I don't think the average reviewer was ready for this film, possibly they never will be. But for some it will resonate.
What you will find with this series:
Liv is so busy with her material life and running from her childhood trauma that she has become cold and distant to all of those around her. This gives her control over her life but only over the shallow parts of life ... career focus.
Liv has some trauma from her childhood related to her moms mental illness. She yearned for her moms acceptance but her mom was too narcissistic with her illness that she couldn't reflect back the love her daughter needed. Her mom refused to address her illness and caused a lot of pain to Liv and her dad. And Liv not understanding it in her youth took out her moms abandonment on her dad.
Liv is barely able to take care of herself in the wild. Her time in Girl Scouts as a child instilled some skills that she is able to use. I found the survival scenes to be gritty and mostly real for what the series needed to be. The NWT are no joke and survival would be tough but not impossible. As far as being dumped unprepared into the wilderness I found her situation to be pretty hopeless but found her actions to be realistic given her predicament. Many people commenting find her walking in circles to be unrealistic .... Obviously they have not been in the wild where there are no landmarks to follow for miles, there is a reason people use compasses in the woods. Your natural gate has a dominant leg and that leg covers a bit more distant than your other leg. So yes given enough room you would easily walk in a circle if you had zero experience walking through a forest.
Amongst all of the above Liv goes through a transformation into adulthood. Anyone who knows about serious trauma ... you need to face your pain and process it to move on otherwise you are stuck at the same maturity level you were at when the trauma was indicted.
In this sense Liv is so afraid of being abandoned that she never lets anyone get close. She didn't realize just how much her dad did to be there for her even if he was not always at his best.
In both flashbacks and her thoughts about what she wish she could say and do now you see how Liv was in her past towards people, arrogant ... cold ... distant. A person driven to perfection at work ... yet clumsy with her personal relationships. And with her reflections you see her open up to those people who were in her life to say what she really means ... to express her thoughts.
Through those flashbacks and reflections you see Liv begin to work through her trauma to define who she is rather than her trying to live under the yearning approval from a mother who long left her behind. And what emerges is a new Liv who is more confident with herself and how she sees herself in the world. For anyone who has been in a life threatening situation you will recognize this type of growth and the epiphanies that come with it ... the learning of what is really important in life.
I have to say this series is way above average. I can understand that most people will take a shallow approach to it and not see the work as it's meant. Partly because they can't connect with how people process trauma, partly because they don't know the mental growth that comes from life and death situations.
What you will find with this series:
Liv is so busy with her material life and running from her childhood trauma that she has become cold and distant to all of those around her. This gives her control over her life but only over the shallow parts of life ... career focus.
Liv has some trauma from her childhood related to her moms mental illness. She yearned for her moms acceptance but her mom was too narcissistic with her illness that she couldn't reflect back the love her daughter needed. Her mom refused to address her illness and caused a lot of pain to Liv and her dad. And Liv not understanding it in her youth took out her moms abandonment on her dad.
Liv is barely able to take care of herself in the wild. Her time in Girl Scouts as a child instilled some skills that she is able to use. I found the survival scenes to be gritty and mostly real for what the series needed to be. The NWT are no joke and survival would be tough but not impossible. As far as being dumped unprepared into the wilderness I found her situation to be pretty hopeless but found her actions to be realistic given her predicament. Many people commenting find her walking in circles to be unrealistic .... Obviously they have not been in the wild where there are no landmarks to follow for miles, there is a reason people use compasses in the woods. Your natural gate has a dominant leg and that leg covers a bit more distant than your other leg. So yes given enough room you would easily walk in a circle if you had zero experience walking through a forest.
Amongst all of the above Liv goes through a transformation into adulthood. Anyone who knows about serious trauma ... you need to face your pain and process it to move on otherwise you are stuck at the same maturity level you were at when the trauma was indicted.
In this sense Liv is so afraid of being abandoned that she never lets anyone get close. She didn't realize just how much her dad did to be there for her even if he was not always at his best.
In both flashbacks and her thoughts about what she wish she could say and do now you see how Liv was in her past towards people, arrogant ... cold ... distant. A person driven to perfection at work ... yet clumsy with her personal relationships. And with her reflections you see her open up to those people who were in her life to say what she really means ... to express her thoughts.
Through those flashbacks and reflections you see Liv begin to work through her trauma to define who she is rather than her trying to live under the yearning approval from a mother who long left her behind. And what emerges is a new Liv who is more confident with herself and how she sees herself in the world. For anyone who has been in a life threatening situation you will recognize this type of growth and the epiphanies that come with it ... the learning of what is really important in life.
I have to say this series is way above average. I can understand that most people will take a shallow approach to it and not see the work as it's meant. Partly because they can't connect with how people process trauma, partly because they don't know the mental growth that comes from life and death situations.