The particular six-episode Netflix display actually starts well enough, with Barrera’s Liv desperate to find an air travel to Canada right after hers is terminated and bribing the girl way onto a personal plane that, simply no spoiler here, crashes into the Canadian frontier. Left alone, the lady must fight plus claw to survive, obtaining food and discovering what bears do in a bad neighborhood, before eventually seeking to rescue herself.
That’s most of pretty compelling for some time, but then there’s the matter of why this New York lawyer has been so hellbent on reaching her destination, and a series of flashbacks involving her coworker turned boyfriend (Jeff Wilbusch) and the girl complicated relationships along with her parents.
The changing back and forth between adventure/survival stakes and the instead tedious personal episode leaves “Keep Breathing” gasping for surroundings, as do some of the gimmicky flourishes used to essentially give Barrera — alone as she actually is — something which to interact.
Produced by Martin Gero and Brendan Gall (who worked on “Blindspot, ” an additional series about a female protagonist with a shadowy past), the episodes are relatively and mercifully short, along with most running 30-some-odd minutes; even so, the show can’t entirely escape the common sensation of a movie concept stretched out to approximately twice that size.
Whether struggling to outlive or exhibiting the girl workaholic side within the flashbacks, Barrera holds up her end of the bargain, but the creating simply doesn’t.
Once you begin “Breathing, ” you will find a curiosity about how everything turns out, especially because the time demands normally are not that daunting. That’s not an awful bargain, but if you’re waiting for it to get better, well, don’t hold your breathing.
“Keep Breathing” launch July 28 on Netflix.