So, the third part of my crime-drama ramblings. Mainly because I'm gonna be talking about my absolute favourite crime drama series at the end of this collection of my thoughts.
I'm not a big crime drama fan, you may have surmised over the last few posts, but I can certainly see the appeal. In science fiction we have to explain how we got from here to there. In fantasy we have to tell you again how magic works, in comedy we have to make you laugh, in political drama we have to know what we're talking about. But crime? Crime we all know, because it's the dark part of ourselves that we're tapping into, that edge to the completely average person that could tip them over.
Just think, would you ever kill someone? The instant answer you want to go with is 'No'. But is that really true? What about in self defence? What if a crazed madman (for whatever reason) came at you with a knife and it was you or them? Is your life worth more than theirs in that situation? Of course it is. They've made their choice. What about in the defence of others? Your loved ones? What if the only way to protect the love of your life was to kill the threat towards them?
It's pretty morbid, but that's what appeals about crime drama. We all have it within ourselves to be doing these terrible things, but we are all contained by the utter lack of need to do so. Well, most of us, anyway.
LUTHER.
It's entirely possible that there may not be a new series of this come next year, as Idris is now such a massive star that he's off doing super-hero movies and hanging out with Ridley Scott. Well, at least he managed to shake himself from the most over-hyped show in the world (THE WIRE). LUTHER as a series appeared to be some kind of pet project of his and Neil Cross (a man of some serious writing talent, it must be noted, unlike his Spooks co-contributer Ben Richards). I thought it also a rather cynical attempt to get the exceptionally talented Elba back over to this side of the Atlantic ocean, since he's a London boy after all. And boy, was it worth it.
Last year, the first six episodes of this show actually blew me away. It was dark, cutting, fast-paced, brilliantly timed, well acted and each episode had a different kind of psychopath that seemed to work so well together when viewed as a whole. From the brilliant relationship between Luther and Alice (his first suspect, who he is unable to prove as guilty, so instead becomes a close friend), to the appearance of Sean Pertwee as the brutal imprisoned former Army Sergeant and the utterly chilling finale to the series, rich in betrayal and character pay-off, there wasn't a beat in this series that I would defend from any of it's detractors.
However, it was the very nature of the climax of the first series that left the second in doubt. Would he be arrested? Would he go to jail? Go to court? As it happens, it all got a little glossed over and Alice took the fall for it and it all seems to be business as usual for season 2. Which is good, because they had some cracking bad-guys for the two two-parters that they did. Cameron Pell was a great performance from Lee Ingleby, and then the role-playing twins were just a nerd-tastic idea, but could have done with a little more research into the source material. The second season lasted only four episodes, making the total into ten overall.
I felt that the sidelining of series 1 regulars, Ruth Wilson's Alice and Paul McGann's Mark, was a weakness of the second season, especially since the relationship between Luther and Alice, as well as Luther and Mark, were becoming highly interesting. How do three people that all helped murder a murderer get along with themselves and each other afterwards? Alas, it wasn't quite expanded upon in the second season, but it was made up for in other areas. The idea of Luther going to work in Schenk's new department was genius, since Schenk was the one man who could always stare Luther down. Jenny, the new girl, was an up-and-down, but I think she worked well.
Y'know, unlike many of the other shows and films I talk about on this blog, I think I could actually keep going for another few pages, but I'll leave it there. Until I write my complete shot-by-shot annotation of the entire series, of course. With most of the notes just being 'AWEsome'.
Next up: POINTLESS.
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