In Luther: The Fallen Sun, the titular DCI goes to prison to face the consequences of his past while a terrifying serial killer runs amok in London. The film is streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
A young man named Callum receives a call from a stranger who orders him to come to a specific location in the middle of the night. Callum arrives to find a car with two dead bodies, but one of them is pretending and the stranger subdues Callum.
DCI John Luther is called to the scene the next morning where he meets Superintendent Martin Schenk. John meets Callum’s mother who makes him promise he will find her, while a stranger shows up at the scene and observes John in particular.
He calls an unknown individual the next day and tells them that he doesn’t want John investigating the disappearance of Callum, and before you know it, a dossier filled with all of John’s past discretions is released.
John is stripped of his title and sent to prison while Callum’s mother along with many others are called to an abandoned mansion where they find the bodies of their loved ones before the whole place is set ablaze.
DCI Odette Raine is the new officer on the case along with DS Archie Woodward. John is sent a message in prison through his FM radio from the killer. He is then visited by Corrine, Callum’s mother who blames him for her son’s death.
She is then revealed to have come there with the killer himself. John uses an illegal phone to call Odette and discuss the case with her but she tells him not to overstep and see out his sentence. John gets in touch with a friend on the outside to help him break out.
He tells a few of the guards on his side to let the other prisoners attack him so that they have no choice but to transfer him. A prison riot breaks out and John is taken to a van before another group attacks the transport and takes John out to a safe house.
The killer visits a woman with severe burns on her face and he shows her a news report of young people that have gone missing all over Europe in recent weeks.
Odette visits Martin Schenk, who was forced into retirement and asks him to help her catch John. Martin investigates Luther’s cell and finds the note with the radio frequency. John tracks down the location of the frequency and gets his hands on a phone number.
He gets away just before the police arrive and John contacts Martin to trace the number. Odette is listening in on the conversation and John knows that but still shares the information anyway.
The number is traced to a busy square filled with people and John finds the killer. However, the killer grabs a hostage and then reveals why he’s there as several people with GoPros jump off the rooftops all around.
Odette and the police try to arrest John and the killer but as people jump to their deaths, the streets are filled with chaos and the killer escapes into the subway with John in pursuit.
He catches up to him but a cop arrives and knocks John in the back before the killer slashes an artery in the cop’s leg. John tries to help him out and the young cop tells John that they worked together before and urges him to get away.
The killer talks to another colleague on the phone who is in a warehouse where several people with tech expertise are using their knowledge to gather dirt on people for blackmail. They set up a website advertising an upcoming massacre where people get to decide.
John contacts Martin and Odette and tells them that he’s figured out the blackmail angle already. Archie is among those who are being blackmailed by the killer and is giving him inside information on the case.
The killer grabs Odette’s daughter, Anya from her house and then contacts Odette to tell her that if she wants her daughter back, she must get rid of John. John visits Corinne and confirms that the killer had contacted her soon after Callum’s death and offered support.
He gets a clue leading to the killer’s identity after all the different aliases he used talked about the same tragedy where his wife was injured in a fire. Odette checks the records and learns that the killer’s name is David Robey but he uses Anya to get her to keep that information quiet.
She contacts John to set up a meeting and she tries to get rid of him but he convinces her that they can work together to save Anya and stop David. The police find out about the website which is supposed to live stream the deaths and Archie is appalled.
Luther: The Fallen Sun ending explained in detail:
How do John and Odette find David’s location?
The two investigators visit David’s wife, Georgette, and convince her that David is a bad man doing bad things. She is apprehensive about sharing anything but Odette tells her that he’s got Anya.
She tells them that he’s in Norway and they immediately leave for the country as Archie lets David know where they’re headed after flagging Odette’s passport.
David tells Archie that Georgette is the only way they found out where he is so Archie must end her. John had informed Martin earlier that someone would come for Odette and he’s waiting there when Archie arrives.
Archie doesn’t want to have his secrets revealed so he kills himself.
What happens when they get there?
John and Odette travel by ferry and eventually get to a mansion covered in snow. They hear Anya’s screams and rush toward the sound to find a group of bodies hung from nooses.
The girl’s head is covered and Odette believes that her daughter is dead and she tells John to leave in anger. He explores the mansion and finds a door leading to the basement.
Odette holds onto Anya’s body when she notices a tattoo on the girl’s hand and realizes that it isn’t her daughter. She is then attacked by David’s colleague who puts a zip tie around her neck to choke her.
John is attacked by David and beaten into unconsciousness.
What happens to David?
When John wakes up, he’s chained to a chair as David is live streaming to several people around the world. He tries to advocate for people like him who are into these sick fantasies and cannot help themselves.
He brings in Odette and makes her stab John by threatening to hurt Anya if she doesn’t. He then orders John to shatter Odette’s knee cap but he tells everyone watching that their IP addresses are being traced and they will be found out.
He then gets in David’s head by talking about Georgette and how pathetic of a man he is. They use this opportunity to gain an upper hand and David makes a run for it with John chasing after him.
Anya and Odette are stuck behind in the room that catches fire because of David’s contingency. David gets into a jeep with John and they fight each other until the jeep falls through the ice.
David leaves the controls for the fire behind and tries to swim out but cannot find the opening before freezing to death. John saves Odette and Anya by shutting off the fire and opening the door to the room before passing out.
What happens to John?
The police arrive just as John is passing out and he’s saved by divers. Martin arrives with them as John is receiving medical attention.
Martin and John hug each other as Odette walks up to him and thanks him for helping her get her daughter back. John is then put in handcuffs as he’s still a fugitive and he is transported by helicopter.
When he wakes up, he’s in a government safe house. A couple of people show up and tell John that he did good work catching David and someone called “Chief” would like to talk to him.
Also Read: Luther: The Fallen Sun review: Tepid thriller with slightly underwhelming end