RADIATION, HBO, AND THE DEATH OF THE Soviet Union

Thirty-three years ago, on April 26, 1986, the No. 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in northern Ukraine.

A new HBO television documentary aired during this summer brought the tragedy into greater perspective, and served to highlight unpleasant truths.

Seconds after the stunning event, a conspiracy to cover up the plant’s failure was already underway. In the aftermath of the explosion, dozens of firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish what they had been told was only a roof fire. Though it should have been obvious there was more going on than they had been told – as the explosion could be felt miles away in the city of Pripyat – the firefighters bravely carried on with their work, not knowing, and not caring about the potential hazards they were faced with.

The true nature of the situation clearly manifested itself minutes after they began extinguishing the flames, however.

As the crew marched through the rubble to bring their hoses closer, death was already upon them. Radioactive smoke clouds poured from the burning power plant as the exposed reactor continued its deadly chain reaction, atomizing surrounding air molecules into brilliant hues of color as the firefighters unknowingly trampled over pieces of graphite blown directly out of the reactor core.

They had unwittingly stepped into a nuclear event potentially worse than the atom bomb dropped on Japan 41 years prior.

It would take days before the then-Soviet (U.S.S.R.) government would take the issue seriously. That delay would result in tens of thousands of nearby residents being exposed to cancer-causing amounts of radiation, the eventual evacuation of over 100,000 people, and the deaths of untold thousands of people in the following years (and years still to come).

HBO’s “Chernobyl” miniseries covers the events of this horrific nuclear accident, the Soviet attempts to hide the incident and its severity, and the story of the scientists who worked tirelessly to clean up the mess – which some credit for the eventual downfall of the U.S.S.R. itself, just a handful of years later.

If you haven’t already heard, Chernobyl, written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, is the highest-rated TV show of 2019. In fact, it currently stands among the highest-rated TV series in history, according to IMDB.com, beating out “Breaking Bad,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Wire,” and most every other critically acclaimed series of the last 50 years.

So, is it really that good? In short, yeah, pretty much. Everyone has their preferred show and tastes will always vary by person, but on a technical level, there is almost nothing about this series any reasonable person could complain about without coming across as pretentious or nitpicky. (Though to be fair, part of the reason for Chernobyl’s high rating is its five-episode length. Where other TV series have multiple seasons with both amazing and weaker episodes, this show’s creators only had to contend with making five amazing episodes.)

And the show’s episodes are amazing, though not for the faint of heart. It’s a thrilling and sadly intriguing ride ’till the end. The gloomy, off-green, melancholy haze in which most scenes are shot, the incredible art direction, period-appropriate speech patterns, superb writing, and Emmy-award winning performances all work together to make this some of the most interesting TV you’ll ever see.

Jared Harris as the head scientist and lead of the show, Valery Legasov, puts on a performance of a lifetime in this series, alongside co-stars Stellan Skarsgard as Vice Chairman Boris Shcherbyna, and Emily Watson, who portrays an amalgamation of scientists as her fictional character, Ulana Khomyuk.

Speaking of fictional and nonfiction aspects, part of what makes this series so impactful is its painstaking adherence to reality and the true events surrounding Chernobyl. While some scenes and character interactions are clearly played up for the drama of the story and for the sake of moving the plot forward, every fact that matters is portrayed for its truth – truth being a central and very important theme throughout the series.

If you have any interest in history, or simply in the events surrounding the mysterious pop culture phenomenon of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, then this is a must-watch. Not only is it a massive cinematic accomplishment, but the discussion around truth, politics, and fake news makes this series as timely as the upcoming 2020 election, and even brings to light some of the old-guard hypocrisy coming out of 2019 Russia.

Advocate Staff