[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for La Brea Season 2, Episode 1, “The Next Day.”]
La Brea is back and raising more questions with its Season 2 premiere episode as new time-traveling takes place and people shift places.
The episode opens with the opening of a new sinkhole, directly in the center of the Hollywood sign, creating a massive mess. But it isn’t exactly clear how it will factor in upon the event’s introduction. Meanwhile, in the 10,000 B.C. setting where most of the action takes place, Sam (Jon Seda) and Levi (Nicholas Gonzalez) are digging in, looking for answers from Silas (Mark Lee) about how they can find Riley (Veronica St. Clair) and Josh (Jack Martin) who vanished to another time.
Ty (Chiké Okonkwo) talks to Eve (Natalie Zea) who laments that she’s all alone without her son, but he reassures her that she’s got a team by her side. Things are less calm inside the bus where Sam and Levi are poking Silas for answers as they’re eager to get the kids back from 1988. Meanwhile, Gavin (Eoin Macken) and Izzy (Zyra Gorecki) are eager to get back to their family and try their best to move at a quick pace with Ella (Michelle Vergara Moore) by their side.
(Credit: Sarah Enticknap/NBC)
When Izzy asks if they’ve had visions, Gavin and Ella talk about the weight of memories versus visions and how they believe their visions have been memories from their past lives as Isaiah and Lilly in 10,000 B.C. Despite the conversation, no one can ignore their hunger and so Gavin takes the charge on hunting, taking down a wild boar. The only problem? He seems to have stolen the prey from a wooly rhino who is angry about the loss.
Somehow though, Gavin manages to escape and provide Izzy and Ella with some food before continuing their journey, which could be difficult when Izzy discovers her prosthetic leg is beginning to crack. As for her brother Josh, he and Riley have landed in the 1980s, observing the cars passing them on the road. Seeing Isaiah (Diesel La Torraca) get into a car with some nuns, Josh reassures her that’s fine as he’s also fine, meaning it’s supposed to happen.
Searching for sustenance, they find a home that’s been abandoned for the week and decide to raid the pantry for the food they’re so desperately in need of. Back at the main camp of the 10,000 B.C. setting, Sam’s overzealous need for answers finally cracks down Silas, who has otherwise been silent, making the older man reveal that Dr. Rebecca Aldridge (Ming Zhu-Hii) could be the one to help.
(Credit: Sarah Enticknap/NBC)
Setting out to find her while Ty and Sam stay with Silas, Eve and Levi happen across Lucas (Josh McKenzie) who is sitting by his mother’s grave, when the call out to him, he reveals that she didn’t make it. The emotional reunion is cut off when they hear noises and discover Veronica (Lily Santiago) in the midst of a kidnapping. So, Levi, Eve, and Lucas devise a plan to rescue her, distracting guards and kicking them about until Lucas and Veronica are able to get away.
Levi also gets away and manages to evade capture, but Eve isn’t as lucky and they realize it when Levi, Lucas, and Veronica convene by the waterside. As for Ella, Gavin, and Izzy, things get tense when he warns that he thinks a wooly rhino has been hunting them, but they believe it’s a false alarm when a baby version of the animal pops out from some bushes. Unfortunately, that means there are parent wooly rhinos nearby. When the trio does come across the giant beasts, they do their best to avoid causing trouble, but Izzy’s prosthetic leg snaps, and without being able to take cover, they’re forced to huddle close to the ground. Thankfully, the rhinos get swept up in fighting and they’re able to get away so they can fix Izzy’s leg and continue their journey.
Back in the 1980s, Josh and Riley can’t exactly see eye to eye as he’s glad to be somewhere less dangerous than 10,000 B.C., but she wishes they were with their family. Grabbing cash for the road as they plan to make their next move, taking a peek at the newspaper reveals the Hollywood sign sinkhole, giving the duo a possibility of getting back to the past and their families.
As Gavin, Ella, and Izzy continue their journey, they’re surprised to find remnants of the Hollywood sign, disbelieving that they’re near Los Angeles, but other landmarks indicate they are, hinting a reunion is closer on the horizon than they may have previously believed. Little do they know Josh and Eve are not where they’re heading.
On that front, Eve may have been captured, but Levi didn’t allow her to be alone, finding the crew that took her and joining the cage imprisoning her. The smile on Eve’s face hints she’s grateful for the gesture. The rest of the episode focused on Dr. Rebecca and Scott (Rohan Mirchandaney) traveling to a modern building that emerges from the 10,000 B.C.-dated ground. She asks for his help in reaching it, but warns that the people inside want to kill her, but that it’s their main chance to set things straight.
Will they or any of the others succeed in their missions this season? And what did you think of the show’s long-awaited return? Let us know your thoughts in the reader poll, below, and sound off in the comments section.
La Brea, Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC