It’s been a long, wild ride for La Brea season 2. We’ve traveled to 1988, fought off the dangerous Exiles, met Gavin’s father, and been shocked by constant twists and turns. Starting tonight, it all comes to a close with a two part finale. “The Journey Part 1” begins with the aftermath of Levi’s catastrophic destruction of the Lazarus facility, and takes our time-tossed humans to a very different and unexpected place.
Levi succeeded in destroying the Tower, but he didn’t succeed in escaping. We find him trapped under rubble, pinned and unable to move as secondary explosions ring out. Thankfully, Eve, Gavin, Ty and Izzy find him. Izzy insists to her father that they have to help Levi escape, even though Levi tells them to save themselves instead. But Gavin listens to his daughter, and uses a metal bar to pry the rubble off the man.
Then we’re treated to a melancholy montage of scenes that show how everybody is reacting to the loss of their way home. Gavin laments to Eve he has no idea how they’ll get back to modern times, Veronica stands at Ella’s grave looking at the transliterated coordinates, Riley and Josh are still on the outs, and poor Ty’s cancer is rearing its ugly head, with his nose leaking blood once more. But it’s not all doom and gloom. At the Clearing, Sam seems to find a new lease on life with the time machine gone, and suggests they vote someone in to lead the merry band of humans. After all, if there’s no way to get back to their own time, they have to make the best of the situation.
It all sounds good, but there’s some weird warning signs that Riley picks up on, like the fact that her father suddenly isn’t wearing his wedding ring. When he lost it previously, he frantically searched for it, but now he seems content not to worry about it. As for Gavin and Eve, they share a happy moment and seem ready to tackle the future together when she suddenly cuts her hand. Gavin flashes back to his vision, and in it her hand was cut the exact same way. Once more he’s terrified the vision is coming to pass.
Levi finds refuge at Paara’s village, which is fortunate since most everybody at the Clearing hates him for destroying their only way home. He’s unsure what to do next and asks Ty to go on a walk to clear their heads. He agrees, but it’s clear Ty is furious with Levi for not only destroying the Tower, but his cancer medication along with it. The normally evenhanded and calm man can only see his oncoming death, and understandably blames Levi for helping it come to pass.
Veronica and Lucas are in a good place, and she makes fun of him for practicing his speech for the election. They’re actually a cute couple, but Lucas comments about Veronica’s lips being cold and her hands being clammy. She pushes it off and says not to worry, but it’s pretty clear she’s keeping secrets about something. When she wanders off, Gavin finds her and wants to talk about the coordinates she discovered. Later he goes to talk with Silas, and the old man realizes Moore’s journal shows data from actual experiments, which means Moore likely had access to another time machine. And the coordinates might lead them all to it.
Levi is recovering, but still in pain, when he encounters Kira. She says she wants his help starting over, and that Taamet had a 10,000 B.C. survival kit buried in Paara’s village. She plays on his guilt, and he agrees to find it if he can trade for cancer medication to treat Ty, which she apparently still has. Levi digs the box up, but what would normally be an easy task takes longer for the wounded man, and Silas shows up. He says he’ll keep quiet if Levi lets him help. Even though Silas hasn’t been a problem for a while, this instantly made me suspicious of the man.
Gavin tells the entire Clearing about the possible second time machine, and a group of about a dozen heads out on a 15 mile journey. Silas warned him it would be a long and treacherous path, and the old man wasn’t kidding. Though in fairness, it takes a little bit before the threats become apparent. Before that, Riley and Veronica bond some more, but even Riley picks up on Veronica not seeming healthy. She thinks the wasp sting might have had some residual effect on the woman. And when her back is turned, Veronica takes something from Riley’s bag of medical tools.
When the group’s path is temporarily blocked by a rocky hill, Izzy hassles her brother about not making up with Riley, and warns him that he should act now, since they’ll all get distracted by the modern world once they return. Riley has other problems, though. She’s treating a woman for a wound and goes to get bandages from her father’s stuff, and instead finds an application for divorce. She’s upset about it, and says his urgency to get home makes no sense if him and her mother were planning on separating.
Levi and Silas are talking about what could be inside Taamet’s box, and Levi makes the mistake of going to find something to open the lock. When he returns, Silas is gone along with the box. He rushes after the sneaky old man, and finds he wants to use the box to draw Kira in and kill her. After all, she killed his daughter, and he’s not one for forgiveness. Levi and him talk about how hollow revenge is, and the old man sees sense, and agrees to work with Levi.
At the end of Veronica’s coordinates, Scott finds a bunch of corpses. They were apparently chewed on by animals, and Scott finds a locket with a symbol on it. Strangely, it’s the symbol of the company Scott was originally slated to interview with the day the sinkhole opened up.
Before the whole group can despair, Gavin finds a lockbox with a keyhole, and uses the key Josh found to open it. Inside is a map which leads to a cave system, which is where the group might actually find the time machine.
Kira arrives, but not alone. She has two armed guards with her, and they have a Geiger counter. They pass it over the box, and it’s revealed that inside are nuclear fuel rods. Turns out, it wasn’t Taamet’s box Levi dug up, but Moore’s. Kira rightfully suspects that there’s a secondary time machine, and intends to find it and take control. She turns on Levi, the guards drawing their guns, but Paara saves the day. Turns out, Silas told Paara of the meeting, and her people skewer the guards with arrows and take Kira hostage. In the process, they get Ty’s cancer medication, and Paara decides to give Silas a second chance, despite all the harm he’s done in the past. Ty is just thankful to Levi for helping him get a new lease on life.
The group gets closer to the cave system, and Riley and Veronica talk. Veronica admits she stole a pregnancy test from Riley’s stuff, so it’s clear she thinks her and Lucas are having a baby. Speaking of children, the group encounters a strange child. Scott uses a teddy bear he found with all the corpses, and gets the girl to calm down. And then Izzy finds a huge grove of red trees, just like from Gavin’s vision.
Lucas and Veronica have a talk, but before she can tell him about her condition, he says how he doesn’t want to return to modern times. He’s afraid that he’ll become the same criminal he was there, and that he’s a better person in 10,000 B.C.
Sam suggests they split up and that Eve wait where it’s safe. She stays with Riley and Scott, and some other people from the Clearing. Turns out, the feral little girl speaks German, but luckily Scott knows some. Her name is Petra, and she warns them that a monster is in the caves.
It all ends with Gavin’s team finding a manmade door in the caves. Moments later, Eve arrives and warns them about the monster Petra mentioned. Gavin’s upset she’s putting herself in danger, and then realizes she’s in even more danger, since the red trees are in the caves as well. Suddenly what looks like a prehistoric Komodo dragon attacks. But instead of despairing, Eve takes a spear and uses it to skewer the creature. However, in the chaos of the attack, Gavin got hurt. Worse, he appears to somehow have switched places with Eve in his vision, and seems on the verge of death.
How’s that for a twist? Stay tuned to The Workprint for our review of “The Journey Part 2” later tonight!
