‘Luther’ Recap: ‘Season 5, Episode 3’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Chaos, unfortunately, is sometimes a part of our everyday lives. But while it drives us mad, it also has a tendency to bring out the best in us. For while its arrival does make us feel as though the sky is falling, our resilience and our ingenuity motivate us to fight back and stop it dead in its tracks, and while sometimes we may not be successful in the slightest in bringing order to chaos, it sure doesn’t stop us from trying because when we are able to grab it by the proverbial reins, the joy we feel is endless. And chaos, and everything that it brings to the table is on my mind today, simply because the battle to find balance in the storm just so happened to be the focus of last night’s episode of Luther.
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Because last night’s tale saw our intrepid DCI working to figure out how to juggle his professional life and his personal life as both seemingly feel to pieces and well, his quest to bring balance to the mess he was in, ended in disaster. Which is heartbreaking when all is said and done, especially when one considers that, at first, Luther actually made headway in gaining control of the situation. For he was able to rescue Benny from George’s thugs and get his friend and Alice to a safe place, allowing for the situation to cool down just a little bit, to the point where a stalemate arrived between he and George, allowing for more posturing and threats to come forth from both parties, but not bloodshed, and that helped Luther ponder on how best to stop George and his madness once and for all, but not before another problem arrived to make Luther’s day all the more complicated.

For the young lady that Jeremy kidnapped in last week’s tale was finally reported as missing and that meant John needed to aid in the investigation and thankfully, his choice to shift gears and deal with the case could not have come at a better time. Because the unfortunate victim in question, Penny, was tied up to a bed in Jeremy’s basement, and instructed to remain silent, lest she anger Vivian, and those were instructions she simply could not follow for obvious reasons and sadly that meant darling Vivian felt the need to take matters into her own hands and end poor Penny’s life. But thankfully, Luther’s recommendation to interview Mrs. Lake, after he and his crew discovered that Jeremy had skipped out on work, paid off in dividends since he was able to subdue the wily psychiatrist and place her under arrest before she could cause any harm, and hopefully he can get her to reveal Jeremy’s whereabouts before he begins to kill again.

Yet while all of that sounds like a happy ending, I made mention of John’s attempts at bliss, ending in the worst way imaginable and well, the ugly finale to this tale was building as Luther worked the Lake case. Because despite being warned at every level, once George discovered that his son had been killed by Alice, all bets were off, and he hired a hitman to handle this mess once and for all and that set-in motion a series of bloody and terrifying events. For this hitman systematically began to wipe out anyone and everyone he needed to in order to get to Luther, and he was able to track down where Alice and Benny were hiding and at the end of a stunning and tense phone conversation with Luther, the assassin made his point by shooting Benny in the face, setting up quite the showdown for John, one that will force him to step away from the Lake case.

Which means, everything is on the line for John Luther for as we head into the season finale next week and wow, what a setup this episode provided us with. Because this one, was tense, and powerful and enthralling and I loved every single second of it. I mean truly, this one kept me on the edge of my seat, since it really seemed for a moment there that Vivian was going to be successful in killing Penny, but it also impressed me simply due to the fact that a genuine sense of danger hung heavy over this tale. Because at no point did the streets seem safe for Luther, and George’s power play at the end of the episode backs that up. Either way, the stage is set, and I haven’t a clue as to how this one is going to end because everything is on the line for Luther and if he cannot resolve the matter with George quickly, more lives will be lost, and that could ruin John’s career forever and well, this kind of incredible setup, will have me anxiously counting down the minutes to next Sunday, to see how this incredible journey comes to a close. Until then. 

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