La Brea Boss Talks Fall Finale Twists, Gavin's Chilling New Vision And Whether [Spoiler] Is Gone For Good

The following contains spoilers from Tuesday night's La Brea fall finale on NBC.

As NBC's La Brea brought the first half of its 14-episode second season to a close on Tuesday night, the Harris family put 1988 in the rear view mirror, after they, Levi, Sam and Riley managed to outwit some Lazarus guards stationed at the Hollywood sign sinkhole. (Boy, those ATVs proved handy!)

Levi elected to stay behind in 1988, while Sam and Riley joined the Harrises in leaping back to 10,000 B.C., all hoping to make their way back to 2022. But before taking said jump, Gavin was blindsided by a new vision — of a future moment, where Eve is dying in his arms!

Elsewhere in the fall finale, Ty bested Taamet in a "fight to the death" (or yield), unaware that Scott had convince the Exiles' leader to throw the match in trade for being quietly freed. Afterward, Ty suggested to Paara they they get married. Oh, and Lucas, after being healed by Taamet's mysterious elixir, got smooched by Veronica.

TVLine spoke with La Brea showrunner David Appelbaum about what Gavin "saw," is Levi is in fact out of the picture, the Season 2B plan and more.

TVLINE | This larger season was divided exactly in half. Did you have a mission for where the first seven episodes needed to take us, and what the second seven need to do?

Yes, yes. The first seven episodes from a larger point of view have been about getting Josh back from 1988 and reuniting the [Harris] family. There have been lots of other stories interweaving, with the many other characters and different mythological things, but from a bigger perspective it was about bringing that family back together. The audience now sees that they are back together, but things aren't that simple. They're going to be thrust back into the world of 10,000 B.C., where being a family isn't such an easy thing. We're going to be complicating Gavin and Eve's relationship and their relationship with their kids, but what will continue to be at the heart of the show is the quest to get back home, to get back to their time.

There will be a number of other things going on — Gavin's relationship with [his father] James, dealing with the problems the [Lazarus] building presents, this vision that Gavin has at the end of Episode 7, of Eve and her death.... We have 13 series regulars who all have their own stories, so it's like a puzzle putting all these stories together. Everyone has a lot going on, but that's the thrust of the back half of the season.

TVLINE | It's funny, when someone in this episode mentioned Gavin's past visions, I asked myself, "I wonder if there is any scenario where he gets visions again?" And sure enough...

That vision of Eve's death is really going to drive a lot of conflict in the back half of the season, because it might be right around the corner. It's going to be a real problem — how do we prevent that? It's going to complicate all the relationships, knowing that that is a thing that could happen.

TVLINE | So are we calling Gavin "precognitive"? Will there be any medical basis for what he is going through now?

[Laughs] Thats one of the fun things we're going to explore, seeing how this effects him. But I don't want to give too much away.

TVLINE | Is it safe to say that going back to 10,000 B.C. and hopping in the portal to 2022 is easier said than done for the Harris family?

The back half of the season is going to take place in 10,000 B.C.—

TVLINE | Exclusively?

Exclusively, yeah. Wanting to get home is not the only story that's going on, but it's a continuing goal for everyone, and during the same time there are going to be all the interconnecting character stories for the 13 series regulars. But trying to get back to 2022 is something they'll never lose sight of.

TVLINE | Is the only reason not to hop in the portal because it will cause a new sinkhole or tidal wave?

Yes, that is something that we've learned through the mythology, that the sinkholes are created by the use of this portal. So that's a moral dilemma our characters will have to face. "Is us going home worth potentially creating a new sinkhole and causing more death and destruction?"

TVLINE | Have we in fact seen the last of Levi? Was that Nicholas Gonzalez's goodbye episode?

I don't want to spoil anything. I want to leave that a surprise.

TVLINE | I was half-expecting, there at the edge of the Hollywood sinkhole — which frankly could use better security, Los Angeles Police Department! — if Levi was going to grab Eve by the coat collar and keep her from jumping. "No! You belong with me!" And then he locks her in a cellar somewhere. Or something.

That would have been interesting. You should have been in the writers' room!

TVLINE | Should the sky people be worried that Taamet is back out there somewhere?

Yes, they should. We're not done with him yet. He's going to be a dangerous force we have to reckon with. Scott in particular will have to deal with the fallout of what he's done. He made a deal with the devil and let Taamet go, and that's going to come back to haunt him in multiple ways.

TVLINE | Ty just proposed to Paara. Is Taamet going to dramatically crash their wedding?

That's a good idea, too!

TVLINE | This next one isn't a "gotcha" question, but I do wonder if you have an answer in your head that maybe you didn't get to put to paper: How did the Lazarus tower get to 10,000 B.C.? Did it come over intact, or did they portal over the supplies and a bunch of Teamsters from 2076?

I think it was more the latter. We actually had shot a flashback scene at one point that didn't make it into the episode for various reasons, where we saw the tower during construction. But yeah, the idea was that they transported physical materials and construction equipment, and it was built over a period of time.

TVLINE | Will we meet anyone new in the back half of the season?

Yes, we will. Particularly in the later episodes, we are going to meet characters that will expand the mythology and the secrets of this world. By explaining the building and Gavin's parents' connection to it, that's a major piece of the mythology, but there are other layers to it. In Episodes 13 and 14, as we get later into the season, we'll meet even more characters and start to unpeel deeper layers to the history of this place.

TVLINE | Speaking of the tower, I got the sense that James and his assistant Kira are perhaps not necessarily on the same page....

It's true. We are going to find out that they have different agendas. Their conflict is going to be a continuing story that we get deeper into, most importantly with regards to how it divides the Harris family.

Want more scoop on La Brea Season 2B, or for any other show? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt's Inside Line.