Day Five – As the fifth episode of Five Days at Memorial begins, news reports discuss the conditions at the hospitals in New Orleans after Katrina. A report says one of the nurses was held up at gunpoint when she walked outside to get fresh air. There aren’t enough police, rescue workers, or people going door to door to try to find people still in their homes. Michael Arvin (Joe Carroll) tells Steve (Paulino Nunez) that he couldn’t get in touch with Memorial so they might’ve lost power. The last email he got said, “fatigue, stress, anxiety, supplies are all issues now. We can’t take it.” Michael thinks he has found some helicopters that can evacuate some of the patients. Since they’re in Dallas, they won’t be able to reach New Orleans for hours. Steve tells him to skip getting corporate approval and send them. Michael is also instructed to do what he can to get Memorial a message.

At the hospital, Dr. Horace Baltz (Robert Pine) checks on a patient who keeps saying they’re all going to die here. Horace tries to get the man calm. Dr. Anna Pou (Vera Farmiga) checks on Rodney Scott (Ervin Ross) who looks like he is dead for a minute. He asks about them moving people again, but they can’t because they don’t have boats or helicopters. When he asks if he gets to go last, Anna says they’re still trying to determine the best way to evacuate. Rodney knows how these things go since he used to be a nurse at this hospital. He knows about the other big guy like him at LifeCare. It is fine to go last as long as they don’t get left behind. Marcia Tellez (Alexandra Castillo) watches a helicopter fly by before Richard (Ted Atherton) tells everyone that there are no helicopters. Susan (Cherry Jones) goes on a rant asking if they’re supposed to stand on the roof with signs begging like everyone else.

Sandra Cordray (Jessica Greco) reminds her she tried to get help, but Susan already knows that. Richard tells Susan that some of the staff have been asking about their pets. They’re worried what will happen if they leave their pets here and wonder if they should do the humane thing. Susan says probably so she’ll speak to Dr. Cook. She also thinks they should consider patients they can’t evacuate to make sure they don’t suffer either. Dr. Martin Bisley (Darrin Baker) wants to make sure she is just wanting to keep the patients comfortable. A lot of people are on edge so he wants to make sure there is no confusion. Susan says there is no confusion. Angela McManus (Raven Dauda) tells her mother she’ll be right back before going out of the room to tell staff her mother is burning up. She is told there is no water, no ice, and nothing they can do. She returns to her mother, Wilda (Diane Johnstone), to tell her she is here and won’t be going anywhere.

 

Mark LeBlanc (JD Evermore) and the others ride on a boat towards the hospital. Susan checks on Diane (Julie Ann Emery) who tells her they lost a few more patients this morning. She is making a list of all the things they need. Susan says she’ll see what they can find for her. She tells Diane that there is a lot of talk, but the plan is to leave no living patients behind. Diane quickly agrees that they’re not going to leave anyone. Before Susan leaves, Diane thanks her. Drew Charles (Ryan Allen) notices the boats approaching the hospital. Mark tells Rene (Stephen Bogaert) that they’re not with anyone since it is just them. While Mark goes inside to find his mom, Sandra (Monica Wyche) confirms to Rene that they can take a few patients. Drew promises to have the boats ready, but he wants Mark to take him too. Mark goes inside while calling for Vera (Dawn Greenhalgh). Jill eventually hears him and yells for him. He complains about them not having her hooked up to IV before telling Jill to grab her stuff.

Mark carries his mother outside and gets her on one of the boats before nodding at Drew. When the boats pull away, Drew jumps onto one of them and rides away as Rene calls him a coward. Dr. Bryant King (Cornelius Smith Jr.) knows his workers feel like they’ve been abandoned and no one is coming to help them. He complains that it is like the doctors have given up and they’ve left the patients to themselves. Bryant encourages them to start walking the line and checking the patients’ blood sugar levels and BPs. If they need medication, they should give it to them.

He doesn’t care what the other doctors said so they’re going to do what they can and the best they can. Anna checks on Minnie Cook (Nola Augustson) to see how her dog is doing. Minnie says he is doing alright. She wonders if she should kill him since they aren’t going to let them take pets. Susan finds Ewing Cook (W. Earl Brown) smoking alone. She tells him that the staff is asking what is the most humane thing to do with the pets. Ewing says it is to not leave them behind to die. He thinks an injection of Pentothal would be the best solution. He says you’ll give them a shot, they’ll go to sleep, and they’ll die. Susan asks if that is the right thing to do. Ewing believes they must be realistic about their situation. The most humane thing is to put them down and give them a little help. Marcia contacts Susan via radio to tell her they have helicopters. Susan reminds Martin that the patients with black bands should be set aside. Once Gina (Tammy Isbell) notices the helicopter, she runs to tell Diane.

Diane wants the patients moved to the helipad and won’t clear anything with Memorial. He wants the most critical patients out first. She tells Emmett (Damon Standifer) that they’re going to be moving patients so he needs to hang on. Ewing tells Richard how to put the pets down. When Richard asks if it’ll hurt, Ewing says the animals won’t understand what is going on. Ewing realizes he is going to have to do it himself. Martin stops Gina as she tries to move some of the patients to explain they’re leaving black bands for last. They put the patient nearby as Gina begins tending to her needs. Ewing sits alone surrounded by the bodies of the pets he has put down. Then, he joins his wife to put down their dog too. Gina begins struggling so she asks Anna for help. Once Anna takes over, Gina tells her she is from LifeCare and they won’t let them transport their patients. She complains that people are up there dying and nobody cares. Anna promises to stay with the patient.

Once the patient died, Anna takes a moment to clear her mind. She approaches Susan to see if she heard from anyone with the police or National Guard. Susan admits there is no plan to get the patient out of the hospital. She has stopped believing the things people are telling them. Anna tells her about the patient from LifeCare that died as Susan complains they have no help up there. Anna admits they’re like her cancer patients because you do everything you can to try to help them and find a way to save a life. Sometimes, there is nothing else you can do for them except to make them comfortable. Since Susan agrees, she recommends talking to Dr. Cook about that. Rodney asks Bryant if he is going to make it out. Bryant tells him everyone is going to make it out. Then, a city official arrives to say the hospital has been put under evacuation orders. They’ll have rescue boats here soon so they can clear everyone out. They’re given until 5 PM to get everyone out. They argue about it, but he is adamant that the last boat will leave at 5 PM.

Susan tells Martin and Rene to continue the evacuation as best as they can. She tells everyone that no living patient will be left behind. Susan goes to Anna to tell her about the evacuation order. They know it is never going to happen. If she hasn’t spoken to Dr. Cook yet, Susan thinks now is the time to do so. One of the workers overhears them and decides to tell Bryant what she heard about finding a way to end the suffering. She tells him it was Ewing Cook and Anna Pou talking about ending patient suffering. A security guard breaks a panel of glass outside so they can put the patients on the boats easier. Susan’s mother (Lorna Wilson) goes with Sandra who is going to get her to the family. Ewing tells Minnie the boats are here so they have to go. They leave their dog’s body behind. Once Ewing and Minnie get on the boat, a woman tries to bring her dog on the boat. At first, she is told she can’t bring it on, but a woman says it is okay.

Back inside, Susan tries to convince Horace that it is time for him to go. Bryant notices Anna administering something to one of the patients while the others are told to get downstairs right now. When Bryant sees Horace leaving, he decides to pack his bag and go too. Angela begins panicking when she hears them. She argues with them until they let her say goodbye to her mother before going. Angela tells her mother she can’t stay and it is okay for her to go be with Jesus. On the helipad, Marcia says these aren’t Coast Guard helicopters so they won’t be able to fly at night. She tells Richard they have about an hour to get people out of here. As Gina searches for Diane, she overhears Anna tells her team that a decision has been made. Therese curses and rushes off. She complains to Gina that they can’t do this because the patients are theirs. When Gina asks Diane, she learns that the doctors from Memorial are going to take over care for the LifeCare patients.

She doesn’t think their parents are going to be evacuated or that they’ll leave the hospital. Gina gets upset, but Diane says they can’t stop whatever is going to happen. Diane tells her to get the staff off the floor and take care of them now. Diane goes to Emmett to tell him that the staff is being told to evacuate. He asks if they’re still going to get him out of there. Diane says the doctors from Memorial will stay with him so nobody is going to be alone. He tells her that his wife’s name is Carrie if it comes to it. He puts her hand on her stomach and says God has blessed her so she should look to the future. Diane tells him she is sorry before she goes. Karen asks Anna for a hand before she is going back to LifeCare because there are still patients there. Anna tells her they’re going to do everything they can to make them comfortable. Karen tells her team they’re going to get all the patients out of here. She asks Rodney if he is ready to go. Diane wants to go back up to check on a patient. Rene tells her to email a corporate office because they’re evacuating.

Gina convinces her to go while Karen and the others try to get Rodney out of the hospital. They begin hauling Rodney up the stairs to the helipad. They manage to get him on the airplane before Karen rides away with him. Anyone left is going to be on their own. Emmett is shown in his hospital bed just before the episode ends.

 

Five Days At Memorial Review

The fifth episode of Five Days at Memorial left the doctors with a dilemma once they learned that the hospital had to be evacuated by 5 PM. They were also forced to do something about their pets since they weren’t sure whether they’d be able to bring them. Mark managed to get his mother out of the hospital and also inadvertently helped Drew escape. It’ll be interesting to see whether the show will be bold enough to make any direct allegations against any of the doctors.

So far, it has only alluded to certain things such as making the patients comfortable and learning how to do it from Ewing. The episode was likely one of the best in the series yet since it really took the emotional value to a new level that hasn’t been seen yet. The scenes with the pets, Diane leaving Emmett, and Rodney making it to the helicopter were emotional in their own ways.

The show does a great job of showing the professional impact of those five days, but it could’ve delved deeper into the psychological impact. Not enough was done to make the hospital feel like a dangerous place where anything could happen at any moment. Regardless, Five Days at Memorial is still one of the most impactful shows this year. The episode scores a 7.5 or possibly even an 8 out of 10. Recaps of Five Days at Memorial can be found on Reel Mockery here. We appreciate any support from our visitors. Learn how to support us here.