NBC’s La Brea season three episode one threw in more dinosaurs, confirmed Veronica is pregnant, introduced a new pivotal player, saw the abduction of Levi and Petra, and ended with the disappearance of Ty, Riley, and Josh through two different auroras. Wow, that was a lot to absorb! Episode two of the final season picks up with Ty (Chiké Okonkwo) in LA just weeks prior to the appearance of the sinkhole, waxing philosophical about a trip he never intended to take.
Ty grabs onto the idea of finding someone to share this burden with after a waitress suggests that as a possible next step.
Ty introduces himself to Dr. Sam Velez (Jon Seda) at the hospital where Sam works. He hands Sam a list of things set to occur in the next 24 hours to convince him the wild story he’s about to weave is the truth. Once these things come true, Sam can join him at The Sandbar to talk.
Everything comes true, and Sam is understandably freaked out. He meets with Ty and demands answers, and Ty reveals a sinkhole near the La Brea Tar Pits will swallow part of LA. But that’s not the fun part. No, that sinkhole will take people to 10,000 BC.
“That’s insane,” responds Sam, speaking the truth.
Ty spills more tea, revealing he knows Sam’s getting a divorce and hasn’t told anyone. Plus, he knows Sam is on medication for PTSD and that Riley quit the pre-med program but hasn’t said anything yet. Ty begs for help finding out more details on a secret Army project and Maya Schmidt – help that only Sam can give him.
Sam walks away, but not before telling Ty to back off.
Back in 10,000 BC, Sam’s top priority is figuring out how to get Riley (who was injured in a raptor attack) back after Josh deliberately – and against orders – stepped through the aurora. Sam’s unimpressed with Gavin’s begging for help in finding Maya and refuses to take part in Gavin’s mostly ill-conceived plans any longer.
Everyone’s been forced to take up temporary residence at the fort since the dinosaurs held a cage match at the clearing. Judah (Damien Fotiou) whines about being forced to work in the gardens, even after Lucas (Josh McKenzie) reminds him they’re lucky to have a place to bed down at this point. Veronica (Lily Santiago) promises to kick Judah’s butt if he doesn’t stop complaining.
The banter comes to a sudden stop when an alarm signals trouble. Sam’s discovered one of the fort’s warriors dead, and one of the fort people’s leaders, Ruth, is not so much upset about the guy’s death but that a Sky Person is examining the body. Sam points to a nearby tall tree and suggests that, based on his injuries, the dead man fell.
Ruth believes he was pushed and orders her people to try and find his weapons. If the Sky People want to prove they’re actually useful, they can assist in the search.
Of course, it’s Scott (Rohan Mirchandaney) and Veronica who locate the warrior’s bow and arrows while gossiping about Ruth murdering her own husband. Scott climbs a rock to get a better look at the area and spots a symbol made of sand nearby.
Back at the fort, Scott reports that the symbol stands for eternal return or maybe a winding journey. He guesses what it means, and neither Sam nor Gavin (Eoin Macken) takes him seriously. Sam’s patience is wearing thin, and he heads to the fort gate to start his search for Riley. However, Ruth’s given an order that no one can leave, so Sam gets into a fistfight with a guard. Gavin tries to intervene, and a brawl breaks out until Ruth orders everyone to knock it off.
Gavin and Sam are hauled away to the fort’s prison.
While Ruth’s giving Lucas a lesson in community-building, another warrior bites the dust, literally falling from the sky and dying just a few yards away from their feet. This time, however, the culprit is obvious. A pterodactyl dropped the woman and brought its buddies with it to snatch up more easy meals.
Ruth orders the archers to the wall, and Lucas tells everyone else to get inside.
The pterodactyls target Scott and Izzy (Zyra Gorecki), who are comforting a young girl inside a hut. They’re saved by Ruth’s daughter, Leyla (Edyll Ismail), a skilled archer who scared it off but didn’t kill it. (Izzy and Leyla butted heads/flirted earlier in the episode.)
Lucas picks the wrong time to fight the wrong battle and gets all the clearing people confined to the longhouse by Ruth. If they don’t like it, Ruth suggests they just pack up and leave.
Judah retrieves Scott and shows him another spiral that has appeared inside the fort. Scott decides it means the pterodactyls make them when they are getting ready to nest. He also comes up with an answer to get rid of what used to be his favorite dinosaurs.
Lucas convinces Ruth to let Gavin and Sam out of jail, and the group gets to work building a new nest and moving the egg without getting killed. Because this is La Brea, part of the solution is to send up rockets from a just-discovered Huey helicopter. And because this is La Brea, the pterodactyls are convinced to move into new digs away from the fort.
Later that night, everyone at the fort lets down their guard and parties. The fort people remain suspicious of the Sky People, but Ruth believes it will just take some time before they’re all kumbayaing around the campfire.
Ruth presents Lucas with a small rocket that was her grandfather’s. Apparently, he fell into 10,000 BC back in the ‘60s and was one of the first “outsiders” to join the fort people.
Gavin informs Sam, who still hasn’t made it out of the fort’s gate, that he wrote down the helicopter’s tail number. It’s from Ladera Air Force Base in LA, and somehow Gavin believes this is all a clue as to how to bring Riley back. Also, Sam still needs to go with him to find the base and Maya Schmidt since she may have all the answers.
Sam is all in.
Season three episode two ends in 2021 with Sam returning to meet with Ty after verifying with Riley that she dropped out of the pre-med program. And over the course of just a few hours, Sam has learned that Maya Schmidt is part of a top-secret program on quantum physics run out of Ladera Air Force Base.
Sam thinks they need to find someone who knows more about that program, and Ty knows just the person.
Gavin’s walked out of the LAPD by a cop and led straight to Sam and Ty waiting outside. They bailed him out and Ty promises to tell him why over coffee.
- La Brea Season 3 Episode 1 “Sierra” Recap
- La Brea Season 3 Episode 3 “Maya” Recap
- La Brea Season 3 Episode 4 “Fire Storm” Recap
- La Brea Season 3 Episode 5 “The Road Home, Part 1” Recap
- La Brea Season 3 Episode 6 “The Road Home, Part 2” Series Finale Recap
