‘La Brea’ Star Eoin Macken on Gavin’s Vision & Midseason Cliffhanger
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for La Brea Season 2, Episode 7, “1988.”]
La Brea is leaving fans with quite a cliffhanger, or rather, a sinkhole of questions following the midseason finale episode, “1988,” which saw Gavin (Eoin Macken) reunite with people from his past as well as the family he’s built along the way.
After traveling to 1988 with the help of his father, James (Jonno Roberts), Gavin is reunited with his son Josh (Jack Martin) alongside Izzy (Zyra Gorecki) and Eve (Natalie Zea) who travel to the future to find him. The journey also sets the Harris family on a path of reunion for Gavin and his biological mother Caroline (Melissa Neal).
Believing that they might be in the clear to settle down in this more modern time period, Caroline informs Gavin that in order to accomplish the mission to prevent further sinkholes from forming, he’ll have to use his handprint. The trouble with that? He’ll have to return to 10,000 B.C. without the family he’s somehow managed to reunite with unless they decide to tag along.
Ultimately, they do decide to follow Gavin, but that means leaving behind Levi (Nicholas Gonzalez) with whom he has unresolved problems. Not to mention, an untimely vision sparks concern just moments before Gavin and his family make a major leap both physically and metaphorically. What will happen next? Macken previews what’s to come and reflects on the midseason finale’s biggest moments.
(Credit: Sarah Enticknap/NBC)
In the seconds before Gavin and his family jump, he has a concerning vision involving Eve. Why does he hold back from telling her?
Eoin Macken: I think he spent so long trying to fix everything on himself. He and Eve get the family back together, and he’s had a resolution with Levi. There’s been so much happening with my parents and I think because he wasn’t expecting that, he’s slightly thrown by it and I think he’s hoping to fix himself and he doesn’t wanna tell her because he’s not sure what it means even to him. So many things could happen with the visions being confusing even to himself. I don’t think he fully understood what was happening. He just was a little bit overwhelmed by it and figured it was something that he could hopefully alter himself. There’s been so much happening between the two of them, he was trying to be protective and didn’t wanna alarm anybody unduly.
Will we follow up with that vision in time?
It definitely does come into play. And actually, it almost confirms what I first thought about Gavin, which is that the visions aren’t as clear-cut as what he thinks. There’s an element whereby going back and forth between the future and the past, his visions are a bit confused. So his visions aren’t necessarily some kind of mystical premonition. Sometimes they’re flashes of the past and sometimes they actually could be making incorrect images.
It’s not a fine-tuned science it sounds like.
Exactly.
We actually get to see Gavin with his family in this episode. Now that he has them all together, what is he going to do in order to keep it that way?
That’s the most important thing to Gavin, keeping his family alive and keeping them together. I think his secondary concern has always been looking after himself or trying to figure out how to solve the sinkholes. But first and foremost is trying to look after his family because that’s what he’s been trying to make up for so long and trying to make sure that they’re okay. So that’s what’s really cool about the second half of Season 2 is because it’s been so long with the families apart, it now actually becomes about seeing them as a family unit, and then it’s about trying to make sure that they don’t fracture.
(Credit: Sarah Enticknap/NBC)
On that note, Gavin leaves things with Levi on relatively good terms. Does that ring true to how Gavin really feels?
I think it was really important for Gavin and Levi to have their reconciliations. They’ve been friends for so long and they both accepted they’ve made mistakes. And I think for Gavin to be able to forgive himself and forgive Eve, I think it’s also important he’s able to forgive Levi. Especially because everything’s so heightened and they were best friends. So I think at the end of this half-season there is a certain sense that the two of them are going to be able to move forward. Part of the journey is being able to accept mistakes and forgive each other, but that’s all gonna change.
And while Gavin and his family made the leap into the 1988 sinkhole with plans to land back in 10,000 B.C., is that where they’ll necessarily end up?
There is a potential they could land somewhere else and that’s gonna start to evolve with the rest of the show. But the fact that this time travel’s not a linear situation and it’s not an exact science. So yes, it’s gonna get more complex as it goes on. There’s a possibility that they might not end up where they think they’re gonna end up.
Does that mean we could go to the distant future?
Oh you, you’d have to get David [Appelbaum] on the phone and quiz him on that [Laughs]. But I imagine there’s a possibility we could go anywhere in this show.
Would you like to see Gavin go to the future or should he stay put for a bit wherever he does land?
Gavin just needs to chill out and watch some television and have a beer for a while I think, right? Yeah, no, what’s really exciting about the second half of the season is how it opens up the potential for everything and how the world has started to expand and where it can go, which I think is really cool because once you establish the rules or the world of what this can be, you see where it can go.
(Credit: Sarah Enticknap/NBC)
It’s insinuated that Gavin’s dad is a dangerous man, but is his mom entirely trustworthy?
Oh my god, you could never be insinuating that he couldn’t trust his own mom. Really? No.
You never know with a show like this.
Well, that is true. Gavin’s mom might be one of the most honest in the whole show, even though she might have different motivations.
If you could pick a time to send Gavin, what would it be?
I mean anywhere with dinosaurs.
Anywhere with dinosaurs. I mean you’re kind of borderline on the cusp.
I know, but borderline isn’t quite there yet, right?
No, it isn’t. That would be pretty epic. Some dinosaurs.
That would be pretty epic. It’s funny cause when I was first describing the show, I always thought it reminded me of the movies I used to watch at home [during] Christmas with your family, and it was Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park and stuff. If it could have some dinosaurs, I’d be happy.
In what ways will we see Gavin work on his familial relationships in the second half of Season 2?
I think it’s actually really interesting seeing what happens with Gavin and Josh because father and son, they both have a lot to go through. Both Josh and Izzy have really grown up throughout this period. So there’s a certain element where the family unit is kind of less father and children. They are kind of independent individuals who have gone through these adventures. Part of Izzy’s journey with Gavin has been about her becoming a more mature individual and Gavin understanding that. I think the same has to be said with Josh because he’s been looking after himself and his mom. So there’s an interesting shift with that whole dynamic. That’s a really important kind of evolution, which I guess happens in families in real life when people reach a certain age and you kind of go through certain experiences.
Can you tease anything about Gavin and Eve’s dynamic moving forward? Is Levi’s absence going to loom large and create more tension?
I could never tell you future plot points, but Levi is an integral part of this whole dynamic. So yeah, it’s not finished. There’s some big twists to come with his character, which kind of change everything.
Is there anything else you can tease for the show’s return?
I’m excited for fans to see what happens, especially what we’ve just been referencing with Levi. But also with where the time travel elements develop and how the world spans. It gets very cool.
La Brea, Season 2, Returns Tuesday, January 31, 2023, 9/8c, NBC
