La Brea Recap: Reunited and It Feels So… Awk! — Plus, 8 Burning Questions
This week on NBC‘s La Brea, Eve got a blast from her not-so-distant past, the camp investigated an electrifying new threat, and Gavin uncovered new sinkhole secrets.
IN THE LAND DOWN UNDER….
As the survivors hang out at night, Lucas discovers that his heroin stash is missing just as Scott reveals to Josh and Riley that he buried the bricks after Sam’s spinal procedure — and he doesn’t remember where, since he was stoned at the time. Meanwhile, Eve is opening up to Sam about her and Gavin’s separation when a rumbling in the sky draws everyone’s attention to the aircraft that comes tumbling through the “light” slash. Come morning, Eve, Josh, Scott, Riley and Lucas form a search party that follows the smoke from the crash, just as an anxious Scott realizes that the heroin belonged to a pistol-packing Lucas.
Soon enough, the search party finds a parachute snagged in a tree, after which they hear gunshots. Emerging from the brush (after apparently warding off one critter or another) is Levi. Eve is duly astonished, then gives Josh’s “Uncle Levi” a hug. The group and Levi set out to find his plane — saving Riley from some sort of river serpent along the way! — only to eventually confirm that one of the engines blew out. But when the plane’s radar detects something about five miles to the south, they decide to make camp for the night and gorge on MREs. Along the way, Lucas learns that Scott took his stash… Eve busts Levi’s chops about ghosting her… and Levi informs Eve that Gavin knows about their affair. Come daybreak, the group finds what the radar had detected: a primitive though by no means prehistoric village….
While the search party was away, the other survivors had to deal with a mysterious attack on a random Red Shirt (named “Eddie,” I think?), which left him with veiny marks all over his body — which Sam later says suggest electrocution. The only witness to what happened/the aftermath was Lily, the young girl who “doesn’t talk,” and though big sis Veronica warns her not to, Lily eventually pipes up to say that she saw an old man with a handprint on his back.
Just then, we see that the village that Eve, Levi et al have stumbled across and are walking into has that recurring handprint logo above its entrance…. (For those with a La Brea/Lost BINGO card, prepare to cover your “Others” square.)
MEANWHILE, TOPSIDE….
Not long after Eve found Levi, Gavin had a “vision” of that reunion and went to alert Dr. Nathan to Delgado’s survival. Agent Markman, though, said that Nathan had “taken a day,” and also reported that there would be no more flights into the sinkhole, since they seem to cause earthquakes. While poking around Dr. Nathan’s desk, Gavin found a file on him, which included a photo from the October 2018 sinkhole incident — and indicated that Mojave was in fact the fourth discovered sinkhole! Thanks to Izzy’s intrepid Googling, Gavin found the scientist, Dr. Albridge, who was in a 2018 photo with Dr. Nathan, and they trekked out to her horse farm. There, they also found Dr. Nathan, and the two ladies revealed to Gavin a second plane, like Levi’s, but modified to avoid the previous flight’s failures — and they want/need Gavin to pilot it!
PLUS, SOME QUESTIONS I HAVE ABOUT EPISODE 4….
1) Why did Eve immediately ditch the handy stick she had been using to assess the water’s depth?!
2) Did Riley really go back for seconds? When food will be so scarce, MREs delivery or not?
3) Was anyone else dreading what lie(s) Levi might tell Eve about what’s going on topside with Gavin? And frankly relieved it didn’t go that route?
4) Again, we ask: Where did Eve get the jeans she changed into last week, that happen to fit absolutely perfectly?
5) How does Dr. Albridge have a second next-gen plane ready — complete with modifications to avoid what went wrong in the first mission — not 24 hours after Levi crashed?
6) Isn’t it funny that Gavin’s “visions” use the exact same camera angles (sometimes even over-the-shoulder!) as the original scenes?
7) Tell me again why not a single car will start up…?
8) Is Traffic Cop resolved to maintain her authority by never changing out of that polyester uniform? Or does she not have access to a magical closet like Eve?
What did you think of the episode “The Arrival”?
I like the part where they run into an indigenous village and possibly expose all the villagers to 21st Century diseases they have no resistance to.
There were no indigenous people there then, it was more likely modern day people trapped there from previous breaches
Solid theory.
1. How does Levi have a change of clothes but no extra weapons-not even a rifle?
2. Shouldn’t Gavin be packing that spare plane with a few hot air balloon packages?
THAT’S what I expected to see when they were ushered into the barn/warehouse — a super, duper, hot-air balloon (because THEY don’t set off earthquakes!)
Okay I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who has been wondering why we don’t just do a supply drop into the anomaly. It doesn’t have to be crazy but let’s give them some things to work with. Food, some tools, medicine, I Boy Scout manual something
I agree. Drop something to help them !! I think that village is either other humans that fell through a sink hole or aliens
How do you accurately and safely shoot a gun under warter (!) at a writhing water snake wrapped around a girl and ONLY hit the snake?
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How did an episode go by without Eve shouting/whispering “Run!”?
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What are the odds the primitive village is home to the lost crew that went into the Mojave dessert sinkhole? They landed, couldn’t get out,made the fort, and … went feral? lord of the Flies? … or?
I forgot to ask;
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What is the pressing need for Lucas to first threaten his mother, then Scott, to return his heroin there in the land of the lost? He doesn’t seem to be using, so it’s not for him. Is he thinking of dealing in the lad that time forgot? Or is he such a positive guy he’s sure he’ll make it back to 2021 and wants his stash to go with him?
In next weeks coming attractions Eve yells “run”.
LOL (in the best way!)
The best part of all this, is if you’ve watched any nature shows or animal attack shows or just have a bit of knowledge of being around wild animals, “Run” is always just about the last thing you should do. Back away slowly, make yourself look big, loud, threatening as a last resort. But never run. Because that triggers prey cues and makes them absolutely chase after you. But these are all monster animals, including the ground sloth that wanted junk food instead of leaves. (And on a related note, I’m not expecting Jurassic Park, but a step above SyFy cgi would be nice.)
It has that Lost/Peter Benchley’s Amazon vibe (Maybe Margot Kidder is in the village?). They are moving the story along at a good pace. I’m enjoying the ride.
And, yes to your point #3) — I WAS relieved they didn’t go that route!
I like the pacing of this show too. It gets compared to Lost a lot but this is more campy and fun to watch. Lost was slow and then it ended up nowhere. It took them like 3 seasons to find The Others. These people found The Others after only 4 episodes.
So true!
This series just keeps getting better & better. Love the twists & turns. Reminds me of “Mysterious Island” & “Journey to the Center of The Earth.”
Re: Matt’s questions:
1) I also wondered why Eve threw away her depth-measuring stick before going in a (potentially deep) river. Made no sense!
3) SO happy that Levi was honest with Eve about the ring and the situation with Gavin! Props to the show for not going the soap opera route. (Time travel question: if Eve went back and found her ring in the past, would the same ring Levi brought her from the future just…disappear?)
4&8) Didn’t notice Eve’s (new) jeans, but I doubt the traffic cop has other clothes, since she was on the job when she fell into the portal.
7) I’m *more* shocked that all the cars aren’t mangled piles of metal after falling thousands of feet through the portal.
Honestly, I’m enjoying this show so much that I’m willing to handwave away stuff like Dr. Albridge’s plane. The pace is brisk, the characters have developed quickly (including some I want to slap, like Veronica) and the time travel elements aren’t that confusing. I’m in for the season!
Jon’s #7 – Up-draft? ;-)
I wonder why the people weren’t mashed from the same fall.
This show is perfect example of the new trend I call “over drama”. Instead of concentrating on the main theme of the show the writers seem to sit around a table and add what they think are dramatic elements instead of building drama from the main story. You have people topside looking at a massive sinkhole, people in the hole going through a time warp to 12,000 years ago, a husband topside who can see them there. But we need heroin smuggling, and a couple weird girls and an affair with a best friend. Stop, just stop already.
It’s called entertainment. I love that the writers of this show don’t take themselves seriously because they know how ridiculous the plot is. So, adding entertaining mysteries like those weird girls, a love triangle, heroin guy, and the mystery of that guy who lost his glasses…it’s all just good fun and entertainment. It’s escapism at a time when we need it with all that is happening in the world. So, grab some popcorn and just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I also like to see more Sci in my Fi. I think a lot of these shows fail because they don’t know what audience they want to appeal to. Anyway, this show reminds me of an adult Sid & Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost. So right now, where about to either meet the Sleestack or Cha-Ka.
I was expecting this show to be bad, but it’s becoming one of the few shows that I genuinely cannot wait to watch each week. I’m hooked!
I don’t know how long I can last. Some of the characters are annoying and boring.
5) How does Dr. Albridge have a second next-gen plane ready — complete with modifications to avoid what went wrong in the first mission — not 24 hours after Levi crashed?
There’s another plane because as much as people like to say things are one-of-a-kind prototype there is always redundancy built into the system so if something happens to the one it’s not a start from scratch on the next one. A lot of times if the funding is right there are actually several
7) Tell me again why not a single car will start up…?
This my question. They landed without being crushed or airbags exploding or anything like that. If you’ve never seen a modern car in a substantial you know it’s practically useless after the crash. I’m seeing the airbag deployments or anything so someone please explain to me why these cars won’t start
At first the no cars starting didn’t make sense but if going through the blue “light” or barrier causes earthquakes there might be some type of electromagnetic field that happens when going through that barrier that burns out car components. Not sure why cars without computer chips or at least fuel injection won’t start but magnetic pulses similar to the sun’s could disrupt a car’s ability to run somehow.
Fantasy>Magical Realism?
Or as my father always used to say when we’d scoff at the impossibility of an action on a TV show: If they only did what was real, they wouldn’t have a show!
(LOL. That’s why we watch TV, yes?!)
We understand that. We are asking the show to believable when it can and to create it’s cannon for the rest.
I have a couple of issues about the plane: 1. If he ejected, why is the cockpit intact when they find the plane? Ejection uses explosives to literally blow the seat out of the plane. 2. The smoke they saw originally indicated a large fire, but when they got to the plane, only the one engine was charred. That wouldn’t have thrown up the smoke column that they saw from miles away. It also likely would have consumed the remainder of the plane.
I wasn’t quite sure about the show, if I would stick with it, but I like it. My question is what is up with those two sisters, it’s their story I would love to know more about.
Yes, me too! The sisters and the guy who lost his glasses (tho I forgot he lost his glasses and thought he was blind) and his partner(?)
Questions #1 & #8 were exactly the questions I had! lol
Also, that red building with the wavy metal over it intrigued me, googled it…it’s an actual building in LA that houses an auto museum. Now I want to see all the fancy cars spewn about the underworld.
https://www.petersen.org/
Made me remember that a few years ago the Chevy Corvette museum actually had a sinkhole! They have since turned the sinkhole into an exhibit.
I love Matt’s questions but that is what gives it the charm and fun. We just want to see what happens next. I’m guessing Eve wore two pairs of pants when she went into the sinkhole, just like Levi had his casual clothes under his flight suit…
That was certainly the cleanest plane crash ever. The thing didn’t have a scratch on it.
As for #5, the other plane was worked on outside of government influence. Thus the plane can fix any issues without government influence or ‘timelines’. How many time does government/big business build things they know won’t work because they have a ‘timeline’. The gal said she has been preparing for this event outside any other “influence” so she KNOWS it will work. The government gal probably has been sending dark money her way to accomplish this with out interference.
The hand symbols remind me a bit of the Fringe opening sequence
Was there backstory already on the two sisters and I missed it?
Nah. Only that Veronica warns Lily not to talk. “People won’t understand” their situation, or something, I think she said a few weeks back.
7).- The wormhole needed to travel through time would generate a lot of electromagnetic pulse which would disable cars and planes, but there’s the issue the phones still work, thought with no signal.
Levi’s plane must be at least be EMP hardened, being a military plane.
Also, if they are aware of the EMP, why not drop some supplies including a hot air ballon to escape . The birds on episode one clearly flew through the fissure in the sky without passing out.
All excellent points!
The acting and plot are so horrible that I watch this show like I would a comedy. The plot holes are bigger than the sinkholes. Someone is getting paid to write this crap?
How is Eve getting new clothes and shoes each week while other characters seem to wear same clothes? She fell wearing a plaid blazer and work clothes. Levi was in his jump suit when he landed and now sports black pants, jacket and shirt. Did he pack a bag for a quick mission? Vehicles did not survive the fall- except for one without airbags deploying – but fallen people have no broken bones or bruises?There are so many continuity and other questions left to be addressed.
I asked Natalie Zea about everyone landing so safely:
https://tvline.com/2021/09/28/la-brea-recap-season-1-premiere-nbc-los-angeles-sinkhole-primeval-world/