La Brea Season 3 Episode 2 Don’t Look Up Review And Recap- The Past Continues To Affect The Future And Vice Versa

The Broad Strokes

• La Brea Season 3 Episode 2 takes the “if it ain’t broke approach to its storytelling with another crisis to solve and past and future timelines converging.
• Ty is helping in the past to solve problems in the future while the villagers learn to work with Lucas’ group.
• Izzy finds her purpose, and thvillage leaderge, Ruth, may hold the key to everything.

I understand the criticism. La Brea is cheezy and semi-ridiculous, but it is also self-aware and tons of fun if you let it be. Sure, there are varying degrees of realistic-looking dangers- the dinosaurs are better than bugs- and there are time loop paradoxes that any Dr. Who fan would tell you can’t exist, but this soft science show is a guilty pleasure. It is full of fun. La Brea Season 3 Episode 2 does what the series does best. The repeating pattern of the danger of the week, timeline shenanigans, and overarching hope is what we have come to expect and like about the show. Scott is a walking encyclopedia, Lucas is a raw emotional nerve desperately seeking redemption, Gavin and Sam are fighting to find their family members, and hollow earth-style problems are everywhere.

Ty, who was sucked into the aurora and now finds himself just weeks before the original sinkhole, is using his time to enjoy restaurants. He mourns the loss of his friends, family, and newfound purpose in 10,000 BC, but the guy has been starving, and some crab legs with compound butter sounded delicious. He tracks down Sam from that timeline and tries to convince him that he is from the future via the past by telling him future events and then very personal details about Sam’s life. It isn’t successful at first, but Sam eventually comes around when he verifies what Ty said about Riley and medical school. They determine they need to find the same military base Gavin and Sam are searching for in 10,000 BC. The pair then bail Gavin from that timeline out of jail.

Past Gavin was a mess. He had lost everything and was in constant pain from something that no one believed he was struggling with. He has a wealth of knowledge locked inside his mind if the pair can help him realize it. We know past events affect the future, so meeting each other should have immediately removed Eve, Izzy, Josh, Gavin, Sam, and Riley from any sinkhole or aurora drama. Gavin would know he wasn’t losing his mind and should have been able to prevent Eve from being with the kids in the moment the sinkhole formed.

Additionally, so many previous events would not have happened because future selves would know to inform their past selves. Eve wouldn’t have gotten sucked into the portal at the end of last season. The group may have treated their interactions with several people differently had they known what would happen. I also continue to wonder where the current versions of everyone are. How does Ty not run into himself from the past? These questions are best left for another time(pun intended). Just enjoy the bonkers ride that is La Brea Season 3 Episode 2.

The villagers and our group from the clearing clash despite Lucas’ best efforts. Partly, that is because Judah won’t stop whining, and Sam and Gavin refuse to follow the rules. When a dead body is found, tensions run high. The leader of the villagers, Ruth, doesn’t trust this group. She orders everyone to stay in the village until they can figure out what happened, but Sam wants to stay with the aurora on the off chance that it will reopen and he can find Riley.

Gavin wants to find the base, but Sam wants to try to help Riley by waiting for the aurora, which will probably not come back. When he tries to leave, a physical altercation breaks out, and he and Gavin are imprisoned. None of this makes Lucas’ job any easier. Veronica does everything she can to reassure him, but the groups are very different, and some rogue actors complicate the strained relationship. A well-timed pterodactyl attack helps all of these problems, though.

Scott, who they should begin calling Google, recognizes the large spirals they find and knows the dinosaurs have laid eggs in them. It is why they are territorial and attacking the villagers and their homes. His simple plan is to dig up the egg and relocate it to a man-made spiral in a safer area for the villagers. By touching the egg, they should have contaminated it, making the mother reject it, but La Brea Season 3 Episode 2 continues the trend of asking you to suspend reality. Scott’s solution worked, and the group is safe from another danger.

Izzy needs to find her purpose. Everyone else found a new reason for existing when they fell through the sinkhole. Now, the impertinent girl wants to learn how to fight back. She is terrible with the borrowed bow but doesn’t let that deter her. Ruth’s daughter Leila sees her as we do. Izzy is entitled, selfish, occasionally rude, and ignorant. She is also brave enough to want to save children and determined enough to earn Leila’s respect eventually. This pair may fix many of Izzy’s character flaws. It will humanize her and give her the perspective that she badly needs. It also will provide us with insight into Ruth, who is a wealth of information and resources.

The terrifying matriarchal leader of the village is Leila’s mother, Ruth. Lucas and Ruth are learning to work together. The clearing group struggles with understanding that the community must come first. He manages to help her see that Gavin and Sam understand what is essential, even though their fear for their families makes them do dumb things sometimes. At first, Ruth sees them as distractions but quickly realizes they can be assets. When they are instrumental in relocating the dino eggs, she gifts them a rocket from her great-grandfather, who was from the future like them. She tells them to be patient. Her group will accept them in time.

Lucas is becoming a natural leader, and Sam and Gavin are becoming sounding boards for one another. Sam won’t stop searching for Riley, but he will be more thoughtful about his choices. Gavin will take his advice and listen instead of solve. Time is something they have plenty of and too little of in La Brea Season 3 Episode 2. They all need to use their time wisely. Time is running out to find the military base. Find all our La Brea coverage here.

Stray Thoughts:

• Scott’s original thoughts about the ourobus are important to the overall conclusion of the series. Will the beginning be the end and vice versa? Like a less thoughtful version of Interstellar, has all of this happened before, and is it happening again in parallel to one another?
• Is Ruth’s great-grandfather related to someone from the military base Gavin and Sam are looking for? What else does Ruth have in her possession that could be useful?
• I wonder what McGuffin, the past trip of Gavin, Sam, and Ty, will plant at the military base to assist the 10,000 BC crew?
• Lucas needs to stay in 10,000 BC or face the consequences of his past life. I have a terrible feeling things will not end well for the criminal-turned-hero.