LA BREA Pilot Review
A mom and son get trapped in…New Zealand? A father and daughter don’t seem distraught enough. I mean, not only have two of their family members died in a natural disaster but that natural disaster involved a gigantic sinkhole that had dinosaur birds flying out of it. That’s upsetting!
Less than ten minutes into the episode we already have a physic vision, a dinosaur spotting, questionable CGI, and a million character introductions. There is a wolf attack, a trunk full of cocaine, a tribal handprint on a boulder, and government cover-ups a plenty.
I’m not gonna spend time writing a recap of the plot. If you want to know what happened, go watch the episode. I’m just here to share my thoughts on what I can only hope will continue to be a weird and wild show.
My main takeaway from this NBC fantasy/mystery/science-fiction is that it was fun. Was it amazing? No. Was it bad? I can’t say it was. I loved it for what it was. It gave us a wolf attack, giant birds, and even a Saber-toothed cat! And what did I want to see the most in this show?? Monsters. Creatures! So, I just can’t be disappointed just yet. We had mysteries, things that made absolutely no sense, and the familiar NBC warm glow.
In all honestly, I felt the episode would have worked better if we didn’t go back and forth between the two worlds. That felt like a network note telling the creatives we needed all the main characters to get screen time in the pilot. I think it would have worked if we stayed with Eve and Josh (mom and son) and all rest of the characters in the sinkhole place/world/thing for the entire episode. But it was nice to get more information about what the heck was happening on the surface.
I’ve never seen the show Lost (a controversial statement I know), but I’m assuming this show is trying to be like it. That totally sets it up for failure, but alas, that won’t stop them from trying! And I am totally fine with that. The episode set up so many characters, created so many problems, and introduced so many questions that by the time it ended, I actually wanted to know about the world they created. And that made me really happy.
This show didn’t have amazing writing and had its fair share of predicable and annoying sequences. But I do appreciate how many little clues the episode gave us. I hope every single item found in the sinkhole place (I don’t know what to call it. Did they have a name for it? Are they gonna name it something in the future? Idk. Idk) means something and plays a significant role somewhere. I’m talking about that bus stop, those granola bars, the side of LACMA, the street signs… I want it all to mean something. I want it to all be connected!
Was this amazing 10/10 television? Absolutely not. But I will keep watching. And I will smile every time a dinosaur, plesiosaur, or pterosaur shows up!
Important items/clues/threads in the episode:
Handprint on the rock
Bag of heroine
Portal in Mojave
Dad with weird psychic/dreams powers.
A wedding ring necklace
Top/ Most Cliché Quotes of the Episode
“Where the hell did it come from?”.... “From there.”
“What are we supposed to tell them? The truth?”
“Your mom and Josh are alive………. And I’m gonna find them”
Episode STATS
Written by David Appelbaum
Directed by Thor Fredenthal
Starring: Natalie Zea, Eion Macken, Chiké Okonkwo
Airs Tuesdays 8 Pm Central on NBC.
