Episode 2

The chase from the season opener lands hard here. Cameron Pell has taken Justin Ripley, and Luther has to find them before Cameron's final murderous set piece plays out. Ripley is not just a colleague, he is the closest thing Luther has to a straight man, and the show knows the audience needs him back as much as Luther does. The rescue is the engine of the hour, and the episode keeps the engine hot.

Meanwhile Jenny Jones is in trouble of a different kind. Her old boss Caroline Jones is ruthless, vengeful, and demanding compensation for the loss of her protege, and that threat runs underneath the kidnap plot like a second current. Luther is torn between the two emergencies, and the episode does not pretend he can manage both with his hands clean.

Neil Cross wrote it, Sam Miller directed, and the cast earns the two-stranded structure. Lee Ingleby's Cameron is all coiled menace, Aimee-Ffion Edwards gives Jenny a wary, watchful quality that makes her easy to root for, and Pam Ferris's Baba arrives with the weight of someone who has seen everything twice. Dermot Crowley's Martin Schenk, Nikki Amuka-Bird's Erin Gray and Warren Brown's Ripley hold the police side together, with Michael Smiley's Benny Silver and Paul McGann's Mark North drifting through the margins.

The best thing about the hour is how it refuses to make the rescue easy. Luther is clever enough to find Cameron, but clever is not the same as fast, and the episode keeps the clock visible. Ripley's fate is genuinely uncertain for a while, which is more than most shows would risk with a regular.

And the Jenny thread matters because it is the one thing Luther cannot solve with deduction. Somebody wants something from him, and this time it is not a confession.