Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of NBC’s ‘The Hunting Party’ unravels the many secrets of Col. Eve Lazarus. She was introduced in the first season as a mysterious figure who had more investment in the Pit’s program than initially revealed. In the second season, as she takes control of the place in its entirety, it turns out that her plans had been much more devious to begin with. In the finale, Bex and her team focus on stopping her, but it is incredibly difficult because she has always been two steps ahead of them. With the tension bubbling into an explosive confrontation, Lazarus meets a deadly end, which does not bode well for the people vying for answers from her. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Lazarus’ Death Marks the End of a Shocking Chapter in the Pit’s History
Over the course of the second season, Eve Lazarus pushes out people like Elizabeth Mallory to gain more and more control over the Pit’s recovery operations. It turns out that some recaptured serial killers never made it back to their prison cells and instead are in Lazarus’ captivity. At first, it seems that she is trying to keep the graduate program alive, but things turn out to be more sinister than that. The program had never been about curing serial killers; it was just about teaching them how to pass off as a normal person in society. Bex figured this out early on when she diagnosed Lazarus as a high-functioning sociopath whose words and emotions cannot be trusted. Lazarus wants to keep doing the same thing with other serial killers, which will basically create an army of highly dangerous people for her.
Of course, she is doing all this in secret, and when she realizes she is at risk of exposure, she decides to flee. She has all she needs to keep the plan running, and the serial killers still being held captive, who have not graduated yet, will be killed. However, Bex and her team foil her plans, leading to chaos that forces Lazarus to abandon her plans and focus on escaping. Bex follows her in the hopes of trying to apprehend her, but she ends up getting shot in the chest. Lazarus tries to finish the job, but her path is blocked by Shane, who tries to arrest her. Lazarus tries to turn him against his team, believing he will betray his team to be with his mother. As he points the gun at her, asking her to surrender, she reminds him of his true nature.
Despite everything, he is still her son, which means he has her killing instincts. Her words touch on Shane’s insecurities, poking at the questions he has been pondering throughout the season. To poke him even further, she tells him to shoot and kill her then and there. A shadow of self-doubt passes through Shane’s eyes, and he ends up firing the gun, but it is not pointed at Lazarus. He is nothing like her, which is why he will arrest her and bring her to justice the right way. But of course, Lazarus has no intention of getting arrested. She pulls out her gun, and a shocked Shane is too late to react. Fortunately for him, Bex gains consciousness right in time to shoot and kill Lazarus before she can shoot at Shane or Bex. Bex’s shot is fatal and kills Lazarus on the spot.
Lazarus’ Death Leaves Several Questions Unanswered
One of the things that made Eve Lazarus such an interesting character was the history she had in the Pit. She was the first graduate and the first serial killer to give birth at the Pit. She had also risen high up the ladder in the US military, becoming a force to be reckoned with. She also remained closely connected to the research in the Pit, overseeing the treatment of several serial killers. This means that she had access to most of, if not all, the Pit’s secrets. Moreover, her personal connection with Shane made her an important source to answer all the questions he had about his origins, including the identity of his real father. With her death, all these questions will be left unanswered, or at least, they won’t be answered right away.
Another thing that her passing does is open the floor for new leadership. Before dying, Lazarus also has Mallory killed. So, when the dust settles, there is no one to take over the recovery operations. The bosses would prefer to put it in the hands of someone who knows about the Pit enough to accept that its secrets cannot be let out in the world. This person would have to be someone who can be trusted, at least when it comes to hiding government secrets. Lazarus was great at that, though she was also motivated by her personal ambitions. Not surprisingly, this person is found to be Bex. Thus, Lazarus’ removal from the program gives Bex and her team the opportunity to have more access to the Pit’s secret and figure out what was really going on there.
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