La Brea Season 3 Episode 3 Review: Maya
Laura Nowak
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Facing your inner demons can set you free.
Gavin, Ty, Izzy, and Leyla faced their pasts on La Brea Season 3 Episode 3 and either started new journeys or got closure to move on.
Were these journeys beneficial, or did some of them alter history? Will we see the effects of these decisions before the series ends?
The Gavin of 2021 had just as much difficulty believing Ty as Sam did, but the stakes were higher because they needed Gavin to access info on the Air Force base. He didn't remember anything about the secret project in either timeline.
I can’t explain the gaps in your memory, and I understand why this is frightening, but if you explore this with us, it will be worth it. The lives of the people you love depend on this.
Ty
Since Gavin was in such a bad spot, he bailed. He couldn't deal with the responsibility of helping others yet when he could barely take care of himself. Even though Sam and Ty had their issues, they focused on recentering Gavin.
While Ty was great at giving advice, he needed help regarding relationships. He always felt guilty about the way he left things with his ex-wife, Sophie, who then died in a drunk-driving accident.
Returning to 2021 allowed him to make amends with her and try to save her, but at what cost? How much of history would be altered because Ty needed closure?
Of course, Sophie was unaware of all of this, and she was still furious at Ty for wanting a divorce and how worthless he made her feel as a wife and writer.
That only made Ty feel worse since he only wanted to push her away because of his cancer. He didn't want her to feel unsure of herself or turn to alcohol for comfort.
Sophie: What part of I don’t want to talk to you, don’t you understand?
Ty: Soph, wait. Tonight, you’re going to make a mistake you can’t undo unless you make a change.
Sophie: Mistakes are the only thing I’m good at.
I love that when Sam and Ty found Gavin drunk at a bar, Ty used reverse psychology on Gavin. Instead of preaching to him, Ty shared his problems and talked about Sophie's issues with alcohol.
Ty admitted that unless something changed, Sophie would die in a drunk driving accident that night. He hoped that gave him the nudge to face his fears and change for friends and family.
That was a huge burden to place on Gavin, but it worked since the three men arrived at the same AA meeting that Sophie attended.
I suspect this was during the time that Gavin felt all alone. It was after his accident, his visions were beginning, and Eve and Levi spent more time with each other than with him. Gavin needed some friends to believe in him.
It's why Gavin's speech was so inspiring. He was fueled with anger and felt broken until these new friends kept looking for him and gave him a purpose.
Everyone in this room needs someone that gives a damn because none of us can do it on our own.
Gavin
That resonated with Sophie, too, and she agreed to listen to Ty. While I didn't want them to reunite, I'm relieved the two got closure because her death weighed on Ty. Hopefully, he'll forgive himself now.
Meanwhile, in 10,000 BC, Gavin and Sam were determined to find the Air Force base, thinking they'd get answers about Maya Schmidt. Little did they know they'd encounter both a rhino and an exploding minefield before meeting soldiers at gunpoint.
In a move that reminded me of Snow from Once Upon a Time, a woman cut Gavin and Sam down from the tree they're tied up against and rescued them. While Sam remained suspicious, Gavin and the woman recognized each other.
Gavin: Sam, I think we should go with her.
Sam: Why would we do that?
Gavin: Because that’s Maya Schmidt.
The computer voice leading them to Sierra, aka Maya Schmidt, was too good to be true, and she didn't know anything about Eve. She only had information about the secret time-traveling project and how she erased his memories of it.
Maya felt awful about it at the time and even worse when they captured her and her daughter when she tried to spill the details about the project. She agreed to help him try to recover his memories but cautioned the mushrooms were dangerous.
While under hypnosis, Gavin remembered a safe and soon realized that Eve's capturers wanted the info inside his head. What had they got themselves into?
The B story focused on the developing relationship between Izzy and Leyla. NBC wasn't subtle when they began the enemies to friends to lovers trope. While we only have six episodes, I would have preferred a slow-burn approach and not to be hit over the head with it.
Since we never knew much about Izzy's sexuality or dating life, except that she felt misunderstood, it's easier to believe she and Leyla would bond faster. They often think they have something to prove, such as Leyla killing her first boar.
Neither of them has ever fit in well, and they both think the only person to understand them is their brother.
It seemed like the ideal bonding experience -- working together to save Leyla from the La Brea Tar Pits and the hungry boar. I even appreciated Leyla using Izzy's baby powder to feel girly in the shower. She's more of a tomboy but was making an effort for Izzy.
Leyla: It’s really nice having someone who cares. You do feel that way, don’t you?
Izzy: I do.
Leyla: I thought so.
These two were really cute. Hopefully, we'll see their relationship expand more, and they'll have a happy ending.
Key Points That Changed in 2021
We've been tracking all the events that changed since Ty arrived in 2021 in La Brea Season 3 Episode 2.
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Ty and Sam befriended each other and then befriended Gavin when he needed a support system the most.
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Gavin agreed to get help and attended an AA meeting.
- Ty ran into his ex-wife, Sophie, made amends, and managed to stop her from getting into a drunk driving accident.
While these are positive changes, they could still affect history, even erasing someone from history. We saw how Lucy's sister was erased from history on Timeless when the Time Team altered history. We don't want that to occur in La Brea.
However, time travel has risks, and in most sci-fi series, usually, an important character dies in the finale. So, we're still in for some emotional rides.
Over to you, La Brea Fanatics.
Are you enjoying the arc of Gavin's past? Do you want the men to change anything else in 2021 or keep it the same?
Let us know in the comments below.
Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on X.
