The fourth episode of Lazarus was a big one. A character was discovered murdered in a park, Laz learned he was the biological father of another character, and Sam emerged again as his prime suspect in Sutton’s death. Now that we've reached the penultimate episode of the thriller series, the story is most likely building toward an intense finale. Follow along with our recap of episode 5 for a breakdown of what all happens.
Spoilers from Lazarus episode 5 are ahead!
Aidan is kidnapped
The fifth episode opens with Aidan visiting the local cemetery. While standing in front of Sutton's tombstone, a mysterious person dressed in all black appears behind him. Who could it be, and did they just kidnap Aidan? It appears so! Also, why was Aidan staring at Sutton's tombstone in the first place?
The episode then cuts to an erratic Laz trying to head to the hospital to get to Sam. After looking at old video footage and finding out that Sutton never gave her stuffed animal to Sam, Laz realizes Sam’s story doesn’t add up and that he's been lying to him all along. He knows Sam has to be at the hospital because Billy and his friends injured him. However, Jenna tells Laz that they should tell Seth about it first. Laz listens to her and does what she says. Since everything makes sense, Seth has no choice but to take Laz seriously this time.
Seth then heads to the hospital with another officer, but guess who's not in his room? Sam! Seth gets his superiors involved, and they obtain a search warrant to comb through Sam’s apartment. But once again, guess who's nowhere to be found? Sam! One of the officers finds a bunch of photos hidden behind a picture frame. They're photos that Sam took of female undergarments. It turns out that the rumor from back in the day was true. We find out later in the episode that one of those photos was taken in Sutton's bedroom.
Later on, Laz returns to his dad's office. There, he relives a troubling memory. Shortly after Sutton's death, Laz spoke with his father in his office. He was struggling with guilt over his sister's death and was hoping that his father would offer him some comfort. But instead, Dr. Lazarus was cold and distant, leaving Laz to grapple with his grief and guilt entirely on his own.
After the memory comes to an end, ghost Dr. Lazarus then appears to Laz. They have a tense yet emotional conversation, where Dr. Lazarus apologizes to Laz for being so cruel at that time. He explains that he was struggling with his own grief and didn’t know how to support him properly. Once this conversation wraps up, Laz returns home.
Sutton’s killer is unmasked at last
Laz opens the front door to his house and sees Jenna and Bella standing in the kitchen. Bella asks Laz if he's seen Aidan. Laz responds by saying that he saw him last night, but that he dropped him back off at her house. However, Bella is confused because Aidan never walked through the door. Ah! It looks like once Laz had driven off, Aidan had walked to the cemetery. During this scene, Laz reveals to Bella that Aidan is his son. Bella doesn't want to believe it, though. Their conversation is interrupted by Seth walking through the door.
He's found CCTV footage of Sam leaving town with Aidan in his car. Now, the search mission is on high alert. As Laz reflects on his last conversation with Sam, he recalls Sam mentioning that he was planning to go fishing at a nearby lake. This could be where he took Aidan! Laz heads there and sends Seth a pin drop once he sees Sam's car. That way, he can send backup. While walking through the woods, Laz hears Aidan yelling from a distance. He follows his voice to find him fishing with Sam.
Laz tells Aidan to go wait in the car, but Aidan insists on staying. Sam tries to reassure Laz, claiming they’re just fishing. However, when Laz shows him a photo of Sutton’s room with the stuffed animal, Sam’s demeanor shifts, and he tells Aidan to leave. Just as Sam begins to protest his innocence, Laz lunges at him, accusing him of murdering Sutton. Sam insists that Laz doesn’t understand, and as their struggle escalates, the truth about what really happened the night of Sutton’s murder is finally revealed.
Sam had discovered a key to the Lazarus house and had been using it to come and go unnoticed for years. On the night of Sutton’s murder, he broke in intending to take her stuffed animal as a keepsake before she left for university. But things quickly spiraled out of control when Sutton walked in. Sam attempted to sexually assault her, and when Laz arrived home, she began yelling for help. In a violent struggle, Sam repeatedly struck her head against the sharp edge of her bed, ultimately causing her death.
In the present time, Sam gains the upper hand and attempts to drown Laz in the lake. Fortunately, Aidan arrives just in time to pull Sam off his father. Laz then tries to drown Sam, but he stops once the police arrive. With Sam actually being the killer, Detective Brown now believes Laz and is on his side.
Later on in the episode, Bella tells Laz that she worries about Aidan. She worries because he's not like other kids, and she wonders if Laz might have passed on some of his traits or tendencies to him. However, Laz is not much help because he doesn't remember ever showing anything similar in his own childhood before Sutton's death. We also find out that Aidan was briefly a patient of Dr. Lazarus. Margot had once told Jenna that it was clear Aidan had significant issues and needed help. Hmm. That's interesting!
After leaving the bar, Laz heads to Laura's house. Although their conversation starts off quite awkward, it ends with them going for drinks. The next morning, Laz wakes up in his house. He heads downstairs to find Seth and Detective Brown in the kitchen with Jenna. They inform him that Sam was really far away on the night of Dr. Lazarus's death, so he can't be his killer. However, Laz still isn't convinced. He’s certain that his father’s death, Sutton’s death, and all those other patients’ deaths are somehow linked. However, Seth points out that Sam has only admitted to killing Sutton.
Laz heads to his dad's office, hoping to speak with him about everything. But his ghost doesn't show up. A female ghost shows up instead and walks up to Laz and kisses him. Unlike all the other ghosts he met, Laz knows who she is. Her name is Imogen Carswood, and she was the slain victim of his patient Arlo Jones.
Suddenly, Arlo appears in the room with Laz and they get into a physical altercation. Laz finds a way to barricade him in the office. He then immediately takes out his phone to call the hospital where Arlo resides. He asks the employees if Arlo is in his room, but the episode doesn't show if he actually is. The fifth episode ends with Detective Brown throwing the first page of Dr. Lazarus's suicide note into the fire. Dun dun duuun! It looks like she's not a good person after all.
All six episodes of Lazarus are streaming now on Prime Video.