Lazarus 1×3 and 1×4 Review: “Long Way From Home” and “Don’t Stop the Dance”

Lazarus anime season one episode 3 ‘Long Way From Home’ and episode 4 ‘Don’t Stop the Dance’ continued with our heroic team running around the globe to track down Skinner.

I was provided with free screeners of Lazarus for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

Trigger Warning! My review of ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ talks about sexual assault.

Numerous people wearing a digital copy of Skinner’s face appearing in camera feeds caused yet another dilemma for our team in the previous episode. ‘Long Way From Home’ opened with Eleina stating only three hackers in the world were capable of such a feat, one being herself. Eleina was ready to find and reveal the identity of the involved hacker and began working on creating digital bait. Even though she hasn’t received a whole lot of screentime, Eleina’s definitely my favorite character from the cast.

As for the rest of the team, they decided to talk to a professor named Claude Klein, who used to work with Skinner. Claude was also Doug’s mentor during his university years. From what I could tell, Doug got discriminated against by a professor, and Claude was the only one who stood up for him. It’s disappointing to see certain students facing racial bias in academia, but it happens. I would have liked Lazarus to spend a bit more time on such an issue, but I understand the show wanting to keep the “cool” factor going across different locations and action sequences.

Claude’s revealed to have become homeless since the incident with Doug. Apparently, he falsified data due to stress from a deadline and got caught. Again, another thing that happens quite a lot in academia. However, the level of consequences being faced by the people involved isn’t the same across the board.

The narrative shone a light on the unhoused community and how it could take just one bad day for the dominoes to fall, leading a person to lose a whole lot in the process. The setting paralleled the real world, with the unhoused community living right beside skyscrapers and other highly advanced structures, and yet TPTB governing a seemingly advanced and prosperous city not really doing much to help them out. It made sense why some of the community members were okay with the world ending. They didn’t have anything to lose at this point.

Axel reconnected with an old friend named Jill, a transgender woman Axel knew from prison. I was waiting to see if Lazarus would feature any queer representation, and we got it in episode 3. I liked how the situation was handled. At first, Axel used Jill’s deadname “Jimmy” to ask around for his friend because he wasn’t aware of Jill’s transition. However, once Jill showed up in her new look, Axel quickly switched to using her current name and even commented on how good she looked. The entire situation was handled well, in my opinion, with all of the characters treating Jill (who ran the unhoused community) with respect.

Talking to Claude directed Axel and Doug toward Istanbul. Skinner had once mentioned to Claude about the baklava his grandmother Bellinda used to make. With Axel and Leland being sent to Istanbul, we got a change of scenery featuring a chase scene that had our duo run for their lives through the streets and rooftops of Istanbul. I was kind of expecting Bellinda to be revealed as some kind of mobster after yelling her name saved Axel and Leland from the group of thugs chasing them. But nope, she’s just a normal old grandmother who raised Skinner and was famous for her baklava.

I personally could have done without the conversation between Axel, Leland, and Bellinda. It didn’t really amount to anything substantial other than the fact Bellinda hadn’t been in contact with Skinner ever since he went into hiding. Considering she’s the only living relative of someone the entire world’s trying to find, you would think the government of Istanbul would have already had her under custody or tried to use her as leverage to get Skinner to release the cure to Hapna.

Axel did find a hidden camera in Bellinda’s house, thinking Skinner was likely keeping an eye on her. But still, governments have been known to do a whole lot when trying to find “terrorists” and that’s why seeing Bellinda being allowed to freely live her life came across a weird to me. 

We also got a scene with Leland and Chris breaking into Skinner’s home after posing as cleaners. That particular scene was yet another example of writing decisions that made no sense to me. Skinner’s the most wanted man across the globe right now. His freaking house should be constantly monitored even if the FBI and other departments were done raiding it. Also, the way Chris just happened to find a mysterious pill with the number 5 on it by searching under a couch cushion made me roll my eyes. Again, the FBI and others should have already swept the place clean. But oh well. Chris did pocket the pill, and the duo mentioned how it might be the cure for Hapna. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pill came up again soon.

‘Long Way From Home’ ended with a hacker named Dr. 909 taking Eleina’s digital bait. You go, girl!

Coming to episode 4 ‘Don’t Stop the Dance’, during her mission to unmark Dr. 909’s identity, Elaina mentioned a guy named Sam. He owned a famous club called 8 Miles High. Apparently, Sam’s linked to Delta Medicinal and had traded stocks that ended up being quite profitable for him after the Hapna debacle. It’s as if he knew Hapna was going to mutate.

It was time for the team to infiltrate the club and get information from Sam. I liked how the team made Leland dress up as a girl because they weren’t sure what age group Sam might be into. And while that particular moment was still played off as a joke, things turned dark when Leland got invited to Sam’s private floor in the club along with the famous DJ Visionary.

The way DJ Visionary told Leland how he liked girls who appeared “innocent” and “untouched” made my skin crawl. What was worse was the revelation about what Sam and his friends did to women they picked out from the dance floor downstairs. After inviting the women to VIP, they made them drink from a spiked punchbowl. Once knocked out, Sam and his friends would have their way with the ladies, with the women not remembering anything after regaining consciousness. Such moments continued to paint the dark world Lazarus is set in against all the cool futuristic flashiness.

Chris was resistant to the “party drugs” and I cheered as she whooped Sam’s butt. The action escalated after Eleina figured out how DJ Visionary was the one making stock-related bank deposits and his connection to Sam and Delta Medicinal. The team worked well together as we got a scene featuring Axel and Chris doing a hand-to-hand and gun-shooting combo against the security team, with the action coming to a close with Axel shooting down Sam’s helicopter while on a drone being steered by Leland.

Frankly, I wanted Sam and DJ Visionary to die to pay for what they had been doing to the women at the club, but the episode allowed them to survive, with Sam getting arrested for illegal trading.

DJ Visionary told Axel how he knew about Hapna stocks because of the data Delta Medicinal had on the drug. Apparently, said pharmaceutical company knew the drug was going to mutate. With the team gaining access to such data, it’s time for them to pay Delta Medicinal a visit.

We’re down to 24 days before the first consumers of Hapna start dying. And while I’m here for the titular team doing cool stuff, I want to see more chaos erupt on the streets. Everyone’s a bit too calm for my liking. So, hopefully, that changes soon.

What did you think of Lazarus season one episode 3 ‘Long Way From Home’ and episode 4 ‘Don’t Stop the Music’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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