Netflix’s Spanish medical drama show ‘Breathless’ invites the viewers into the frenzied and critical lives of the doctors and nurses who work at the Valencian Hospital Joaquin Sorolla. The institution is clearly suffering under the weight of the government’s recent cuts toward public health. Consequently, Biel de Felipe—a resident doctor—and his coworkers find themselves pushed to the limit every day. Naturally, one tragic accident breaks the camel’s back, compelling skilled oncologist Néstor Moa to gather his colleagues in preparation for a strike. As the same coincides with the treatment of President Patricia Segura’s cancer, the right-wing politician doubles down on her campaign to privatize Joaquin Sorolla. As such, with actual lives on the line, Biel and the others find themselves in a precarious situation that will determine the course of their life-consuming careers. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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Breathless Recap
Understaffed, underfunded, and overrun by clients, the ER at Joaquin Sorolla is used to seeing restless action. Yet, what they’re not used to seeing is Patricia Segura, the right-wing Valencian President. Nonetheless, after getting caught up in the traffic accident, albeit unharmed, she was forced to come to the public hospital, much to her displeasure. Even though she ends up finding a familiar face, Biel de Felipe, a Resident Doctor, she can only enjoy his company for so long before he unexpectedly stumbles onto a cancerous lump in her breast. As such, her world comes crashing down around her.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ER, a frantic mother corners another Resident, Rodrigo Donoso, who likes to film videos for his social media whenever possible. Even though he doesn’t specialize in Pediatrics, the mother compels him to look after her daughter. However, once he begins asking questions about her diet and health, the mother gets pissed and leaves the premises. Around the same time, another resident, Quique, brings a guy to the ER who had surprisingly overdosed while partying at an orgy. Unbeknownst to him, the guy, Oscar, is the son of Pilar Amaro, the Head of Surgery.
As the day winds down, Néstor Moa struggles to reconcile with the fact that one of his patients had to receive a terminal diagnosis only because they couldn’t get an appointment with him sooner. Consequently, he pitches the idea of a strike, complete without minimum services, to compel the government to take public health seriously and adequately fund it. Alas, such a strike would mean neglecting patients and their health—something most can’t get behind. Simultaneously, he remains at odds with his newest patient, Patricia, whose policies directly affect public health’s current state.
Eventually, Rodrigo faces the young patient again, as she’s in grave need of surgery. Since her mother isn’t around, her older brother offers to forge her signature. Even though the resident doctor opposes the same, the kid goes ahead with it, and his sister undergoes surgery at a brain surgeon and Rodrigo’s sister Jessica’s hands. However, things take a turn when Pilar unexpectedly pulls Jessica from the surgery to work on Oscar’s operation. As a result, Rodrigo finds himself all alone in the OR, overwhelmed and inexperienced. At the operation’s end, the kid dies, and the instance leaves Rodrigo traumatized.
Even though Rodrigo tries to cope with his situation, one awful interaction with the kid’s family sends him into a spiral. As such, he ends up committing suicide by jumping off the hospital roof. His recent death fuels the staff’s anger toward the system, which left them understaffed enough to push Rodrigo into an impossible scenario. Therefore, when Néstor pitches a strike again, most agree. However, Pilar remains rigidly against the idea and tries to stop Néstor by scheduling his operation on Patricia at the end of the day when the strike is set to begin.
Even though Néstor tries to finish operating on Patricia before the strike begins, complications arise. However, he also realizes that extending the operation further would only aggravate the patient and calls to end the procedure. Nonetheless, Pilar opposes him and continues the surgery. As Néstor and the others walk out, Biel decides to stay behind with Pilar. In the end, continuing the operation ends up being the wrong call, as it forces her into a mastectomy. Naturally, this leads Patricia to hold a grudge against Néstor.
Breathless Ending: Does Patricia Die? Does She Privatize Sorolla?
Throughout the show, Patricia’s struggle with cancer remains one of the most dynamic plot points that unravels within Joaquin Sorolla. As the President, her presence naturally invites fanfare. However, her particular connection with public health leads to further aggravation. The condition of public hospitals in the city remains evident, as Néstor and his colleagues have to deal with understaffing, appointment extensions, and underfunded equipment on a daily basis. Patricia is aware of this and makes it known with every offhand comment about preferring private hospitals over the Sorolla. Yet, the Sorolla has something none of the other institutions have: Néstor Moa, the renowned oncologist.
Patricia knows only Néstor can give her the best treatment possible. Still, she tries to seek help elsewhere following her disastrous operation. Nonetheless, once she learns her cancer is metastasis, rapidly spreading throughout her body, she has no choice but to return to Néstor. A weird understanding forms between the two after Patricia reveals she didn’t swoop to underhand tactics against him in their public debate despite knowing about his tragic past with his wife, who died of cancer.
Over the course of their off-beat rivalry/friendship, the doctor has grown to respect and admire Patricia for her strength and resilience—perhaps even more than as a friend.
Thus, even after a committee review momentarily threatens Néstor’s medical career, he agrees to continue treating Patricia. Eventually, they find out that the cancer has spread to her liver, requiring them to perform an emergency operation. It’s just their luck that a storm takes over Valencia on the same night, making Sorolla’s less-than-stellar generators even more wobbly. Nevertheless, Néstor tackles the situation with all the experience and skills of a surgeon known for his cancer-care career. At one point, the OR even has to be lit up with cell phone flashlights, putting the surgeons on a time crunch.
Furthermore, Néstor undergoes a unique experience as his maneuvers get inexplicably shaky. As a result, Pilar ends up stepping in to finish the operation. In a conversation afterward, she voices the same thing that has been on Néstor’s mind all along: his feelings for Patricia affected his performance during the operation. While his wife’s death had left him unmoored, compelling him to pull out of any romantic ventures, something about Patricia has reignited his emotions. Yet, he knows he’s the President’s doctor first and foremost.
Thereofire, after the operation, when Patricia is stable but not yet cancer-free, the two have a conversation cementing their professional relationship as doctor and patient while also acknowledging their undeniable chemistry. However, the charged conversation, paired with her frayed post-surgery emotions, brings Patricia to a different solution. In the President’s treatment, the only options she has available to her are either surgery or an expensive and exclusive chemotherapy.
Although Néstor attempts to secure the latter for Patricia, her own government’s policies prevent her from accessing the treatment since she’s considered too far gone in her condition. However, another doctor from Santa Ana, a private hospital, gives her a call to let her know he can procure that treatment for her. In return, he only asks to be made in charge of Sorolla once she privatizes the institution. So far, Patricia’s opinions on public health have been the central source of conflict between her and Néstor. Even so, despite their developing relationship, she isn’t one to easily give up on her ideas.
Therefore, Patricia decides she can’t put up with any more surgeries and wants a definitive end to her illness. For the same reason, she agrees to the Santa Ana doctor’s deal, essentially promising to hand over Sorolla to him in the future. This opens up the avenue for her to deepen her relationship with Néstor outside of their professional dynamic. Still, it also raises the question of whether or not the doctor would want to be with her anymore now that Patricia has betrayed his trust so bluntly by affirming Sorolla’s privatization.
Where’s May’s Baby? Did Rocío Take Her?
While Patricia’s treatment at the Sorolla drives the central plotline forward, numerous other storylines are also unraveling as subplots. From Leo’s complicated involvement in her son’s criminal proceedings after Joana’s assault to Quique’s destructive relationship with Oscar, almost every other character has their own stuff to work through. May and Rocío’s frequently shared narrative is one such storyline. At the story’s start, May and Rocío are dating and expecting a child together that the former is carrying. Even so, they keep their relationship a secret at work to separate their personal and professional lives.
Perhaps for the same reason, an indomitable rift forms between May and Rocío when they find each other on different sides of the same fight. During the strikes, Rocío sides with Néstor and the rest of the hospital and agrees to withdraw her services. Nevertheless, May is one of the few who stays behind, vocal about her disagreement with their methods. As far as she is concerned, she took an oath to put her patients and their health above all else. Thus, she won’t turn her back on them.
Since May and Rocío aren’t used to such disagreements, they have no idea how to navigate the situation. It doesn’t help that the former is so stubborn about her beliefs she almost doesn’t want to see her girlfriend’s side. As such, during an argument, Rocío ends up blurting out that she doesn’t wish to be with May anymore. However, the fallout from the breakup emerges to be more brutal than the breakup itself. Since May is pregnant with their child, there is a custody issue between the two. They have been planning to move to Germany for some time now, but Rocío suddenly pulls out of the deal.
Consequently, Rocío involves lawyers to fight for full custody of the kid. She thinks that May is putting the baby at risk by continuing to stay on her feet at the hospital. Since the other woman does have a scare along the way, she can’t debunk her claims. Still, as per the law, May, the parent carrying the child, will have the right to keep the kid with her in the years she will breastfeed her. Hence, she plans on moving to Germany in the following months and raising the kid away from her other mother.
Eventually, May ends up giving birth near the stormy evening. Since she’s already in the building, she decides to help out when the hospital staff becomes overwhelmed. During this, she leaves her baby, Africa, in their room fast asleep. However, Rocío sees the same as an opportunity. So far, May hadn’t allowed Rocío to hold their baby, too wounded by her betrayal. Furthermore, the latter knows about her ex-girlfriend’s plans to move away, taking the baby with her.
Consequently, while May is otherwise preoccupied, Rocío ends up taking the baby away from the hospital room and disappearing into the night. This decision will adversely impact May and Rocío’s characters, as it will surely spell out the doom of whatever was left of their relationship. We can expect May’s narrative to revolve around this significantly in the potential future season.
Does Jessica Save Her Patient’s Life? Does She Die?
During the storm, Néstor isn’t the only one operating on a patient under aggravating circumstances. The same night, with the onslaught of patients, Jessica oversees one young man, Manu, who somehow acquired a grave, near-fatal injury. When asked about it, Manu claims to have no memory of the events and seems eager to escape from the hospital despite the storm outside. Naturally, his dodgy behavior and the self-harm scars on his arms make Jessica believe the kid may be suicidal. Given her previous experience with the same through her brother Rodrigo’s tragic death, she’s more than a little concerned over the situation.
Jessica failed to notice the signs before she lost Rodrigo. Therefore, she doesn’t wish to repeat past mistakes with Manu. Ultimately, they end up monitoring the kid overnight, with the storm giving them the perfect excuse to delay his discharge. Nonetheless, things get complicated when Manu’s condition inexplicably worsens. Upon inspection, they realize that he had swallowed two razor blades. As a result, he’s rushed into the OR, where Jessica performs surgery on him. After saving his life, she attempts to speak to him while he’s admitted into his room.
Once Manu wakes, he’s frantic and devastated at his failed suicide attempts and turns his anger toward Jessica. For the same reason, he ends up attacking the doctor, stabbing her, presumably with his old razor blades, and flees from the scene. By the time help Biel manages to track Jessica down, she’s profusely bleeding on the floor. The duo have an intense relationship throughout the show, as they continue to hook up despite Jessica’s relationship with the hospital manager, Lluis.
After Jessica blurts out an “I love you” in the heat of a moment earlier, and Lluis confronts Biel about his involvement with her, their dynamic has only gotten even more complicated. Hence, Biel finding Jessica as she’s almost at death’s door packs an emotional punch with the force of their season-long build-up. Naturally, it makes for the perfect cliffhanger to end the story—at least for now. Jessica’s fate remains up in the air—with her survival depending entirely on where the show takes Sorolla and its employees in the potential future seasons.
Read More: Breathless: Is Netflix’s Spanish TV Series Based on a True Story?