The finale episode of La Brea's freshman season is a marked improvement from last week's episode with a couple of big moments that change the trajectory of the show going into Season 2.
For one thing, we find out that Dr. Aldridge - and Silas it seems - are two scientists behind the accidental creation of the sinkholes. It seems they were trying to mess around with time travel and it went wrong somehow. Scott calls her out on her chronic inability to share information so she takes him on a little road trip, revealing to him a gigantic sci-fi tower built in the middle of the 10, 000 BC landscape. Well that's definitely not supposed to be there.
The purpose behind this tower is being held over for Season 2 and I think it has the potential to change everything, especially seeing as this season was pretty light on answers to the mysteries, choosing instead to focus on the relationships between the characters and focus on building up the heart of the show.
For example, we still don't know how Gavin features into all of this. I never got the impression Dr. Aldridge wanted him to get to 1988 to save Josh and Izzy, she simply said that to give Eve some incentive. There's some greater reason he's important which will also help to explain why Silas wanted him to stay in 10, 000 BC. It's easy to see Silas in an antagonistic role when it comes to him not caring that Josh is dying but I have a feeling that when we get answers, it won't be nearly so black and white.
There's a fascinating sort of structure to this episode too. The main characters all come together for the big rescue of Josh, Levi and Eve before slowly peeling off as they get Isaiah closer to the light. Ty and Paara take the long way up the mountain, Lucas stays behind to help Marybeth and Sam, Riley and Levi are left behind when the ladder falls into the tar pit. It wasn't the most subtle way of narrowing down the cast to the main family but it got the job done.
They all get reunited at the top of the mountain anyway save for Lucas and Marybeth, the latter struggling with a stab wound sustained earlier in the episode. I found her death scene emotional, especially as they'd only just started to fix their relationship. Lucas screaming Sam's name in a fruitless attempt to get help was heartwrenching, made all the more devastating when he finally called her 'mom' instead of Marybeth, breaking down as he hugged her body.
I'm not entirely sure her death adds anything to the episode or plot as it stands right now. It feels a little like they threw a dart at a dartboard or picked a name out of the hat and decided that would be the obligatory season death.
It all depends what season 2 does with it. How will Lucas react in the long term? He was becoming a better person since he found out why Marybeth killed his dad but is he going to regress now? Or is he going to find out about the big old sci-fi tower and the time travel scientists and try to go back in time to save her life? The pointlessness of her death outside of it being a tragedy for their newly healed relationship makes me feel like it should be impermanent but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
The biggest moment of the episode is Isaiah's walking through the light into 1988. He managed it just in the nick of time though Lilly didn't get there quickly enough to give him the map even after leaving Veronica stuck in a bear trap. It hardly matters though because the dying light suddenly exhibits a strange pulse and Josh, Riley and Lilly vanish, much to the dismay of Eve and Sam.
So where the heck did they end up? It seems pretty safe to assume Lilly ended up in 1988 with Isaiah (the question of missing memories remaining unanswered) but what about Josh and Riley? They weren't found walking down the road with the two kids. Have they lost their memories as well? Did they even end up in 1988?
It's an ironic sort of tragic comedy because Gavin and Izzy finally found a way to get to the rest of their family along with Ella/Lilly (sidenote: I love the baby sinkhole in Seattle, it's interesting that they're not all the same size). So just as Gavin and Izzy enter 10, 000 BC to get to Eve and Josh, Josh is zapped away to another time. Will this family ever be completely reunited or will Season 2 simply throw a few more spanners in the works?
What did you think of the finale of La Brea and the season as a whole? Where do you think Josh and Riley ended up? Is there a way to save Marybeth? Any early theories about the tower? Sound off in the comments below and thanks for joining me throughout the season. See you in Season 2!
