by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Welcome to Cross-Platform Partners! In honor of a new movie release, I have selected a TV show to watch to pair with the movie. Think of it as a way to get hyped for the new movie, a preview of things to come, a means to tide you over if the movie won’t be released where you live for a little while, or a change of pace if you’ve run out of related movies or sequels.
August is an absolute wasteland this year for film releases. There aren’t a lot of good movies coming out this month. When exploring the movie release schedule, there wasn’t a lot that stood out for pairing. I couldn’t think of any decent train shows to pair with Bullet Train, and Bodies Bodies Bodies snuck up on me. The only other major movie I saw coming out is Beast, Idris Elba’s newest film. He’s clearly the front man so there are a number of television shows to pick that he’s been in in some capacity. He had a brief and memorable role in The Office,and he played one of the best television characters ever, Stringer Bell, in The Wire.Neither of those had Elba as the leading man, though. The eventual winner for the month and most obvious choice was Luther.
Luther, created by Neil Cross, follows Deputy Chief Inspector John Luther (Elba) as he solves some of the most serious and sinister crimes in London. He’s assisted by shaky ally Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) and Deputy Sergeant Justin Ripley (Warren Brown), among many other people in the police department that help him. Luther is currently streaming on Hulu and went through five series spanning 2010 to 2019.
There’s a lot to unpack about Luther, but a fair warning to those who might be interested in watching: this is not a show for the faint-hearted. It has trigger warnings about all kinds of different crimes including murder, rape, kidnapping… all of the above really. This is a violent show, filled with lots of blood and showing actual murders. Part of the point of Luther is that he solves some of the most complicated and tough cases. Naturally, his cases seem to also be the most violent and depraved. So, trigger warnings for anyone who is interested in watching this show.
Now to the main point overall: If you are someone who loves TV, Luther is a must-view show.
Luther is not your typical police procedural show. DCI Luther isn’t your typical copper either. He’s extremely smart and dedicated to his craft. He is compared a lot to Sherlock Holmes, and rightfully so. He uses his superior logic to think like the criminal and understand the motivations to stay ahead of the suspect. Luther also cuts corners, has toxic relationships, and can’t seem to get out of his own way sometimes. He’s extremely emotional, and toes the line around law and order. Luther’s obsession with solving crimes is his best and worst trait, as it often gets him into a ton of trouble when he pushes too hard or not enough.
Luther might also be the most unlucky person in all of television. In a way, he feels like a cursed individual who can’t ever catch a break. He reaches his physical, mental, and emotional breaking points multiple times during his cases. By the fourth series, Luther is literally alone due to the choices he does and doesn’t make. It’s like he can’t ever win. We as the audience both feel bad for him with everything he endures, but also can’t help throwing something at the screen with the decisions he makes. He’s a hero to root for, but he’s also someone that makes you wonder who will watch the cops to make sure they’re doing everything correctly.
The credit for all these dimensions, though, goes to Elba for his performance. This might go down as one of the best, if not the very best, performance of his career. Elba’s performance in Luther should have been a critical and awards season slam dunk each year, but for some reason, it wasn’t. I’ve been a fan of Elba for a long time, so I’m generally going to support most anything he’s in. He’s often not the problem if the movie or TV show he’s in doesn’t do well. Elba often gives it his all, which is always appreciated. He just has a gravity about him that I really like, while he also just carries himself as a professional who knows what he’s doing and he’s amazing at it.
Along with Elba, Luther is filled with a deep bench of great performances. Kudos go to Brown — he is the perfect counterbalance to Luther, as he is someone who tries to do everything by the book and doesn’t let his emotions get the best of him. Ripley has a tough job as someone who needs to keep Luther in check, while also attempting to help him outside the realms of the law. His arc goes in an unexpected direction, but he’s one of the best parts of a rather dark and cynical show. Wilson also deserves credit for her performance as Alice, someone who is just as smart, cunning, and ruthless as Luther, but just on the other side of the law.
Luther is not your typical crime procedural show, either. Since Luther is a BBC property, the seasons are way shorter and a little more focused. I kind of wish American Television would take a bit of a queue from this show when it comes to crime procedurals. The first starts out like a typical crime procedural show where there is a different crime each season. It quickly shifts in later seasons to being two episode arcs for one crime. I really like this style because it feels like a movie, but also gives the audience time to invest in Luther solving the case and bringing the criminal to justice.
Since the show also features longer episodes, but less overall content, we get invested in people quickly. There’s tragedy all around in Luther, where people die and not every criminal is caught in the way we hope. Mistakes are made on both sides. Criminals get sloppy and desperate, and coppers lose sight of the case and try to cut corners. Almost no one is safe in Luther, which makes investing in characters a tough call. It’s a testament to the writing and story though when someone dies and it just hits hard emotionally.
Luther is one of the best shows of the 2010s, and somehow, it also feels like it went under the radar. Luther mixes great performances and amazing stories together almost as well as one can make it. This will easily be in my top 10 favorite shows of all-time now — it’s that good. All I’m looking for from Beast is for Elba to be the man, meaning I just want him to be the best part of the movie so I can root for him to succeed. I already have seen this trailer a bunch of times, so ultimately I’m looking for a good-to-great performance from Elba and that’s about it.
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