Luther episode 2.2

Episode 2 of the new series picks up where the last one left off. Ripley has been kidnapped by the Punch killer and Luther has to find him.
Actually Luther is a bit busy. As well as dealing with the Ripley situation and foiling Punch's next plot he gets a phone call from the mother of the girl he rescued from the sex people in the previous episode. He pops around to her apartment and gets a nail hammered through his hand to get his attention. Some Bad People want him to silence a guy in witness protection. If he doesn't they will kill the mother and the girl he rescued - the one currently handcuffed to Mark's chair.

You see, when I type that out it sounds silly. But while I'm watching it I enjoy it.

So Luther has to find the witness protection guy and tells him to amend his statement. Then it's back to the Ripley situation. Eventually they work out Punch's plan which I won't spoil in case you've not seen the episode, but it is a bit chilling.

By now the episode is almost over, but where is Alice Morgan. It's why I'm watching after all! Luther gets back to his crummy flat and sure enough there is Alice waiting for him. She's obviously used the key card we almost glimpsed in the apple last week. She still wants to run off into the sunset with Luther but he says no. I wonder if such refusals will annoy her...

Overall an entertaining episode but I would have liked to have seen Alice break out of the secure hospital. There's an episode right there. Remember in the first series when she impersonated a doctor, started a fire, lured away a police guard, all so she could kill the serial killer who woke up from the coma?

And now that I've typed it I see that it all sounds a little silly. But it's pure entertainment.

A couple of Ruth sightings

Here's a non-story titled "Idris Elba Parties With Co-Star Ruth Wilson To Celebrate 'Luther' Return".

http://www.taletela.com/news/7364/idris-elba-parties-with-co-star-ruth-wilson-to-celebrate-luther-return

And here are a couple of photos of Ruth attending the 'Great British Talent Event'.

http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/F-o5miYTG71/The+Great+British+Talent+Event/7aWMWy38rIH/Ruth+Wilson

Luther episode 2.1

"Now what?"

That was the question asked in the last episode of the first series when Luther, Alice and Mark stood over the body of Ian Reed as they listened to the sound of approaching sirens. It was also the first line of the new series as we are given a close up of Ruth as Alice Morgan being questioned in a secure hospital. It appears she's being held there for the murder of Ian Reed. Fair enough as she did it.

Meanwhile we see Luther facing a new day in a very run-down tower block. He plays Russian Roulette. Click. OK, maybe tomorrow. Later he is playing chess with Mark, which is an amusing sight.

Luther is now heading a team investigating serial killers and he recruits his former partner Ripley who has been demoted to being a uniform copper after preventing Luther getting shot by a sniper.

The killer in this episode is quite a nasty piece of work. Well he would be in an episode of Luther. This one wears a Punch mask and is quite happy to perform to the CCTV cameras as he kills his victims.

In the middle of the episode Luther has time to visit Alice in hospital. They speak of Luther leaving his police job and going traveling to see "the desert" and "see some sharks". Alice expresses her desire to see the Very Large Array of radio telescopes in New Mexico, a nice reminder of her physicist background. "It's quite spectacular," she whispers, with her eyes closed. Then suggests "we could go togeather". But it all feels like they are talking in code. What is not being said I wonder?

Luther makes a great song and dance (metaphorically speaking) about taking an apple from his pocket and eating it. Then he tells Alice he has to go catch "madmen". Outside the hospital he throes the apple over the wall, but not until he pushed something inside. Something that looks like a card. On the other side of the wall Alice sees the apple and picks it up. She is smiling. You've got to look carefully at the apple, just above her little finger...

This episode marks a departure from the first series as things are not wrapped up in 60 minutes. As the end of the episode approaches it becomes clear that the killer will not be caught before the end credits. Indeed there is a delicious cliffhanger after some handy misdirection.

A strong opening episode. I look forward to the next one.

Luther Series 2 reminder

Just a reminder that the first episode of Luther series 2 is on BBC1 tonight. I will hopefully post some comments on the episode after seeing it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vk2mq

The Guardian Radio review: Flare Path

Today's Guardian newspaper has a review of a radio play that features Ruth in the cast.

The Terence Rattigan season, which celebrates the centenary of the playwright's birth, is a prospect to savour if opening drama Flare Path (Radio 3, Sunday) is anything to go by. Written in 1941, it is set in a hotel that's a temporary home to RAF bomber crews and their loved ones.

It was a great introduction for anyone new to Rattigan, and in that sense a fine starting point. Jeremy Herrin's direction captured the play's warmth and understanding of these variously strained lives unfolding in the unique context of war. Rattigan doesn't pass judgment on his characters, even Patricia (Ruth Wilson) and her lover, Hollywood actor Peter (Rupert Penry-Jones), who intend to declare their feelings to her RAF pilot husband Teddy (Rory Kinnear) and leave. Instead of judging, Rattigan quietly tilts his characters away from that seeming possible.

The excellent ensemble cast relished the collision of closed worlds – the movies (everyone asks Peter if he knows any famous names) and the RAF, with its slang and lingo – where everyone, to an extent, is acting. There were terrifically moving moments, such as Penry-Jones reading a letter from a husband who is presumed dead to his wife (Doris, superbly played by Monica Dolan), but mostly just a sense of characters stoically adjusting to realities, written in cracking, sharp lines that always feel true.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Luther series 2 broadcast date

Just a quick note to say that Luther returns to BBC1 on Tuesday 14 June 2011