If ‘The Pitt’ Feels Intense, Apple TV’s Most Harrowing Medical Drama Is a Devastating True Story

Published Jul 17, 2026, 7:19 AM EDT Amanda M. Castro is a Network TV writer at Collider and a New York–based journalist whose work has appeared in Newsweek, where she is an Associate Editor, and The U.S. Sun, where she previously served as a Senior Consumer Reporter. She specializes in network television coverage, delivering sharp, thoughtful analysis of long-running procedural hits and ambitious new dramas across broadcast TV. At Collider, Amanda explores character arcs, storytelling trends, and the cultural impact of network series that keep audiences tuning in week after week. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Amanda is bilingual and holds a degree in Communication, Film, and Media Studies from the University of New Haven. For viewers who walked away from The Pitt impressed by its relentless tension and unfiltered look at emergency medicine, finding something that matches its emotional weight isn’t easy. Most medical dramas eventually pull back, offering moments of relief between life-or-death cases. Apple TV’s Five Days at Memorial does the opposite, tightening the screws until both its characters and viewers are forced to confront the unimaginable. What makes the eight-episode limited series so difficult to shake isn’t just its hospital setting or its outstanding performances. Based on Sheri Fink’s nonfiction book of the same name, Five Days at Memorial dramatizes the real events that unfolded inside Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. While The Pitt thrives on the chaos of a single emergency department shift, Five Days at Memorial chronicles five increasingly desperate days when doctors, nurses, patients, and families found themselves abandoned by systems that were supposed to protect them. 'Five Days at Memorial' Turns a Hospital Into a Disaster Zone Image via Apple TV+ Created by John Ridley and Carlton Cuse, Five Days at Memorial begins as Memorial Hospital prepares for Hurricane Katrina’s arrival. Staff members have many references to draw on to cope with the crisis, just as they did in their time. However, Katrina’s effects on the city and its residents prove to be just as bad, if not worse, than the hurricane itself. After the city's levees rupture, the hospital is cut off from communication; hence, the hospital's generators fail to provide enough electricity for life-supporting machines, and basic supplies like food, water, air, and medicines become impossible to obtain. Doctors and nurses have to evacuate the bedridden patients up the staircases and take charge of evacuating people from the hospital by means of helicopters. The series does a great job of not settling on a clichéd portrayal of disasters, but focuses on the real struggle for survival in times of crisis, when every single decision can be catastrophic. It is this accumulating feeling of dread that echoes throughout every episode. Instead of relying on shocking stories, the series creates tension through the progression of events and the realization that the situation gets worse with every minute. The Show’s Most Devastating Moments Come From Real-Life Ethical Dilemmas Image via Apple TV Like The Pitt, Five Days at Memorial finds its strongest drama in the impossible medical decisions rather than in sensational plot twists. What makes it more engaging is that the audience knows these conversations took place. Led by Vera Farmiga as Dr. Anna Pou and by Cherry Jones as incident commander Susan Mulderick, the team successfully conveys the feelings of healthcare providers trying to act correctly under difficult conditions. There is no hyperbole or clear-cut villains, allowing for a full examination of a complex situation. The audience can question what happens when medical professionals are constrained by a collapsing system. In the first five episodes, the story is narrated during the day, so the audience can witness the breakdown. The hospital itself becomes almost a character in the series, shifting from a place of medical success to a site of real danger, with each hour exacerbating the situation. Meanwhile, in the last three episodes, the series moves to the investigation of the deaths of 45 patients who were found after the evacuation. This part poses far more complex questions of responsibility and ethics, including whether responsibility could be assigned to a single person for the crimes committed. Why 'The Pitt' Fans Should Make This Their Next Watch Image via Apple TV+ Five Days at Memorial asks a far more unsettling question than what a medical team will do to save a given patient: What happens when the healthcare system itself begins to fail? The very premise of the show makes this series a natural recommendation for anyone captivated by The Pitt. Both shows have discovered that the most extraordinary stories in hospital settings are about people making almost impossible decisions while trying to preserve their humanity. Every tiring discussion, swift decision, and moral predicament carries an enormous burden because the characters are aware that their actions have an everlasting effect. Five Days at Memorial benefits from avoiding the sensationalism of tragic events. Ridley and Cuse depict the phenomenon without excessive emotions and concentrate on the subtleties of acting. Though Hurricane Katrina is an overarching theme, the series is mainly about people suffering in Memorial and trying to overcome difficult situations. There is no doubt that it is a highly complicated series. The suffering it delivers is unending, the questions it poses have no convenient answers, and the audience remembers the events in the series long after it ends. Like the best medical dramas, it asks viewers to wrestle with what medicine, responsibility, and compassion look like when every available option comes at an unbearable cost.