Line #7 YMMV/Luther


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** The grey hero of the series, DCI Luther. True CowboyCop who is on the edge and will [[IDidWhatIHadToDo stop at nothing to make sure that]] the worst of the worst are stopped? Or is he a burnt out cop unable to feel for the victims driven to win by his sense of self worth? A man [[JadeColoredGlasses so apathetic to all the horror]] that the only person he can relate to is a cold-hearted killer.
3	** Alice Morgan, a [[StrawNihilist cynical genius whose outlook on the Universe]] -- how everything and anything can be rendered into pointless nothing -- led her to murder her parents after years of hidden resentment. Or a [[AntiVillain brilliant young woman shaped by being seen yet unseen]] who relishes her time with Luther as he knows her real self. And will [[ThePowerOfFriendship do anything to help the closest thing she has to a friend.]] [[spoiler: Including, as of episode four, Murder Henry Madsen.]]
4	** [[spoiler: Ian Reed's]] skill at psychological manipulation makes it very hard to tell whether he had always secretly been spiteful and amoral, or whether he was a decent guy who was tempted by the promise of easy money, panicked and behaved like a coward when things went wrong, and then pretended to lack remorse as a way to troll [[spoiler: Luther]] into putting him out of his misery.
5	* AwardSnub: Despite massive acclaim Creator/IdrisElba has never won an Emmy for playing Luther, even with being nominated for the first four seasons. However he did get a Golden Globe and a SAG award, so that softens the blow a bit.
6	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The title theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i4Es1HNyms "Paradise Circus"]] by Massive Attack, and happens to be a pretty good summation of Luther's character.
7	* CompleteMonster:
8	** [=S01E02=]: [[CopKiller Terry Lynch]] is an ex-military officer who was thrown in prison for murdering a police officer in a scuffle. Upon being denied parole, [[AbusiveParents Lynch]] gives his abused son Owen plans and schemes to act out in a quest for both freedom and revenge. Having Owen begin systematically murdering police officers around the city, including sniping and bombing them, Lynch ultimately gets more than a dozen officers killed and injured. Lynch hopes to get a reduced sentence in exchange for stopping his son, revealing Owen has been instructed to continue killing until Lynch says stop, and when confronted by the possibility of Owen dying, Lynch simply laughs and reveals [[ItsAllAboutMe he doesn't care about his son, only his freedom]].
9	** Season 2:
10	*** E01 & E02: [[ThemeSerialKiller Cameron Pell]] is a failed artist who admires the likes of UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper and Spring-heeled Jack for the fear and infamy they've amassed over the centuries. [[FameThroughInfamy Wanting that same fame for himself]], Pell [[MalevolentMaskedMan dons a mask]] and begins murdering innocent people by strangling them and slashing their throats open. After failing to kill DCI John Luther, Pell kidnaps the man's partner, DS Justin Ripley, and subjects him to brutal torture that he broadcasts to the entire police station. Pell's master plan is to [[WouldHurtAChild murder over a dozen schoolchildren]], dissolve their bodies, and ship the corpses out of the country, leaving the parents of the children forever in agony at never knowing what happened to their kids, and cementing Pell into London's most monstrous of villains.
11	*** E03 & E04: [[DiceRollDeath Nicholas Millberry]] is [[AxCrazy the more unhinged]] of the murderous [[CreepyTwins Millberry Twins]], and [[ChallengeGamer treats his crimes as a game]], in which you get points for who, where, and how they kill, possibly hoping to advance to killing with more advanced weapons, such as guns and bombs. Appearing after Robert's arrest, Nicholas starts to upstage his brother's killing points by terrorizing the London Underground, using hammers, knives, and acid guns to attack people, killing at least 3 and severely injuring 4. Afterwards, he walks through the traffic-jammed streets of London, before randomly entering a van and bludgeoning the driver and passengers to death with his hammer. Upon being found at a cafe by the police, Nicholas is revealed to have strapped a bomb under his trench coat, using a DeadMansSwitch so the police don't attempt to apprehend or kill him. Using this, Nicholas walks through London, attempting to murder anyone within at least a 100 foot radius of him, endangering dozens to hundreds of people. Nicholas then finally attempts to gamble with DCI Luther's life, before he is taken down.
12	** [=S03E02=]: [[RetiredMonster William Carney]] is a particularly vicious SerialKiller and sexually violent criminal who killed many women several years ago, starting with middle-class wives before moving onto [[DisposableSexWorker prostitutes]]. After failing to kill two teenage girls and a mother, Carney was arrested and locked away. In the present, Carney [[IndirectSerialKiller manipulates Paul Ellis, the son of one of his victims, into carrying on his murders]], sending the disturbed man after victims who got away from Carney in the past, resulting in many more brutal deaths. When confronted about his crimes, Carney can only laugh and reveals his crimes were committed [[ForTheEvulz just because he enjoyed them]], and he attempts to make his final victim one of his own nurses simply because he hated being seen as "weak" by her.
13	** ''The Fallen Sun'': [[CardCarryingVillain David Robey]] is a self-proclaimed {{sadist}} and [[AxCrazy psychopath]] with designs to create a legendary nightmare around his name. A monster who has raped, tortured, and killed dozens of people over the years and discarded their bodies in a frozen lake, Robey [[DomesticAbuse crippled and horribly burned his wife]] so he could keep her captive and forced to listen as he tells her of his crimes. Robey introduces himself to Luther by kidnapping and torturing 8 teenagers to death, letting the families find the corpses, and then sending recordings of the teens' final moments to their parents. Later using {{blackmail}} material to force multiple people to commit suicide in the middle of a crowded street and cause even more deaths through car crashes, Robey uses his blackmail-gathering ability to force other crimes be committed, notably manipulating a man into raping another for Robey's glee. Robey's final plan is to a red room where dozens of men, women, and children will be tortured to death [[MurderDotCom in front of a live online audience]], and to ensure his plans work out, Robey kidnaps Odette's daughter and threatens to rape and kill her lest Odette and Luther torture one another. When he is beaten, Robey tries to burn Odette, her daughter, and his own loyal minion to death to cover his tracks.
14
15	* GeniusBonus: When Erin is pissed off at her colleagues in Episode 204, she quotes the last line from ''Literature/AnimalFarm''.
16	* NightmareFuel: Many of the killers are Nightmare Fuel incarnate:
17	** In episode three of season 1 a satanist has a thing for writing in human blood. Thing is, he tends to write whole novels at a time.
18	** Cameron Pell wears a creepy Mr. Punch mask and kills people simply to become as feared as Spring-Heeled Jack, Jack the Ripper or any other infamous serial killer. His last act before he is stopped is to attempt to gas a busload of ''school children'' to death, put their bodies in acid and ship the acid containers around the world so they can never be found.
19	** The Milberry twins never say a word and attack people seemingly at random (actually a ''game'' they are playing using dice rolls.) The first twin is caught after stabbing a courier to death, stealing his outfit and storming an office, where he proceeds to hit the staff with a hammer and spray acid in their faces.
20	** Paul Ellis breaks into people's houses and is seemingly able to remain motionless for hours until they come home, at which point he goes berserk, possessing enough strength to suplex a grown man through a ceiling, all the while screaming like an animal. The worst part? He is only doing it because he's become enthralled to the man who killed his mother when he was a child.
21	** Steven Rose is a cannibal who eats people to take the qualities he perceives them to have that he does not. He is also an IT wizard who used his job as a repairman to spy on his intended victims. ''All 200 of them!''
22	** Jeremy Lake wears a disturbing glowing mask and can ambush and kill anyone anywhere. Even on a bus!
23	** David Robey, everything about him. He takes the cake when it comes to creepy masks, wearing one that’s a screen that depicts the faces of his victims to taunt their families with and sometimes just shows a disturbing, grinning inhuman face. He’s also by far the most evil villain in the series with the possible exception of Henry Madsen, can trace you wherever you are via your online presence, find out your most shameful secrets and blackmail you with them and hosts his own online chat room where he tortures people to death for the amusement of his audience of sadists.
24	* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Ian Reed]] crosses it when he [[spoiler:kills Zoe]]. VigilanteMan Tom Marwood crosses it when he guns down [[spoiler:Justin Ripley]] and right after attempts to kill [[spoiler: Mary Day]], proving his claims of protecting the innocent are so much garbage.
25	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot[=/=][[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter Character]]: George Stark is a retired policeman who, along with Gray, spends Season 3 trying to nail John Luther for being a dirty cop (which he isn't; as one character puts it he's ''"a cop who gets his hands dirty, not a dirty cop. There's a difference."'') As Season 3 progresses it becomes more apparent that Stark is hell-bent on taking down Luther to the point of using InsaneTrollLogic to paint him as guilty, and even Gray starts to doubt whether they're doing the right thing. All of this might make the viewer think that Stark is pursuing a personal vendetta against Luther (maybe he was a genuine dirty cop that Luther forced into "early retirement") and will be looking forward to the moment Luther shows him up for the petty, vindictive hypocrite he is. What happens instead? [[spoiler: He is unceremoniously blown away by Tom Marwood, conveniently removing him as a problem and absolving Luther of any need to do anything to prove his innocence.]]

Context YMMV / Luther