Big Boy
Episode 5 of The Lazarus Project starts in 2011 with Archie being approached by a guy called Michael Rogers. He recruits her to come and work for MI5. Given how exceptional her CV is, which she rattles off in quick-fire succession, he believes she’s perfect for the role. Fast forward 3 years and Archie starts working undercover, deep in enemy territory. However, when she heads home Shiv is waiting for her. He warns that if she makes the arrest of the guy she’s after, it’s going to cause a huge war and, naturally, the end of the world. As a trade for stopping her year-deep investigation, Shiv invites her into The Lazarus Project, promising that she’ll fit right in. Once there, Shiv speaks to Archie about the side-effects of working at the Lazarus Project. Some of that comes from a “tsunami wave of emotion” from memories she’s not actually experienced. Over 80 months worth, if Shiv’s estimations are correct. As he tells Archie, it’ll be like tripping on acid and having the worst Deja vu at the same time. In the present, alarms wail all over the Lazarus Project as Archie organizes traffic and tries to bring in some tech guys to decipher the intel she’s got. Meanwhile, she heads down into the basement with Wes, explaining that Ryan gave the code to kill him. He also teases that there’s a mole in the Lazarus Project. As for George, he sets a path for Big Boy’s location and hits the road in Romania. Unfortunately, he’s stopped by police when the car they’re in has been reported as stolen. He’s not exactly subtle either and eventually he skips out, racing away. George rings Archie and covers his own tracks, claiming that Shiv is part of Blackbird, the rebel group that Janet is involved in. Payments from Shiv’s phone corroborate his story (even though these were actually used to pay for her and their child.) Rebrov also corroborates this story too, given the two are working in collusion. Archie refuses to believe this and begins searching through the data to find the truth. A lot of this stems from those past flashbacks, sprinkled throughout the episode, where Shiv has always played it straight and been honest with her. George begins to lose control, killing an innocent truck driver, causing the death of a policeman and now realizing there’s no turning back. He drives out to the spot where he finds the “caretaker” there. He’s looking after the bomb but almost calls out George’s bluff too. It’s touch and go for a while, but the man does agree to show George the bomb. Once there, George decides he wants to set it off immediately but to do so, they need to move it to a more densely populated area. As they drive off with it in a truck, headlights switch on in the distance, obscured slightly by an ominous curtain of fog. Someone is following them.
The Episode Review
There’s no going back for George now, as he finds himself in over his head with this job and determined to see it through to the end. George’s motivations make sense, even if they’re skewed and morally grey. Despite that, the show has done well to keep him the focal point of this, while simultaneously sprinkling in flashbacks for each of the Lazarus Project members. Understanding their plight and just what they’ve all been through is a great touch, and this episode helps to solidify the ties Shiv and Archie have shared since all of this started. The globe-trotting adventures have also been a welcome inclusion too and seeing all these different countries, ranging from France and Romania across to Barcelona, helps to give Lazarus Project much more depth than sticking to the streets of London. There’s plenty to like with this, and as we reach the business end of the season, things are just starting to get interesting now.
