Helen Archer | On 08, Jan 2023

Anticipation was high when it was announced that Ryan Murphy would create a series on Hurricane Katrina for his American Crime Story anthology, some five years ago. The 2005 disaster – and the myriad of institutional failings that followed in its wake – was ripe for retelling. So it is odd that since the project was taken on by John Ridley (12 Years a slave) and Carlton Cuse (Lost), it has gone largely unnoticed.

Based on the book Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink, the eight-episode series looks at what happened in Memorial Hospital, where 45 bodies were discovered after the flooding had passed – an unusually high mortality rate, even given the extenuating circumstances. Vera Farmiga plays Dr Anna Pou, who, along with two ICU nurses, was charged with second degree murder following an investigation into their actions as they attempted to empty the hospital of living patients.

The first five episodes tackle the five days the hospital was in crisis, one episode per day – first as the hurricane hits, and then, just as it was thought the worst was over, the breaking of the levees, which flooded 80% of New Orleans. Early episodes play out like a disaster movie, with scenes that wouldn’t be out of place in The Poseidon Adventure. There is a rhythm to this section that mirrors what is happening outside – the drama surging and ebbing like waves, from the initial hit of the hurricane to the lull as it calms, to the renewed panic as they became submerged.

Real news footage of the flooding, and the people caught up in it, is intercut with the action inside the hospital. As Memorial is gripped by the water, so too is it gripped by a kind of muted hysteria. Incident Commander Susan Mulderick (Cherry Jones) discovers there is no procedure for how to handle evacuation – and finds very little in the way of help or support from outside forces, as department after department fails the patients. Occasional rescue helicopters circle the outdated and unused landing pad, accessed by rickety stairs on the side of the building, which keep threatening to collapse.

While staff display a certain kind of heroism in the first couple of episodes, as the days go on, their human frailty is exposed. The rumour mill at the Memorial cranks up, exacerbated by the random gunfire they hear from outside. Families are turned away, denied access to the only safe place they could think of. Staff engage in Chinese whispers, which would have marauding gangs waiting outside for their chance to sexually assault them. Security guards abandon their stations, jumping on the scarce passing rescue boats. Doctors begin carrying guns around, much to the consternation of Dr Bryant King (Cornelius Smith Jr), one of the few staff who expressed concern at the madness descending around him.

But the final three episodes, as we take a step back from the disaster as it happened, and instead follow the criminal investigation into Dr Pou, prove to be the most shocking. Though this section is altogether more static than the action at the hospital, as assistant Attorney General Arthur Schafer (Michael Gaston) teams up with protegee and investigator Virginia Rider (Molly Hager), they spell out what is only hinted at in previous episodes. Through testimonial taken from witnesses, we witness in flashback the actions taken to end the lives of patients. The final close-up of Damon Standifer, who plays Emmett Everett – a non-terminal patient who found himself in the wrong ward at the wrong time – is devastating.

It’s a disconcerting shift from the heroic way in which Dr Pou is depicted in early episodes, and challenges the viewer’s perceptions of caregiving in a crisis, in much the same way as it did in reality. Both staff and patients at Memorial faced a perfect storm, a collapse of federal, state, and human support, just as they needed it most. There’s not much light to be found in the darkness of this series – but it feels important to bear witness to both the storm and its aftermath.

Add to Watchlist