Lazarus 1×5 Review: “Pretty Vacant”

Lazarus season one episode 5, titled ‘Pretty Vacant’, allowed Eleina to take a more active role in the team’s mission to find Skinner.

I was provided with a free screener of Lazarus episode 5 for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

Having found a connection between Skinner and Delta Medicinal, it made sense for the team to go after the CEO of the giant pharmaceutical company, a man named Dr. Ahmed Rahman. He’s been a mess ever since Skinner announced to the world that consumers of Hapna were going to start dying very soon. Ahmed’s been unable to sleep peacefully, and (in a sense) he had given up fighting a “demon” like Skinner because there wasn’t enough time to create a cure to save humanity.

As for the clinical trial data in Delta Medicinal’s possession, the team figured out that the data was being shared with Skinner through SoundCloud. The music files sounded strange. However, upon Doug’s suggestion, Eleina was able to convert the music files into image files, thus revealing the encrypted data. Apparently, Delta Medicinal knew about Hapna mutating into something toxic, and our heroes wanted answers.

I liked how Team Lazarus managed to break into the highly secure building. Leland’s drone got jammed. Chris couldn’t find a nearby building to make a jump from. Doug couldn’t get through the parking lot. Landing on the roof was out of the question during daylight. But the mission was still accomplished due to Alex simply walking through the front entrance and trying to pretend he belonged there. Of course, security went after him, but it was still very cool to see him take on at least four security guards in an elevator going up to Ahmed’s residence. The scene reminded me of Captain America’s elevator fight from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

During interrogation, Ahmed shared that his researchers had no idea about Hapna turning toxic for humans. However, Skinner spoke the truth about human dying soon because the test subjects (monkeys) had indeed started dying. It didn’t matter if you took the pill once (like Axel). Even that’s enough to kill you once time runs out.

Once dead, the victim’s eyes would change and depict bright spots resembling a galaxy. Ahmed’s been trying to get hold of Skinner but to no avail. As Ahmed put it, Skinner was indeed a demon for putting humanity through such consequences.

With Team Lazarus having spent the past couple of days trying to track down Skinner, I liked how they tried to take a different approach to lure him out. Working alongside Ahmed and Delta Medicinal, the plan was to hold an emergency press conference to announce a cure. Of course, the cure was fake. But there was a chance it might get Skinner to check things out or at least send an associate to steal the cure.

Eleina oversaw most of the plan, making sure that the company’s exterior and core networks remained secure. However, things took a turn for the worse when a hacker named Popcorn Wizard started attacking the networks. Popcord Wizard was able to mess with the lighting, communication system, and even the plumbing to cause chaos during the press conference. There was also a moment where a man rushed to the stage to inject himself with the (fake) cure. He didn’t have any connection to Skinner, but his desperation made sense. As I have mentioned in my previous reviews, I want to see more people going feral due to the fear of dying in 20 days.

Talking about Eleina vs Popcorn Wizard, our young hacker had a contingency plan, even though the initial lure didn’t pan out as the team had hoped. Anticipating an attack from a skilled hacker, Eleina had planted fake Hapna data in the core network. Popcorn Wizard took the bait, and Eleina figured out that the attack was coming from the Islamabad Stock Exchange in Pakistan.

I appreciated Eleina pronounced Pakistan and Islamabad pretty close to how they’re supposed to be said. I don’t get to hear that a lot in non-Pakistani content.

Popcorn Wizard was actually impressed by how close Eleina had come to tracking her location. I was impressed, too. Eleina’s my favorite character from the cast. And I’m so here for her getting as much screentime as possible. As Eleina put it, hackers enjoy a challenge. The harder it is to crack something, the more motivated they get. So, fingers crossed, we get to see more of Eleina wanting to not only locate Skinner but also to pinpoint Popcorn Wizard’s whereabouts.

It’s revealed that Popcorn Wizard had managed to break into the core network while being in a whole other country through the security radios. Normal radios weren’t capable of transmitting data outside. However, Popcorn Wizard, under a false identity, had contacted the security team to bring in new models (of her making) and recall the radios they already had. She had planned her attack well. 

I liked Popcorn Wizard’s character design. She’s a fan of bright colors. Her mobile truck featuring desi truck art and a satellite was cool. I don’t know if she’s supposed to be of Pakistani origin or is just hanging around in the country for now. I would like to know more about Popcorn Wizard.

But yeah, with humanity having 21 days remaining, again, I want to see more chaos across communities. Everything’s a bit too peaceful for my liking.

What did you think of Lazarus anime episode 5 ‘Pretty Vacant’?

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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