blown to bits as he opens a refrigerator rigged with explosives. While dealing with this loss, John also has to contend with a bounty on his head put there by mob boss George Cornelius. He was roughed up by John. You cant say Luther doesnt know how to multitask.

The killer is an IT guy who works for Geek Squad and installed spyware on hundreds of computers (so he can see who he wants to kill). Luther also surmises he has Cotard Syndrome. According to Wikipedia Cotard is a rare mental illness in which the affected person holds the delusional belief that they are already dead, do not exist, are putrefying or have lost their blood or internal organs. Pretty weird stuff.

They track Steven Rose to an abandoned hospital where he has taken his ex girlfriend and her family. After some tense moments, Emma shoots the killer dead (with Luther's gun) and saves the day. You go Dirty Harriett!

A "psychic" approaches Luther. Megan Cantor says she did not know Alice but she told her contact John. It's all a ruse though. Megan was a classmate of Jonathan Black. She was going by the name of Sarah Roberts then. Jonathan was murdered by fellow student Stacey Bell (but no one could prove it). Stacey confessed to Sarah but threatened to kill her if she blabbed. Luther promised Sarah all those years ago that he would protect her and bring the killer to justice. That obviously didnt happen. Now Sarah/Megan out for revenge. John plants drugs on the Stacey to try to set the record straight. Then he tells Megan that she should be afraid because he's coming for her.

And since Megan didnt know Alice at all, we're back to zero in that investigation. Is it possible Alice could still be alive? I'm hoping because if anyone could fake their death, it is Alice. Did anyone else besides me think Alice had plastic surgery and WAS Megan? Megan seemed much too delighted to be near Luther. And who thinks Megan killed Alice to get back at John? Sorry I'm not buying that one. Alice should be SUPER hard to kill.

Grade: 4 3/4 Monsters (out of 5). Despite it's short run time, "Luther" still carries a major punch. John Luther is the morally ambiguous cop I never get tired of watching. Sure he does a few questionable things from time to time, but he gets the job done. Steven Rose was one of the most gruesome killers we've seen (and that's on a show know for its over-the-top murders).

The good news is there will be a fifth season of "Luther". It is expected to start filming in early 2018. There have also been discussions of an "Alice" spinoff. Not sure how that's possible since she's supposedly dead. I would be SO into that (but only if Ruth Wilson continues as Alice). Remember, we never actually saw a body.