Keep Breathing

Would being the sole survivor of a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness be deeply soporific? It seems so. Not even the bears add tension in this basic ...

It is an interesting tactic in a robinsonade, to swerve away from all the times the protagonist might be working out how to stay alive. She also got drunk and nearly died in an accidental fire after her father died, although whether this is meant to suggest she is an alcoholic is unclear. There is no question that Liv will escape the downed plane (she hitched a ride with two guys on a light aircraft after her commercial flight was cancelled). There is no question that the surviving pilot will die just after uttering the news that no one knew their flight plan and so no one is coming to rescue them. Any tension there is in Liv’s remarkably non-urgent fight for survival – it takes her until day three to start looking for food, despite the bear eating her power bars early doors – is further dissipated by flashbacks. And there is no question that this will be confirmed when she rescues their kitbags from the submerged plane and finds them full of money and tubs of opiates. Sure, you would rather be there with a little more food and firestarters than the two power bars and soggy lighter that is Liv’s lot by the time she has swum ashore.

A review of the new Netflix survival series starring Melissa Barrera.

Melissa Barrera is Mexican-born and arguably broke into US stardom via Latinx productions like “ Vida” and “ In the Heights.” Her Liv is also Latina, although we don’t see much more than the fact of her identity. Her reason to keep fighting to survive is because of a fetus inside her. And Liv does reach some revelations: that she was not to blame for her mother’s actions, but she is responsible for her own; that love is valuable even when it can hurt; that her father was imperfect; that so is she. “Keep Breathing” also folds in a psychological thriller with flashbacks to Liv’s past, revealing a long history of emotional wounds, both given and received. She flashes back to her time as a girl scout, remembering how to fashion a compass. Plus, the show does a great job of dramatizing the particular horror of being lost in the woods, the madness of walking in circles, the fear of never finding a way out.

This review of the Netflix limited series Keep Breathing, starring Melissa Barrera, does not contain spoilers. I am a firm believer in manifestation.

Melissa Barrera sells the modern adult, struck by the lack of technology, doomed by the perils of life-threatening nature. However, the heart of the story is meaningful. In six 30-minute chapters, Keep Breathing does not attempt to overbear the audience with ample of subplots. From childhood to the anguish of a potentially intense romance as an adult, Keep Breathing understands the human condition. Melissa Barrera sells the character by showing the encapsulation of a person who uses emotional avoidant tactics and disassociation throughout her career-driven life to keep steel-hearted. Being in the unknown allows the character to question her life.

"Keep Breathing" is a Netflix survival drama series that adequately puts forth its thoughts on human life and the various complexities of the human mind, ...

It is certain that Liv survives her time in the forest and also manages to get back to human civilization, but what is perhaps more important is the fact that by now, she has managed to get rid of the inhibitions and insecurities that she had about herself. In the sequence while being swept away by the river towards the end, “Keep Breathing” shows Liv going through the process of childbirth in a New York hospital with Danny by her side, and the two then lovingly hold their baby together. As the woman seems to be dangerously pushed away by the river, two men pull her out of the water and try to bring her back to consciousness. Liv accordingly jumps into the roaring river, and holds on to a tree branch and the stack of postcards as she is swept away. In essence, it is basically all of Liv’s own inhibitions and insecurities about herself presenting themselves one after the other, and in a similar manner, she fights off her mother’s imaginary words too, and finds a way out of the hole. Imagining herself in her bedridden father’s room, she asks him why he had never told her about the postcards her mother would send for her, along with short messages for her, and her father replies that the mother had never meant the words she had written, and she had done the entire practice to satiate her own self, to convince herself that she was a good mother despite abandoning her child, and not to actually reach out to Liv. In response, Liv says that he was nobody to judge the intentions, and that she would rather prefer being abandoned than being forgotten; the presence of the letters meant that her mother had not forgotten her, as Liv used to believe. Her loving father had passed away from some terminal illness too, some time ago, and it was only around this time that one day the woman found a stack of postcards that her mother had apparently sent her from around the world, the last of which had been sent very recently and mentioned that she would be in Inuvik till September. It was for this that Liv had rushed to the place, as she still craved the love and attention of her mother, while a confused rage started making its way in her mind as to why her father had not told her about these postcards. From a very young age, Liv tried to live her life away from other humans, and she showed no interest in making friends at her primary school, and this trait remained strong in her till the present time. The mother says a number of things to her from her perspective, one of which is that Liv should stop trying to survive and instead overdose on the drug pills she had been carrying with herself from the crash-site and kill herself before things get any tougher. The aircraft ultimately crashes into a lake, and as Liv manages to unbuckle herself first, she helps the other two as well. Liv is soon informed that her flight has been canceled due to bad weather and that she would have to wait an entire day till it is rescheduled, and the woman is terribly disappointed at this. It is clear from Ruth’s words that Liv is absolutely not one to take such breaks from work, especially such a hasty one, and she tries to make sure that her friend is alright.

Keep Breathing ending explained... did the ending to Netflix survival drama Keep Breathing leave you stumped? Here's our recap of the ending of Keep ...

Initially, she grips onto a log for safety, but as she floats down the flow speeds up and she loses her grip and begins floating downriver on her own whilst memories of her past (and visions of her future) flash by her eyes. Although she'd just managed to find a way out of the cave she'd fallen into (where she got the chance to confront the hallucination of her own mother) the good news is short-lived. Having made peace with her life, she decides to head into the water. Just as she climbs out of the cave, Liv takes a horrific fall right back down to ground level and breaks her leg in the process. However, the series does not actually wrap up with Liv back in civilization, and it cuts to black before we see her escape the woods. Across six episodes, Netflix's Keep Breathing sees Liv (Melissa Barrera) desperately fighting for her survival in the Canadian wilderness after being the lone survivor of a plane crash.

The new Netflix survival thriller Keep Breathing puts its heroine Liv through the wringer, but does she make it out alive in season 1's ending?

The fact that Liv made it through her ordeal and survived its physical traumas, as well as the myriad hallucinations and moments of suicidal ideation, means she no longer fears becoming Lucia, allowing the Keep Breathing season 1 ending to reassure its heroine. As such, in the ending of Keep Breathing season 1, Liv’s survival and her optimistic outlook on life prove to her that she has not inherited her mother’s instability. The Netflix original show has a closing scene that is clearly intended to assuage concerns that Liv’s life will continue to be full of brutal hardship (which is a reasonable fear for viewers to have, after the trauma the character has endured in Keep Breathing season 1). However, there is a good reason that Keep Breathing does not reassure viewers with the sight of Liv and her mother happily reunited. However, while this ending leaves little room for a season 2 (unlike Yellowjackets), it could be a surprise for some viewers that at no point is a reunion between Liv and her mother Lucia depicted in the montage. This proves to be a problem for the Netflix show series heroine when Liv abruptly leaves work without informing anyone and hops on a plane to visit her estranged mother in Inuvik. The new Netflix survival drama Keep Breathing strands its star Melissa Barrera in the Northern wilderness, and the show’s ending reveals whether or not her character Liv survived her ordeal.

Within 3 minutes of Keep Breathing beginning, 2 flashbacks take place. This essentially sets the precedence for the rest of the season, which lethargically ...

With the emphasis hanging so heavily on the past trauma, the survival elements in the wild take a backseat. The problem is, the show has almost a 65/35 split, with flashbacks dominating much of the run-time. Liv herself is a bit of a mixed bag. Unfortunately, their plane crashes in the middle of the Canadian wilderness and as a result, she’s stranded. Essentially this show plays out like a proverbial tug of war; the flashbacks constantly wrestle against the survival elements in the wilderness. When her plane is cancelled, she hitches a ride with a couple of strangers.

What were the filming locations for the Netflix series 'Keep Breathing'? The series might be about survival, but the settings are stunning.

At the end of Episode 6, Liv voluntarily steps into a rushing river, seemingly surrendering her fate to the tempestuous waters. Liv doesn't want to miss her chance when her original flight is delayed, prompting her to board the plan by any means necessary. Liv never actually gets a chance to reunite with her mother. The lake itself appears to be on Vancouver Island. The entirety of the movie was filmed in British Columbia. We know the series is all about survival, but Keep Breathing serves up some stunning scenery that's a feast for the eyes.