KEEP BREATHING. Fair, Honest Entertainment

Keep Breathing, after its Netflix premiere, quickly shot to the platform’s number-one spot, yet reviews rather unanimously labeled the series a failure. A shame, because in my opinion it’s genuinely solid and engaging entertainment.

The story follows Liv, a young, successful and ambitious lawyer who, during a mysterious trip, unexpectedly becomes the sole survivor of a plane crash. When a small aircraft goes down in the Canadian wilderness, she must fight the elements to stay alive. It soon becomes clear, however, that the greatest threat may be the inner demons suffocating her…

Keep Breathing is, on the one hand, a wilderness survival story in which a woman from the big city—lacking experience and proper tools—must rely on her wits and long-forgotten high school knowledge to stay alive in the natural environment. On the other hand, it’s a psychological drama exploring the protagonist’s past, her traumas, her issues with her parents, trust, addictions, and even her own mind. These two layers blend seamlessly, complementing one another in parallel. With each episode, we uncover more fragments of Liv’s psyche and watch scenes from her life that led to the point at which we meet her in the first episode. It’s a simple yet effective narrative device which, combined with truly solid execution (those drone-shot forest landscapes!), makes the series hard to turn off.

At the center of attention is the sole protagonist, Liv, played by Melissa Barrera. And although through the strength of the first (and weakest!) introductory episode, as well as through flashbacks and visions, we also meet other characters—and thus their actors—I have no problem calling Keep Breathing a one-woman show. In this case, literally. Melissa Barrera, known for the recent Scream films, handles the role remarkably well. Liv’s situation demands strong, expressive emotions, which may not be the most challenging acting task, but there’s a real sense of honesty and truth to Barrera’s performance. Especially when Liv celebrates small survival victories on the Canadian frontier—Barrera radiates a kind of joy that directly infects the viewer.

All this praise doesn’t mean the series is flawless. Keep Breathing at times slips into overly heavy-handed tones and certainly revisits motifs that have been seen on screen many times before. The structure of only six half-hour episodes is generally an asset (it’s hard to get bored, and the story can be devoured in one sitting), but it also means not every thread lands with full weight. The survival elements in particular could have been more developed, and the wilderness could have posed more dangers for Liv.

Still, it all boils down to a simple summary: Keep Breathing is fair, honest entertainment—engaging, emotional, fast-moving and satisfying—but ultimately unlikely to stay in viewers’ minds for more than a day after watching. Perhaps with the exception of Melissa Barrera, who is slowly but steadily building her position in the global entertainment market. She, at least, may not let audiences forget her anytime soon.

If you’re looking for a light, low-commitment watch for a lazy afternoon, I can wholeheartedly recommend Keep Breathing. The negative reviews remain a mystery to me.