Harlan Coben is back, just not on Netflix! He's made his return to Prime Video with a brand-new thriller series titled Lazarus, and its plot is interesting enough to keep you invested and want to see the entire show through.
Lazarus was co-created by Coben and long-time collaborator Danny Brocklehurst. Unlike Coben's Netflix series adaptations, Lazarus is based on an original story idea. It stars Sam Claflin as Joel Lazarus, a forensic psychiatrist who returns to his hometown after his father’s (Bill Nighy) apparent suicide. Once back, Laz starts experiencing strange and disturbing events that make him question his sanity and everything he thought he knew about his family. He also finds himself caught up in a web of old, unsolved murders.
Now that all six episodes of Lazarus are available to stream on Prime Video, we've decided to provided full recaps of each one. In this article, we've broken everything that happens in the first episode of the new series.
Major spoilers are ahead from Lazarus episode 1.
Laz returns home after his father's death
The first episode opens in the year 1998. A young Laz returns home to find his twin sister, Sutton's lifeless, bloodied body lying on the floor in her room. Before he can reach her, a mysterious man dressed in black bolts from her room and knocks him to the ground. Panicked, Laz races through the streets of London to his father, Dr. Jonathan Lazarus's office, desperate to tell him what’s happened. Once Dr. Lazarus receives the bad news, the glass he's holding drops to the ground. The episode then cuts to the present time.
An adult Laz gets ready to visit his new patient, a serial killer named Arlo, in the psychiatric unit. He receives a phone call from his dad before the meeting starts, but he declines it. During their meeting, Arlo tells Laz that he’s been talking to God about him, asking whether or not he can trust him. According to Arlo, God’s answer was no. He then claims he asked God if he could punish Laz for him, and God agreed.
The meeting ends, and Laz receives a phone call from his sister Jenna. She informs him that their dad just died by suicide. He fatally shot himself in his office with a gun. As Laz takes in the news, he notices Arlo watching him with a sinister smile nearby. That's creepy! An emotional Laz then heads back to his hometown to prepare for his father's funeral.
Back at the Lazarus family home, Jenna hands over to Laz a final note that their father left behind. On the note is the text, "it's not over," along with a picture of a table with only three legs. Laz thinks it's some sort of code, but has no idea what it is. Jenna then hands over an old newspaper clipping of Sutton's murder from 25 years ago. According to Jenna it was found on Dr. Lazarus's desk. Hmm. Tha's strange.
Later that night, Laz decides to meet up with an old friend, Seth, at a bar. Seth used to date Jenna when they were all teens. While at the bar, Laz runs into his ex Bella and informs her that his dad just died. However, they don't get to talk for long because she has to get back to work. After catching up with Seth and telling him about his father's death, Laz makes his way to his dad's old office.
Laz meets a strange woman
After looking around the office, Laz pours a glass of some alcoholic substance and sits down to drink it. He places the glass down on a nearby table, and nods off for a bit before awakening when a loud buzzing sound goes off and a woman walks in the room. Her name is Cassandra. She calls Laz "Dr. L," so it appears that she thinks he's his dad. Laz tries to explain that he's Dr. L's son, but Cassandra is talking a mile a minute so he just pretends to be his dad.
Suddenly, Cassandra states that she's been having murderous thoughts again. Curious, Laz then sits down and hears her out. She shares that the thoughts are of her controlling boyfriend, Neil. She explains how she imagines him dead, with blood gushing from his head from where she hit him. She also brings up that she has a stalker. Cassandra then walks over to where the alcohol is in the office and asks Laz if he wants a drink. Laz is about to decline, thinking about the drink he had before she arrived. But when he looks over at the table next to him, where the glass should be, it's not there. That's weird!
Cassandra sits back down and drinks her drink. Laz then gets up and offers to refill her glass, but when he turns around, she's nowhere to be found. He opens the office doors, but the hallway is empty. It's as if Cassandra vanished into thin air!
Laz discovers that Cassandra is actually dead
The next morning, Laz and Jenna talk over breakfast. During this scene, we learn that Laz and Bella used to be married but now she's married to a man named Paul. We also learn that Bella and Paul share a 15-year-old son together named Aidan. Their conversation ends with Laz telling Jenna that he wants to speak to Margot about their father's last days. Margot was Dr. Lazarus's long-time assistant. Laz then heads to his father's old office to meet with Margot.
We quickly find out that the real reason Laz wants to meet with Margot is to get his hands on Cassandra's file since she was a patient of his father's. While talking to Margot, Laz asks her if Dr. Lazarus ever talked about Sutton's death. However, Margot gets all jumpy about the question and states she doesn't know anything before quickly grabbing her things and leaving.
Laz ends up coming across Cassandra's file on his own. The file states that Cassandra's last session with Dr. Lazarus was on June 12, 1999 and that her case was closed on Dec. 6, 1999. Laz then finds her address and heads there. After being buzzed in, he meets with the current tenant of Cassandra's old place. The man informs him that Cassandra was murdered over 20 years ago, and that he and his family bought the place. Laz stares at him in complete shock.
After browsing the internet, Laz finds out that the man was telling the truth. Cassandra died by strangulation and her killer was never found. He immeditaly calls Margot and tells her the information he just learned, and a panicked Margot pretends that their call is breaking up. That's suspicious!
Later, Dr. Lazarus’s funeral is finally held. As Laz, Jenna, and other family and friends lay him to rest, a mysterious man is seen watching from a distance before quietly walking away. Afterwards, at the repass, Laz confides in Seth that he suspects a connection between Cassandra’s and Sutton’s deaths, noting that they occurred a year apart and no killer was ever identified. He asks Seth to investigate Cassandra’s case, and though hesitant at first, Seth reluctantly agrees to help.
After the repass, Laz visits an old building. Based on a flashback to the night of Sutton's death, it looks like the building was where a high school dance took place. During that night, a young Laz had noticed a man staring at him from afar. The episode then cuts back to the present time. Laz walks away from the building he's standing in front of to stare at nearby building. Then, there's another flashback.
This flashback shows that same man, but now we know his name. His name is Sam Olson, and he was arrested on the suspicion of the murder of Sutton in the past. The building that Laz is staring at is Sam's old house. We learn in that same flashback that Sam ended up being released, leaving the case unresolved. The flashback ends there.
Seth provides Laz with more information on Cassandra
Later in the episode, Seth calls Laz to let him know he managed to discreetly access Cassandra’s case file. They meet at a bar, and Laz reviews the documents. From what Seth uncovers, Cassandra had a troubled past. She was frequently in and out of foster care, with several abusive relationships. She is believed to have been murdered by her boyfriend, Neil, but he was never charged, as he went missing before any legal action could be taken. Now that Laz has this information, Seth wants him to forget about digging further into the case. But Laz still thinks there's some sort of connection to his sister's murder.
After leaving the bar, Laz notices someone following him. He chases after the guy who leads him to the local cemetery. The mysterious man ends up getting away, and Laz finds himself standing in front of Sutton's grave stone that's lit up with lights and filled with flowers. The man is then shown nearby, staring at him. He pulls down his mask, and the guy turns out to be the man from earlier in the episode who was staring while Dr. Lazarus was being buried.
The first episode then cuts to Arlo in his room, reading a book called "The Juniper Bush," before it cuts to Laz returning to his dad's office, where he finds the same book on his desk. He turns around after hearing foot steps, and guess who it is. Dr. Lazarus! Dr. Lazarus informs Laz that there will be more dead people like Cassandra and himself coming to him soon. All Laz can do is stare at him in shock. The first episode ends here.
Lazarus is streaming now only on Prime Video.