Saturday TV Special: Luther

- I’m coming for you.
- Not if I come for you first.

Plot: The series follows John Luther (Idris Elba), police officer who is very dedicated to his job. He has many issues and he often crosses the line in his attempts to catch the criminals, which takes tremendous toll on his mind and his private life. The first episode deals with Luther trying to solve the case of the double murder - he believes that the people were killed by their own daughter, Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), who is a brilliant young girl and who after meeting Luther sets her sights on him and begins playing very dangerous game, digging into his past - apparently in a mission to help him. Luther and Alice, though on the opposite sides of the game, seem very similar and form a curious bond, which will prove beneficial few times in the series.
Structure: Each episode deals with different crime, but it is also follows stories from previous episodes - the incident from the first scene of the series and its aftermath, the game Alice plays with Luther and his troubles with his wife, whom he loves but who decided to leave him.
Verdict: Truly wonderful series - if you took "The Silence of the Lambs" and turn around the roles you would get Luther - only instead of naive young cop you have brilliant detective fighting his demons every step of the way and instead of older genius you have a young girl who only now got her freedom and who has very twisted outlook on the universe.But she is lesser of two evils - the criminals that appear in the series are very disturbing and some of the scenes that show extent of their evil are quite frightening.
What's so great about it? Fantastically written characters and truly disturbing crimes. We watch Luther trying to solve the cases and at times he is very close to catching the bad guy, but he can't because other things come in the way. The tension between him and Alice is incredible and she appears out of nowhere messing with him, only adding more problems to his already complicated life. The series is beautifully shot, too - many images are just gorgeous and very well thought. The music only adds to the show's gritty but somehow elegant atmosphere.
Whom you may recognize: Idris Elba from "The Wire", Ruth Wilson from BBC's Jane Eyre, Indira Varma from "Rome"
Who will like it? Fans of great crime shows and character studies.
When and where? Season 1 and 2 aired on BBC and season 3 is coming in 2013.