The CHERNOBYL series almost destroyed me... Ep. 3-5 Reaction

[@ScottGibbs]

I think Stellan Skarsgard's character arc is the heart of the show. He gave such an amazing performance.

[@torbjornkvist]

One essential detail usually forgotten is the First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, Michail Gorbatjov, who has a huge birthmark on his head. Gorbatjov was a scientist (biologist & agronom) before he became a politician. In this story, it meant that he was the right man for the right job. Any other Soviet leader in history would have ignored Legasov's words, but not Gorbatjov, because he was a scientist. He wanted to know more, to be sure. I often think about Gorbatjov. If he had not been there, I would not be sitting here today, writing this. In 1986 I lived in Stockholm, Sweden, well inside the zone of death if Chornobyl went total ape shit.

[@lolmao500]

Imagine if someone as dumb and corrupt as trump would have been in charge. Europe would have been screwed.

[@jonathansmith8672]

I think you meant "Mikhail Gorbachev"?

[@stevealford230]

@@jonathansmith8672 Cyrillic letters (Russian writing) don't have an exact translation to other languages, so different countries translate the spelling of Russian words differently... and none of them are right or wrong. And I am NOT a Subjectivist: it just so happens that in the case of translating a lot of languages, especially names in them, the spelling IS subjective by region. Western media has "officially" spelled Zelensky's name several different ways in the last near-decade (two L's, two Y's, an I instead of an E, etc). There is no "correct" way to spell Russian names in English: you go with phonetic spelling and try to nail the sounding-out.

[@thatperformer3879]

And now Sweden is an apeshit country loaded with foreign violence. I guess it fell anyway

[@thatperformer3879]

And now modern Sweden is ape shit anyway; so I guess it didn’t really matter.

[@Metaljacket420]

Little detail when Lagasov says "I've seen them before" when the pair of agents are tailing them, they were the couple in the bar who asked him if everything was alright.

[@ferchrissakes]

And where he chose to lie and say all was well. If he hadn’t who knows what the KGB would have done, but he probably wouldn’t have stayed in charge of anything

[@krashd]

They knew what fallout was so they knew exactly why he asked for the upside-down glass rather than the regular glass. They just wanted to know if he would play the good little soviet or spread fear about radiation. He answered correctly and they gave him a pass.

[@riffgroove]

Wow... I NEVER noticed that at all.

[@johnmiller7682]

Boris went on to be in charge of disaster relief in Armenia, in 1988. Where he was also considered a hero.

[@thatperformer3879]

Poor bastard couldn’t catch a break

[@alextan1478]

Let's give Addie a round of applause for officially completing her Chernobyl quest. 👏👏🎉🎉

[@PCNarokobi]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@petrusjnaude7279]

Considering the events of episode 4 and her reaction in an earlier episode to the subject of animals dying, I thought she would have a breakdown during episode 4. Congrats to her.

[@neptunusrex5195]

👏👏👏😎🥳

[@EddieVargas]

^^Firefighters who arrived at the scene of the explosion and started combating the fire^^ *Vladimir Pravik - Died May 11, 1986 *Victor Kibenok - Died May 11, 1986 *Leonid Telyatnikov - Lived longest among these firemen, which is a miracle in itself. Died in 2005 of Chernobyl-related cancer. *Vasiliy Ignatenko - Died May 13, 1986. In 2006 posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine. *Nikolay Vaschuk - Was instrumental in preventing fire from reaching reactor number 3. Died with the rest of his crew on the same day. Hero of Ukraine. *Nikolay Titenok - Died May 16, 1986. Hero of Ukraine *Leonid Shavrey - Miraculous recovery in the facility in Kyiv. Had bone marrow partially replaced which help the organism and DNA to fight off radiation exposure and sickness. *Ivan Shavrey - The younger brother of Leonid. Also survived by miraculous treatment in Kyiv. Again, partial replacement of bone marrow. *Petro Shavrey - The oldest brother. Also survived. *Alexander Lelechenko - Electrician technician of Chernobyl NPP. Was responsible for preventing an additional hydrоgen explosion. Received lethal dose of radiation and died on May 7, 1986. Hero of Ukraine. *Valery Khodemchuk - Pump room engineer. Died immediately with the reactor explosion. His body is forever entombed under reactor number 4.

[@dernwine]

Growing up in Germany in the 90's pretty much every charity drive my school did was to support children who where suffering from high cancer rates as a result of Chernobyl, when the show came out I was glued to the TV. As a postscript, in 2022 the Russian Federation invaded it's former colony Ukraine, where Chernobyl is located. The Russian government ordered a unit into the "Red Forest" and to dig offensive positions in case the Ukranian Army counter attacked. They didn't tell them that they where within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, or that the ground was still very radioactive. The Soviet Union might be gone, but Russia is still the same.

[@stevealford230]

... you'd think that Ukraine would have the boundaries of the exclusion zone marked, to prevent accidental travel within it by its own citizens. The incompetence of Russians is shared by the countries that were part of them. Gaining independence from the corrupt and incompetent central power didn't suddenly and magically make the vassals stop also being corrupt and incompetent.

[@mattseaton3521]

I didn’t know this. The perfect demonstration of how Russia still operates today.

[@Ben-vs6zr]

Probably shouldn't believe wartime propaganda from any side.

[@thatperformer3879]

Right and the Ghost of Kiev was real 😂

[@Aaniel_al.Meara.]

@@stevealford230 bro, we were corrupted not that long ago, of course as a part of former USSR many people will still have the mentality like that, because people who were born and raised in ussr are still majority, not to mention that even after ussr rusia still had a great influance here. We, specially our new generation fight as hard as we can from 2014 to get rid of it's influence. That doesn't mean post ussr countries should be seen just like rusia and compared to them, they're actually trying to change meantime also fighting rusia, mentally and physically.

[@oslafoirausuebutuoy5457]

I read some time ago that the creator of the show said that what inspired him to make it was that, when he was reading about what happened in Chernobyl, what kept blowing his mind wasn't even how crazy the whole nuclear disaster was, but the amount of regular people who were willing to either risk their lives or straight up sacrifice their lives to save other people.

[@pyatig]

A thousand years of sacrifice in our veins, it’s not just a line in a show

[@classiclife7204]

They say everyone alive on Planet Earth in 1986 carries a little piece of Chernobyl with them. It could've been much, much, much worse. The men and women who tried to stop the worst from happening are immortal heroes.

[@WaywardVet]

I'll drink to that. I'd say i was safely indoors, but i was also a kid and my parents always opened the windows at night in summer for fresh cool air. I know exactly where i was that year. Still in a toddler bed, breathing that unfiltered night air with no concept of the world. It wouldn't be until 1989 that i was old enough to even grasp the Cold War. TV coverage of the Berlin Wall, and i was now old enough to have annoying questions like "Mom, they're breaking stuff on TV and its good. When i break stuff it's bad? Why?"

[@Ladco77]

There aren't many people who can legitimately say they "saved the world" but most of those who can were at Chernobyl.

[@mattseaton3521]

There were certainly a lot of selfless heros involved in cleaning up that mess.

[@ChefSmith82]

It was the end of the World if it wasn’t contained.

[@MarkM430]

My father was a Naval Officer and a doctor who retired in 1984. I remember him telling me that the reason our government wasn't giving any details about the ongoing incident in Russia was that there was likely nothing we could do. Why panic the public if there was nothing to be done? I never saw my father worked up about anything, but I could tell he was very concerned.

[@vanyadolly]

Oddly Episode 4 is the most heart-warming to me. That older soldier taking the recruit under his wing, saying " you go outside" when he finds the puppies. That's the true mark of how selfless and good people can be towards each other, regardless of the circumstances or what they've been through. The show and the event is horrific, but it's also such a testament to the best in us. Countless people sacrificing to protect others.

[@tfpp1]

There's a great 5-part podcast about the show and it's accuracy with the creator himself. Definitely listen to it.

[@mattseaton3521]

Such a sensational mini series, the perfect format and execution. This will be remembered for a long time, a current era Band of Brothers in my view.

[@wackyvorlon]

Radiation most affects cells which are dividing rapidly, and children’s cells are dividing more rapidly than those of adults.

[@killman369547]

Yup. This is exactly why the radiation exposure limit for pregnant radiation workers is 10x less than for everyone else.

[@Sir_AlexxTv]

The finale with the explanation is priceless .... god bless all those who sacrificed themselves for all.

[@zenon3021]

why didn't "god" stop the whole thing from happening? Because god is a fictional character from a book with talking animals and talking trees?

[@avostorm8111]

Atheist not inserting themselves challenge:impossible. ​@@zenon3021

[@gnarl80fi]

This series is phenomenal. I knew the story of ofcourse, but how they brought it alive is awesome!

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

The scene on the bench was phenomenal. Jared Harris in fringe is also fantastic. And in that series, actor John Noble, probably one of The best characters i ve ever seen. Definitely worth a look

[@RobertDPore]

I loved Fringe, John Noble was fantastic, but Jared Harris wasn't really given enough to work with there. Harris got much better material in Mad Men, IMO.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

@@RobertDPore ye, would have loved to have seen moremof him. Very memorable though:) But John really stole the show for me, what an actor.... did you know hemis from Australia? So he also used an accent through all of that! funny detail, the female boss of the institute you see very briefly is his daughter! top model

[@krashd]

@@RobertDPore Jared Harris was also in The Expanse and The Terror, incidentally the guy who played Ignatenko in Chernobyl (Adam Nagaitis) was also in The Terror, he and Jared Harris become nemeses of sorts in the show as two stranded Royal Navy ships try to survive a very creepy arctic voyage and an abominable creature.

[@neptunusrex5195]

The story isn’t so much about the accident, it’s the story of the people who lived, suffered, and died. The series is the people’s story. The people sacrificed everything - their health, their home, their professional reputations and careers, even their very lives to do what the situation required of them. They went willing to their deaths to save others, to save their countrymen, to save the people of neighboring countries, they sacrificed all for the sake of the greater good. As the character Khomyuk says so solemnly, “they died rescuing each other”. The story may get details wrong or changed for dramatic effect but the series makes the viewer feel the experience, trauma, and emotion of the events surrounding Chernobyl. The story is not the accident’s story, it is the people’s story.

[@C.H.K.N_tenders]

Exactly! And without the brave Liquidators or the Divers then Europe wouldn't have been the same. Respect.

[@TehCream]

The book “Chernobyl Prayer” is an amazing collection of testimonies from survivors, workers, and people who continued to live there afterwards. The whole story of the firefighter and his wife is taken directly from the first chapter. It’s a fascinating book that served as a really good building block for this show.

[@SteveNaranjo]

I cried, like crying my eyeballs out reading that book, there were parts where I just have to stop reading cause tears were poring down my face and I couldn't see a thing.

[@KevDaly]

There's a strange tragic beauty to this show - it's truly a work of art.

[@Lemon_Force]

Those 3 workers that went into the plant at the beginning ended up living quite a long time. They didn't know it at the time but the suits they wore provided excellent protection against radiation along with the fact that the water helped lessen the exposure as well.

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

the one who died, died in 2017, iirc - shortly before the show aired.

[@SecretLars]

It should never be forgotten that Chernobyl is not a problem solved, it is a problem contained.

[@xanthiusdrake2775]

The story of Gioania in 1987 is another nuclear tragedy, and one that people need to be made more aware of.

[@SecretLars]

@@xanthiusdrake2775 That's nothing, Mayak disaster.

[@xanthiusdrake2775]

@@SecretLars Dude, do not try to be competetive about it, your ruining the point of it all.

[@krashd]

It is a problem in the process of being solved, with current estimates of it being a 90 year process from 2017, so around 80 years still to go. Though they made that estimate because the NSC was only rated to last a century so all of the work going on "under the dome" is being done at a pace to have the ruined reactor #4 and it's portion of the turbine hall dismantled and processed by the first decade of the 2100's. Then they will have around 40,000 steel and concrete casks to store in a cave until we invent something that can make their contents safe, though by the 2100's we will likely already have recycling reactors that can eat the contents of those casks, just as how 4th generation reactors can run on the waste products of the 1st generation reactors. I imagine that even after we have working fusion reactors at the tail end of this century, here's hoping anyway, we will still keep a handful of fission reactors running with the sole purpose of using them to consume all of the nuclear waste we have littered around the world. They will be recycling reactors, with the electricity they produce considered a pleasant side effect of their true purpose of processing radioactive waste until places like Chernobyl, Sellafield and the Hanford site can be given the all clear. It won't take thousands of years though, I like to think such places will be sanitised by 2100, 2150 at the latest. I don't know whether it amuses me or saddens me when I hear people say "X nuclear disaster will be a problem for us for tens of thousands of years" because we already know that what we considered problematic waste in the 1960's and 70's can be used as fuel in modern reactors, so it stands to reason that what we consider problematic waste now will similarly stop presenting a problem to us a few decades along the road as we evolve. Which we do every day, we constantly evolve and create. It's like someone saying to Archimedes "Yeah, we'll still be relying on your water-powered contraptions in 50,000 years" when in just over two thousand years we have already went through water, wind, steam, oil, electricity and now we're on nuclear fission - with nuclear fusion seemingly around the corner... We have no idea what kinds of technologies humans will have in 50 years so people thinking nuclear waste will still be a problem in 50,000 is something I have never been able to fathom.

[@SecretLars]

@@xanthiusdrake2775 I'm not being competitive, I'm saying the Mayak disaster was something way worse that most people don't know about, the Gioania incident while being something people should know about doesn't highlight the importance of handling radioactive material as much as Mayak.

[@Knightmare435]

The presumed reason for the survival of the three divers was that the water contamination was mostly emitting alpha and beta decay, which are both relatively low energy radiation that would have a difficult time penetrating the thick diving suits they wore, and since they were also equipped with rebreathers like divers they didn't inhale much radioactive particulate. They thought they needed the diving equipment because the basements were flooded, but there wasn't as much water as first thought and it was a fortunate coincidence that the suits would protect them from the worst of the radiation in the ductways.

[@riffgroove]

Another thing is that the suits the 3 men were wearing were made of a new polymer that was unusually resistant to radiation. Ironically, nobody knew this at the time.

[@sithlordkaeyl21]

I’m glad you made it through Episode 4, since it’s probably the most difficult one to watch, but Episode 5 is definitely my favorite one of the series.

[@tchjdaedn]

Episode 4 is the definitive example of "Moral Injury." Even if the men doing animal control never acutely felt the effects of radiation, the traumatic job they had to perform because of the explosion left its own indelible scars. One thing the director mercifully left out was that many of the animals looked like the hospitalized men in episode 3.

[@jordanpeterson5140]

I'll add something for episode 4 that will put a little more physical perspective for the animal control crews. The rifle they're using is a model of the Mosin-Nagant, which is not exactly a beginner firearm. It was the main battle rifle for the Russians in WWI and the Soviets in WWII. It's an ugly, uncomfortable firearm. It fires the 7.62x54r round, which is the same diameter as the AK-47 uses but is slightly longer and therefore more powerful. The stock, the main part of the rifle you actually hold, is solid wood and ends in a steel butt plate (the part you hold against your shoulder). It hits like a hammer every time you pull the trigger and, with the end of it being metal, there's nothing to absorb that recoil. Since the end of WWII it's probably been packed in cosmoline, which is a waxy, grease-like substance that inhibits rust but doesn't smell particularly great. It seeps into the wood and keeps leeching out. So not only does the kid have the psychological issue of killing people's pets all day, every time he does it he's holding a stinky, greasy piece of wood and metal up towards his face and getting punched in the shoulder every time he pulls the trigger. No wonder they got to drink.

[@killman369547]

Definitely that's a rifle that if you don't have it held properly it will make you regret it.

[@theivory1]

That final episode is among the finest of any single episode of TV ever produced. It's just amazing.

[@rhonafenwick5643]

Addie, thank you for sharing your emotion so openly! This show really does play like a horror series in some ways, except the true depth of the horror lies in that the events actually happened. It's a hard story to hear, but one everyone should know. (Episode 4 nearly broke me too.) By the way, the plant workers who drained the bubbler tanks - Oleksii Ananenko, Valery Bespalov, and Boris Baranov - probably survived because water actually absorbs radiation very well: just seven centimetres of water can reduce ionising radiation by 50%. Still, they likely wouldn't have known that (they were mechanical engineers rather than nuclear physicists) and their courage shouldn't be diminished one iota because of it. Heroes of the finest kind

[@neilaslayer]

I once read that military conscripts were given a choice of 2 minutes on the roof at Chernobyl or 2 years in Afghanistan if they refused.

[@torres3359]

If you are interested there is the book by Svetlana Alexievich, Voices from Chernobyl. It is a compilation of interviews that she made with different survivors from Chernobyl.

[@tareskisloki8579]

There is a show called Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes made by HBO in 2022 that apparently covers this in greater detail with real footage, I have not had the chance to watch it myself.

[@mikecooper7755]

I HIGHLY recommend the book "voices of Chernobyl" it's all interviews and first hand accounts from people in the area and people who helped in the liquidation. I had to put it down a few times but wow, it's so crazy

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

the fireman's wufe is Jessy Buckely, a really good singer :) also plays in Fargo.

[@krashd]

She was great in Taboo.

[@CyberBeep_kenshi]

@@krashd you should see her cover of Shinead, Troy. incredible

[@joelwillems4081]

Soviets didn't keep track of what happened to all of those who worked there. Part of it was because the Soviet Union falling shortly afterwards.

[@TerryNutkins3]

It was fascinating and scary watching this during the pandemic and seeing Politicians in both the UK and US doing exactly the same as what the people in power were doing in this show, pretending everything was fine, lying to the public about what was going on and being more interested in how things looked and how they could benefit rather than being open and honest and doing what was necessary while the people on the front line worked tirelessly putting their own lives on the line to save others

[@TerryNutkins3]

@The_AddieCounts. is Telegram used for anything other than scamming the gullible?

[@willhennessy864]

I think one of my favorite parts of this series is the break between episodes 2 and 3... watching those dudes disappear into the water and not be sure what happened to them, only to open the next episode of them ass-kicking their way out of there. And THEN the reveal about them at the end. That ruled.

[@bellsTheorem1138]

The three men that volunteered to go under to drain the tanks all survived. Two of them are still alive and the third died in 2008 of heart disease, not related to Chernobyl.

[@GaudialisCorvus]

So glad you've watched this show!

[@tfpp1]

As a general rule, if you had the roof job for those 90 seconds, that was your "lifetime" quotient of radiation, which means it was a one and done, you couldn't go out and help out multiple times (though some people were sneaky and did). But the guy who gave the speech to the workers before going out, had to repeat it each and every single time for as long as that took to do because everyone who did it needed to hear it fresh.

[@ms-literary6320]

I always wondered about the guy at the top of the stairs, just inside the door from the roof, handing out shovels and banging the bell.

[@auslandermercury972]

6:14 I absolutely LOVE the miners 😄

[@AlanCanon2222]

Addie, I am so happy that you found CHERNOBYL so compelling. I have watched it many times and it is a tear-jerker each time, even watching it clip-wise, like this. I studied physics, and teach science as a tutor, in informal settings. I love discussing science with members of my community who are fellow musicians and artists. I find that there are so many people who find science fascinating, but don't consider themselves capable of learning it, chiefly because they don't consider themselves good at math. While it's true that mathematics is essential for predicting the details of what will happen in a given situation, this series proves that the basics can be explained to the lay person without mathematics of any kind. (I suppose the lay person must be familiar with the idea of a measurement going up or down, as Valery says at the very beginning of his courtroom speech.) I encourage anyone who is compelled by the series to indeed go down the scientific rabbit hole that is the history and analysis of the Chernobyl disaster, and commend the producers and writers for their efforts in promoting an interest in nuclear science, engineering, and policy.

[@p3rd1x]

This series is a masterpiece and so different from most shows, really shows how many people had to come together to be the best of our species. I don’t have a lot to add, but as someone who works in the nuclear space I wanted to add a note with a bit of levity, something the average person may miss but gives me a laugh. In the last episode, when he mentions the shutoff button he uses an industry term “scram.” The scram button has a funny history, it’s actually an acronym though few know it now. In the early days of nuclear reactor there weren’t mechanized systems to lower the control rods all at once. Instead there was a rope that if cut would drop the control rods in to stop the reaction, gravity did the work. To cut this rope, there was someone whose job it was in an emergency to do it, and so this man would have an axe that if signaled his whole job was to cut the rope. This job title was Safety Control Rod Axe Man. Scram. That’s where we get the scram button. Enrico Fermi himself coined the term.

[@Gazer75]

I'm in Norway which got the second most affected by this due to the topography and heavy rainfall that deposited Cesium 137. It was then absorbed by sheep and reindeer. In some parts of Norway the sheep and reindeer meat was not edible for a while. And I believe also harvesting berries in the wild was not safe for many years.

[@karstenstormiversen4837]

As a fellow Norwegian and a teenager when this happend it is the truth! And the meat and berries was not edible for several years after the incident in Chernobyl!

[@Vograx]

Know what the sheep in Finnmark say? Bææææcquerel

[@stormstereo]

Correct, berries and mushrooms. Basically anything living and growing outside in uncontrolled environments.

[@CaptainRandus]

I am an operator at a plant, this series hit me hard as we studied the crap out of this disaster. Very well done!

[@sirimperialmike6398]

I was teenager in 1986. We didn't really know too much other than the USSR had a nuclear disaster at Chernobyl. We thought the entire city had blown up or something. Teenagers don't really pay too much attention. I recall making light of the disaster. Playing a game of Risk with my friends, we took a cigarette and burnt a spot on the game board on the Ukraine space where Chernobyl was approximately located. Laughing as we did so. Now, as we learn about the reality of Chernobyl and the seriousness of the disaster... I look back at my youth and ignorance with shame.

[@7Rendar]

No need to feel ashamed. You were a child who's brain hadn't even fully developed yet. I'm guessing the seriousness was downplayed around you as well, so how could you make anything but a bad judgment...

[@krashd]

Such is life. I remember when the Boxing Day tsunami happened in 2004 it was at the height of Richard Branson's various "around the world in a hot air balloon" attempts and so a joke that made the rounds here in the UK within days of the tsunami was "Richard Branson has been beaten in his latest attempt to circumnavigate the globe by an upside-down man in a deck chair." Then years later you see a documentary showing the destruction and learn that a quarter of a million people died and you wish you could slap your younger self in the head for laughing at a joke.

[@killman369547]

Eh, at that age you don't know what you don't know. And finding out information about a nuclear accident in a sealed off country like the USSR would've been very difficult. So i wouldn't beat myself up about it too badly if i were you. But yeah we live and we learn.

[@Yevgeniy-UA]

The impact of radiation shown in these miniseries is the family-friendly version. Reality was much more horrifying

[@wackyvorlon]

If you want to have a bad day, look up Hisashi Ouchi. Now that is harrowing.

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

Which is just... what the heck. This was horrifying enough.

[@killman369547]

​@@Crazy_Diamond_75 If you have a strong enough stomach, read some of the written accounts from the hospital staff at the time. One guy they tried to lift his arm and all the flesh just fell off.

[@mikecarew8329]

“These men work in the dark; they see everything.” What a poetic summation of the entire situation and even of the Soviet system or any totalitarian state.

[@jthomann71]

Episode 4 is the one episode I can't ever watch again. I can watch humans suffer all day, but animals deserve better. That's why this Kristi Noem business has had me outraged for the last day.

[@umalishonuy7977]

You have a very kind heart♥

[@xanthiusdrake2775]

She really does, not sure if she would handle the Gioania nuclear tragedy. It is another nuclear disaster, but this one took place in Gioania in 1987, not to long after the Chernobyl meltdown.

[@Korrd]

I knew the story of Chernobyl from documentaries, but this series is amazing regardless. Kudos for making it through. It's a tough watch, but so, so good.

[@thecassman]

I work often in Europe and a colleague of mine lived in Pripyat at the time. He was 6 when the accident happened and remembers the fire and being evacuated after school one day. He lives in Lviv now and told me many people still live near Chernobyl today, refusing to leave.

[@monygemini88]

"They mistakenly sent the one good man" 😢

[@auslandermercury972]

Great reaction! So glad you enjoyed the show. It’s truly incredible. This is one of those shows I will gladly rewatch to show it to my friends. It really is a masterpiece based on a tragedy.

[@Bassmaster12-wk4dp]

Great reaction Addie to a phenomenal series. Thank you! 👏👏👏

[@4nthr4x]

29:49 that short but solemn "You're done" always has such a profound deeper meaning I think. If my count is correct, I've seen about 7 times reactions to this phenomenal series, but still no one picked up on that sentence, but it might be because YT format is a shorter cut

[@ms-literary6320]

There was a folk belief that vodka helped block the effects of radiation. The soldiers were given a lot of it. So they were drinking due to trauma, but also out of vague hope.

[@marvinsarracino116]

This is a great mini series! I knew Addie would like it! The tough episode for me was episode 4 because of the destruction of the animals... The dogs especially! Knew this would be a hard watch for Addie but she handled it like a champ! Great storytelling and great acting! Even though there was some exaggerating the overall story and events happened! Thanks for sharing Addie ❤️💛

[@phantom213]

Thank you for the reaction. This is a very important show and it's brilliantly done.

[@lolmao500]

And the fact is, that Fukushima in Japan was very very very close from going full Chernobyl back in 2011, which would have screwed Tokyo and forced the evacuation of 30+ million people and would have bankrupted Japan overnight. Thats what the gov study said anyways... and yet again people wont be able to live near there for at least 100 years... and before the plant is not a nuclear danger? 20 000+ years.

[@SpearM3064]

This. So much, this. Smithsonian Channel (or is it National Geographic?) has a series called "10 steps to disaster", and one of the episodes was about Fukushima. Until I saw that episode, I had no idea how much worse things almost were.

[@travis3810]

I work in the nuclear industry, and Fukushima was so frustrating because it halted the new nuclear renaissance. Only in the last 4-5 years has it really started to recover

[@petrusjnaude7279]

Congrats on finishing this excellent miniseries.

[@bobsandler4563]

In this golden age of television, this show is near or at the top. Phenomenal.

[@DarthVader-ig6ci]

6:27 this scene actually a disgrace to Mikhail Shchadov. He was known to be a pretty competent minister and he had a graduate degree in mining engineering. To portray him as some with no knowledge about his work here is just really a bad move Artistic liberty is understandable but the makers should've been more careful about certain things. Also, the evacuation of Pripyat started the very next day to the disaster.

[@Heather-zh7cs]

I was so mad they didn't include the elephant's foot, but loved your reaction!

[@RoboSteave]

Great reactions to a truly great show!

[@WaywardVet]

I knew you were gonna take the animal control part hard after your Ep1-2 reaction. So i'm glad you got to laugh at the "I need a new telephone". Gotta find the smallest light in the darkest places.

[@Chris-es7qp]

Amazing how two of three guys who went back in are still alive

[@slaintejimmy]

I remember the daily news reports of the radiation being detected spreading across Europe.. I couldn't wait for Addie's part#2 and had to re-binge these last episodes immediately after watching part#1. Bonkers to realize that Chernobyl is on the North border of Ukraine and Belarus with all the recent Russian 'shenanigans' impacting the area.. Mad. 😢 Thanks for taking on this reaction, Hun'. 🙏

[@kinokind293]

The thick black smoke was done for dramatic/narrative effect, since the actual smoke was nearly invisible - which somehow makes it scarier. I'll always remember seeing helicopter footage (when it became available) looking down into the ruined reactor, and the horrible deep purple glow emanating from within. I knew that it was ionizing radiation causing the air to fluoresce, and that that was something no one should ever see, since it implies almost certain death for the person who sees it. Kind of like seeing the Gorgon. It made me think of Nietzsche's quote: "Gaze not long into the abyss, for the abyss looks back into you".

[@Vioven]

That upset me with the husband so much. It's framed that he's dangerous and radioactive which isn't true, she was already exposed to too much radiation just being at home and prone to miscarriages already. And the baby didn't absorb her radiation, they are exposed to the same and it's more susceptible to it. Their baby was doomed long before she came into contact with him. The plastic curtains were to protect HIM since he had no immune system intact anymore. Holding his hand wasn't going to hurt her or the baby and no one was caring for him because there were too many people that needed help. People have actually harassed this woman irl now over this.

[@mariasidor6672]

thank you for that comment, more people need to read it

[@proosee]

I encourage everyone to watch real footage of liquidators cleaning the roof - that's a piece of history right there and those are the heroes on that tape. The spooky part is that camera operator paid with his life to catch those clips.

[@mckrackin5324]

I've been looking forward to this one. As a fellow dog lover, I knew this one would be tough for you.

[@StardustandMadness]

For me, I teared up when they were shooting the dogs, but the disposal afterward into the pit from the truck was what made me sob. Heartbreaking. The whole situation was heartbreaking.

[@chrishotovec4163]

Chenobyl is an interesting series because it is something that actually happened, that has affected me more than anything in this show. It was real it happened, the most terrifying thing on the planet and it actually happened. It always makes me think.

[@vanyadolly]

It really is the most surreal watch. I grew up with the stories and thought I knew plenty about it, I couldn't have imagined this. Even as an adult it's hard to accept that some problems just don't have solutions and "biorobots" is the only option.

[@Short_Round1999]

The interviews of all personnel on site is how we are able to have practically a minute by minute account of what happened

[@Short_Round1999]

There’s so many books about it. I recommend “Midnight in Chernobyl”

[@auslandermercury972]

8:30 Again. I absolutely LOVE the miners 😍 😄 Their leader is a great guy. He understands the mission but won’t let his men walk into something blindly. He values their work and their lives, and I also love his no B.S. attitude 😄

[@Unotch]

The truth is actually so much more insane but it would need a lot of explaining. The rods had no graphite tips. They had whole rods of graphite attached to them which were inserted when the control rods were retracted. Same reason why there was graphite on the floor. Lets you burn cheap unenriched uranium. A western lightwater reactor has only water. If the temperature rises, the water becomes steam and the negative void coefficient reduces reactivity automatically. But graphite resists heat and does not create a void. At least not before the big boom.

[@thespacesbetweenstudio3346]

the friendship that developed between Lagasov and Boris was good on the show

[@davepangburn]

For me, this series also provides a deep lesson about the inherent costs humans suffer from the bureaucracy of Authoritarian regimes. Whether Marxist, Fascist, Oligarchic (Putin's Russia) or Religious (such as Islamic Fundamentalist governments), all Authoritarian forms of governance make humanity suffer both beyond their borders (war & terrorism) and from within their borders (suppression of choice, speech, self-determination, safety, of freedom). My assertion will trigger a certain segment of sympathizers to these forms of governance. They will protest, say no, this series is a lesson about all government bureaucracies. Imagining a false equivalency. No. Representative Republics with Democratic principles & the ideals Free-Speech are flawed & messy, imperfect. But there is no equivalency of their bureaucracies to the tyranny of Authoritarian bureaucracies. So pervasive are the control Authoritarian regimes have in a society, they self-perpetuate a centralized, ruling class of sociopaths whose ruthlessness, selfishness, malice, corruption, and lying become so dominant it will cause a country to collapse from rot & dysfunction within. But before that happens, the untold Innocent under their tyranny will suffer from fear, harm, poverty, destitution & death. This dramatic series shows all elements of these in play. Illustrating all too lucidly what disasters bureaucracy under an Authoritarian regime can bring to humanity, will bring to humanity. To not acknowledge and learn from this can only create the opportunity for more costs of lies.

[@wozing]

The writing is so good. I loved the decision to condense the team of scientists into the character of Hamyuk. And the make-up?? Omg that radiation sickness looks gruesome. I'm so glad this story was pitched to a studio that takes itself seriously. If this had been an Amazon, Netflix, or Paramount show, it wouldn't have been as good.

[@travis3810]

Fun fact: I work for a company who assisted in designing/constructing the confinement structure around the reactor. We actually still have people in Ukraine working on various projects. I am designing a new generation of nuclear reactor (SMR - small modular reactor) and this series is very interesting being in my line of work

[@Steve_Hickman]

It's quite rare to find a series that is incredibly enlightening because of individual heroism and courage, while at the same being incredibly infuriating at the lengths people will go to prevent the truth from getting out.

[@AxelHjort]

The best Tv series of all time. Always a tear when i see the epilogue

[@AllanBruton]

i love the soundtrack to this show especially that last song, Vichnaya Pamyat

[@NPA1001]

I think Chernobyl was the finest 5 hours of television I ever witnessed.

[@fewwiggle]

Scott Manley has a video that might be the best account of the problems with the reactor -- it's a bit technical but I think you could follow most of it after viewing this. Anyway, you might consider reacting to that as an addendum on this 'accident'.

[@Mojova1]

Radiation is the scariest thing in the world in my opinion. You can see guns and you can see fire, but radiation is just the most terrifying thing. I was born in Finland in 1986 when the disaster happened.

[@davidmarsden192]

I went into this knowing a bit about how a nuclear reactor works. I ended this show with my knowledge increased quite a bit. They explained it so well! Excellent dialogue, excellent performances!

[@twoheart7813]

A great reaction to a great series. There were a few major corruption incidents exposed in the USSR in the 80's that definitely caused its final collapse. Their failed war in Afghanistan was another factor. I hate to see Russia reverting back to their old cold war ways, a society based on lies, corruption and brutality.

[@loremipsum7825]

it turns out that if you don't die of acute radiation poisoning, it becomes incredibly difficult to suss out if that exposure caused your cancer. We humans vary widely in our resistance to radiation, which is why those estimates cover an order of magnitude. I know why they put the line "yes, and we'll be dead in five years," in the script, but Legasov didn't say that and couldn't have known it. In fact, he died of suicide.

[@jannegrey]

I mean he might have speculated. And of course 5 years is an estimate. Some people who were there (and were in similar situation - I'm not talking about firefighters, but about scientists) are still alive. Some died in much less than 5 years. I wouldn't say we vary in our resistance to radiation - at least not in some significant manner. But because the radiation strikes at random and because processes to repair DNA are within our cells, there is often a big difference between individuals. Maybe the DNA part that was damaged wasn't as important as in other person? Maybe the repair mechanisms managed to overwrite the damage? Heck, there are so many variables when we talk about doses that are not lethal within weeks, that I get why you did say that people vary in their resistance to radiation.

[@2strokinit527]

This series was fantastic, but so heart breaking.

[@Pandercolour]

For the three "volunteers" (in reality the three men were conscripted into the task), they survived because water, as it turns out, is extremely good at stopping radiation.

[@joshuawells835]

It's been reported that in response to this series (though it's been denied in true Russian fashion), the Russians were going to make their own series about Chernobyl, in which the CIA play a key role in the disaster. Whether or not they actually went through with it, I'm not sure, but apparently a trailer was uploaded on KZbin and then taken down due to bad reception.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

11:30 Radiation isn't a certain death, it just increases your likely hood of cancer Someone might die from minimal exposure, someone might be completely fine by deadly doseses, it's a game of russian roulette, it's just that depending on how long you are exposed, your chances are higher

[@stevealford230]

That's not true at all. With a heavy dose, it won't be cancer that kills you, it will be the holes in your organs that the radioactive particles ripped as they shot through you like bullets. Low doses will increase likelihood of cancer by damaging cells that won't heal and will become basically a tumor... but big doses will kill you before cancer can even begin to form. Yes, people have survived big doses, but that happens when the dose is concentrated into a beam that passes through just one part of their body without making multiple organs Swiss Cheese. If a moderate to big dose hits you in a diffuse, scattered pattern, it absolutely IS certain death.

[@kapilavastuvasin]

Re: the old lady who didnt wanna leave- she didnt over-state that she's seen it all. Being 82 in 1986 means she was 10 years old when WW1 started and 35 when the 2nd world war started. She truly saw it all.

[@McPh1741]

This miniseries has so good. I'm glad you watched it. There is a really good fictional movie called "The China Syndrome" starring Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas" that is worth checking out. There's a scene in there near the beginning where a near meltdown was avoided. Ironically, around the time the movie was released, almost the same exact scenario happened at the Three Mile Island Nuclear plant. Regardless of Chernobyl, nuclear power is still our most efficient way or producing electricity. The amount of energy that a small amount of radioactive material can release is unmatched by coal, oil, or natural gas. It doesn't rely on sunshine or a windy day. Keep in mind that there are hundreds of nuclear plants around the world and over hundred nuclear powered ships and naval vessels as well. All operating safely and without incidents. I'm willing to bet that there have been far more deaths related to the mining and burning of coal than related to nuclear power. What happened at Chernobyl was what happens when you don't respect the power you are dealing with, and you have no regard for safety.

[@danielpopp1526]

To help you feel better about the pets, before Russias invasion, there was a program where they rescued descendants of pets left alive in the Chernobyl area. So long as they weren’t contaminated, they would clean them up, give them shots, get them fixed, then put them up for adoption. Any that are too contaminated would still be treated and fixed, before being released back into the area. It's an amazing program that I hope will resume quickly when the war finally ends.

[@ColdWarShot]

If you watch the film Coraline, Mr Bobinsky wears a Chernobyl Liquidator (cleanup) Medal on his chest. It’s also why his character has a bluish tint to his skin.

[@Heroo01]

Unfun fact! They actual three men that went in to drain the tanks did NOT have hand crank flashlights as a backup. The show merely added them so we could see what was happening. The real men had to do all of it in pitch blackness

[@s1lm4r1l6]

Do you know the really annoying thing about the retro-fitted AZ5 Button? They changed it from a press and all the rods insert at once to Press and hold and the rods insert in a cascade like a Mexican wave. That's the only change they made.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

But it works, Chernobyl was an operational error, the conditions needed for it to explode where so unlikely, it would be basically impossible to happen under any normal circumstance The change to it, made the already almost impossible scenario even less likely

[@Griexxt]

@@jesusramirezromo2037 So you mean it's going to be less likely than almost impossible until the next time it happens?

[@Heroo01]

@@Griexxt are you dumb bro? those reactors are no longer in service lmfao, this was in the 80s bruh not to mention EVERYONE knew about it now and no one would _dare_ push a reactor like that ever again.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

@@Griexxt No, It means that as long as actual protocol is followed, it wouldn't explode even in an emergency

[@andrewdeen1]

one thing not mentioned in the show.... those miners did all that for nothing. turns out it would never have melted through the pad.

[@shag139]

The fear comes from so many people knowing so little about physics, radiation, and anything nuclear. You can’t see or hear it so people fear it. The firemen’s suits are radioactive because they are contaminated with radioactive particles (dust/dirt). The clothing itself is not radioactive. It’s why the first thing they do for someone who is contaminated is to removed clothing and spray/wash them down. It’s to remove the particles that are radioactive. The clothing itself is not radioactive. It just has particles on it. You need neutron activiation for something to actually become radioactive. This can only occur inside a reactor where there are lots of neutrons, an actual nuclear detonation, or from something like the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge TN. The real danger outside of getting blasted with very high activity sources is inhalation and ingestion. Alpha and Beta particles are easily stopped minimal shielding and distance. Even a piece of paper will stop an alpha and aluminum foil can stop a beta particle. Ironically that is the problem if it gets in your body. It means all the radioactivity gets stopped and absorbed by your body until it is eliminated by bodily functions or it has went through more than 7 half lives. Gamma rays take the most shielding but if internal most are not absorbed by the body. Doesn’t mean it won’t cause harm though.