S01.E07: The Storm

[PBnJay]

Am I remembering incorrectly but wasn't Mary Beth inside that cement structure when it collapsed, so how could she know a telephone pole fell. 

Never mind.

I got a kick out of the two kids driving to the semi to find tools to free Mary Beth and Drug Kid. And they go into the trailer, where no truck driver EVER stores tools, tools and repair items are always in the cab. The trailer is for freight. (And smuggling, but that's another show.) Then the girl is all YEAY! a coat to keep warm when she's wearing a dress? Maybe look for some jeans or long johns. THEN the two decide to hang out there while Mary Beth and Drug Kid are dying a slow, crushing death while everyone waits for them to come back with the tools they promised to find/bring to help free MB and DK.

I laughed at this Ice Age Killer Freezing Storm was happening and no one acted like they were the least bit cold. The southern California people I know are freezing when the temp drops to 60.

[xaxat]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

OMG, @Lugal! How did we miss until this moment that this show is not Lost 2.0, but it is totally Gilligan's Island in the new/prehistoric millennium! 

Now I really want an episode guest starring the  Globetrotters.

 

 

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, PBnJay said:

Am I remembering incorrectly but wasn't Mary Beth inside that cement structure when it collapsed, so how could she know a telephone pole fell. 

She was outside and ran in to save Lucas.

[EllaWycliffe]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

Now I really want an episode guest starring the  Globetrotters.

As I recall the GlobeTrotters were playing a team of robots to save island resort... I feel like this is totally a useable idea for La Brea.

*Good Lord, do I really remember this? Maybe this is why I struggled with calculus....

[Dowel Jones]

1 hour ago, KaveDweller said:

She was outside and ran in to save Lucas.

Which proves once again how dumb these people are.  Lucas:  "Oh, here's a pile of collapsed concrete with a power pole hanging dangerously close to it.  I'll just move in without doing any work to make it safe."

 

3 hours ago, PBnJay said:

The southern California people I know are freezing when the temp drops to 60.

I heard Jay Leno tell a joke once during a cold snap in LA.  He said that "it was so cold, people in Beverly Hills were wearing two sweaters draped over their shoulders."

[chaifan]

A costume truck and a wind storm?  Damn.  It's almost as if the Acme Theatrical Hat Company had dropped down the hole!

 

I'm finding I'm watching this show for the potential it has, but each week it is getting further and further from that potential.  The "let's add a new twist every week" is tiresome, and is what killed Lost, so why do they think it is going to work here.  Mystery sink hole to 10,000 BC (how about 10kBC for short?) is pretty good on it's own.  But nooooo, we have to have kidnapped/cult/brainwashed/stockholm syndrome kids, love triangle, mom with a mysterious past (now resolved), The Village People, electrocuted people, and now an adoption plot???  oh, come on.

As noted above, it's bad enough that Village People woman speaks "modern" English, but that she can follow with relatively modern words, phrases, colloquialisms, etc. is a bit too much.  And why would the Village People be so hostile to newcomers?  If they're there for good, it would make more sense to welcome them in.  Besides the biological diversity, modern people would bring knowledge of medicine, building, farming, etc.  Plus some pretty good fireside stories! 

So one guy has known for a week there was an intact semi truck in the middle of a field, and didn't think they should go explore?  See if there's survivors over there, or, hey here's a thought... a truck full of food, bottled water, or something useful???  Or even a giant truck to use as shelter, maybe?  These people are so stupid they should just all die by the end of the season.

 

[shapeshifter]

52 minutes ago, chaifan said:

As noted above, it's bad enough that Village People woman speaks "modern" English, but that she can follow with relatively modern words, phrases, colloquialisms, etc. is a bit too much.  And why would the Village People be so hostile to newcomers?  If they're there for good, it would make more sense to welcome them in.  Besides the biological diversity, modern people would bring knowledge of medicine, building, farming, etc.  Plus some pretty good fireside stories! 

The only logical explanation (to me) is that the Village People are able to get cable TV and have been watching it diligently. This would explain their speech patterns and understanding of modern American colloquialisms, as well as their reticence to interact with people from the "current" timeline.

[Lady Calypso]

11 hours ago, chaifan said:

As noted above, it's bad enough that Village People woman speaks "modern" English, but that she can follow with relatively modern words, phrases, colloquialisms, etc. is a bit too much.  And why would the Village People be so hostile to newcomers?  If they're there for good, it would make more sense to welcome them in.  Besides the biological diversity, modern people would bring knowledge of medicine, building, farming, etc.  Plus some pretty good fireside stories! 

 

And the fact that, when Medicine Woman was answering Shrink Ty's question about how long they'd been there, she said something along the lines of "forever", which means she's lived in Prehistoric La Brea for decades. I thought maybe these people got dropped through the sinkhole, like, 10-15 years ago. Still a rather long time, but enough time where they remembered their time in Modern LA. But nope, they've apparently been there a super long time.

What a tame storm. All it was was really windy, and that's about it. I live in Canada and we've had worse storms than that.

This episode was more boring than actively bad, so I guess that's a step up? I mean, that's not to say there weren't some really bad logic choices, such as the IED being built in, like, a minute, but there was a little less bad than in previous episodes. Mostly because half the episode was more people talking at each other and less action.

Wolf Snack and Pre Med's plot was boring as shit. Wolf Snack is definitely the WORST character on the show. I don't even like Pre Med that much, but at least she's useful. Wolf Snack is not only annoying, but a useless sad sack. He has done pretty much nothing in seven episodes. Oh, so there was one episode where he ran and hid with Pre Med and then got the idea from the phone to run BACK into danger...but the idea came from Pre Med anyway when she was joking about using her phone. Otherwise, he's done nothing to warrant Pre Med liking him. 

Plus, I think it's completely icky because, despite their age difference probably not being THAT large (I think Pre Med is only 20/21 and Wolf Snack is 18), they're also at completely different points in their lives. Listening to Pre Med discussing her time in college while Wolf Snack discussed applying to college? Just a total disconnect and showing the audience that their small age gap is still a noticeable age gap. "I'd make an exception [to talk to a freshman] for you". BARF. Literally, zero appeal there. 

Also, convenient they stumbled across a wardrobe so everyone can now change their clothes. 

At first, I was like "LET THEM DIE" when the telephone pole knocked the structure onto Cop Lady and Drug Dealer Son. But...I mean, their last couple of scenes weren't ENTIRELY horrible. I still would have been fine if the structure collapsed on them and they died so we'd be done with their drama, but at least they're not fighting anymore, so that eliminates an annoying plot point, and surprisingly, the actors did alright in those scenes. And I now hate myself for saying that. But, alas, with annoying characters like Wolf Snack, boring characters like Psychic Dad and Daughter, and annoying romances, I guess Cop Lady and Drug Dealer Son aren't AS bad. 

Psychic Dad and Scientist Lady....it's rather convenient that Psychic Dad gets all this information at the exact moment he needs it, huh? I actually really don't like the LA plot. I just really don't care about Psychic Dad's connection to La Brea and I'm finding way more interest with literally anyone else. And his daughter doesn't get ANYTHING to do, which is a shame because disability representation is so important and all she does is stand around and cry out "DAD!". 

Stoner Scott still rocks. Ty has slipped down in my rankings solely due to the clear romance set up with Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (sorry, Ty, you're still fine, but the plot they're setting you up for isn't), and Cop Lady and Drug Dealer Son has climbed up a few spots for losing the annoying plot of them fighting. All Hallow's Eve and Pilot Levi can go run off and get eaten by a bear for all I care (I am not looking forward to Psychic Dad getting down there and igniting the triangle, so whatever they can do to not make that happen, I'll sacrifice Eve for that), and the wolf from the pilot can go finish the job he was set out to do. I don't care if they confirmed that wolf died in the pilot, or whatever. He can rise from the dead and go finish the job. 

[Abra]

I'm also on the 'Psychic Gwaine and this Ella girl are from the Ice Age world and somehow ended up in modern day California' train.

WolfSnack Josh and Lucas are still assholes in my mind. What kind of afterschool special was that episode ending?

Izzy is dumb for not finishing freshly squeezed orange juice.

Psychic Gwaine is dumb for signing an NDA without consulting a lawyer.

MaryBeth became a murderer for that guy? Seriously?

Did I sense something romantic between Paara and Ty?

Ew at WolfSnack and Riley's almost kiss. And not just because everyone and their breath must be rank by this point.

In all the time there, not once did anyone think to put together little search parties to see who/what else is out there that might be helpful, like 18 WHEELER TRUCKS?

Even with the low budget for special effects, I enjoyed the scene with the birds getting tfo. More prehistoric animals, please.

Ty and Stoner Scott still remain superior.

[AnimeMania]

Romeo Ty is definitely going to hook up with Dr. Paara, Medicine Woman and get everybody an invite back to Smurf Village.

Veronica is going to come back after a month of living in the woods as the leader of the Direwolf Army and lead a raid on the Smurf Village.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

And the fact that, when Medicine Woman was answering Shrink Ty's question about how long they'd been there, she said something along the lines of "forever", which means she's lived in Prehistoric La Brea for decades. I thought maybe these people got dropped through the sinkhole, like, 10-15 years ago. Still a rather long time, but enough time where they remembered their time in Modern LA. But nope, they've apparently been there a super long time.

Saying she lived there "forever" made me think she was born there. It seems plausible (for this show) that she could be born from modern people that went back in time and be raised there while still knowing English. But why would she learn a term like "divorce" in that case? There is no legal system down there, so there'd be no reason for that term to still be in use. Unless she just picked it up in context?

I'm thinking she just has been there so long it feels like forever. 

[mythoughtis]

18 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Saying she lived there "forever" made me think she was born there. It seems plausible (for this show) that she could be born from modern people that went back in time and be raised there while still knowing English. But why would she learn a term like "divorce" in that case? There is no legal system down there, so there'd be no reason for that term to still be in use. Unless she just picked it up in context?

I'm thinking she just has been there so long it feels like forever. 

My guess is that the Village People’s ancestors were from an earlier sinkhole.  Maybe the civil war one( the one the gold came from).  This would have allowed enough generations to be born so that their history would get muddled.  Using the term ‘ sky people’ rather than people who fell through a sinkhole, for example. 
We are supposed to read between the lines and know that not all ‘sky people’ have been good fellow campers to the 2nd generation+ Campers. It’s plausible that divorce is still a term in practice for them.  Marital conflict has happened since marriage came into existence.  They just have less property to divide. 

Of course it’s also plausible the 12 year old that Gavin was found with had found a way to come back and forth between times in dreams and keeps the Village People updated.  

[Paloma]

I still haven't watched the episode but realize there is no need--I know everything that happened (or at least the "important" things) from reading all of your comments, which are far more entertaining than the actual show. But I am disappointed that the show could not provide even a moderately satisfying execution of the interesting concept. 

[Lugal]

7 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

And the fact that, when Medicine Woman was answering Shrink Ty's question about how long they'd been there, she said something along the lines of "forever", which means she's lived in Prehistoric La Brea for decades. I thought maybe these people got dropped through the sinkhole, like, 10-15 years ago. Still a rather long time, but enough time where they remembered their time in Modern LA. But nope, they've apparently been there a super long time.

I assumed she was one of the Native people that lived there 10,000 years ago before any time rifts.  Scott mentioned the Tongva (Tonantzin Carmelo is of Tongva descent) who did live in the LA area in pre-Contact times, but probably not 10,000 years ago.

7 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Wolf Snack is not only annoying, but a useless sad sack. He has done pretty much nothing in seven episodes.

Wolf Snack is an elevated redshirt.  If he weren't Eve's son, he would have been dead in the pilot.

On 11/9/2021 at 8:57 PM, EllaWycliffe said:

Its not going to be bright and sunny and apparently summer and then boom, its snowing! And then boom, its sunny and nice. An ice age doesn't do this.

In Arizona we call that Spring!  And we get about as much snow on the ground as they did...in the Ice Age.

[txhorns79]

On 11/11/2021 at 7:46 PM, EllaWycliffe said:

As I recall the GlobeTrotters were playing a team of robots to save island resort... I feel like this is totally a useable idea for La Brea.

I now want a series where the gang is rescued from La Brea, and then return to open a tropical resort where every week guest stars participate in sexy shenanigans. 

[alvajon]

On 11/10/2021 at 3:53 PM, KaveDweller said:

But having a working plane would have been helpful for scouting the area and seeing if other green lights have appeared. 

This is/would have been a great idea--not just scouting for other green lights, but scouting for more trucks, maybe buildings, more cars, supplies, modern people, McDonald’s...

[PBnJay]

On 11/12/2021 at 2:05 PM, KaveDweller said:

Saying she lived there "forever" made me think she was born there.

It made me think of when I'm waiting for my ride that's late and when it finally shows up I say "Geesh, about time, I've been waiting FOREVER." Forever could mean 10 minutes or 10 decades in "modern English."

Edited November 16, 2021 by PBnJay

[Rickster]

On 11/11/2021 at 9:31 PM, chaifan said:

A costume truck and a wind storm?  Damn.  It's almost as if the Acme Theatrical Hat Company had dropped down the hole!

 

As noted above, it's bad enough that Village People woman speaks "modern" English, but that she can follow with relatively modern words, phrases, colloquialisms, etc. is a bit too much.  And why would the Village People be so hostile to newcomers?  If they're there for good, it would make more sense to welcome them in.  Besides the biological diversity, modern people would bring knowledge of medicine, building, farming, etc.  Plus some pretty good fireside stories! 

 

 

My theory is that Village People woman is the missing adoptee sister(?) of psychic dad and travels back and forth to modern day LA via some sort of portal. Which is why she’s up on modern lingo.

[Dowel Jones]

16 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

I now want a series where the gang is rescued from La Brea, and then return to open a tropical resort where every week guest stars participate in sexy shenanigans. 

"Da plane, boss, da plane..."

[Cryonix]

On 11/11/2021 at 3:58 PM, PBnJay said:

Am I remembering incorrectly but wasn't Mary Beth inside that cement structure when it collapsed, so how could she know a telephone pole fell. 

Never mind.

I got a kick out of the two kids driving to the semi to find tools to free Mary Beth and Drug Kid. And they go into the trailer, where no truck driver EVER stores tools, tools and repair items are always in the cab. The trailer is for freight. (And smuggling, but that's another show.) Then the girl is all YEAY! a coat to keep warm when she's wearing a dress? Maybe look for some jeans or long johns. THEN the two decide to hang out there while Mary Beth and Drug Kid are dying a slow, crushing death while everyone waits for them to come back with the tools they promised to find/bring to help free MB and DK.

I laughed at this Ice Age Killer Freezing Storm was happening and no one acted like they were the least bit cold. The southern California people I know are freezing when the temp drops to 60.

There wouldn't be any telephone poles in 10,000 BC, so how that get there ?

[Cobb Salad]

28 minutes ago, Cryonix said:

There wouldn't be any telephone poles in 10,000 BC, so how that get there ?

It had to have fallen through the sinkhole along with everything else which begs these questions - where are all the other telephone poles from the same area and how did this one fall almost upright next to piles of concrete that provided a good shelter until 2 annoying characters got trapped inside?

Edited November 15, 2021 by Cobb Salad

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, Cobb Salad said:

It had to have fallen through the sinkhole along with everything else which begs these questions - where are all the other telephone poles from the same area and how did this one fall almost upright next to piles of concrete that provided a good shelter until 2 annoying characters got trapped inside?

Whoops!

 

[madmax]

6 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

It had to have fallen through the sinkhole along with everything else which begs these questions - where are all the other telephone poles from the same area and how did this one fall almost upright next to piles of concrete that provided a good shelter until 2 annoying characters got trapped inside?

Where is all the incidental stuff that fell in the sinkhole?  The rest of the phone poles, the asphalt, the other buildings, the other cars.  I guess they only had money for certain things in the main set, until they need things like a perfectly intact 18 wheeler.

[Cobb Salad]

What I’ve been wondering as well is any time a car drives off a cliff in the movies or on TV it explodes into flames upon impact but in this show we have lots of cars just laying around like they were driven into the area plus one they’re using travel long distances.  Anything that fell down that sinkhole should have burned up in a fiery inferno including all that heroin. 

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, madmax said:

Where is all the incidental stuff that fell in the sinkhole?  The rest of the phone poles, the asphalt, the other buildings, the other cars.  I guess they only had money for certain things in the main set, until they need things like a perfectly intact 18 wheeler.

Apparently not everything made it through. And some of it is scattered all over LA. The ambulance and the wardrobe truck were miles away from the clearing. I bet a few episodes down the line they'll find another big truck full of more useful supplies just in time to solve another crisis.

[Dowel Jones]

6 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

Anything that fell down that sinkhole should have burned up in a fiery inferno including all that heroin. 

Everything in DownUnderLand has been coated with layers of industrial strength handwavium, keeping it in perfect condition except as necessary.

[Captain Asshat]

17 hours ago, Cobb Salad said:

What I’ve been wondering as well is any time a car drives off a cliff in the movies or on TV it explodes into flames upon impact but in this show we have lots of cars just laying around like they were driven into the area plus one they’re using travel long distances.  Anything that fell down that sinkhole should have burned up in a fiery inferno including all that heroin. 

So, using Handwavian Physics, I'm assuming the sinkhole something something intereferes something gravity, so that's why the people weren't killed by the fall. The same absolutely not made up science is why the cars never exploded.

[PBnJay]

11 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

industrial strength handwavium

LOL! A perfect description that explains every question posed above.

[chaifan]

3 hours ago, Captain Asshat said:

So, using Handwavian Physics, I'm assuming the sinkhole something something intereferes something gravity, so that's why the people weren't killed by the fall. The same absolutely not made up science is why the cars never exploded.

Back in the threads for one of the first few episodes, someone had a theory that people/objects "went through" the hole vs. "fell through" the hole, which is why cars are upright (except, strangely, the bus) and relatively intact, people weren't killed or grievously injured, etc.  I'll go with that theory, as we know the writers of this show aren't going to come up with any better explanation, if they even bother to offer one, which they probably won't.  Why none of the cars work is a whole other question. 

I think a really fun scene would be a flashback to the day of the sinkhole, from the perspective of one of the Village People.  Just what does a few city blocks falling through the sky look like from the ground?   hmmm...

 

 

 

 

14 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Everything in DownUnderLand has been coated with layers of industrial strength handwavium, keeping it in perfect condition except as necessary.

Eve's eyebrow liner/filler must have had an extra special dose of that industrial strength handwavium!  😁

[shapeshifter]

35 minutes ago, chaifan said:

Eve's eyebrow liner/filler must have had an extra special dose of that industrial strength handwavium!  😁

Eve probably put some of the magical antibiotic that healed young WolfSnack into her eyeliner and mascara tubes.

[bloodstar]

For what it's worth, you can have massive temperature drops and incredible storms happen in a matter of minutes. Some examples of extreme temperature drops in short periods of time can be seen in 1911 for example, Rapid City went from 55 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit in 2 hours. https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/extreme-short-duration-temperature-changes-us

Thinking about the environmental set up, a lot of it depends on the season, but snow would still be fairly uncommon in the area. Wind, yeah, you could see some massive wind events thought.

One other thing that was missed, the ocean levels are a couple hundred feet lower at this point. So they wouldn't be near the ocean in any way shape or form. And no one has noticed the stars are all wrong? (The sky would look somewhat different ~12,000 years ago)

The show has gotten better, but you still need to turn your brain off to enjoy it. Just roll with it. :)

[Camera One]

That was a pretty pathetic storm though a very conveniently timed one.  They forgot the scene where the wind blows Veronica off a cliff so we never have to see her again.

Ty is awesome for actually asking questions, even though the answers were vague as hell.  The Writers better have an explanation for why they speak modern English and understand newer ideas like divorce if they've been there "forever", because it's jarring as hell.  Even if Sky People lie to them a lot, all they need to do is to watch this group from afar to see that they are a complete mess, didn't intend to be there and aren't trained to do anything useful or threatening.

That Car Fixer gave some very vague directions about where the 18 wheeler was, and Wolf Snack and Pre-Med just drove directly to it?  Wolf Snack has very few redeeming qualities beyond being sanctimonious.  The extreme between voting his mom off the island and the reconciliation at the end was not explained or earned, so it just made him look bad.

I'm surprised they already had the Federal Agent find out about Diana dying.  It did make me like her more.  Shouldn't she be in a lot more trouble?  Her paranoid partner isn't bothering to follow her around to make sure she's isn't up to any new shenanigans?  

Maybe Murdering Grandpa from the Village will mellow once he is reunited with his long lost son Psychic Dad and Who Cares Who The Sister Is.  Medicine Woman claimed he would NEVER do something like electrocuting someone, when she clearly saw him ready to kill the latest Sky People who wandered into their village and even that little kid in the village implied Grampy was volatile and stubborn.

I'm liking Scott more, with his storm warning.  But if he were a real "Lost" fan, he would have mentioned The Others by now.