You Are Home – As the finale of Keep Breathing begins, Liv (Melissa Barrera) falls through trees before crashing to the ground and breaking her leg or ankle. A doctor (Michelle Choi-Lee) tells her it is okay to be active now that she is pregnant, but she needs to eat properly and stay hydrated. It is normal to have some anxiety about this although the doctor recommends minimizing stress during her pregnancy. She tells Liv about the relaxation techniques she can use. Liv asks if there is a breathing exercise for when this thing actually gets here, but the doctor thinks they’re hardwired to do this. When the doctor tells her she is going to be a great mom, Liv gets upset and questions how she’d know that. She gets louder as the doctor insists she just wants her to take care of herself. Liv checks her side and head before noticing that her leg is broke.

Once she remembers that she left the bag in the cave, she begins screaming at the top of her lungs. A young Liv (Joselyn Picard) approaches her father (Juan Pablo Espinosa) who says it is okay because he is still here. She climbs into bed with him. After she falls asleep, her dad carries her to her bed, puts her down, and tells her that he loves her. One morning, Liv’s father encourages her to get up, keep moving, and walk because she’ll die otherwise. Liv finds a stick shaped like a cane so she decides to use it to try to get back up to her feet. She gets up and imagines she is at the peak where she remembers that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. She takes a step, but the pain is intense leading her to believe it is impossible.

When her father tells her it is not impossible, a young Liv argues it is too hard. He asks how you eat an elephant before saying one bite at a time. Liv tells her one bite at a time as she slowly moves forward. She continues walking while remembering how her father taught her to make her bed. Their relationship slowly improves. In the present, she tries to figure out which direction is north. In a flashback, her father finds her in Lucia’s studio putting paint on one of her pictures. He reminds her what he said about working with mixed media before telling her to try some red paint too. As an adult, Liv finds blood in the bathroom sink because her father is sick. She remembers watching her father cough before climbing into bed with him. Liv continues walking as she sees the northern lights in front of her. In the morning, she imagines that Danny (Jeff Wilbusch) is there with her.

It is only a bug so she gets up and continues moving. Danny tells her he thought he’d walk with her for a bit, but she isn’t sure how much walking she has left in her. He urges her to not think about anything and just keep going. Liv admits that is all she can think about. As long as she can keep moving forward, she still has a shot. Once he says she could’ve told him that she was pregnant, Liv claims she didn’t know. After she knew, Liv isn’t sure what difference it would make. He admits there might not have been a difference, but she still could’ve told him. She tells him she was always more of a Langston Hughes gal before reciting one of her father’s poems. Danny thinks he’d be a good dad. Liv isn’t surprised because he suffers from chronic overconfidence. He says you hug them, tell them you love them, and make them feel like nothing is ever going to hurt them.

After she says it will, Danny admits it is true, but you lie to them anyway. Liv doesn’t believe lying to the people you love because lies pile up. While the truth is hard, it is all we have. Danny thinks she’d be a good mom too. After all, he has known her for about a year and has never seen her do anything half-arsed. He doesn’t think she’d start with a kid. Although she argues things are out of their control, Danny says it is great. She could’ve told him anything because he would’ve listened. Liv knows. It begins raining soon. Liv asks her father why he didn’t tell her about the postcards. He lied to her every time she asked where mom was and he told her that he didn’t know. He talks about staying in the house and waiting while she knew exactly where they were.

He doesn’t think the words on the postcards were for Liv. They were for her and Liv gave her enough, but Liv argues that wasn’t for him to decide. She believes there is a difference between being left and forgotten. Olivia wakes up in the morning and the rain has stopped. We hear what sounds like one of the relaxing audio tapes while Olivia goes through a day or so and creates a crutch using a long branch. It says you are home. Olivia tells her father it is okay. He is so tired so he should rest and it is okay to let go. He tells her it is okay since he is right here as she begins crying. He passes away. Liv moves among the trees until she hears what sounds like cars nearby. She finds a raging river and sits down next to it. Her dad tells her it is nice here and peaceful. Her mother loved nature, but he never made much time for it. He reminds her of the times Lucia would drag them out on those hikes and trench through some path that was barely a path.

They complained the whole time while trying to find something secret that Lucia had heard about. Lucia was right every time though. He can feel her here in all of this. He wonders if she was looking for a place like this all that time. He hopes she found it. Liv thought she could find her mom and look her in the eyes, but it is stupid and none of it make any sense. Her father admits that was impulsive just like her mother. He can see her mother in her eyes and smile even though most of her has nothing to do with her mother. Liv claims she became a lawyer because she likes fighting, but her father argues she likes answers and order. She craves a world that is black and white because she didn’t have that growing up. He tells her that the world was chaos before they got here and it’ll be chaos after they’re gone. If there is an order to any of this, it is invisible to them.

He doesn’t think it matters that she is like her mother because she is always like him. He promises that there is nothing wrong with her and didn’t do anything wrong. She is just a little lost and tired so she should rest for a while. Liv wonders if she would’ve been ready to be a mom, but her dad says you don’t prepare for that. Instead, you just jump into it. It is nice so he thinks he is going to stay for a while. Liv sees her mother nearby before she walks away. Her dad gives her the postcards. After a few seconds alone, Liv climbs down to the water’s edge. She holds onto the postcards and grabs a log while floating down the water. She eventually loses her grip on the log before we see a compilation of everything that has happened. Liv continues floating down the river as the postcards begins spreading out on the water’s surface. A possible flashback shows Liv during pregnancy with Danny by her side.

Two men pull her out of the water and try CPR as she gives birth in the other video. Liv begins breaking and her eyes open just before the episode ends.

 

Keep Breathing Review

The final episode of Keep Breathing had some legitimately touching moments even though it dragged at times and was slightly confusing other times. There was likely a deeper message here, but it was hard to decipher exactly what the show was attempting to say. The way the series ended wasn’t the most realistic conclusion. I figured Liv left the postcards in her backpack in the cave, but I can overlook something like that because it was more sentimental.

It is hard to imagine that Liv would float all the way down the rapids only to be pulled out of the water by two fishermen later. She’d be banged up by the rocks, logs, and other objects in the water. She could also get stuck and end up drowning. Those rapids aren’t a joke. On the other hand, some of the scenes were beautifully shot and the songs for the soundtrack were well selected.

There were moments when the series was emotionally effective. This isn’t a show for people who are looking for an intense survival drama because it doesn’t come close to being that. It rarely touches on these subjects and instead tells a story through sometimes confounding flashbacks that might be too ambitious since they’re tackling multiple stages of Liv’s life. Some aspects of the projection worked while others didn’t.

As a whole, it was just okay and sometimes frustrating due to the constant flashbacks. In a way, I think it would’ve meant more if Liv hadn’t been saved because it was such a beautiful death if there is such a thing. The finale 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.