The penultimate first-season episode of “The Lazarus Project” could rightfully be called “The Bummer.” Everything that George (Paapa Essiedu) has schemed to get backfires on him.

I already have documented how much I dislike this character. Worse, I don’t care about his particular story arc in “The Lazarus Project.” So I did not even feel schadenfreude over his dilemma.

As the episode begins, the time loop has been re-set (once again). Sadly, this is one of only two pieces of science fiction we get the entire hour. All of the effort is expended on the personal drama of the various characters.

George and Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) confront each other on the staircase of George’s apartment complex. Shiv is understandably upset over being offed by George before the re-set. Now that Shiv’s relationship with Janet has been revealed, he is persona non grata at the Project. They reach a stand-off.

While George is excited to have Sarah (Charly Clive) back, he begins to excessively dote upon her. He wants a safe life of domestic bliss with his loved one. She wants to be more adventurous and take more risks.

After a visit to Paris together, she tells George in their hotel room that it is over. She has changed. It isn’t his fault, but there it is nonetheless. George returns home to an apartment stripped clean of Sarah’s possessions.

From there the episode becomes a mope-fest while George sulks. There is no inner dialogue revealed to show that he has remorse for killing all of those people to bring Sarah back. He seems absolutely narcissistic in his glumness.

There is a brief excursion to Hamburg to see the results of a mass murder that may have been committed by terrorists. But this sideline seems like a throw-away scene to keep viewers bored by George’s uninteresting story line on board. If this does turn out to be a future plot line, I hope that it involves science-fiction elements.

Just before the next re-set deadline, Shiv shows up at George’s flat. They fight and George ends up killing Shiv, for a second time. Now you would think that George would just call the Lazarus Project and tell them that he had to kill Shiv to save himself. Then they would do the dirty work of disposing of the body.

But is this what George does? No, he has to lie to a neighbor that it is his speakers that made the loud noise while he has a shirt with dried blood on it. Then he apparently has a human-sized bag on hand to drag Shiv’s body down the staircase and into an elevator. Never mind that the U.K. has CCTV everywhere.

I also found it interesting that Shiv’s body ended up in another car. Apparently the British docks are so unoccupied that one can easily blow an automobile up in the wee morning hours. Then pointlessly a limb falls near George’s feet.

All of this perplexing inane maneuvering comes to a head at the denouement of the episode. There is one element at the end that is intriguing and holds out hope that we might get back to what is interesting about this series in the final installment of the first season.

I remain curious if the writers intend to make George a worthy lead character. So far there is no sign of this transformation. He remains narcissistic, selfish, and not very bright when it comes to disposing of Shiv for a second time.

Now that Sarah has dumped him, is she out of the series for good? That does not bother me, although Clive is a good actress and worth watching.

Is Shiv gone for good? He dies just after the time-loop re-set and so even if the loop is re-set, he cannot be resurrected without a deus ex machina occurring. At least his character had an interesting back story. I would have liked to see how his relationship with Janet worked, although we may still see this from Janet’s side or through a flashback.

If any of the characters should go, it is George. The writers have painted him into a corner of irredeemability.

Here’s hoping for a rousing final episode that will make “The Lazarus Project” worth watching again next season.

When George wakes up one day and finds himself reliving a day from months ago, he thinks he’s lost his mind. All of his recent milestones have been undone, including his success at work and his marriage to the love of his life Sarah. Worst of all, he seems to be the only one who has noticed what’s happened.

That is, until he meets Archie, who recruits George for the Lazarus Project — a secret organisation that has harnessed the ability to turn back time every time the world is at threat of extinction. Like George, those who work at Lazarus are the few people on earth with the ability to remember the events that are undone when time goes back. Alongside colleagues like Archie, standoffish Shiv and their steely leader Wes, George works to prevent global catastrophe — including trying to track down the formidable Rebrov, a wanted criminal intent on detonating a nuclear warhead and destroying the world.

Then a freak accident harms someone close to George. Lazarus won’t let him turn back time to undo it — unless there is the threat of global extinction. Now George must choose to stay loyal or go rogue, as he is faced with the question: if you had the power to rewrite your past, what would you sacrifice to do it…?