Warning: spoilers are ahead for the penultimate episode of La Brea's final season, called "The Road Home, Part 1."
While it may feel like the third and final season of La Brea only just started, the NBC drama is nearly over for good. The series was renewed for a Season 3 comprised of just six episodes in the 2024 TV schedule, and a lot was packed into the first five. The biggest emotional game-changer in the last episode before the finale involved the death of a longtime character: none other than Levi. While it was a tear-jerker for Izzy and Gavin, I for one am thrilled that Levi was killed off, but not because of any ill will toward Levi. La Brea just really needed to raise the stakes.
La Brea hasn't gotten any less convoluted over the course of the final season, and it has a place on the list of shows ending and cancelled this year. There was a lot of hiking through the forest of 10,000 B.C. in this episode, which was at least safer than rafting in 10,000 B.C. after a giant alligator (with questionable CGI) nearly tipped a merry band of heroes into the river.
In fact, Helena surviving being knocked into the water with the hungry dino-sized gator and surviving is part of why I started hoping that somebody's luck would run out by the end of "The Road Home, Part 1." It was a stretch not only that she survived, but that Gavin survived in his effort to rescue her. Plus, the agitated CGI alligator could have easily flipped the raft and killed all of them. There were just too many close calls without any lasting damage, and something had to give.
Sadly, that something was the life of Levi, who paid the price for his heroic attempt to save Gavin and Co. when he was shot in the chest himself. Sam somewhat unnecessarily announced that it was a gunshot wound, and Levi lived long enough to tell Gavin that Eve was being held in a longterm detention facility. He had some emotional final words with both Izzy and Gavin before he breathed his last.
"The Road Home, Part 1" really needed a strong ending; on a show that doesn't make a habit of killing off major characters – and even used time travel to avoid a death sticking at the end of Season 2 – there was no better way to raise the stakes than to take somebody who has been around since the beginning and end their journey in a tragic way.
R.I.P. to Levi, but in the grand scheme of things, I definitely think his death was good for the show as it hurtles toward the final climax. Check out the promo for what's in store in the finale:
Will Eve make an appearance in the series finale, actually played by Natalie Zea again instead of a blonde woman who doesn't show her face? Zea reportedly did film for the third season, although it remains to be seen if Gavin, Izzy, and Josh will ever reunite with Eve on screen, face to face.
For now, you can always revisit earlier days of La Brea streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and be sure to watch the series finale on Tuesday, February 13 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
