REVIEW: ‘Lazarus’ Episode 2 — “Life In The Fast Lane”

In the last episode, Shinichiro Watanabe and MAPPA took the time to establish this near-future vision of the world in Lazaraus. Hapna has taken over, removed the pain of the populous at a dirt-cheap cost, and its since-vanished creator has resurfaced. If you’ve taken Hapna, you will die in 30 days. To stop him, team Lazarus is assembled. With Lazarus Episode 2, “Life In The Fast Lane,” the story moves from establishing the world and stakes to introducing the cast to audiences.

Like much of Shinichiro Watanabe’s work, each Lazarus episode opens with a brief narration, cluing audiences in a little bit more into the world that is alive in the series. Lazarus Episode 2 begins by taking Hapna to the next level. While we know that Dr. Skinner’s miracle drug cured illnesses and pain and led to a utopia, the reality is that it wasn’t just used for the extremes. It was also used to remove heartbreak. This leads the audience to ask if Skinner has a point. Isn’t heartache a part of being human?

The titular team is composed of people who don’t fit together. But as we learn their circumstances in Lazarus Episode 2, we learn that their crimes are what connect them, or more specifically, what has allowed Hersch (Megumi Hayashibara/Jade Kelly) to turn them into her team.

Doug (Makoto Furukawa/Jovan Jackson) is prim and proper, following orders and bringing maturity to the team, but the electric wristband keeping him tied to them is thanks to a petty crime. Likewise, Leland (Yuma Uchida/Bryson Baugus) is a young student who doesn’t have much hope that the world will survive, and also has a misdemeanor on his record. Christine (Maaya Uchida/Luci Christian), the Watanabe-essential motorcycle riding siren, is in the same boat and startled when she learns that Axel Gilberto (Mamoru Miyano/Jack Stansbury) has an 888 sentence he’s trying to stay away from.

Lazarus Episode 2 invests a lot of time detailing its characters while leaving enough intrigue.

While Christine tries to kick Axel out of her car as the group heads to Dr. Skinner’s supposed location, Axel smooths over her and the audience by giving context to his 888 years of a sentence. Axel really likes escaping from prison. Initially given a three-year sentence, Axel just kept escaping and eventually led him to have the sentence he now carries. We still don’t know Axel’s crime, but, like the others, he’s not a really dangerous person, at least by the crime standards.

But then, there’s Eleina (Manaka Iwami/Annie Wild). The woman behind the computer, Eleina, is soft-spoken, young, and the brains behind the team, moving Lazarus from location to location. And we find out in Lazarus Episode 2 that she is the group’s wild card. A hacker, Eleina, has committed global crimes and shows no remorse. While Doug informs the audience of this, he does so with a warning hanging in the air.

Still, they all have another thing in common outside of being petty criminals. They’ve all used Hapna, and that means they’ve all tried to escape something. Together, Axel jokes that they’re the Avengers, and as the episode continues, you begin to see how they balance each other out.

As much as Lazarus Episode 2 begins to craft profiles and build archetypes for the core team we’ll follow throughout the 13-episode season, it also takes its time to show the audience more of who Axel is, even without a why. When the team chases a lead to a bunker expecting Skinner, they find a fallout shelter seller laying low from debt collectors. As a shootout happens, and while they’re separated into duos, Christine and Axel in one and Doug and Leland as another, we learn a little bit more about Axel’s blind confidence.

Axel wears a silver necklace, and right before jumping into the firefight, he tells Christine that it’s his guardian angel, a charm that makes him feel invincible. It’s a moment in the series that turns the self-assured leading man into someone superstitious.

Axel has his own philosophy for life, and it’s grounded in just enough superstition to make him chaotic.

It’s a moment that adds a bit of humanity to a character whose bravado could easily overshadow his heart. With still enough mystery around him, Lazarus Episode 2 takes the time to show the audience the characters we’re being asked to care about, rather than telling us. And it’s working. Especially as Axel leans into his humor and taunts FBI and DEA agents.

Lazarus Episode 2 is far from boring. While it continues to set the stage for the season, it also develops a different element to the action we’ve seen thus far. Where Episode 1 was a chase, this one focuses on a shootout and combat in a different way. The fluid animation and choreography are a quick signifier for Lazarus. The other demarcation of Watanabe’s take on this future world is the banality and dirt of it all.

While the banality of space travel was captured in Cowboy Bebop, it still dealt in space flight and travel. Where Carole & Tuesday offered a vibrant view of the future for some, it also tackled themes of migration and poverty. And Space Dandy was a romp through the stars. Here, Lazarus Episode 2 is a grounded look at a near future that isn’t about grandeur but ultimately about a look at a place so close to what life is now that only big buildings, futuristic cars, and a drug that removes your pain and heartache allow us to keep up with it.

Lazarus takes a different approach to the future, even with familiar Watanabe tropes; their construction is different. While the series may take its time ramping up, Lazarus Episode 2 is an intense immersion into the world and another reason to get excited about the continued episodic run.

Lazarus Episode 2 is streaming now on MAX (formerly HBO Max) with new episodes every Saturday.

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