Popular mystery writer Harlan Coben and BAFTA-winning screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst’s horror thriller mini-series Lazarus, on Amazon Prime, is a twisted tale of haunting pasts, unreliable memories, and a longing for the truth. The series is centered around the Lazarus family, and an event that left them scarred forever. When Joel learned about his father’s suicide, he was shaken. He couldn’t come to terms with the fact that his father had shot himself and left an incomplete note that didn’t really mean anything. He’d written “it’s not over,” and Joel was convinced that it was related to the murder of his twin sister, Sutton. Joel was soon visited by the ghosts of his father’s patients, who gradually began to unveil secrets that brought him closer to the truth. But was Joel really prepared to confront the truth he sought? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Did Billy MacIntyre murder Sutton?
Since his father’s death, Joel’s everyday routine involved spending hours at his father’s office and meeting the ghosts of his dead patients. The ghosts didn’t address Joel; they spoke to him as if he were Jonathan, their therapist. Their stories were disturbing, but Joel soon noticed a pattern. Cassandra Rhodes had mentioned to his father that she had a stalker. It was assumed that Cassandra was killed by Neil (her abusive partner), but in reality, Cassandra had killed Neil, which meant that she was possibly murdered by her stalker. Joel had an inkling that whoever murdered Cassandra had also murdered his sister. Sutton’s ghost had visited Joel, and he’d learned from his interaction with her that she’d planned on breaking up with her boyfriend, Billy, the day she was murdered.
When Joel confronted Billy, he admitted that it was the truth, but he hadn’t told the cops about their argument because he was afraid of being framed as the murderer. He was heartbroken to learn that the girl he was madly in love with no longer wanted to be with him. So, to make her feel jealous, he kissed Jenna, Sutton and Joel’s sister. Joel couldn’t believe that his sister kept such an important detail from the night of the murder a secret from him. When he asked Jenna the reason behind her actions, she explained that she’d blocked out her memories from the night and she wasn’t even sure if she could trust them.
When Joel met Billy’s mother, Margot’s ghost, he realized that she must have been killed because only then their conversation at his father’s chamber would make sense. Margot had always been concerned about Billy’s mental health, and since he was dating Sutton, Jonathan too feared for his daughter. He’d asked Joel to bring his sister home on the night of the party because he didn’t trust Billy, but Joel had chosen to stay. Although he saw Sutton leave, he didn’t live up to the promise he’d made his father, and Joel regretted it all his life. Joel was convinced that Margot was dead, so he dropped by her house to find out if his theory was true. Margot was nowhere to be found, and soon the cops were informed. A search party was organized to look for Margot, and Billy was present as well. He and his friends attacked Sam Olsen, the neighborhood creep, when he showed up in the woods. They assumed he was responsible for Margot’s disappearance. Joel attempted to stop Billy and his friends from attacking Sam, and during the scuffle, when Joel fell to the ground on his face, he looked straight up and saw Margot’s dead body.
Later, when Joel spoke to DCI Alison Brown, she dismissed his theory that Billy had killed Sutton, Cassandra, and Jonathan. According to the information Brown had gathered, Billy was in rehab when Jonathan shot himself. So, there was no way Billy was involved. Alison had previously suggested that Joel could also be a potential suspect, given his sudden interest in investigating his sister and father’s mysterious deaths. It was particularly suspicious that he was uncovering clues and reopening closed cases based solely on his “hunches.” But after tailing him, she had come to the conclusion that Joel was innocent. Later, Joel’s friend, Detective Seth McGovern, handed him a referral letter that Jonathan had written for Billy before his admission at the rehab center 20 years ago. The letter revealed that Billy was addicted to temazepam. Since Billy was sent away, it was unlikely that he was the serial killer.
Why did Joel suspect Sam Olsen?
After Joel disclosed to Jenna that Billy had spiked her drink with temazepam and she didn’t really have any control over her cognitive decisions, Jenna finally stopped blaming herself for upsetting her sister before she was murdered. Joel and Jenna decided to watch some old home videos of Sutton to relive their happy days together, when Joel noticed something crucial. A stuffed dog that Sam Olsen had claimed Sutton had gifted him was seen in the video that was taken the night before she was murdered. It confirmed there was no way Sutton had gifted him the toy, so the only way he could’ve gotten his hands on it was by stealing it from their house, which meant that he’d been at their house on the night Sutton was killed. Joel realized that he’d been suspecting the wrong guy (Billy) all along, and had even protected Sam when Billy and his friends ganged up on him. Joel informed Seth, and he showed the video as evidence. The cops got involved, and a warrant was issued against Sam.
Alison didn’t think that the video footage and Joel’s insight were enough to keep Sam behind bars. They needed something more concrete to establish that he was the murderer. Sam was missing from his house, though after conducting a thorough search, the police had found photographs of women’s underwear among his belongings; one in particular was taken in Sutton’s room, suggesting he had sneaked in. Joel remembered Sam had mentioned that he liked going to the Tallwater lake to relax and be by himself, so he decided to drive to the location, and he shared the information with the cops. According to surveillance footage, Sam was accompanied by Aidan. Joel had recently discovered that he was Aidan’s biological father, something that neither he nor his ex-wife, Bella, had any idea about. Aidan had independently conducted a paternity test, and he’d found that Joel was his father. He’d later shared the news with Joel, who was pleasantly surprised by the revelation. So, naturally, when Joel learned that Aidan was with Sam, he freaked out.
Upon arriving at the lake, Joel saw Aidan and Sam having a good time together; it didn’t look like a hostage situation. Before Joel confronted Sam, he asked Aidan to wait for him in the car. Sam pretended to be innocent at first; he claimed that he used to have a crush on Sutton. He would often sneak into their house and spend time alone in Sutton’s room. He’d become obsessed with her, and he took pleasure in touching and sniffing anything that belonged to Sutton. On the night of the murder, Sutton returned home earlier than Sam had predicted. He claimed that when she found him in her room, she didn’t freak out; instead, she attempted to get physically intimate with him. Sam had lied to himself all these years; he found comfort in believing that Sutton had expressed her feelings for him before she died. But in reality, he’d forced himself on her, and when she yelled for help, he’d banged her head against the bed frame, and the impact had resulted in her immediate death. Sam escaped from the scene, and even though the cops suspected him, they couldn’t find concrete evidence against him. Sam attacked Joel with a rock. He tried to knock him unconscious, but his son came to his rescue. Joel and Sam got into a scuffle, and while Joel wanted to drown Sam in the lake, when he heard the cops arrive at the scene, he handed Sam over to them. Joel often wondered if he would’ve let Sam live had the cops not arrived at the scene on time.
Who was the serial killer?
The ending of Lazarus revealed that Joel’s father, Jonathan Lazarus, was the serial killer. After Joel solved the mystery behind Sutton’s murder, he and Jenna thought that they were finally in the position to start their healing journey. But when Alison told Joel that while Sam Olsen was responsible for Sutton’s murder, they didn’t have enough evidence to prove that he was a serial killer. She emphasized that Jonathan had killed himself, and the sooner Joel accepted it, the easier his life would be. But Joel didn’t think his father had any reason to end his life. He started to doubt himself when the ‘ghost’ of one of his patients who was locked up in prison, Arlo Jones, visited him even though he was still alive. He discovered that Arlo used to be a patient of his father, and he was found guilty of killing Imogene Carswood (also one of Jonathan’s patients whom he had a brief affair with). But Arlo denied the allegation; while he’d committed several crimes, when Joel spoke to him, he emphasized that he didn’t kill Imogene. He also mentioned the grin on Alison’s face after the court found him guilty. He believed that she had something to do with Imogene’s murder.
Joel went through every case file, and he realized that there were major discrepancies. Seth refused to get involved when Joel handed him the files. Alison was his senior, and he wasn’t ready to suspect her based on Joel’s claims. But Joel was insistent, and he begged Seth to at least go through the files before arriving at a decision. Seth couldn’t help but agree with Joel after he went through the files. They decided to confront the DCI. After Seth stepped away to get a glass of water for Alison, she attempted to escape. She tased Seth and tried to flee from the scene. Joel followed her, but unfortunately she met with an accident. She was struck by a bus and died on the spot. While it seemed Alison was guilty, the ending proved her innocence. Before she fled, she’d shown Joel a tape that had the truth recorded. But she begged Joel to not obsess over the killings, because the tape would destroy him. Although he knew it would hurt him, he sneaked the tape out of Alison’s pocket after she met with the accident.
Was Jonathan Lazarus murdered?
The tape Joel found was a recording of Jonathan and DCI Alison Brown’s conversation before he took his life. Alison had figured out that Jonathan was the serial killer, and that he’d used her to cover his tracks. His willingness to assist with the investigation of his dead patients was his way of having complete control over the conclusion that the cops arrived at. Jonathan didn’t feel guilty; as a psychiatrist, he thought of guilt as a ‘useless emotion.’ He thought that Alison gained a lot from their arrangement, and it wasn’t really all that unfair. Jonathan had the instinct to kill, and his patients were just the perfect victims. They were flawed and, to an extent, a threat to society, so he justified his actions with the belief that he was doing good to the world by getting rid of people who didn’t have much to contribute. Alison was heartbroken when Jonathan admitted to the allegations she’d made. She’d always considered him her friend, but clearly, she was just a pawn in his elaborate plan. In the recording, Jonathan had stated that he loved Imogen, but since she was sick, he’d decided to put an end to her suffering, which proves that Arlo Jones had indeed been telling Joel the truth. He’d killed his patient, Harry Nash, but framed a priest who’d assaulted him as a child for his death. He’d helped Cassandra Rhodes get rid of Neil Croft’s body after she killed him in his office. Later, he murdered her because he wasn’t confident that she would manage to keep their little secret to herself. After finding out the truth, Alison made it very clear that she couldn’t let it pass. She had to take action, so Jonathan could either choose public humiliation and imprisonment or kill himself and let his secret die with him. Jonathan preferred the latter, though pulling the trigger on himself wasn’t an easy decision. For a brief minute, he considered shooting Alison, but he could’ve never justified his action, so he didn’t go through with it.
During his final moments, Jonathan wondered if he would get to reunite with his beloved daughter, Sutton. Her death had left him scarred for life, and it was possibly what triggered his decision to free the world of mentally disturbed individuals, because clearly the one who’d killed his daughter wasn’t stable. He’d called Joel before shooting himself, but he hadn’t picked up. Jonathan wrote a note for his children, but as we already know, Alison got rid of the first page, possibly because she didn’t want anyone to delve too deep into his past, or maybe she wanted to deny his children closure after everything that their father had done. Soon after Joel listened to the tape, his father’s ghost paid him a visit. He tried to justify his actions, stating that after spending years trying to understand the workings of the human brain, he had come to realize that there were the ‘others’ who lacked empathy and a moral compass altogether. They were beyond repair, and they were nothing but a menace to society. He believed he didn’t abandon his patients; he’d ‘saved’ them.
When Joel accused him of getting a taste for blood and relishing the whole murder prospect, Jonathan didn’t defend himself. He reasoned that maybe it all stemmed from Sutton’s death; something changed in him, but regardless of his actions, he hoped that his son would come to realize that he’d always loved his children. He mentioned that the stool symbol that he’d drawn on his suicide note had a deeper meaning—it symbolized that time wasn’t linear, it was cyclical; a son was supposed to become like his father, and history was meant to be repeated unless one breaks the pattern. He believed Joel had the instincts that he possessed, and therefore ‘it’s not over.’ Joel didn’t buy into his theory; he knew that his father was sick, and while he’d spent most of his life idolizing him and had even followed in his footsteps and become a psychiatrist, there was no denying that he had always been a mess. Jonathan advised Joel to break the pattern, since that was the only way to let go of what he’d started.
Was Joel delusional?
Joel told Jenna their father’s secret, and while they’d found closure, it was deeply unsettling. The ending of Lazarus confirms that the ‘ghosts’ Joel had been seeing were a figment of his grand imagination. After his father’s passing, Joel would spend most of his time listening to the tapes of his interactions with his patients. This explains why the patients would think Joel was Jonathan and wouldn’t really acknowledge him. He pretended to be his father when he listened to the tapes, and obviously it was a sign that Jonathan wasn’t really stable. He had vivid dreams, and he believed them to be true. Joel had suffered a major breakdown after Sutton’s death. He blamed himself for what had happened to her, and instead of helping his son heal, Jonathan hinted that he must take responsibility for his mistake, and that further worsened Joel’s mental state.
When Joel stepped out to meet Laura, his therapist turned romantic interest, Jenna decided to listen to the box of tapes that was lying in his room. There was disappointment and a quiet pain on Jenna’s face once she realized that Joel had become delusional. Even his last conversation with his father’s ghost was, of course, something that he’d imagined, but some of the responses were things that his father had told him when he was alive.
Did Aidan kill Laura And Margot?
At the very end of Lazarus, when Joel stopped by Laura’s house, he discovered Aidan in the apartment holding a bloody sickle (a similar weapon was used to kill Margot). He’d killed Laura, and it’s very likely that he’d also killed Margot since he showed up at the spot soon after her body was discovered.
Aidan was a lonely teenager who was bullied in school. His pent-up frustration and rage affected his mental health, and as Jonathan had said, ‘it was in the blood.’ He struggled with his identity, which was why he got the paternity test done. He had a feeling that Joel would understand him better than Paul, his stepfather. Maybe after he found out about Jonathan’s suicide, he figured that he wasn’t the only one being tormented by the demons in his head. Bella had mentioned that Aidan had had a few sessions with Jonathan, and perhaps Jonathan had figured he was his blood soon after interacting with him, and that was why he always knew that it wasn’t over and he would continue to live through his son and grandson.
What was Aidan’s motive?
Aidan murdered Laura, probably because he was envious of her proximity with Joel. He didn’t want anyone to come between them, now that he finally had the chance to be with his father. He was afraid that he might build a future with her and he would be abandoned again. But why did Aidan kill Margot? Considering Jonathan always recorded his conversations with his patients, maybe there was an Aidan tape that wasn’t in the collection of tapes that Joel had found. Maybe Jonathan had asked Margot to get rid of it, since she was his personal assistant. Or perhaps, she got curious one day and listened to it. So, she was the only one who knew about his instincts, and perhaps in some way Aidan found out about it and decided to get rid of her. It is also quite likely that he simply followed Joel around town, and he figured that Margot was possibly involved in the death of his grandfather in some way, and he wanted to punish her. Considering he was at Margot’s place when Joel visited her, it hints at his involvement in her murder. He was also in the woods when Margot’s body was discovered. It is also likely that Aidan and Sam shared a friendly relationship. He related to Sam, his isolation, and his loneliness. So, maybe while Sam distracted Billy and Joel in the woods, Aidan killed her. Perhaps the plan was to frame Billy, which suggests that Aidan knew the truth behind Sutton’s murder, and he intended on helping Sam. He possibly sympathized with Sam because he’d only heard his version of the story. We cannot completely discard the possibility that Sam might have also been the one who’d killed Margot, and Aidan was just there helping him out?
What does the future hold in store for Joel and Aidan?
The ending leaves enough room for speculation. We don’t know if the show will be renewed, since it’s a mini-series, but the last scene surely leaves the audience with a heap of unanswered questions. Though that is pretty much the point of a psychological thriller. Joel has a tough decision to make—he can either hand Aidan to the cops, or he can help his son cover his tracks. Considering Joel had only recently found out that Aidan was his biological son and he’d, in a way, promised to never abandon him, it’s likely that he’ll help Aidan, but the question is, for how long? Can Joel help him with therapy and medication? Will the guilt of hiding a dead body slowly wear out Joel as well? One thing is for sure: it is impossible for Joel and Aidan to ever have a normal father-son relationship.
