Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for the Season 3 premiere of La Brea, called "Sierra."
La Brea is officially back on NBC in the 2024 TV season to pick up on the quite literally dino-sized cliffhanger ending to the Season 2 finale from almost a full year ago, and a lot changed over the course of the first episode back. Season 3 will be the last of the series and run for only six episodes, so packing a lot into the hour wasn't a surprise. However, "Sierra" also had to adjust to how much Eve could be included due to leading lady Natalie Zea appearing in a lot less of the season. Here's how it went down, and how the episode included Eve even without Zea!
How "Sierra" Handled Natalie Zea's Absence
Since Season 2 ended with Eve pulled through an aurora to an unknown time and place, La Brea actually didn't need to feature the character much in the premiere. The newest mystery of the season seems to be where/when she is and if Gavin and Co. can get her back, so Eve off-screen makes sense, but "Sierra" still needed her for one sequence.
That was Gavin was having flashback visions to a day before the sinkhole, when Eve was cooking breakfast for the family and Levi, the latter of whom helped Gavin in 10,000 B.C. to remember that the breakfast was in honor of Izzy's birthday, which was the nudge he needed to realize that the name "Sierra" was the military call sign of one of his former contacts: Maya Schmidt, a.k.a. Petra's mom.
The memory wouldn't have worked if the whole family wasn't present, and La Brea pulled it off seemingly without Natalie Zea by making sure that Eve was so busy with pancakes, bacon, and whipped cream smiley faces that she never turned away from the stove. Gavin embraced her from behind, and Eve was definitely being played by a woman with wavy blonde hair.
I 100% would have believed that it was Natalie Zea – even if it would have felt strange that the episode wasn't showing her face – if not for the news that the actress didn't film much for La Brea Season 3. Technically, the episode didn't confirm if that wasn't Zea cooking pancakes, but she reportedly never returned to on-location filming in Australia.
Remembering Sierra has given Gavin a clue about how to at least find out where/when his wife is thanks to whoever is communicating via the laptop, so he has something to focus on other than dinosaurs, at least, and the flashback worked as it was. Plus, regardless of how much we actually see of Eve/Natalie Zea in Season 3, based on the ending, other actors may spend most of the season elsewhere as well!
Why A Lot Of Season 3 Probably Isn't In 10,000 BC
Chasing a clue for Eve turned into the discovery of a pair of auroras that could lead anybody bold enough to go through to another time and place... but there was no saying when or where they would exit. While it was theoretically possible that one of them would lead to Eve, Gavin knew for certain that Sierra was in 10,000 B.C. and leaving would ruin their one solid clue about his wife's location. Sam and Josh had other plans, however, after Riley was attacked by a velociraptor. (Yes, really.)
Riley's only shot at survival from her internal and external injuries was more modern medical treatment, and Sam and Josh were willing to take a chance with the auroras if it meant she might live. That didn't entirely go according to plan, and Josh ended up stumbling through one of the portals with Riley in his arms. In the confusion, Ty was pulled back into the other portal.
"Sierra" ended without revealing where Josh and Riley ended up, but based on Ty's ending, it's possible that they would have done much better if they'd gone through the same aurora as he did. Ty emerged on a highway and was very nearly hit by a car, only for the driver to stop, emerge, and tell the shaken survivor that they were in Los Angeles, and the year was 2021. Ty is back in a time when medical technology could potentially save Riley; that might not be the case for Josh and Riley, who were nowhere to be seen.
The very good news – albeit potentially confusing news – is that Ty's arrival in 2021 was before the sinkhole changed everything. I'm guessing that his storyline will involve trying to stop the sinkhole from pulling everybody into 10,000 B.C. in the first place, although good luck to him finding people who will believe his story and have the power to make changes!
Best Line Of The Season 3 Premiere:
There were a lot of lines and exchanges in "Sierra" that stand out and are bound to pay off before the end of the final season, but I'd say that the best is actually the final sentence of the episode, thanks to Chiké Okonkwo performance as Ty:
- Ty: "Can you please tell me what date it is? The day and the year?
- Driver: "September 12, 2021."
- Ty: "That's a few weeks before the sinkhole."
DUN DUN DUN!
What Comes Next?
In the promo for Episode 2 (seen above) of La Brea's third and final season, we have everything from a fire and a giant crocodile in 10,000 B.C. to Ty meeting with the September 2021 versions of Gavin and Sam to drop the time travel bombshell on them. As for whether or not they believe his story... well, they were very different people before the sinkhole than they are now that they're stuck in 10,000 B.C.
Then again, Ty knows them both pretty well by this point; if he can name enough personal details about them, perhaps he can convince them that he's telling the truth? If anybody is going to buy a strange story circa 2021, I'd say that Gavin was a good place for Ty to start. As action-packed as the promo looks for the 10,000 B.C. story – including a shot of Eve, although I'm not convinced it's not a recycled shot from the high-stakes Season 2 – I'm honestly more intrigued by what's happening with Ty closer to present day.
New episodes of the final season of La Brea will continue airing on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. You can also revisit the earlier seasons streaming via Peacock Premium subscription, which should come in handy if the show continues to revisit elaborate lore from previous episodes.
