'Keep Breathing' starts well as a survival thriller before running out of oxygen
CNN
Melissa Barrera has appeared destined for stardom ever since "In the Heights," and her dance card has certainly been full in the time since, including the latest "Scream" movie. But "Keep Breathing" showcases her in an extremely focused way, in a woman-against-the-wilderness limited series that sends its star up a creek without much of a paddle.
The six-episode Netflix show actually starts well enough, with Barrera's Liv desperate to find a flight to Canada after hers is canceled and bribing her way onto a private plane that, no spoiler here, crashes into the Canadian frontier. Left alone, she must fight and claw to survive, finding food and discovering what bears do in the woods, before eventually seeking to rescue herself.
That's all pretty compelling for a while, but then there's the matter of why this New York lawyer was so hellbent on reaching her destination, and a series of flashbacks involving her coworker turned boyfriend (Jeff Wilbusch) and her complicated relationships with her parents.