Luther Season 4 Review

Luther (2010-)
Season 4 - 2 episodes (2015)

Watch Luther Season 4 on Netflix
Created by: Neil Cross
Starring:  Idris Elba, Warren Brown, Dermot Crowley, Michael Smiley, Ruth Wilson, Rose Leslie
Rated: TV-MA

Plot
This British crime drama stars Idris Elba as DCI John Luther.
In the fourth season he's tracking a cannibalistic serial killer.

Verdict
This two episode season relies largely on the previous seasons and Idris Elba's charm. We don't get to see how smart John Luther is, not like we've seen before. Luther is tormented, but there aren't enough episodes to develop it. This is a teaser for a longer season we may never get.
It's an easy watch and I'm glad to get more episodes, but it doesn't have the elements that first drew me to the show.
It depends.

Review

The opening is dark and moody, grabbing you with a killer twist. A man gets into his car, and the show deftly avoids the trope of a killer in the backseat. The man texts his wife/girlfriend, who is presumably painting their house, that he's on his way. I wondered if this was a period piece because she has an old bar phone with the green/black pixel screen. It's just an anachronism.
We're waiting for the crime, teased by bumps in the house that end up being a bird that has no bearing on the crime. The twist is unexpected. The guy enters the house and she begins telling him about her day. She turns and discovers the man that texted her and is in her house isn't her husband.

It then cuts to the credits. I like Luther's theme song and animation.
John Luther (Idris Elba) is called back into service with a strange serial killer that likes to impersonate his victims and their family before eating them.

Luther is holed up at a dilapidated house having quit the police. His plans to run away with Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), a killer even Luther couldn't outsmart, have yet to materialize. He tried to convict her and then fell for her. Luther trying to track down Alice's fate is a recurring plot point while he also struggles to catch a serial killer. His partner Emma Lane (Rose Leslie) is Ygritte from Game of Thrones. This short season also weaves in a cold case Luther never solved.

The always reserved John Luther tracks down an informant at a club. With a gun pointed at his head he calmly asks if the guy is, "Having a laugh?" It's a very deliberate show, much like it's main character.

I didn't like this season as much as the previous three, and that's due to the low number of episodes. The show doesn't have a chance to explore Luther as he's stuck on Alice, who doesn't even have much screen time. While the cold case ties back to his search for Alice, it was contrived.

Luther's obsession with the job and inability to separate from the job have been key to this series. This is the length of a movie and feels like a Silence of the Lambs or similar movie with a deranged sociopath.
This season just doesn't have the time. With as many movies as Elba is in, I'm sure it's difficult to find time to film this.