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Warning: If you haven’t yet watched Luther Season 4, which BBC America ran as a TV movie, there are spoilers!

After a two year break for the show, and a leave of absence for DCI John Luther (Idris Elba), the indomitable detective returned to solve more of London’s grisliest crimes. Season 4 has reinvigorated Luther with a new drive and new energy, yet it also included a lot of payoff for long-time fans. Several things felt familiar immediately, even despite the fact that Luther was wearing a green parka and hiding out in what looked like Broadchurch (wouldn’t that be a crossover?) Flashbacks to the death of his former partner, DS Justin Ripley (Warren Brown), were a reminder to viewers that for Luther, everything is personal. Meanwhile in London, a maniac started off his spree by killing a woman home alone — Luther’s trademark horror story.

Luther himself is driven by justice and haunted by its miscarriage (which we see play out in the plot about the missing boy killed by one of his classmates in an old case). But after three seasons of seeing everyone he loved die, he threw away his coat. He was feeling broken and needed to be brought back. His connection with Alice (Ruth Wilson) represented a darker side of a Luther’s complicated personality, one that ultimately puts him somewhere in between the rigid protocols of the police department, and Alice’s chaotic view of life (and death). Yet after the police department continued to fail him, and his most major connection to it — Ripley — was gone, Luther seemed ready to put that part of his life aside and take a leap with Alice, running off with her and living out his days … doing what, exactly? Would he have ever been satisfied?

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Image via BBC

Luther is a detective by nature, and so when he was confronted with Alice’s death (more on that in a minute), his first instinct is to immediately begin investigating it. But a casual call from a colleague, Theo (Darren Boyd), during another investigation goads Luther back fully into the arms of the police force, as he hears Theo being blown apart by a bomb planted by the killer (we were expecting one horrible discovery, and got another one). Luther knows he can’t turn back, and though his return seemingly happens quickly, it manages to feel both triumphant and completely earned. The gray coat is back on.

From there, Luther begins to juggle an absurd amount of situations. He’s being hunted by bounty killers after “an old East End geezer,” George Cornelius (Patrick Malahide) puts a price on his head for chaining him up to a radiator. He’s also searching for Alice’s killer, or what exactly happened to her, while at the same time dealing with a creepy so-called clairvoyant (Megan, played by Laura Haddock), as well as reconsidering the cold case of the missing boy. Not to mention, naturally, the whole thing about this insane cannibal killer who, in typical Luther fashion, commits some of the most horrifying homicides one would never want to imagine. It’s no wonder that Luther’s reliable tech guru Benny (Michael Smiley) replies to his question of how he’s doing with, “Like an anxiety dream. I have to keep checking that I have on trousers"

What allows any of this to work is, of course, Idris Elba’s staid yet impassioned performance. Luther is focused on Alice’s case, but he’s also attentive and protective over his new partner, Emma (Rose Leslie), who he makes promise will stay on the straight and narrow. But when one works with Luther, that’s rarely the way things go, and like Justin, she starts bending the rules a little bit and learning that it may not always be protocol, but it’s right. (Way to go, Dirty Harriet!)

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Image via BBC America

It’s these touches that make Luther’s fourth installment such a fantastic jaunt. It’s terrifying, heart-felt, full of twists and heart-pounding tension. You know Luther isn’t going to get blown up when he approaches that rusty old fridge at the killer’s lair, but he (and viewers) are still sweating it out anyway. Elba makes you believe that all of these are real, even when Luther is acting like a superhero (a particular favorite was him dealing with the would-be killer via a fire extinguisher and handcuffs). But the show, though relishing in such grotesque moments as a voyueristic cannibal killer who thinks he’s dead, also excels in its quiet conversations, and unexpected relationships. Luther’s interactions with George Cornelius are among the season (or the movie’s) best, and his final confrontation with Megan was an exceptional launching point for whatever comes next.

So there will, clearly, be something that comes next (he's after her now, for once). There was absolutely not closure in these two episodes, even regarding Alice. Alice seems too mythical to be killed by someone like Megan, and yet, Megan seems an oddly formidable foe. Getting a glimpse of her lurking in Luther’s house at the start clued us in to the fact that there was always more to her story than she was letting on, or that Luther could pick up on at first (blinded, as he was, but Alice’s death). Following the increasingly deranged movements of Steven Rose (John Heffernan) into the final hospital of horrors is standard Luther stuff, and as such it’s frightfully disturbing to watch unfold. But it’s the twists you don’t see coming, with Megan, with Theo, even with Cornelius, that are the backbone of what ultimately makes Luther so great.

Somehow, stuffing all of that action into a TV movie didn’t feel like too much. Did all of it fully make sense? Not really, but does it matter? Luther is very good at entertaining, and making us willing to suspend some logical disbelief. The whirlwind pace kept the new season taught and the experience of watching it thrilling. But whether Alice is really gone or not, it was essential to Luther’s story that he get pulled back to that middle way, somewhere in between listening to his bosses and breaking out and going rogue. Season 4 achieved that balance, and even left something a little extra for us in the end. It may not have been what fans thought was coming from this latest installment, but it was ultimately both satisfying and opaque. The only downside is that now it’s all gone. As Luther tells Emma, sometimes it’s not the way you’re expected to do it, but it’s the right way.

Rating: ★★★★ Very good — Damn fine television

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Image via BBC
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Image via BBC America
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Image via BBC America