Douglas Coupland All The Way Down

So these two shots come from the series’s first and second episodes, respectively. The two are reflective of the episodes they are drawn from, and they’re sort of a neat and easy way of representing the relationship between Luther and Alice Morgan— he’s at the height of his powers in the first one, but she’s in control. In the second, he’s cemented their alliance, which only really he can do, no matter how much she screams and whines and plots. In the second, then, he’s in control. But what’s really brilliant about this shot is, that at what may be the most critical moments of the first two episodes for Luther (and, make no mistake, the most important relationship that he’s got is with Alice) is how big London is, and how small he is. Look at how little Luther is, in these, and Alice Morgan, too. Look at them, though, and at London around them. This is a different kind of smallness then when he’s in his ex-wife’s chair: make no mistake, Luther and Alice Morgan are big, and powerful, and together they’re bigger and more terrifying than they are apart. London, still, is bigger. Much bigger. And that’s the point.