Breathe: Season 1 Episode 5 Recap - Bad Fish
This episode of Breathe escalates the thrill as the characters put their determination to test.

The episode opens with an unconscious Danny being taken to the ICU on a stretcher. When asked for his name, he replies, “Sunil Mehta”. Surely, lying about his identity is a part of Danny’s plan to kill Verma, the one who got away!
The story rewinds two weeks to where we left off in the previous episode. We see Ria at her home having a good time with her parents and Sameer. Her parents indirectly put forward their wish that Ria and Sameer should get married. Suddenly, someone rings the doorbell, impatiently. Kabir walks in and tries to warn Ria of the murders happening around while her parents try to get him out of the house. She doesn’t seem to believe Kabir and on much persistence, he leaves the house.
The scene changes and we see Shankar (the new ACP) yelling at his juniors regarding the pending cases and their incompetency. He is going through the records and is furious. Just then, Kabir walks in to discuss the organ donors’ killings with him but Shankar doesn’t pay much heed to it. Shankar claims that there is no solid proof to believe in some conspiracy about the deaths of the donors. Kabir tries to argue with him on this, but Shankar dismisses all his arguments and orders him to complete the pending paperwork and cases instead of going after his instincts. Kabir takes his order, salutes him and leaves the room. He feels disheartened and is trying to come up with a plan which may save his wife when Prakash suggests to him that they can work secretly on the case without Shankar knowing about it. Looks like they aren’t going to rest until they’ve joined all the dots.
Further, we see Danny stalking Ria like a crazy lover. One day, he approaches her house while she is out, as a vacuum cleaner salesman and manages to steal her house keys. I am amazed how Danny manages to pull off his stunts with such convenience every time. Maybe, the makers forgot to put a few pinches of realism in order to make the story convincing.
The retired ACP Nilesh Mohite, who also happens to be Ria and Kabir’s family friend tells Ria that Kabir is not fabricating some story to win her back, and requests her to cooperate with the situation. Meanwhile, Kabir and Prakash are focusing on the remaining three donors: Ria, Nair and Verma - who might be the killer’s next target. They put Nair out of immediate consideration because he is travelling out of the country. Then they visit the hospital to check on Verma. Kabir instructs Prakash to post a constable outside the ICU.
In the next scene, Danny sneaks into Ria’s house, late at night. He stands near Ria in her bedroom and is very close to killing her when the sound of flush from the bathroom startles him and he flees from her room. Obviously, you cannot kill the hero’s wife.
Outside Ria’s house, Kabir and Prakash sit in their jeep keeping an eye on the house. Kabir takes out his can and starts drinking. Prakash tells him that he has been drinking excessively of late and that he won’t be able to save his wife like this. In his frank manner he adds, “Aap hi unka last hope ho, aur ye dekhiye ye hope daaru mein tight, khaansta hua, bezaar”.
Just then Kabir’s eye catches someone coming out of the house. It is Danny! There is eye contact between them but Danny’s face is not recognisable in the dark night. While Prakash rushes to check on Ria, Kabir runs after the killer. I wonder why he didn’t use the jeep he was sitting inside so comfortably to chase the suspect. Anyway, as Kabir is running after him, his alcohol kicks in and he becomes slightly dizzy. Danny escapes and heads to his warehouse. Prakash calls Kabir up to inform him that Ria is not even aware of someone sneaking around in her house. They decide to post two constables outside her house. At the warehouse, as Danny tries to calm down. He walks up to the wall, moves Ria’s photograph and pins Verma’s photograph in its place.
The next day, Danny visits the hospital where Verma is a patient at and sits beside Verma’s son. He acts like a nice gentleman whose mother is hospitalised and befriends him. During his visits to the hospital, he notices the constable posted outside the ICU and goes, “fuck…” He’ll have to come up with a different technique to take care of Verma.
Meanwhile, Kabir and Prakash have begun conducting door-to-door inquiries on the people from the Donor Recipients’ list. Their search takes them to Rao, whose wife is a donor-recipient. This guy has gone crazy over his wife’s illness. He is a short-tempered guy who takes out his frustration by snapping at his wife’s nurse. Instantly, the cops become suspicious of Rao when he says, “Apno ko bachaane ka sirf ek rule hota hai...bloody koi rule nahi hota.” Although this guy isn’t the one the cops are looking for but his nature gives off vibes colder than Danny.
Danny, who once used to be a gentle and simple man, is changing, and this change is becoming visible to the people around him. He snapped at his loving son one night and broke his neighbour’s music player since the guy wasn’t ready to lower the volume the other.
The next day, Danny parks his car and plays loud banging music on it. He opens his bag full of beer cans and coffee powder and starts gulping down all of it to induce a heart attack. Danny doesn’t seem tired of shocking me with everything that he has up his sleeve. Then he injects himself with calcium gluconate to accelerate the process and within seconds, Danny begins to sweat profusely and his heart rate shoots up to 120 beats per minute. He removes the cross from his neck and heads out towards the building close by, holding his chest. It is the same hospital Verma is admitted into! The next scene is the same scene which the episode opened with, where Danny introduces himself as Sunil Mehta. He is taken to the ICU. Coincidentally, Danny’s bed is next to Verma’s.
At around 2 am, when the nurse has dozed off, he gets up from his bed and sneaks into Verma’s section. He removes the oxygen pipe from Verma’s mouth and waits till he dies. Danny keeps staring at him and the machine. His hands do not shiver in the least, unlike the last time he had an encounter with Verma.
Danny is discharged the next morning and twist! Aruna is part of a doctors’ conference going on in the hospital. She notices Danny at the reception and gets confused. Finally, the makers have allowed at least one character to be suspicious of Danny. He heads back to his locality where his neighbours inform him that cops have come to his house. Music in the background intensifies while my eyes are close to popping out on hearing of these unwelcome guests. Danny very cautiously approaches his home and is welcomed by his son. Kabir turns towards him and both the leads come face to face. Danny plays the ‘simple guy’ character and subtly says, “Hi”, to Kabir.
The episode titled “Bad Fish” ends on two cliffhangers. First is Aruna, and second is the cops. Are the cops here just for a routine visit, or do they have some proof against Danny? I’ll find the answers in the next episode.
Episode Rating: 4/5
