Summary
Episode 6 sees a tragedy turned into an investigation which leads to our ensemble cast delivering powerful and moving moments.
This recap of the Apple TV+ series Five Days at Memorial season 1, episode 6, “45 Dead,” contains spoilers.
Read the review of the series Five Days at Memorial.
We had one roller coaster of emotional ride on last week’s episode of Five Days at Memorial. From patients dying due to terrible conditions to doctors/nurses are making tough decisions to the evacuation finally happening. Now that we have officially gotten out of the hospital, will anyone pay for the actions within the hospital? Let’s dive in.
Five Days At Memorial season 1, episode 6 recap
The episode begins with Dr. Baltz being questioned by investigators Virginia and Butch (who we will see a lot more of after we have left the hospital) about why the 45 were dead in the hospital. He tries to explain that the conditions caused decisions that never should’ve been made. The opening title card/song should be nominated for an Emmy next season as it is pure brilliance.
We hear the news coverage that this is the worst natural disaster in US history. Next, we see people talking about how their living arrangements are worst than in prison. Also, hear President Bush talk about how they might need to look at the decision-making. Or the lack their of from the top.
Butch arrives in Baton Rouge, and as he is driving to where he needs to go, he sees many people camped out everywhere on the city streets. Here is when he is told that they want him to investigate the 45 dead bodies at Memorial. They want to know what went down and why it went the way it did. Butch begins making calls to find out who he needs to talk to to find the list of patients that have passed away. The man on the phone didn’t like Butch’s tone and wanted him to put it in writing, and they would respond when they could.
Next, we see the meeting of Butch and Virginia, where he approaches her about the case. There was a ton of confusion about how they should tackle this based on the conditions. However, the man on the phone caused his interest to heighten. Lifecare within that Memorial Hospital sent a letter that their patients were administered Morphine by Dr. Pou and suggested that their lives were taken because they wouldn’t make it out.
Then we see Dr. Pou sitting down having lunch, and a doctor approaches her to join them at LSU because Memorial isn’t opening anytime soon. She says she would do anything to get back into working again. Next, we move to Susan and some of their other staff members, who will have to make calls to these families to inform them of their passing. They are told they died due to a lack of electricity and high temperatures.
Susan and Dr. Wynn are among those having to make these calls and read off a list of responses that were pre-written for them. It starts to take a toll on each of these doctors/nurses making these calls. Next, we see Dr. Pou on the news talking about the patients and some background of what happened. How they did their best to make sure they comforted each of them.
We move back to Butch and Virginia, where she suggests they head down to Memorial to check out the hospital for themselves. He is intrigued by the idea because they could find some things they aren’t being given. Butch and Virginia are met with strict orders they can’t enter the Memorial without a warrant or a hazmat suit.
A producer from CNN reached out to Dr. Pou after seeing her appearance to let her know they wanted to hear her side of the story after finding out the deaths are being investigated. Because of this, Dr. Pou reaches out to call Susan to talk about everything that went down. Susan had no clue they were being investigated. Dr. Pou has no clue what to do next, and Susan told her to sit tight and that she would have someone give her a call.
Dr. Baltz calls someone to find out if they heard about the news and if his patients Helena was on the list that passed. He tells the person on the phone that he only admitted her as a precaution and she was in no terminal distress. But unfortunately, nobody could say to him who was in charge once he left the hospital. Dr. Pou calls Dr. Cook to find out what he knows and tells her he refuses to talk to anyone, including the media.
Butch arrives at a nurse’s house to ask questions about Dr. Pou. She lets him know she was the first one out of there getting that baby out of the hospital. Butch breaks down that his daughter recently passed because she was overprescribed medication, and if the doctors were more like her, she might still be alive. Whew, this is the beginning of seeing a ton of great work from Michael Gatson as Butch.
Dr. Pou gets a phone call from the communications director of Tenant. He tells her to call her back from a landline instead of talking on her cell phone. The council is also on the line with the director to discuss how they should proceed. Dr. Pou is looking for guidance on how to proceed, and the council wants her to break down all the events from when the hurricane hit. So she moved to go through in detail everything that transpired.
The council responded they wanted to know everything that went down on the fifth day. Before she dived into any details about what happened, Dr. Pou asked how they would provide for her defense, and they said they couldn’t give any advice but would strongly advise her to get her own attorney. They begin to ask about the day, and Dr. Pou says until she gets an attorney, she will no longer be answering questions.
The ending
Dr. Pou finds herself an attorney. He lets her know that every word she speaks will be under a microscope. She is to do no more interviews or conversations, including her husband. Dr. Pou reiterates that she did nothing wrong. Her attorney promises that he will take care of her moving forward.
The council responded they wanted to know everything that went down on the fifth day. Before she dived into any details about what happened, Dr. Pou asked how they would provide for her defense, and they said they couldn’t give any advice but would strongly advise her to get her own attorney. They begin to ask about the day, and Dr. Pou says until she gets an attorney, she will no longer be answering questions.
Dr. Pou finds herself an attorney. He lets her know that every word she speaks will be under a microscope. She is to do no more interviews or conversations, including her husband. Dr. Pou reiterates that she did nothing wrong. Her attorney promises that he will take care of her moving forward.
Virginia and Butch are off to visit Ms. Robichaux (one of the nurses) and ask her why the lawyers from Lifecare wanted her to talk to them. Next, she goes through the details of the conditions of the hospital, followed by her recounting the events with Susan and Dr. Pou, including what happened with Emmett. Finally, Virginia asks if she thought Dr. Pou made any orders to kill anyone, but she can’t pinpoint her saying it other than she freed them of their responsibility. Robichaux believes that her patients were killed and feels awful.
Butch and Virginia leave the meeting, and Butch said she didn’t hear about any patients being euthanized, which doesn’t really help the case. However, he wants to talk to more patients from Lifecare. Next, we see Dr. Pou performing surgery on a patient at the hospital she is currently working in. Finally, we see her inform the family that everything went well for the patient.
We move back to Virginia and Butch, who are questioning Ms. Mendez, the nurse executive at Lifecare. First, they asked her what she remembered about her time at the hospital—followed by talking to Ms. Johnson, the physical medicine doctor from Lifecare. So it was a montage of interviewing both of these people, trying to find out what really went down in those final moments, from breaking down what they did, hearing that they weren’t going to help them, to not having food or fresh water.
In the final moments, Ms. Mendez recalls her last moments with Dr. Pou, where she said they probably wouldn’t survive. Dr. Pou said decisions were made to administer lethal doses. Virginia pressures her to tell her about what medicines they were. As they were about to board the boat, Ms. Melendez and Ms. Johnson ran upstairs together to check on Emmett, and Dr. Pou was with him. No matter what either of them said in these moments, they could not confirm they saw Dr. Pou give anything to the patients.
As the episode comes to a close, Butch is questioning Mr. Nakamura, who was the pharmacist on the last day. He told them that Dr. Pou said patients would be given lethal doses, followed by describing what medicines they would be using. However, never saw any of the doctors or nurses inject any patients. But he did see her put the syringes in a plastic bag, and she asked him to check on the patients and pull over the sheets on the ones that were dead. But, he says, there is no other conclusion that those patients were murdered.
What did you think of the Apple TV+ series Five Days at Memorial season 1, episode 6? Comment below.
