La Brea
2021
Original language: English
- sci-fi & fantasy
- drama
- action & adventure
The story
An epic adventure begins when a massive sinkhole opens in the middle of Los Angeles, pulling hundreds of people and buildings into its depths. Those who fell in find themselves in a mysterious and dangerous primeval land, where they have no choice but to band together to survive. Meanwhile, the rest of the world desperately seeks to understand what happened. In the search for answers, one family torn apart by this disaster will have to unlock the secrets of this inexplicable event to find a way back to each other.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached Los Angeles and a prehistoric jungle sit side by side in this series, so the look swings between two textures: sodden greens, dust-hazed savanna light and thick humid canopies on one side, and the cool blue-grey of hospitals, dim apartments and night-lit freeways on the other. The camera tends toward handheld closeness when people are running or arguing, then settles into wide, slow establishing shots of the sinkhole, the rising water and the animals moving through tall grass. The score leans on swelling strings and percussive pulses, with silence used around the grim moments. The vibe is anxious but hopeful, a survival adventure with a family-drama undertow and a steady ache of separation. It suits a weekend binge, a rainy evening on the couch, or a stretch of background viewing with the subtitles on. Pacing is brisk, with cliffhanger endings that push straight into the next episode. Violence is present and can be sudden: fights, animal attacks and deaths occur, some of them bloody, though it is not consistently gory. Emotional beats are heavy, with grief, fear and parental panic. Best for viewers who enjoy high-concept mysteries, castaway-style teamwork and a family pulled back together against long odds.
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