The Bitter Taste Of Regret
Episode 7 of The Lazarus Project picks up right where we left off. Time has reversed and George is back with Sarah. Unfortunately, he’s also hunted by Shiv, who vowed to come after him following George shooting him in the chest over in Romania. George is well aware of what’s coming for him and grabs a gun to protect himself. Out in the hallway, the pair end up in a stand-off. George points out what Lazarus has done to Shiv and apologizes for setting him up. All that money he’s been wiring to Janet and her child has been misconstrued as payment for Big Boy and as a result, Lazarus have more than enough motive to take Shiv down and level these ills on his shoulders rather than George. George is apathetic to the whole situation and shrug his shoulders. “I just wanted to get my girlfriend back.” Eventually Shiv leaves, deciding against killing George given that would just make him look even more guilty. George shows up at Lazarus Project, laughing and smiling, while apparently Tom corroborates George’s story. As for Archie, she still has her defences up. Not only that, but she believes Rebrov is more dangerous than ever before, seemingly getting himself captured on purpose to find the weak links in Lazarus. And that weak link, of course, is George. Over in Paris, the operation to capture Rebrov goes ahead… and immediately fails. Dennis Rebrov is aware of what’s happening and he kills all the agents before they can apprehend and arrest him. Three months pass and George lives in bliss with Sarah. Despite experiencing flashes of the past, he ends up heading out to Paris with his girlfriend for a romantic getaway. While there, Sarah urges her partner to be more adventurous and believes they should take more risks together. She wants to live more – leading George to eventually ask her to marry him that night. Although she says yes, in the morning things go from bad to worse. Sarah isn’t sure she’s happy with George. It’s ironic really. Given George has been through so many adventures to get her back and now that he has, they’re in very different headspaces. George tries to fight for his place but it’s no good. Sarah leaves. Shiv pops up on the grid in Hamburg, along with some dead bodies too – and the familiar Blackbird emblem. So naturally, Wes sends Archie and George out to investigate. At the crime scene, they find Janet’s DNA and evidence that someone was breaking in. It looks like mercenaries have kidnapped Janet and this could be linked to the Chinese and an agent called Zhang. As Wes mentions to Archie, this is a “situation”, although it’s not a Code Black and reversing time situation just yet! As they reach checkpoint night, Sarah rings George and asks to meet at the café at 9am to talk about something. Apparently it’s not important but it does get George’s hopes up. At 11.57pm, the door clicks open. George grabs his gun as Shiv comes at him. George shoots Shiv… just as it hits 12am. That means that as time resets, George is always going to be in the same apartment as Shiv whom he’s literally just shot. Anyway, George tries to dispose of Shiv’s body, eventually heading back to his apartment and finding blood all over the floor. He’s also late for meeting Sarah in the morning too. When he shows up, Sarah reveals that she’s met someone and they’re about to get married. She wanted to tell him to his face, prompting George’s initial grin to disappear completely. Three weeks pass and George is approached by DS Cooper, following his suspicious behaviour which his neighbour Reggie has called in. His movements have also been picked up on CCTV inside the lift and he’s about to be arrested. Only… he doesn’t. Somehow, a blinding flash outside causes time to reverse once more, picking up right where George shot Shiv. “What the f**k was that?” He asks incredulously.
The Episode Review
The irony of George’s situation moves this show squarely into tragedy territory. Despite saving Sarah and going through hell to bring her back, all of that has essentially been for nothing given Sarah has left him anyway. Her whole speech about him being different than before is absolutely accurate, and that stems back from the curse George has been given. Poor Shiv is now essentially dead, forced to relive the last moments of his life repeatedly inside George’s apartment. That’s a whole different sort of hell to Janet’s labour, although one could argue that this is allegoric for the cycle of life and death. Either way, it’s the worst sort of place to start off each checkpoint. The Lazarus Project has been a really enjoyable watch thus far and the ending certainly leaves things wide open for this final episode, which promises to be quite the intriguing watch.
