The Best Plot Twists From La Brea Season 1

The long wait is nearly over, #Tarheads. The season 2 premiere of NBC's La Brea is just days away, and it picks up just hours after Josh, Riley, Isaiah (who is also Gavin), and Lilly jumped through a green light to the year 1988, while Gavin, Izzy, and Ella (who is also Lilly) jumped into a sinkhole to 10,000 BC Seattle. How will they all reunite? How does anyone get from Seattle to Los Angeles during the Ice Age? What (and/or who) is in that modern high rise that's chilling in a random field? All of these questions and more are just on the verge of being answered in Season 2, but that won't be helpful to you if you forgot what happened in Season 1. In order to prepare you for what's sure to be another trippy trek through time, we're recapping the best plot twists from the first season of La Brea—with some help from the stars who lived through them. 

It's Not Where We Are, It's When We Are

It took until Episode 2 for the sinkhole survivors to begin to realize that they were still in Los Angeles, but the 10,000 BC version of it. The sinkhole was a time portal, and it's not the first of its kind. Turns out people have been landing in 10,000 BC Los Angeles for hundreds of years. 

This was Chike Okonkwo's pick for his favorite plot twist. "Seeing a saber-toothed tiger was just the most random thing, and made for some lovely scenes between myself and Natalie Zea. Like, that was definitely a saber-toothed tiger right? That was a great reveal of the time and place that we were." 

Cool Building, Bro

All those time travelers had a huge impact on life in 10,000 BC, from teaching natives the English language to providing steel to erecting a massive high rise. But no one thought to build a grocery store, so it's mushrooms for now. There's also a random chest full of Civil War-era gold buried in the woods, which feels important to mention even if nothing has really come of it so far. 

Who is Lilly, Really?

First, we thought that Lilly (Chloe De Los Santos) couldn't talk, and would only communicate with her sister, Veronica (Lily Santiago). Then we found out she actually could talk, and Veronica was not really her sister. Veronica and their "father" had kidnapped Lilly a year ago, and she just wants to go back to her family. 

Isaiah Is Gavin 

The mother of all La Brea twists: the young boy (Diesel La Torraca) who has been helping Eve and some other survivors is actually a young Gavin (Eoin Macken), Eve's ex-husband. All of Gavin's visions are actually memories from when Isaiah was spying on the survivors! In order to grow up to be Gavin, he has to go through a portal to 1988! Has your mind ever been so blown? This twist really blew the socks off of the cast.

Tonantzin Carmelo: "That was pretty astonishing. It took me aback when I read it." 

Zyra Gorecki: "I think my first reaction was just sitting there being like, 'No, what?! Crazy?!' But what's also crazy is my grandma called it. She was watching, and I don't remember what episode it was, but she was like 'That's going to be baby Gavin.' I was like, what? How? I didn't know! What?! I did not see that coming at all." 

Veronica St. Clair: "When we find out that Isaiah and Gavin are the same person, that has to be the best reveal. The reveal of that at the end of the episode? I mean, we're all involved in the making of the show, but watching it back, I was like, wow, that was done really well. 

Jack Martin: "That was crazy. To prepare for that day, I texted my dad and I said to please send me pictures from when you were seven, if you have any. He was like, 'Why?' And I was like, 'It's hard to explain.' And he sent me a bunch of those pictures, and I spent all morning—this sounds so weird, but I'm serious—I sat there on set all morning looking at these pictures of my dad as a child, just saying 'You're my dad, you're my dad,' over and over again until I believed it. And then when I went on set, I actually was believing that Diesel was my father in the future past." 

And Ella Is Lilly 

Gavin tracks down Ella (Michelle Vergara Moore), the woman who was found alongside him as a child. She suddenly remembers that she was actually Lilly, the kidnapped girl in the sinkhole, and Lilly has to go through that 1988 portal, too. 

Silas Remains a Mystery 

While he first appeared to just be a regular old guy in 10,000 BC, Silas (Mark Lee) was revealed to be one of the time traveling scientists who caused this whole mess, alongside Rebecca Aldridge (Ming-Zhu Hii). His motives aren't yet clear, but he really didn't want Isaiah to make it to 1988. Is he really Isaiah's grandfather? That's still to be discovered. 

Bye, Kids

When Isaiah and Lilly successfully made it to the 1988 portal, Josh and Riley accidentally got sucked in as well. That wasn't supposed to happen, or was it? The portal was beginning to close after Isaiah went through, but then expanded once more to grab the other three. Did it do that on purpose? Is the portal alive? Truly what is happening here? 

Jon Seda, who plays Riley's dad Sam, found this twist to be particularly "unexpected," and Josh himself, Jack Martin, also gave a shoutout to his second favorite twist (see above for his first favorite). "I guess my second favorite would be the end of the season where our two heroes, everybody's two favorite characters, the two sexy hot cool characters Josh and Riley are pulled into a mysterious portal taking them who knows where." 

Hello, Seattle 

In the final moments of the Season 1 finale, Gavin, Izzy, and Ella made one last ditch effort to reunite with their friends and family by jumping into a tiny sinkhole near Seattle, with no supplies whatsoever. How will they get from 10,000 BC Seattle to 10,000 BC Los Angeles? Only time—and the Season 2 premiere—will tell.