Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

Episodes 1 & 2 paint a vivid picture of the hurricane's prelude, impact and immediate catastrophic aftermath, largely through survivors' own eyes via camcorder footage.

Episode 3 feels like Spike Lee watched those episodes and decided he had to do it all himself. Thus, interviewees are reintroduced and events recapped like the previous two hours never happened.

Like, weren't they blunt enough for him? For me, they did an exemplary job of showing systemic racism permeated every aspect of this disaster without needing to put the words 'systemic racism' onscreen, as if anyone watching might've missed that point somewhere along the way.

This is a mostly well-made and well-paced documentary that powerfully details the devastating and moving stories of what happened during Hurricane Katrina.

The first two episodes are excellent, but the third feels like a letdown-shifting focus to hype a climate agenda and overshadowing the other important points that key voices are trying to make.

And Brad Pitt... fix the shoddy homes you built for people.

I think this series is worth watching but as a whole it comes off very disjointed. The first two episodes feel like they came from a different series altogether from the third.

The first two episodes are telling the historical story of hurricane Katrina and the failures afterwards. The points made by the third episode revolve around the systemic cultural failures that occurred during the rebuilding process are very valid. But it comes off as almost a PowerPoint presentation in parts. The editing style and approach are very different from the other two episodes. It comes across as a series a jumbled narrative of interviews that kind of tell a story, but one that could have been handled better stylistically. Also felt like the dead of Katrina get left behind in the series. The identification and stories of them get ignored for the most part.

If you're around my age, you'll remember watching the news back in 2025 and being shocked by what happened to New Orleans, an iconic place submerged in water.

This documentary explores the buildup to Hurricane Katrina, the devastating effect it had, and its legacy. Episodes one and two are incredibly good; they will shock you, appall you, and make you consider why the country turned its back on New Orleans. You'll wonder if things would have been different had it been another state.

Episode three has some fascinating content, but it's a bit of a mess and too long; it's a frantic conclusion poorly thrown together. You'll come away with the certain knowledge that there are some incredible and resilient people in New Orleans, but they are a people who were failed by their government.

Some of what I saw in the second episode made my blood boil; it felt as though I was listening to something from a hundred years ago.

I urge you to watch it; episodes one and two are essential viewing.

8/10.

This three-part documentary goes beyond the story of Hurricane Katrina itself, examining how systemic racism shaped both the scale of the tragedy and its aftermath for New Orleans' predominantly Black population.

Episodes 1 and 2 cover the period immediately before, during, and after the storm. Government failure is a recurring theme: officials delayed evacuation orders until the last moment, leaving tens of thousands behind as Katrina made landfall. The initial relief that the city had survived the storm quickly gave way to horror when the levees collapsed, flooding entire neighbourhoods. With residents stranded, drowning, and dying, state and federal authorities were slow to launch meaningful rescue efforts. Much like National Geographic's Katrina: Race Against Time, these episodes highlight how systemic racism underpinned every failure - from inadequate evacuation plans, to neglected infrastructure, to the lethargic post-flood response.

Episode 3, however, feels like a different film altogether, more of Spike Lee's love letter to New Orleans and its people. It traces the 20 years since the disaster, showing how survivors continue to face the long shadow of racism. Many have been priced out of their own city through gentrification; others endure poorly built homes in developments pushed by "well-meaning" progressives and celebrities. Black culture, once the heartbeat of New Orleans, is steadily eroded and displaced. This final episode is provocative, perhaps deliberately so. If it makes viewers uncomfortable, it's worth asking: why does confronting the realities of Black suffering in America provoke such resistance? Perhaps this is why the episode wasn't released as a stand-alone piece - it challenges too directly, and some audiences would simply turn away.