Axel gets used to his new life as part of Lazarus and immediately is pressed into service. They’ve got a lead on Doctor Skinner. Actually, they have two…

This episode’s taken some criticism for not going anywhere and I’m honestly not sure why. What it does is confirm that Lazarus is a detective series as we see the team split up to work two leads on the possible location of Doctor Skinner.  Axel and Chris head for the survival bunker Skinner bought in Arizona, and Doug and Leland go to the manufacturer’s office.

The weak spot of the episode is how little we find out about the team members. Chris’ relentless competency, Doug’s relentless professionalism and Leland’s physical stature and innocence were all established last time, and we get them again here. It’s another Axel spotlight, as the patron saint of parkour bounces around the show like an over-caffeinated Spider-Man. It’s fun, it’s very fun in fact, but there’s an overwhelming sense of him being in the way.

That weakness is offset by a really nicely handled string of world building and plot beats. Of course they don’t find Skinner, it’s episode 2. What they do find is human nature, both the best and worst of it. Axel and Chris arrive at the bunker just ahead of four different flavours of agent and police officer. The ensuing non-lethal gunfight gives Axel a chance to show off but also reveals the truth about the bunkers, all arranged in the sort of post-apocalyptic pre-apocalyptic landscape that would make the cast of Fallout feel at home.

At the same time, Doug and Leland have a conversation with a pair of very avuncular debt collectors and come to the same conclusion. The bunkers have been built with borrowed money, the owner had no intention of paying them back and is hiding inside Skinner’s unused bunker.

On the surface it looks frustrating, but the nature of detective stories is running down leads and while this one doesn’t pan out, it does tell us about the world. Everyone here is basically decent and fundamentally flawed, and the debt collectors especially are oddly charming. The world feels crumpled, nice, welcoming. And it has under a month to live.

Verdict: So if the first episode was establishing the tone this is exploring it a little as the case begins in earnest. It could use more character development, but I get the feeling that’s coming. Plus, as the episode closes Eleina gets a major lead… 7/10

Alasdair Stuart