Luther: Your standard loose-cannon cop, only this time he's British and played by Idris Elba.

For me, Luther is the perfect combination of my two favorite things: British TV and crime procedurals (with bonus handsomeness).  The titular Luther is a rageaholic jackass who is going through a divorce and generally on a downward spiral.  He's a detective who solves crimes (and occasionally dispenses some good old-fashioned vigilante justice) in London.  He's also magnetic and charming and at the same time kind of a terrible person?  It's complicated.  But also awesome.



John Luther, as played by the man who clearly should be the next James Bond.

Don't argue.  He'd be perfect.

Like I said before, Luther is kind of a terrible person, but you love him anyway, at least most of the time.  His wife is leaving him and he's really not dealing well with it at all, and definitely struggles with the whole "letting people face the criminal justice system" aspect of his job.   He's about two more terrible crime scenes and four drinks away from being another Dexter, although where Dexter coolly dispatches his victims Luther would probably just rip them apart with his bare hands. He's not the most stable of individuals, is what I'm saying.  Still, there's a pathos to him (and he's just so badass and handsome) that you kind of root for him anyway.



DS Justin Ripley, the guy who tries to keep Luther from going off the deep end. He's marginally successful.

His accent is adorable.

Ripley here is basically Luther's conscience, although he's not great at that because he's rather low key and Luther is like a rampaging bull in a china shop. Still, he tries, and fills the "faithful lieutenant who covers for the rule-breaker" role very well.



Zoe Luther, his soon-to-be-ex wife.

She was Lucius Vorenus' wife on Rome, which means
she REALLY likes the crazy ones
with a penchant for vengeance killing.

Sometimes Zoe is less of a person and more of a plot device, but I do like that the show gives her valid reasons for wanting a divorce.  I mean, Luther is INSANE like 75% of the time, which doesn't really make up for the 25% of the time that he's charming.  His inability to let go of their marriage drives a lot of the non-crime-procedural action at the start, and it's fairly compelling.  But like I said, she's basically a plot device.



Alice, the Boo-Boo to Luther's Yogi Bear.

Hey hey Boo-Boo, let's go a-murdering!*

Okay, so I'm spoiling the first episode here, but I can't NOT talk about Alice.  She's a murderer, but gets away with it.  And then she develops a weird crush on Luther and he sort of likes her back and they show their affection for each other by breaking into each other's apartments and/or threatening to murder their enemies.  They're really more friends than anything else, only their friendship is incredibly messed up and sort of hilarious.  Luther's affinity for Alice shows you just how crazy he is, deep down, and in turn he keeps Alice from going full-blown serial killer.  Well, mostly.

*Credit to my husband for that one.  I laughed so hard I cried when he said that.


Verdict: Perfectly awesome.