The second episode of La Brea picks up where we left off last week with Eve, Ty and Sam being chased by sabre tooth tigers. The tigers looked vaguely green to me? But maybe that's just the lighting of the episode. Either way, their encounter with the sabre tooth tiger leads to a couple complications in making it straight back to Josh with the medicine from the ambulance.
Storylines for some of the other survivors are starting to be properly introduced. The cop, Marybeth, spends the episode looking for someone and we are properly introduced to a couple new characters, Lilly and Veronica, the daughters of the man who was killed last week. Ty gets some more development as well as he and the others make their way back to the clearing and the theme concerning the relationships between parents and children starts to become more ingrained into the individual narratives.
The nature of the sinkhole gets investigated and we get a few more tantalising teases concerning Gavin and his visions as well as a flashback to a touching family moment as he chases down information about Eve's ring. I have to admit, the characters and their storylines aren't the strongest asset of the series. A couple of them feel like placeholders and no one is particularly standing out though I think that will change the more we learn about Gavin.
There weren't any sightings of the stranger we saw watching the survivors towards the end of last week's episode, but there are a couple hints throughout the episode that suggest we are on track for the survivors to encounter him. Perhaps sooner rather than later considering the story is paced quite quickly. It is to the show's benefit that they are telling a tight and concise story though character depth could continue to suffer considering there are so many of them to keep track of.
So far, I'm loving the pacing of the show and the reveals are being nicely spaced out so it doesn't feel like we are being bombarded with plot progression in short amounts of time. If the ending scene is any indication, the third episode could really ramp up the advancement of the plot. Add to that the seeds of potential conflict and drama being planted in the sinkhole in this episode, then the rest of the season may turn out to be a blast so long as the characters can rise to the occasion.
Catch the episode on Tuesday on NBC. Sound off in the comments below about what you're hoping to see in the second episode of La Brea? Any improvements you want following the first episode?
