Five Days at Memorial (TV Mini Series) Day One (2022) User Reviews

Solid first episode

[michiganave_p · 9/10 · 14 August 2022]

I think the first episode sets the series up nicely and captures the "this is a nothingburger" attitude going into Katrina, which is absolutely the problem heading into it.

The only drawback that there is to me at least, is that I don't feel the episode should have ended at the catwalk/wing evacuation and the power flickering. Feels like there was some missed storylines and plot that was skipped between E101 and where E102 picks up.

Powerful

[woodvillelite-1 · 9/10 · 12 August 2022]

I am rating the first 3 episodes which I have just seen back to back. Each got more powerful as the episodes went on. Day 3 was the best of the 3 as they now all know they are not getting any help fast. I am not picking any actor out in particular ... they are all great and very familiar to their real life counter parts from the book which I just finished reading.

The filming and cinematography was amazing .... major kudos to our Toronto crews.

Apple's Best show yet

[moviesfilmsreviewsinc · 10/10 · 23 September 2022]

Episode 1 of Five Days At Memorial begins 13 days after the devastating Hurricane Katrina slammed through New Orleans in the US. With water drowning large parts of the area, a group of rescuers head in, donning hazmat suits and snapping photos of the hospital. A chill runs down their spines as they reach the chapel, where 45 bodies line the floor. Dr Horace Baltz is questioned by the police over this, demanding answers over how they all died. And in order to get those answers, we jump back to day 1 of the hurricane. We're on August 29th at 12.20am - six hours until landfall. Our good doctor, Horace, argues with a colleague over letting 1200 people into the hospital the wake of the hurricane raging outside. Dr Anna is among those concerned, but Horace shrugs it off, claiming it's just like being snowed in and it probably won't be that bad... right? With the storm raging on, Susan Mulderick takes charge as the Commander of the hospital. Now, Memorial is actually connected to another, one that takes care of private patients and mostly elderly folk, aptly titled "Lifecare". Despite being joined together, both hospitals are largely separate and keep to themselves. As time wears on, so too does the ferocity of this storm. The winds whip up into a frenzy, water starts to ooze through the hospital windows while the signal disintegrates for phone calls outside the area. Hurricane Katrina absolutely devastated the US when it slammed into New Orleans back in 2005. With over 1800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage, it's one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes recorded to make landfall in the US. So naturally, it's the perfect material for showrunners to latch onto and turn into a nail-biting drama. The final 10 minutes of this episode were incredibly tense, with the hospitals starting to buckle under the pressure and many question marks over the wellbeing of different patients and doctors alike coming to the foreground. These episodes are almost the perfect length too, with 40 minutes the optimal time needed to tell this story whilst not dragging anything out either.

Poor direction

[rabbitmoon · 5/10 · 26 August 2022]

The first episode seems to rely on its atmosphere and idea more than its writing or craft. Farmigas spiritual narration is ludicrously trite and distracting, especially at the very end saying "God help us ALL!!" it sounds corny. There is some shocking editing - we see Farmiga, then follow another nurse with her back to us, for a while, assuming it's Farmiga until realising it isn't. A woman sits on stairs looking through photos, intercut with her smoking (and not looking at photos). I couldnt tell if this was a flashback memory until realising no - they literally just intercut the two shots hoping noone would notice the glaring inconsistency. It's really jarring to watch how unmatched the two shots are. Also lacking a decent foreboding soundtrack to drive home some tension. The use of 4:3 footage without trimming to the same ratio is also off-putting, it distracts from the immersion.