The second season of “The Lazarus Project” has begun.

I read online that this will be the last hurrah for the series. But it is too early yet to write a post-mortem of why this show failed to engage an audience or ratings.

In the first episode of Season 2, the world is still caught in the never-ending 3-week time loop. George (Pappa Essiedu), while saving his wife Sarah (Charly Clive), also did not win back her love. So he gave her the injection that would allow her to be self-conscious when time restarts.

She is not exactly thrilled with this prospect. But she and George go to the Lazarus Project Headquarters for a rendezvous with Wes (Caroline Quentin). George gives her his “I was bad, but forgive me” speech. Wes is having none of it, and frankly, why should she?

Throughout this episode, the character George reveals himself to be as narcissistic as ever. That was unattractive to me in the first season, and its continued re-appearance continues to grate on me. He does everything from his own selfish perspective.

I did not mind the plot twist where Sarah now gets recruited into the Lazarus Project. It also was a positive that George was persona non grata.

So when George once again weasels himself onto the LP team, I was disappointed in the poor writing. I wish that his character just would be killed off. The allegation that the scenarists present of George being some kind of detective genius when everyone else on the LP team is a dullard just wears so thin.

I did like the twist about Wes’ possible involvement with the group that created the rogue Time Machine. This plus unfortunately was offset by the need to show over and over and over the various iterations of the same event in each change of the time loop. Whether it is the myriad scenes of Shiv being shot or George learning to subdue a subject, this plot device of showing how an agent or rogue obtains their objective is uninteresting. It really is lazy writing: a device to fill screen time without progressing the plot forward to more fertile territory.

As far as the cast of characters, there are too many to keep track of in this episode. Did we really need to learn of all of the Time Machine project operatives? Or the subordinates who have to be subdued to even deal with them?

I did feel that both Shiv (Rudi Dharmalingam) and Rebrov (Tom Burke) did wonderful jobs with their limited screen time. I hope that their roles expand.

The end of this episode did not create a worthy cliffhanger. I fear that we are due for more complications that will only further muddy the waters as opposed to providing a clear answer. The Lazarus Project is reminding me more and more of the worst aspects of Lost.

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In the new season, resolute Lazarus agent George has been left in disgrace after betraying the organization in the name of love. He is determined to redeem himself and win back the trust of his friends, colleagues, and the love of his life. But when he discovers that the cause he is fighting for is more sinister than it appears, George suspects that the only person he can really trust is himself.