Abhiroop Das
At the end of Season 1 of ‘The Lazarus Project,’ the labyrinth of time and space continues to play tricks on George, leaving him with more questions than answers. After experiencing a series of time loops, George is introduced to The Lazarus Project, a specialized organization that works behind the scenes to keep the world afloat and safe from world-ending tragedies. As he finds his footing as an operative for the Project, doubts about its nature begin to creep up, and the protagonist finds himself in a battle between emotions and logic. The same conundrum extends to multiple characters within the narrative, all forced to be cogs in a machine. As such, the season finale takes the trip to the heart of this enigmatic phenomenon, testing it to its very limits. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Lazarus Project Finale Recap
The finale begins with a flashback to 2012, with Rebrov asking Janet out, she agrees, and the couple decides to capture the moment with a photograph. Just then, he receives a strange text message with the phrase “It’ll be worth the wait,” which he chooses to ignore. Back in the present, Shiv makes his way to where Janet was held captive, but only finds a note saying the same phrase, along with Chinese characters inked at the corner. Meanwhile, George finds himself back at the exact time of Shiv being shot. This time, however, he is cautious, carefully donning a fresh set of clothes before sending away his concerned neighbor. The protagonist then makes his way to the headquarters, curious about what caused the time loop.
An anxious Wes reveals that the trigger this time is not a human event; instead, it is the collision of two black hole singularities, which results in the instant erasure of the known universe. The occurrence is deemed unstoppable by human means, leaving them in a difficult spot. George questions how the black hole suddenly came to be, and soon realizes that it is the work of someone trying to mimic The Lazarus Project’s abilities by creating another reset mechanism. The subsequent wipeout is likely a malfunction, and the key to stopping it might lie in locating this second device. Back home, while disposing of Shiv’s body, he comes across the note, now bloodied, and chooses to keep it. Meanwhile, the Project narrows its suspects down to a former special agent named Zhang Rui.
Archie soon locates Rui, but barely misses out on the truth as the universe resets. Following this, she learns that Rui can perceive time loops as well, a result of the Chinese government creating their own equivalent of The Lazarus Project. Here, the agent explains that she was tasked with protecting Janet and had since lost her, in part due to the interference of Shiv and George. The latter’s involvement comes as a shock to Archie, and she quickly figures out the truth. Elsewhere, George struggles to deal with Shiv’s death upon each reiteration and is eventually caught by his former girlfriend, Sarah. When he tells her the truth about his work, she embraces his new self, but only for a short while, as the universe soon resets, leaving the team more frustrated than ever.
In the following iterations, George accidentally kills Sarah on one occasion before confronting her on another. In the meantime, he also makes significant breakthroughs in saving Shiv’s life, learning the contents of the blood-soaked note. Furthermore, he learns that his neighbor is actually a paramedic, which gives him an idea. Elsewhere, Rui and Archie grow close, with the former revealing that she has found where Janet is being kept. With this, the two decide to team up and rescue their ally. When Rebrov contacts George, he learns of the note that seemingly brings him to an epiphany, moments before the reset. Following this, the protagonist immediately gets into action, getting the paramedic’s help to keep Shiv alive. With the latter regaining consciousness, the truth seems almost within grasp.
Does Sarah Use the Memory Serum?
The first season ends with Sarah storming into George’s room, not out of anger, but out of excitement. She exclaims that he can time travel, which implies that she has used the memory serum that he left at her place and is now conscious of all the loops that have happened in her lifetime. Hearing this, the protagonist smiles, as it is both a burden off his back to hide things from her, and a chance at a new partnership with his loved one. Sarah, now caught up on seemingly everything that has transpired from her perspective, doesn’t seem fazed by the commotion at her former boyfriend’s residence: a man with a visible bullet wound barely being kept alive by a paramedic. In fact, she is no stranger to Shiv, having seen him dead on two previous occasions. This marks her swift entry into the greater narrative, one filled with violence and geopolitical conflict.
The serum that George left at Sarah’s place is suggested to be the one he saw in Wes’s office. He gives it to his former partner in the hopes of making her trust him, knowing that he cannot balance both his personal and professional life by building lies upon lies. Furthermore, her knowing the truth renews the potential relationship they had in the past, complete with a marriage and a child on the way. George shows immense vulnerability in his desire to return to that life, and letting Sarah in on the truth can be interpreted as his last-ditch effort to get her on his side. It appears to have worked, as she seems on board with the present circumstances. This is substantiated by one of the previous loops, where he came clean about his job and showed her his workplace. This rekindled their relationship and likely informed his present decision to make her more conscious of time.
Sarah and George’s complicated relationship can be tracked by their success in life. The story begins with them leading a happy life following his loan approval, which is contrasted by their relationship falling apart in the alternate scenario. When she breaks up with him yet again, her lingering doubts are only overcome after she discovers his exhilarating double life. Given that she is now capable of perceiving loops, she is likely to become a part of The Lazarus Project herself. With this, the recurring motif of couples in the organization facing a brutal fate is likely to be put to the test, as these supernatural occurrences completely change the protagonist’s dynamic with Sarah and bring untold variables into the fray, including the immediate dangers to their lives due to the second singularity.
Where is Janet? Is She in the Past?
While The Lazarus Project has to deal with the seemingly inescapable existence of the second singularity, a major twist comes in the form of Janet’s true whereabouts. These are revealed by none other than her husband, Rebrov. He walks into the Lazarus headquarters and submits willingly, explaining that the reason Janet hasn’t been located is that she is not in this reality altogether. He explains his reasoning, based on an anonymous text message he received in 2012, stating, “It’ll be worth the wait.” In the present, he sees the phrase written on a page Shiv received from Janet, and we are told that they eventually developed it as part of their code language. These words in particular double as a call for help, which adds a retrospective spin on the message he received a decade ago and forgot about. Piecing two and two together, Rebrov realizes that his wife has gone back in time.
Rebrov’s claim is backed by the scenes that play alongside his monologue. Charlie and Zhang stealthily make their way to the hideout where Janet is being held captive, only to find it completely empty. At the same time, we are shown Janet’s perspective of the same room, where she is being made to do research on the singularity. While the two scenes give off the impression of happening at the same time, they are not. A news broadcast on Janet’s television displays the 2012 London Olympics, indicating that she is indeed stuck in the past. From this point, we see her send the code to her husband, who is completely clueless about what it means. Since she has no knowledge of the end of the story, her message is likely less of a strategy and more of a desperate cry for help.
The revelation goes against the rules established by the narrative, which make it impossible to go back in time beyond a secured checkpoint. However, given that a new singularity has been causing troubles in the timeline, Janet’s return to the past is possibly a result of the same interference. The scenes strongly suggest that she is being held captive in order to figure out a solution to the singularity crisis that takes place in the following decade. However, an important question remains: Does her reality revert back to the present following a time reset, or is she stuck in the past for the rest of her life? The fact that Janet’s decade-old self is nowhere to be found in the present realm suggests that she is still subjected to time loops, which means that the Project has limited time to save her.
Does Rebrov Team Up With The Lazarus Project?
In light of the pressing situation at hand, Rebrov decides to join hands with Wes in their hunt for Janet. He quickly realizes that the scope of the operation has changed, and he needs the organization’s resources to find a way to break through the checkpoints and individually travel back in time. Furthermore, in this case, his and the Project’s interests align, as neither of their plans means anything in the face of a continuous cycle of extinction. As such, it is likely that he will volunteer to go back into the past and rescue his wife. There is also the question of his daughter, who was last seen with Janet and has likely been kidnapped across time as well, to be used as a bargaining chip. Thus, Rebrov’s mission has multilayered goals, one of which compels him to team up with his sworn enemies.
Additionally, the idea of bringing someone back from the past holds great significance for Rebrov, as he is still in mourning for his son, who passed away during one of the previous time resets. While he eventually has a daughter with Janet after enduring many iterations of the time loop, he still displays strong emotions about his son, mentioning him as one of his primary motivations for going rogue. Given this, his original aim of bringing the world to its natural end is likely to change with the new possibility of reuniting with his loved one. This puts a new light on Shiv’s words to George, about how the key to the mystery is Rebrov, and not Janet. The rogue agent’s motivations are likely to hit a grayer shade, with more personal stakes involved.
Does Shiv Live or Die?
While Shiv is temporarily resuscitated in the finale, providing information that flips the narrative on its head, we are not shown what happens to him immediately after. A gunshot to the chest is a serious injury, one that Shiv has died from on numerous occasions by means of the time loop. However, George eventually ropes in his neighboring paramedic to provide the first aid required to bring him to his senses. Alarmingly so, the protagonist doesn’t allow his neighbor to call the police or other emergency services, which makes the process significantly more challenging for a lone individual. Although the bleeding stops and Shiv manages to sit upright, the bullet continues to remain in his chest, posing a serious threat to his life.
While the situation initially seems dire, Shiv’s narrative significance, coupled with the fact that he receives immediate medical care, strongly points to his survival. This opens up new doors to his dynamic with George, as well as to his function in the narrative as one of The Lazarus Project’s foremost operatives. His long-standing rivalry with George, built on the former trying to prove his innocence, is also bound to reach its conclusion, with Archie being aware of the truth. However, given the intensity of the situation at hand, there is a chance that the two will finally team up. This would go against Shiv’s initial assessment of the protagonist, in which he declared that the two of them wouldn’t operate side by side any time soon. George has shown tremendous growth throughout the story, which makes him worthy of taking on the biggest challenges as an equal to all his other teammates.
