La Brea Season 2 Episode 7 Review and Recap: 1988

La Brea season 2 episode 7 recap: 1988

La Brea is an NBC drama created by David Appelbaum about a sinkhole that opens in Los Angeles and pulls people into a prehistoric world. It premiered on September 28, 2021 and ran for three seasons and 30 episodes. La Brea season 2 has 14 episodes, with the premiere on September 27, 2022 and the last episode on February 28, 2023. Episode 7, 1988, was directed by Dan Liu and written by Erica Meredith, and aired on November 15, 2022.

The Rough Cut Review recap treats 1988 as the fall finale of the season and is not a fan of the format. Breaking a season that has been going swimmingly at the holiday mark, it says, hurts the momentum, and an episode like this one makes the point: it ends with so much unresolved that the wait for the rest of the season feels long.

This La Brea season 2 episode splits between two time periods. In 1988, the Harris family has about 40 hours before a massive tidal wave is due to destroy Santa Monica and the surrounding area. In 10,000 BC, the group around Ty and Paara has captured the Exile Taamet and needs his help to save a dying friend. The two stories run in parallel and are tied together by the same theme: how far people will go for family, and what it costs.

1988: Dr. Clark, the transmitter and the virus

The episode picks up moments after the earthquake from the previous episode, a sign of the tidal wave ahead. The Harris family, back together at last, reminisces about good times, especially Eve and Gavin, until Levi breaks up the mood with a discovery. The device Dr. Clark hid is a radio transmitter, and by following the beeps they locate where she is being held. The review is surprised that they find her almost instantly.

Sam and Levi take out her guards, Gavin rescues his mother, and Levi goes full action hero in the building until a gunshot hits him. The bullet goes through, but he needs immediate medical attention, and Sam and Riley know how to treat it. One group stays with Levi while another goes with Dr. Clark, whose first name is Caroline, to finish her virus. Izzy worries about splitting up again, and she does not want her parents to reunite for the wrong reasons. The review enjoys her sibling bond with her brother Josh and their barbed talk about the past, noting that their father seems like a whole person now even if Josh still feels guilty for not believing him earlier.

The virus is the episode's central problem. According to Dr. Clark, it will shut down all the portals and eliminate the threat of the sinkholes entirely. That means everyone must decide whether to remain in 1988 for good or to go back to the dangers of 10,000 BC. As Clark finishes uploading it to a thumb drive, agents from Lazarus return to her home, the family escapes, and Gavin hatches a plan. Levi and Clark act as decoys while Gavin drives past and knocks three agents into the Hollywood sinkhole.

10,000 BC: Taamet and the trial by combat

The prehistoric story starts calmly, with Ty and Paara capturing Taamet far too easily, then turns tense. Lucas is dying and only Taamet knows the cure. He tells Paara to let him go once he saves Lucas or to give him a trial by combat. When his ex-wife agrees, he challenges Ty instead of her. Scott is desperate to save Lucas, who was once his bully and is now his friend, and Lucas is in a dark place, feeling that he deserves to die for dealing heroin. Only the counsel of Veronica, and an unexpected kiss, pulls him out of it for a moment.

Ty gives a brave speech about finding life again in 10,000 BC and accepts the fight. The review calls the trial the most exciting action scene of the fall finale. Both fighters carry spears, but only Taamet is proficient with one, and Ty uses his long-honed therapy skills to get into the Exile's head. He makes the man sloppy and angry and trips him as he asks for recognition of his victory.

The twist is that Taamet threw the fight. Scott secretly made a deal: if he lost, Lucas would get the cure and the Exile would go free. Scott tries to back out, saying Ty won fair and square, but Taamet then reveals that he left one ingredient out of the cure. Scott lets him go anyway, and Taamet knocks him back and promises vengeance when he returns.

The decision and the closing vision

The ending sets up the second half of the season. To upload the virus, Dr. Clark must override a genetic lock, which means Gavin has to return to 10,000 BC with her and strand himself there once the portals close. Eve refuses to let him go despite their complicated history, so the entire Harris family agrees to go back, and so do Sam and Riley, who want to reunite with their own family. As they prepare to jump, Gavin has a vision for the first time in a long while, and it appears to show Eve dying.

The review notes that the vision raises a puzzle. Earlier, Gavin's visions were memories streamed through time by his younger self, Isaiah. Now that the child has been adopted in 1988, it is unclear how Gavin is having one again. The review asks whether it is a vision of the future or something more sinister, and concludes that the wait for the second half of the season will be a long one. Levi, it adds, appears to stay behind.

La Brea season 2 episode 7 at a glance

• Title and number: 1988, season 2, episode 7 (production number 207)
• Air date: November 15, 2022, on NBC
• Director and writer: Dan Liu directed; Erica Meredith wrote
• Cast on screen in the review's photos: Zyra Gorecki as Izzy, Eoin Macken as Gavin, Lily Santiago as Veronica, Rohan Mirchandaney as Scott
• Season context: La Brea season 2 ran 14 episodes, from September 27, 2022 to February 28, 2023

La Brea season 2 episode 7 review: verdict and what came next

As a fall finale, 1988 does a lot right, and it is one of the more eventful hours of La Brea season 2. It gives both time periods an action set piece, a rescue in 1988 and a trial by combat in 10,000 BC, and it ties them to a single decision about whether anyone stays in the 1980s or goes home. The review's praise is for the trial, the sibling scenes between Izzy and Josh, and the way the episode keeps the Harris family at the center. It is less taken with the format itself, the pause before the second half of the season, and with a few conveniences, such as how quickly the transmitter leads the team to Dr. Clark.

The standout is Ty. The review shows him winning the fight with his long-honed therapy skills, and the twist that Taamet threw it shows the show can wrong-foot a viewer. The episode also ends with a stack of open threads: a character shot, a cure with a missing ingredient, and a vision of a death.

In the long run, the episode is a good snapshot of what La Brea does well. It is a family drama dressed as science fiction, with big stakes, quick plotting and a cast that plays the emotional beats straight. For anyone sampling La Brea season 2 as a self-contained story, the family reunion plot and the prehistoric survival plot both pay off here, and both leave a hook for what follows. NBC renewed it for a six-episode third season on January 31, 2023, and on November 20, 2023 it was reported that the third season would be the last. That season premiered on January 9, 2024, and the series ended on February 13, 2024.

For viewers coming to La Brea season 2 episode 7 now, the practical advice is to watch from the start of the season. This episode relies on earlier events, such as Dr. Clark's capture, Levi's conflict with Eve and Gavin, and the history between Paara and Taamet, and its payoff is stronger if you know them.

Sources

• La Brea (TV series), Wikipedia — Series dates, season and episode counts, episode 7 credits and air date, cast and the third-season renewal.