Luther season 5 is grimmer than ever

The next time a lady asks for elephants, please, for the sake of the Seven Kingdoms, just give her elephants. Unless you want her sadness and desperation to drive her into the arms of a certain lowlife sea captain. But…but Your Grace, Euron? Really Cersei? Him?

Now that we’ve got that off our chest, we must acknowledge (rather begrudgingly) that there are other things to obsess over on Showmax other than Game of Thrones season 8.

Like say Luther season 5, the Idris Elba-led gritty crime drama that once again takes us into the complicated and messy world of the tortured homicide detective DCI John Luther.

In case you missed it, BBC announced in November 2018 that Luther would be making a comeback for a fifth season after a three-year hiatus.

In Luther season 5 which comprises only four episodes – too short for a show of such magnitude – our beloved detective is as broody as ever, embracing his signature monochromatic wardrobe, as he chases down the latest psychopathic killer lurking the streets of London. This time, it’s a deranged surgeon with a stabbing fetish. Like DCI Luther, amidst all the killing, I even learned a new word – paraphilia. Look it up, or you could just watch the show.

Murder isn’t the darkest part of the latest season

Grim as it may be, the latest spate of disturbing murders in Luther’s London isn’t even the darkest part about this new season. Instead, it’s more concerned with showing us how actions have consequences. In this case, Luther’s past actions and unorthodox crime-fighting tactics come back to bite him. Once you dive into the first episode, it doesn’t take long before an old friend – Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson) – shows up on Luther’s doorstep and that’s when the real mess actually begins.

Remember Alice? The unhinged half genius, half psychopath who stalked her way into a very complicated relationship with Luther? Alice does what she does best – causes trouble. This time she drags Luther into a violent vendetta with the mobster George Cornelius (who you may remember from season 4).

The Luther-Alice bond is an unhealthy one, and there’s only one way it can end – a reality that Luther doesn’t treat with the seriousness it deserves as he welcomes the volatile redhead back into his life. Actually, he tries to get rid of her, but just not hard enough.

Don’t expect neat endings as Luther is pulled deeper and deeper into an eye-for-an-eye feud between two criminals. In the end, it costs him dearly  – but that’s for you to watch until the end to find out. Luther season 5 is now streaming on Showmax.