As the fifth episode of The Lazarus Project begins, viewers are taken to 2011 when Matthew Rogers approaches Archie (Anjli Mohindra) at a party. She forgot that they had an appointment to meet earlier and quickly apologizes. Archie explains why she didn’t come before being asked whether she has considered her future. Archie quickly runs through her credentials and achievements, but she doesn’t know what she wants to do. Before long, Matthew asks if she has ever thought about working for the government. After he confirms it isn’t civil service, Archie asks whether it is MI5 or MI6. Although he can’t tell her, he says the cool one is the one he is in. The intelligence service is always looking for bright minds and her CV is exceptional so far.

He gives her his card before asking if she knows the price tag is sticking out the back of her dress. Archie curses spies and hides the tag. Three years later, Archie helps with a job that looks like a bank robbery. Once she returns home, she finds Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) sitting at her table eating. She threatens to knock his head through the wall although Shiv doesn’t think she can. He tells her that MI5 combat training is a job before properly introducing himself. He knows about the armored truck robbery so he gives her advice for coming down from such an experience. Shiv knows she is working with the MI5 in Georgie Cunningham’s operation. Although he knows she won’t like it, Georgie (Gary Grant) is off the hook so she’ll have to back off.

Archie argues that Georgie smuggles drugs and people. He has enough capital to expand his operation tenfold. After she says he is going down, Shiv admits that is almost exactly what she said last time. He explains that a known associate of Georgie will make a deal that he shouldn’t with someone in Israel if Georgie is arrested. He claims the interesting thing about a disaster is that it is an escalating series of mundane interactions leading to a catastrophic climax. Shiv’s job is to find the simplest and easiest thing to rearrange to ensure a disaster doesn’t take place. He is there for that reason. When she says she doesn’t understand, Shiv tries to explain it to her differently. The smallest things tend to make the biggest difference. He expected her to abort a year-long operation the first time, but she took matters into her own hands and messed everything up.

Shiv makes it clear that he isn’t asking. He eventually tells her that he works for the Lazarus Project because he thinks she’ll fit right in. Then, Archie runs down the stairs to find that Dennis Rebrov (Tom Burke) has killed Ryan. She asks the guards to put Dennis in restraints so she can question him. She tells Wes (Caroline Quentin) about Ryan from tech support before trying to gain access to Ryan’s computer. While doing so, she talks to The Dane (Lukas Loughran) who says Ryan was the only IT guy in today. Archie orders him to get all the IT guys on the phone so they can come in. She wants an army of nerds walking through the door promptly. After a few more questions, Dane agrees to get in touch with the IT guys. George (Paapa Essiedu) remembers Shiv telling him he’ll come for him before he gets a call from Archie.

He doesn’t answer. Instead, it looks like he transfers the data from one phone to the other and drives toward his destination. Wes reminds Rebrov that Ryan worked there for five years and had a wife and child. Once she finishes speaking to Dennis, she’ll call them to tell them that Ryan died in a workplace accident. When asked why he killed Ryan, Rebrov says Ryan gave him the code or the sentence that can mean only one thing. He doesn’t know why he killed right and only knew that he needed to do it. Wes asks who could’ve given Ryan the code. Dennis suspects it was given to him by the mole working in this organization. Archie says they don’t have a mole. Dennis suggests otherwise as he mockingly says the Lost Glory just tipped themselves off that they were coming.

He isn’t going to tell them who it is without guarantees. Archie says they’re not going to let him walk free although he says she doesn’t have the authority to make that decision. Instead, Wes does. A police car shows up behind George before a guy with a horse stops him from the front. The cop hits his lights. He approaches George who claims he is borrowing the car. The cop says the car was reported stolen so George tries to explain that. The phone transfer is complete. George shows the cop his license while he says he is in Romania for business. The phone shows a list of encrypted payments. He remembers Janet (Vinette Robinson) saying they manage to get by. The phone says blackbird and he remembers Janet wearing a blackbird on her necklace.

George floors it to get away from the cops. Wes and Archie argue about whether they should make a deal with Rebrov. Once George calls Archie, Wes encourages her to find out where he is and get him back here. He tells her that he is in Romania pursuing a lead and Shiv has gotten himself into trouble. George claims Shiv kept mentioning blackbird and he just ran it as a keyword search in his bank account. The search proved that Shiv had been sending money to Janet. George asks her to get Ryan or someone to bring up the payment to verify it. Once he is told that Ryan is dead, George claims he is trying to catch up with Shiv. Although she believes he is wrong, Archie warns him not to approach Shiv if he sees him. Archie tells Wes everything George said.

She doesn’t think Shiv would betray them, but Wes wants data instead of feelings. Archie goes to Rebrov to ask him about Shiv being a mole. Rebrov only says it is always the ones you least expect. He admits Shiv never got over what happened to him and Janet with the boy. Archie says she is going to find out what is really going on here. He tells her to start scratching at the surface since it has taken her long enough. In 2014, Archie learns that only special people are aware when time jumps back. Most people’s brains can’t process the time jump so they reject the memories of the time they’ve lost. He’ll give her a small dose of something that will jolt the misplaced memories to the surface. He can show her all the time she has lived and forgotten. When asked why she wouldn’t want that, Shiv admits it can get messy.

She is 23. In her lifetime, they’ve already reset 15 times. He warns her that she’ll start remembering things that she lost. Whether it is good depends on what happened to her in the time that got wiped away. Shiv describes it as disorientating. It’ll feel like she is lucid dreaming. Archie makes it clear that she still doesn’t believe any of this. George manages to stop the car and allude the police. When he pulls out, he is rear-ended by a police car causing the trunk to open. Shiv’s body in the back is exposed to the officer. George uses the door to push the officer into traffic. A guy driving a truck that hit the officer gets out before he is shot by George. He gets back into the car and begins cursing. Archie watches as Ryan’s body is taken away in a body bag.

They discuss whether Shiv is the mole. Greta (Salome Gunnarsdottir) doesn’t think so. Archie says everything is on the table until they have proof. Blake (Lorn Macdonald) suggests he is Pavlov’s mole. He explains that Pavlov had a dog in a box with a cyanide pill. He reasoned that the dog could be alive or dead, but he wouldn’t know until he opened the box. Greta calls him an idiot before saying it was Schrodinger’s cat instead. She remains adamant that Shiv would never betray them. George reaches his destination as we see a flashback of how he found out about the Romania base. He gets out and begins looking around with his gun out. He ignores a call from Archie and continues looking around. A man sneaks up behind him before they begin fighting. Eventually, George holds him at gunpoint while trying to get him to stop.

The man has a concussion. He believes George is with the Lost Glory and there for the bomb but falls down the stairs before he can help.  In 2014, Archie begins remembering stuff she had forgotten. While thinking about the car chase, she remembers Shiv telling her that the smallest things can make the biggest difference. She recalls one of her partners shooting and killing an innocent man in a truck. Then, she remembers Shiv coming to her before to ask her to back off Georgie Cunningham. She goes to Georgie with the intention of arresting him and everyone else. Shiv approaches her later to ask if the guy in the burrito truck is what did it for her. She tells him she’d do the same thing again. When she gets up later, she learns that a businessman linked to organized crime was killed in a shootout last night.

It was Cunningham. Shiv has left tea for her on the table. The man wakes up and tells George that he is the caretaker of the bomb. He didn’t think George was with the Lost Glory since one of their principles is reinstating a white ethno-nationalist government and a pure Aryan state. George claims they dropped that since they’re more inclusive now. The man says his name is Rudy. George wants to see the bomb while Rudy wants to see the detonator. When Rudy says they need to trust each other, George gives him the gun. George is asked about the rest of the money since the Glory only wired half of it. They agree to do it as discussed and pay for the rest once they see the bomb. George admits he’d like to see it. Archie breaks into Shiv’s place and looks at his belongings.

She remembers meeting with Shiv and bringing him a symbolic burrito. She admits that the wave was enlightening. Shiv says he needed Cunningham out of jail and didn’t need him alive although he didn’t have him killed. He asks whether he has lied to her yet. While she says no, it doesn’t mean he won’t. Shiv agrees. Archie sends a message to Shiv asking him to tell her that he isn’t the mole. Rudy takes George to see Big Boy. George says it is a big bomb like in the movies. He says he wants to blow it up tonight or as soon as possible. Rudy reminds him that blowing it up here will only kill a lot of cows and dairy farms. George agrees and suggests they should move it to Ruthenia. Rudy can help him transport it and take him to the detonation site or any site outside of the blast radius. When they drive away, a car turns its lights on behind them.

 

The Lazarus Project Review

The fifth episode of The Lazarus Project was pretty much more of the same. Half of the episode focused on Archie and how she ended up joining the Project. The other half was in the present as George attempted to secure the bomb. Certain aspects of the series are obviously well thought out while others seem like they’re just going through the motions.

The cockeyed attitude of George in the most extreme circumstances makes a half-baked story even worse. The series doesn’t take itself seriously when it needs to do so the most. It is still frequently difficult to really feel empathy for George because his motivation and loss weren’t adequately explored.

This just hasn’t managed to break out of the realm of mediocrity yet and likely never will. The overall satisfaction the viewer feels may depend on the finale. The episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of The Lazarus Project can be found on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support us at this link.