So far, every single episode of Lazarus has been following the same pattern: Eleina finds a lead on Skinner, the rest of the team members go on a globetrotting adventure to investigate the lead, only to either stumble across a dead end or more leads of a similar kind. It’s about time we get to know this ensemble of lawbreakers more personally so at least there’s an emotional angle to the narrative, which seems to have been missing so far. Previously, Axel and Leland approached Skinner’s grandmother, Belinda, by venturing to Istanbul, and Axel found a spy camera hidden at her place, left presumably by Skinner to ensure the safety of the only surviving member of his family. Eleina was able to track the e-wallet of a master hacker, Dr. 909, who might be working with Skinner to keep him out of the public eye.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Did The Team Visit Sam Stephenson’s Club?
The fourth episode starts with another monologue about Hapna, uttered by a teenager, focusing on the miracle drug’s ability to negate emotions—which made it popular among others in her age group. Starting to think that these monologues are uttered by the members of the Lazarus team, offering their perspective and hinting at their backstory through their connection with Skinner’s invention—a curse in the guise of a boon.
Eleina has found Dr. 909’s e-wallet, and the transaction log reveals an exorbitant amount of money was sent to the account from a stock trader named Sam Stephenson. A basic background check reveals Sam Stephenson made a huge profit selling his Hapna stocks before Skinner’s major revelation. This prompts the team to consider the fact that Dr. 909 must have helped Skinner to remain hidden in exchange for the intel on the major revelation, which the hacker then passed on to Sam Stephenson, and both of them made huge profits. Considering the possibility that they might be able to track down Dr. 909 by arranging a meeting with Sam, Team Lazarus decides to go to his nightclub in the guise of partygoers. Leland, guised as a woman, is paired up with Christine to gain access to the club’s VIP area to get close to the sleazebag of a stock trader, whereas Axel and Doug try to locate Dr. 909. Chris and Leland get excited seeing world-famous DJ Visionary is going to perform at the club.
How Did Eleina Identify Dr. 909?
On the other hand, Eleina tries to look into further clues from Dr. 909’s e-wallet and finds out that, in order to maintain privacy, Dr. 909 deposits his gains from ATMs across the world. But the person who deposits the money can not be identified through surveillance images. However, the latest transaction took place near the club, indicating their suspicion to be right, that the person in question is Dr. 909 himself, who is staying in close proximity to Sam.
Meanwhile, Christine and Leland gain entry to the VIP area of the club, while Axel scans a specialized access tattoo needed to gain entry to the area by knocking out a partygoer. Sam turns out to be just an average, callous, misogynist stock market numbskull who doesn’t have the least amount of concern about the possible doomsday clock ticking every day due to the Hapna crisis. Guys like him believe that someone will come up with a cure anyway, so it makes no sense to ponder about that. Visionary shows his interest in Leland, whom Chris introduces to the VIP members as Laura. The overdependence on AI is showcased in the way Sam is revealed to be reliant on AI to operate his trading account, and Visionary, too, lets AI do the deejaying for him while he himself remains busy with girls.
Axel and Doug get in trouble after their fake access tattoos get noticed by the club security, and on the other hand, Sam is revealed to have drugged all the women, including Christine, in the VIP area by spiking their fruit punch. The perverted scumbag tries to take advantage of Christine, but she manages to break free of her drugged state and deliver a solid beatdown to Sam. Eleina, on the other hand, finds out from the recent surveillance footage that Dr. 909 is none other than Visionary, the DJ himself.
How Is Delta Medical Connected With The Investigation?
A fight breaks out between Team Lazarus and club security, and in fear of getting caught, Sam boards his private chopper and takes Visionary along with him. Taking down a horde of security team members, Axel manages to latch onto the flying chopper but loses his grip after a while, and Leland comes to rescue sendjng his drones for Axel to jump on. Axel shoots at Sam’s chopper and brings it down into a canal. Axel interrogates Sam about Visionary then and there but learns they have nothing to do with Skinner. The only way Dr. 909, aka Visionary, was able to get the Hapna intel was by hacking into the server of a company known as Delta Medical. Sam hands over the stored data, which was in the possession of Visionary, to Axel, and both Sam and Visionary get apprehended by the authorities. The team is once again, unsurprisingly, back to square one. Assuming Delta Medical might have gained pre-emptive knowledge about Hapna’s properties, the team members assume that a lead to Skinner can be found by investigating the company. As the episode ends, a bunch of monkeys are seen captive, kept inside separate glass cases, most probably for experimental purposes. One of the monkeys perishes, and the indication here might be that someone is trying to make a cure for Hapna.Â
It’s about time the series picks up pace, as this weekly lead investigation trope is getting pretty boring at this point. Surely, Lazarus has much more to offer aside from smooth, dynamic animation and action sequences. I am guessing the character background of the Lazarus team members and Skinner will prove crucial in the context of the narrative. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes begin to redirect the attention in that direction and make the story a bit more engaging.
