‘Luther’ Ending Explained: Here’s What Happened In Series 5’s Dramatic Finale

The episode began by revealing Jeremy was still on the loose, and had killed a random man on the street, whose body he had hung over a bridge. As a new calling card, Jeremy had also placed a mask of his own face over the victim’s. 

Elsewhere, Palmer had taken Alice and Mark to a warehouse and locked them in a freezer, and informed Luther he would have to go to a series of checkpoints before locating them. Growing tired of the wild goose chase, Luther decided to go straight to Cornelius, enlisting Halliday to find out where he was by doing a search on one of his associates, Ronald Massey. 

Upon arriving at the Hotel Octavian, where Cornelius was hiding out, Luther threatened to kill him, before getting him to instruct Palmer to call off killing Mark and Alice.

Cornelius and Luther then headed to the warehouse where Palmer was still insistent on carrying out his original instructions, so Luther shot him in order to disarm him. However, Cornelius then shot him again, killing him instantly. The crime boss then took a picture of Luther next to Palmer’s body with a smoking gun in his hand to use as insurance if he should ever need it. 

Luther then rescued Mark and Alice, and as they headed back to Mark’s house, Luther lied to Alice, telling her Cornelius was dead. However, she soon rumbled him after a phonecall to Cornelius’ house revealed he was alive and well, leaving Alice feeling betrayed. She then warned Mark not to let Luther back into his life, warning him that he was not the person he thinks he is.