I like it okay, but all the scenes where cops aren’t drawing and firing guns are pretty confusing to me as an American viewer.
I can certainly see the complaint, and it’s a fair one. But it’s like Jack Bauer in 24 walking into his boss’ office and shooting him with a tranq the instant he’s benched. You know that Bauer will always get his way, somehow, but the hope is that the writers come up with something that you wouldn’t expect. We all already know that Alice, Luther, Sherlock, Superman, etc. will win the day. The interesting part is seeing how they do it.
I guess I’m on the same page as everyone. The stories are contrived and shows that have the protagonist getting shit on every minute get tedious. But the acting is top notch. I’d watch Elba reading the phone book. I don’t think the Alice character was over used but it was a close call. And Paul McGann is in his usual outstanding form. In fact I loved how they handled McGann’s character. As the new love interest of the Hero’s love the cliched way is to make him a hateable character. It didn’t go that way.
I don’t know about “great” but imo (a) it’s a well crafted piece of writing (b) in both series the main protagonist is excellently drawn and played.
Worth a punt for sure, and I wouldn’t have said that about Luther.