The survival drama follows a predetermined pattern. Drop a terrified person or group into a hostile environment and watch them disintegrate. Add some interpersonal difficulties and presto! You have a show that is simple enough for almost any audience to follow… But it doesn’t always mean you have a decent product, and sadly, Netflix’s most recent attempt at the genre, Keep Breathing, is at most passable.
The limited series is an uninspired retelling of what shows as Lost did first, which was to let “regular” people try to survive in the woods, but it lacks the mystical components that made that series compelling. It’s an odd mash-up of melodrama and action that manages to make survival in the wilderness even less fascinating than our heroine’s recollections. The outcome? Thankfully, this monotonous serial only has six episodes.
Before returning to her regular life, attorney Liv (Melissa Barrera) has made it her aim to meet someone close to the Canadian wilderness; however, her flight has been canceled. She turns to two men she encounters in the airport who are traveling in the same direction out of desperation. They grudgingly decide to bring her along, but when the plane crashes, everything goes wrong. Liv must continue to live on her own for as long as she can because both men eventually die from their wounds and the plane sinks. with little prospect of rescue
It’s all very typical survival fare: the work-first lawyer strives to adjust to the circumstances while lamenting the mistakes that got them to this point. Keep Breathing highlights the young lawyer’s determination to survive the wilderness, even if it means burning mountains of cash she finds in luggage and burying the oxycodone she found with it. It is interspersed with vibrant vignettes that give us a glimpse into Liv’s life before the catastrophe.
Because it turns out that it is difficult to survive alone in the woods. Every time you watch, this show tries extremely hard to remind you of this truth and how hard its lead character is trying to make sure she survives. Liv repeatedly dives underwater to retrieve equipment from the plane, only to come face to face with a ravenous bear that is consuming her food supplies. At first, she is unsure of where to seek refuge. Nothing can take her mind off the death of her absent mother, her adoring father, or the skeletons in her closet. However, she manages to do so because Keep Breathing wants us to support Liv even though she is the most mild-mannered survivor imaginable.
