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Tell you what, that George Stark may be a pissed old jock who stole his entire shtick from Sandor Clegane on Game of Thrones but maybe he had a point the other week about people close to John Luther. Mrs Luther, Ian Reed and now Justin – all dead. It’s certainly dangerous to know John. Just ask Mary, trapped in Luther’s flat as deranged avenging loon Tom Marwood shoots indiscriminately at closed doors in the dark like his name was Oscar Pistorius. Mary scarpers to a shed and Stark and Erin Gray arrive just in time to scare him off. Using their combined 40 years of police experience they brilliantly deduce that the culprit is not the mad gunman on the loose but John Luther because – well, really they lost me here as they did at several points along the way.

In any case John  is arrested for murder but as Stark and Gray take him to some place that’s else their car is hit by a stinger. Stark gets out and a mysterious figure in a gas mask detonates a stun grenade, maces him, drags Gray out and hops in the car. Off comes the mask. It’s Mad Alice! Nice entrance, girl. “Wotcha!” she says. I don’t think anyone was expecting that.

 George Stark may be a pissed old jock who stole his entire shtick from Sandor Clegane on Game of Thrones but maybe he had a point the other week about people close to John Luther.

John and Alice back together. It’s the greatest unrequited love story since Sean and Sarah from Same Difference. He’s happy to see her but she’s such a nag with her philosophising and moral relativism. “Seems to me your conscience has killed more people than I have” and Alice has killed a whole bunch of people because she’s crazy and has no conscience. It’s not exactly his fault all those people died though is it? Not exactly or remotely. So give him a break, Alice. Even though they are both technically fugitives they focus on stopping Tom Marwood. Murdering a copper in cold blood has affected his public approval ratings and he goes into spin overdrive by kidnapping the pregnant wife of a prison doctor to force him to give a lethal injection to Milan Wiferapist. He’s not quite got the hang of this PR thing. Where’s Max Clifford when you need him? Oh right.

He’s not quite get the hang of this PR thing. Where’s Max Clifford when you need him? Oh right.

After some not entirely successful horse trading that results in Marwood shooting John in the leg, it all ends up with George, Erin, Mary, Mad Alice and Marwood in a shouting and shooting match in Shitbox Towers, Stepney. George gets his chest blown out and Erin probably loses a tit when she gets shot as well but she lives. Up on the roof Marwood gives Luther a Sophie’s Choice. He’s going to shoot Mary or Alice. After some heated deliberation Luther tells him to shoot Alice who takes the cue to shank Marwood in the neck with a 12 inch nail. He survives, they find the doc’s wife unharmed and John, Alice and Mary live to die another day. Talk about relief! But what of love? Mary goes all Bogart in Casablanca and tells John that at the very least Alice needs consideration after saving her life. Alice telling her “if you ever betray him like this again I’ll kill you and eat you” could have influenced her as well, right enough. We already know Alice wants John more than anything in the world: you belong in the darkness with me, her broad gist. For some reason though John has always resisted forming a relationship with the multiple murderer psychopath. Now as the third series ends they walk together across a bridge – maybe the same bridge he threatened her on in series one? – laughing like children, talking like lovers, looking like ments. Is this a bridge to a new life? Maybe there’s a future there after all.

The mooted Luther movie needs to happen like Dexter season 6 needs to uncrappen.

And until they run out of wives and colleagues to brutally kill there’s a future for Luther. It remains a carnival of crazy with plot holes so gaping a herd of buffalo could charge through but it has such flair and such a sharp eye for the dramatic it rarely matters. It’s often deliberately very funny yet still manages to shock, disturb and scare. The mooted Luther movie needs to happen like Dexter season 6 needs to uncrappen. The verdict: Do you know Marwood? No, but thanks for the tip. Marks out of 10: 8