Ellis plays the title role in LUTHER.
The series has already proven to be the typical FOX show -- an out of the box hit that peters out with each passing week.
High concept meets no plot in the (stolen from the comic books which stole it from Milton) tale of Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil, returned to earth after centuries in hell apparently wishing he could be the male lead in a rom-com.
LUTHER wants to be really edgy and funny but it's about as edgy as 1973.
That's the year Lily Tomlin took offense at LAST TANGO IN PARIS star Maria Schneider saying she'd slept with 20 women and 50 men. Lily told THE NEW YORK TIMES, "Instead of fifty men and twenty women, write that I've had fifty women and twenty men. If I'm going to go out on a bisexual limb, I don't want to play safe by listing more men than women. That was disgusting of Maria."
We were reminded of that as we watched Luther lust over Detective Chloe Decker (Lauren German), have sex with Dr. Linda Martin (Rachael Harris) and seduce multiple women.
And apparently one man.
He gets out of bed in one scene leaving behind a man and a woman.
One man.
The show has no edge.
And LUTHER too often plays out like the network's attempt to update MOONLIGHTING as Lucifer and Chloe go from crime scene to crime scene, solving this and that.
The dialogue is often risque but rarely sophisticated and the plots are even more embarrassing.
In other words, the show has all the depth of a glossy coffee table book.
And it's as fake as Ellis' chest.
Remember that?
If you want to wax your chest, wax your damn chest.
But do it consistently.
Tom Ellis waxes for every shirtless scene.
He shows up for those as smooth as a new born.
Yet when wearing a dress shirt, without a tie, open to the second button, he treats viewers to more than a small thatch of chest hair.
It's just another inconsistency in a show that no one ever put any real thought into.