Departures – As the fourth episode of Breathe begins, Liv (Melissa Barrera) hangs out with Danny (Jeff Wilbusch) who tells her that color looks good on her. She wakes up in the present and looks at her belongings including her ultrasound. After putting everything in her backpack, she begins walking. Danny asks her if she needs something at work. She says no although she was thinking they could grab dinner tonight. He asks what flowers she prefers for her corsage. When he asks if it is a first date, she warns him not to push it. Liv walks through the woods and sees the red markers she put up before another flashback show her father (Juan Pablo Espinosa) cleaning up a mess at home. Liv points toward the lights as Sam (Austin Stowell) tells her it’ll take three or four days to get there if she doesn’t get lost.

He believes she will get lost. She is shocked to find footprints so she begins yelling and following them. She finds more red markers and suspects they were her footprints all along. Sam tells her straight lines are hard out here, but it could be worse since she could be dead. In another flashback, Liv talks to her mother (Florencia Lozano) while she paints. She asks about her father since she has girl scouts. She’ll have to take her instead. Her mother puts a big cross over the house before saying houses are prisons. Liv asks if dad knows she is driving. Her mother argues that he needs to quit trying to control what they do. Liv sees Lucia’s pills in the trash. Liv goes back to the peak to find out which direction she needs to go to reach the lights.

Lucia drives like a maniac while taking her daughter to the meeting. Once they arrive, Liv tells her it ends at four. Lucia asks her not to eat too much since summer solstice is here. Her mother begins acting erratically while asking if she wants to go to the movies tonight. Liv remembers the scout leader (Stephanie Izsak) saying it is easier to travel in a straight line when you have a fixed point to keep your eye on. She explains how to make a compass using a cork and water. Sam tells her that today is not her day since she forgot her cork collection. Liv pulls one of the medicine bottles with water. Then, she puts a needle through what looks like an ear plug before placing it in the water. The scout leader tells everyone how they must magnetize the needle. Liv needs to find a magnet. She grabs Sam’s watch and uses its magnet to magnetic the needle.

Once she does that, the needle works when it is placed back into the water. She carves her name into the piece of wood while doing something similar as a child. Liv begins using her makeshift compass to guide her toward the light. As she continues moving, she hits her toe on a rock. When it begins raining, she remembers having to walk through the rain as a little girl. She goes to the bar so she can meet Danny for their date and orders a drink. Liv seems tipsy by the time Danny arrives. She doesn’t seem impressed when he orders a club soda. Liv asks him to have one drink because this is her happy place or the place she comes to forget. He agrees to have one drink. In the present, she drops a pack on the ground while continuing. She tells Danny that she knew she wanted to be a lawyer in the sixth grade after she conducted an investigation in her homeroom because someone stole her pencil case.

She drops money, a pen, and fingernail clippers on the ground to create a trail. Danny still isn’t sure he wanted to be a lawyer since he studied philosophy in college. He thought he was going to teach until he checked out after his mother died. He backpacked through Europe for a while before the money ran out and he decided to go to law school. Danny wants to dance with the devil for a few years and cash out while he still has a soul. Then, he can buy an RV to see the world or plant a garden. Liv insists she isn’t interested in going with him. They hold hands while Danny thanks Liv for showing him her happy place. In the present, Liv continues moving while pretending to record a message using her smartphone. She wants someone to contact Danny Summerfield to tell him to stay out of her snack drawer and that she is sorry.

She calls her mother to ask where she was. In the past, she makes it home. When her mother returns, her father scolds her because something could’ve happened to their daughter. He tells her to use her head since she is a mother. Lucia says she is more than that because she is a painter and person. Liv imagines telling her mother that dad died even though she might not care about that. She tells her mom that she almost died in a plane crash and is pregnant. Liv thinks she is lost. She asks if this is how she felt before she left but admits it doesn’t matter. Liv leaves her cellphone and continues walking. She sees the stack of money on the ground and realizes she is walking in circles. When she notices that the magnetic isn’t working, she has to go back to get the watch.

Sam isn’t sure she can make it back. Liv argues she can make her way home because she has done it before. When they hear something, they suspect it is the bear so Sam says she should’ve let it drag him into the woods. He asks if she really thought she was going to find her or if was she just throwing another match into the fire she calls her life. Sam argues that she needs her. Liv doesn’t think she needs him to tell her everything she is doing wrong and everything is going to crap because she does that to herself. Once she hears a noise behind her, she begins running through the woods. She tries climbing a tree only to fall and end up hanging upside down. She relaxes one she sees a raccoon instead of a bear. In a flashback, Liv tells Danny they should dance. She tells him to watch this before kicking a trashcan over. She is a poet like her father.

Danny wants to talk about his mom being in the hospital but doesn’t want to hear it. Instead, she forces him to kick a can. She thinks about her mother dancing in front of her before seeing her mother’s painting. When Danny asks what is wrong, the painting is gone. Danny wants to take her home. She doesn’t want to go until they finish their dance. He tells her about the Hebrew word for forgiveness. It comes from the same word that means dance. Liv hears a plane above her so she tries to yell for help. Danny talks to her about dancing with her past. In the present, she walls into a hole and gets hurt. Liv remembers banging on the door to get her father to let her in.

 

Keep Breathing Review

The fourth episode of Keep Breathing was okay, but the flashbacks are becoming more of a nuisance than anything else. It is obvious what they’re trying to achieve by giving us insight into Liv’s past, but it is getting to the point of beating a dead horse. There needs to be a more balanced blend of past and present to keep the current survival storyline moving at an interesting past.

It is also difficult to believe that Liv is going to have everything she needs to create a compass. Even though some of these things were covered in previous episodes, it just seems unrealistic for someone to carry all that stuff with them. The biggest problem is the emphasis placed on the past since many viewers have seen stuff like this before and they probably won’t be too enthusiastic about these slow-paced flashbacks.

The survival scenes are what will set the series apart from others, but they’re being pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle between overwhelming flashbacks making it difficult to remain engaged. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Keep Breathing can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support us at this link.