La Brea 2.1: Woolly Rhinos and Apple

La Brea was back with the beginning of its second season on NBC this past Tuesday.  Look, it suffers from the inevitable limitations of any network series, ranging from commercial interruptions to too many entangled plots.  But as I said in my reviews of the first season (see below), it's still pretty good and worth watching as a time-travel series.

Here's what I like most [spoilers ahead]:

• The interaction with the fauna and flora back then in 10,000 BC.  Episode 2.1 featured the woolly rhino.
• Josh and Riley in 1988.  Lots of nice touches there, including Josh's note to the owners of the house he and Riley are camping in: buy Apple (stock).
• The iconic Hollywood sign coming down in the latest sinkhole eruption.  I liked not only what that looked like, but as a shot against Hollywood culture.
• I'm still getting Lost-like vibrations from La Brea, which is all to the good,

  Here's what I like mezza-mezza (so-so):

• That big futuristic building in 10,000 BC.  It has all kinds of exciting possibilities, which I'd like to see more of, sooner than later.
• No doubt in some important way related to that building is what our government and scientists in 2022 know about what is going on, including to what extent they may have caused this.  Those plot threads were already dangling most of the first season, and I'd like to see at least some of them eliminated or explicated soon.
• Speaking of eliminated, I think there are too many characters swirling around in 10,000 BC.  Certainly Eve, Gavin, and Levi are essential, and Josh and Riley are pretty crucial now in 1988, too.  Otherwise, there are a bit too many stories going on, certainly for viewing just once a week.

Here's what I don't much like: the government people are the main or only villains in the present.  They actually weren't in evidence in episode 2.1, and I didn't miss them.  They're trite, and they don't seem up to the profundity of whatever caused the sinkholes, and why.

See you back here next week with my review of the next episode.

See also La Brea 1.1: Pros and Cons of Falling Into the Past ... La Brea 1.2: Deepening Horizons ... La Brea 1.3: Descending Into the Maelstrom ... La Brea 1.4: Expanding Horizons ... La Brea 1.5: The Letter and the Resemblance ... La Brea 1.6: Cross-Temporal Communication ... La Brea 1.7: Time Sinkholes Not Only in Different Places but from Different Times ... La Brea 1.8: Clearer Visions ... La Brea 1.9: Lilly and the Cow ... La Brea 1.10: A Fine Set of Time-Travelling Chess Pieces in Place