The Lazarus Project Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Episode Eight
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, The Lazarus Project, being covered here wouldn’t exist.
The agents’ questions lead to messier explanations and an unstable foundation set for the second season on a repetitive and somewhat confusing The Lazarus Project Season 1 Episode 8, “Episode Eight.”
A more significant threat than anyone could imagine is looming over the agency’s mission. With time looping in quicker succession, there’s no telling what can be done to stop it leading to a far more complicated reveal at the end of the hour that will inevitably make the mechanics of time and space complex in a way that might break the simplicity with the rules laid out at the beginning of the series.
Despite the shorter time loops completely outside the agents’ control, each loop brings them all one step closer to some semblance of an answer and a revelation about what must be done.
While the world approaches singularity repeatedly, George seemingly dedicates the hour to trying to bring Sarah into this whole mess which feels more like an act of pointed selfishness than an actual act of love.
To force someone to deal with the repeated moments of happiness only to have it taken away or to deal with the moments of grief and being forced to live with it again feels incredibly mean, given what we’ve learned about the pasts of many of the agents who have had to deal with heartbreak and grief many times over thanks to their knowledge of these loops.
But his secret isn’t his for long as Archie comes across the startling and painful discovery of what George has done for the sake of saving Sarah.
George: I had to save her.
Archie: No, you wanted to save her.
Anjli Mohindra does a tremendous job in the scene, bringing another emotional side to Archie and highlighting one particular aspect that has only been amplified in Shiv. Both Archie and Shiv take this work seriously and are willing to go above and beyond to preserve the agency’s integrity, despite what they may believe. The pair believe in their partners at Lazarus and place significant trust in each of them.
So, that emotion we see coming from Archie feels like it’s coming from a place of broken trust, sadness at not believing Shiv, and being so quick to judge George, a newcomer to Lazarus. It feels like what we see Shiv go through earlier this season with Rebrov and Janet.
If there’s one thing I’ve really appreciated in watching The Lazarus Project‘s first season, it is the character being done for Shiv, Archie, Rebrov, Janet, and even George. I may gripe (a lot) about motivations and narrative choices, especially with George, who continues to make questionable ones until the episode’s final minute. Still, I must hand it to the writers that they make you care about the characters (for the most part).
The final act leads to a clever bait and switch, as Archie and a companion track down Janet to a room where the Chinese hold her to fix what the dueling time machines have broken.
Though they may be in the correct room, but they are there at the wrong time.
Rebrov’s unexpected entrance to Lazarus’s headquarters reveals that Janet is not here now. Instead, she is there in 2012!
Kudos to the added complexity this will bring, and I hope they manage to do the time travel expansion justice in this situation.
It’s by no means a perfect show, with pacing that needs work and perhaps an alternative to the continued repetitiveness of the loops being shown, but I will say Season 1 was a wild ride, nonetheless.
Random Thoughts
- I can’t believe Sarah decided to take the serum. I get it from a narrative perspective but am not too fond of it.
- Does Lazarus HQ have any security protocols in place? Between Sarah and Rebrov setting foot in there, I have questions.
What did you think of this episode of The Lazarus Project? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Brianna Martinez
Brianna spends her time away from briefs, legal research, and pleadings, watching TV and writing about it. She generally has a lot of feelings about TV, which you can read about here and on Twitter.