Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

Like others have said, episodes 1&2 are the actual documentary. Episode 3 feels like they handed it off to a new director, and he said "I'm just redoing this my way". We followed people's stories through episodes 1&2 only to never hear about them again. We never checked back in on the people at the hospital, for example.

I was really wanting some actual explanations on what happened, and we didn't get that. "Here's how the levees broke" or "here's how they weren't built right". Both of which were addressed by Hulu's

I don't disagree with the arguments made by the series, but it's evident what the angle of the show was from episode 1. For me, that lowers its value as an actual documentary. I like being presented with the evidence and what happened and being left to make my own decisions.

Watching the Hulu documentary right after Netflix's is jarring. It really makes it feel like Netflix left out the stories of many people, such as first responders. For example the Chief of Police. His story is extremely impactful to the events overall, and is never even mentioned on the Netflix show....

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.

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.

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.

Episodes 1 and 2 were done really well. They provided a lot of pre-hurricane footage and videos that residents took of their neighborhoods and their plans to evacuate or stay. It seems that in many cases they stayed because they either had no transportation or resources to evacuate. It seems that the city was not completely prepared for worst case scenarios like the levees breaking. That is really what caused most of the devastation. Episode 3's tone felt different when it started. That is because Spike Lee stepped in to produce it and interview various people that were involved in the hurricane. Race baiting, climate change, politics, and even COVID (?) dominated the episode. While I understand that a large amount of the population that had to evacuate was black, this should really be an issue of how the government and public officials respond to natural disasters. It should not be a black or white issue. No American would've wanted to see these people suffering or dying. Anyways, I recommend watching the series. Unfortunately, I had a knock off several stars due to the last episode but for sure episodes 1 and 2 are worth watching.