Chernobyl - General Discussion

[Scaeva]

15 hours ago, MadameKillerB said:

I'm glad someone mentioned this. I have been trying to describe fatalism to my husband and how that affects worldviews/humor/daily choices. I lived in Czech Republic for a bit over 8 years and Czechs also subscribe to this fatalist perspective.

I can't recall now whether it was from the Chernobyl series' podcast or something I stumbled across while deep-diving in the wiki hole, but there was a great example of Russian black humor told by the liquidators. It went something like...

A Japanese robot was sent to clean up the irradiated roof. After 5 minutes, the radiation destroyed it.

A German robot was then sent to clean the irradiated roof. After 5 minutes it also broke down.

A Russian robot was then sent up. After 5 minutes it was announced, "Private Ivanov, you may take your smoke break now."

Edited May 30, 2019 by Scaeva

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Scaeva said:

I can't recall now whether it was from the Chernobyl series' podcast or something I stumbled across while deep-diving in the wiki hole, but there was a great example of Russian black humor told by the liquidators. It went something like...

A Japanese robot was sent to clean up the irradiated roof. After 5 minutes, the radiation destroyed it.

A German robot was then sent to clean the irradiated roof. After 5 minutes it also broke down.

A Russian robot was then sent up. After 5 minutes he was told, "Private Ivanov, you may take your smoke break now."

I haven't heard any of Peter Sagal's Chernobyl podcasts yet, but that classically structured joke sounds like something he would tell.

  
  

My father's parents and his infant sister left the area near Chernobyl during the Bolshevik Revolution, which made me consider that I might have distant cousins there, so, in 1996, as a reentry college student, I wrote a research paper on Chernobyl. I learned that "Chernobyl" translates as "wormwood," which is a bitter herb, and began my paper with this biblical epigraph:

Quote

"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter." (Rev 8:10–11)

This linguistic coincidence is often mentioned in pieces on Chernobyl. I think it may have also been in episode 1 of this series?

The scene with the chunk of graphite on the ground, glittering in the night like a fallen star (and picked up by one of the first responders, who screamed as his hand began to burn not long after) seemed inspired by this eerily prescient bible verse.

ETA: I just discovered that the plant I knew as sage — that grew around the house I rented in the desert when I wrote the research paper on Chernobyl — is also known as wormwood.

Edited May 30, 2019 by shapeshifter

[Helena Dax]

On 5/29/2019 at 5:00 AM, shapeshifter said:

Okay. I'll give you/them that one. 

Speaking of smiles, I appreciated when the scientist and the bureaucrat were finally able to smile together at one small victory.

And speaking of science:
It was explained that Lyudmilla survived because her baby absorbed most of the radiation to which she was exposed. Is that true? Or was that just blaming the victim?

I remember a case where a whole family died because of a faulty butane stove except for the pregnant mother, since the fetus acted as a filter. But tbh I don'r know if it was something that happened for real or something that I saw in House MD

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Helena Dax said:

On 5/28/2019 at 10:00 PM, shapeshifter said:

And speaking of science:
It was explained that Lyudmilla survived because her baby absorbed most of the radiation to which she was exposed. Is that true? Or was that just blaming the victim?

I remember a case where a whole family died because of a faulty butane stove except for the pregnant mother, since the fetus acted as a filter. But tbh I don'r know if it was something that happened for real or something that I saw in House MD

This^ story, @Helena Dax, and this bit below from the CDC, seem to confirm my suspicion that Lyudmilla--like other mothers in other situations--was being blamed for her baby's tragic outcome beyond what she was responsible for. In Lyudmilla's case, she could maybe have had a healthy baby if she had stayed away from her husband, but maybe not.
But it seems highly unlikely that Lyudmilla survived because her baby absorbed radiation:

Quote

. . . fetuses are particularly sensitive to radiation during their early development, between weeks 2 and 18 of pregnancy. The health consequences can be severe, even at radiation doses too low to make the mother sick. (emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/prenatal.pdf)

Now that I think more about it, carrying a baby that had absorbed radiation would more likely harm than protect a mother.

And even if the baby did absorb more radiation when Lyudmilla spent time with her husband so "he wouldn't die alone," perhaps that is why the baby only survived a merciful 4 hours, rather than suffering for, perhaps, 2 months. 
But it seems most of the dangerous dosage of radiation would have happened at the time of the event and in the days shortly after. Plus, that was when the baby would have been most vulnerable, since it was at the beginning of the pregnancy.

Edited May 30, 2019 by shapeshifter
more

[Penman61]

9 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

Yeah, I was ok until the mother dog and puppies too. That was just verging on torture porn and it sort of pissed me off. The show is better than that. We got the point with adult dogs, adding puppies in the mix was a deliberate tug at viewer's heartstrings. It's almost a relief to be getting back to politics of it all next week.

I, too, thought the puppies was a bridge too far when watching it.

After listening to the podcast and hearing about That Other Scene they cut, I can see how the filmmakers thought it was ok to leave in the puppy scene since they thought they were dialing it back by leaving That Other Scene on the cutting room floor.  Still...too far for me.

I do wish they had followed up more with Pavel to show the consequences of this horrific task.

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, Penman61 said:

I do wish they had followed up more with Pavel to show the consequences of this horrific task.

There is a scene right after Pavel leaves the puppy house where he stands in the street and just chugs water from his canteen.  When I saw that I wondered if maybe instead of water that canteen actually had vodka, which would play back to his first scene in the tent when the other guy offers him a drink and he says it's a little early for him. 

[Melina22]

I wondered that too. Given their task, it would be understandable. Although probably chugging vodka all day would end up making a nightmarish day even worse. Imagine killing dogs with a hangover. 😢

[meep.meep]

Imagine shooting a gun with a hangover.

[akr]

I wondered if the baby protected Lyudmilla because its rapidly growing body took up much of the radioactive material. Radiation does more damage to rapidly dividing cells, and perhaps the isotopes would also concentrate there - just as the thyroid takes up radioactive iodine, the heart & liver (the baby died of cirrhosis & heart damage) may selectively take up other radioactive elements, & developing organs more so than adult ones.

I assumed Pavel was drinking vodka in the late scene - I didn't remember what he was drinking from but if you'd asked me I would have guessed a flask rather than a canteen (it would make sense to be carrying both - water for hydration, & vodka for the occasional numbing dose necessary to cope).

I didn't think the puppy scene was excessive - I found it very powerful. They did not show what happened, and it had that sudden shock of seeing how Pavel had become inured to much of what they had to do, but could not bring himself to go further, and how Bacho had to be the one to do it. Both men's roles in that scene really brought it home for me.

Edited May 30, 2019 by akr
autocorrect is unreliable

[shapeshifter]

45 minutes ago, akr said:

I did not think the puppy scene was excessive - I found it very powerful. They did not show what happened, and it had that sudden shock of seeing how Pavel had become inured to much of what they had to do, but could not bring himself to go further, and how Bacho had to be the one to do it. Both men's roles in that scene really brought it home for me

I agree, although I found myself glancing away from the puppies.

[MizLottie]

Stellan Skarsgaard and Emily Watson were in the movie Breaking the Waves many years ago, the first time I'd ever seen both actors.  

Edited May 31, 2019 by MizLottie

[Lathund]

This is such an incredibly well done series in every way possible. The acting, the research (And listening to the podcast, it's obvious the creator took the responsibility of portraying this event seriously), the attention to detail, the cinematography, the music, the sets, the costumes and makeup. Just fantastic all around. It's both captivating and hard to watch. And it's enlightening. Been reading some on the side as I watch too, but I've learned a lot that I didn't know. Things like how the other reactors at Chernobyl kept going for more than a decade afterwards. 

I don't have much of a connection, or direct memories, of Chernobyl. Not really surprising since I was born just two months before. I was quite the harbinger of doom, just two weeks after I was born our Prime Minister Olof Palme was murdered (Still unsolved to this day), and then Chernobyl. Can't blame me for Challenger though. 

I do remember the environmental impact it had here in Sweden. Most noticably on the Reindeer, and thus the indigenous Sami people who were heavily affected by the lichen and then the reindeer turning radioactive. It's still a problem today, but on a much lesser scale. Naturally it also didn't do a lot to reverse the post-Harrisburg referendum decision to phase out Nuclear Power. 

Also nice to see some familiar Swedish faces. In addition to the always great Stellan Skarsgård, there's also David Dencik playing Gorbachev and Fares Fares playing Bacho. And of course the director being Swedish. 

[Sharpie66]

(Lathund, my grandfather emigrated from Lulea back in the early ‘20s, and I am really interested in going  to Sweden some day to check out that part of my heritage. Can I ask what part you are from? Just curious.)

[Lathund]

46 minutes ago, Sharpie66 said:

(Lathund, my grandfather emigrated from Lulea back in the early ‘20s, and I am really interested in going  to Sweden some day to check out that part of my heritage. Can I ask what part you are from? Just curious.)

I'm from Göteborg (or Gothenburg, the only Swedish city to get a different name in English), on the west coast. Only been to Luleå very briefly (As a student I spent a week at the beautiful new(ish) hospital nearby) so can't tell you much, but I can recommend visiting during summer. The beauty of being so near the arctic circle is the (almost) midnight sun you get, but only getting a few hours of daylight in winter is less awesome. Which, ya know, is hardly revelatory stuff, but I know people from lower latitudes do tend to get surprised. 

Edited May 31, 2019 by Lathund

[Grammaeryn]

So the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts is shutting down this afternoon and I'm chuckling over the timing (to calm down my anxiety). They did a practice run in a model control room. I really hope there isn't an equivalent AZ button! 

[Sharpie66]

(Thanks, Lathud! Yeah, when I went to Orkney in mid-July a few years ago, I was really surprised there was only about 4-5 hours of night, and that latitude is just south of Stockholm, much further south than Lulea. In Chicago, the nighttime in July is double that.)

I am really happy that, fingers crossed, there hasn’t been a nuclear power plant incident of any major impact since Chernobyl. If you think about it, the likelihood of that lasting is not good.

[Garden Wafers]

On 5/30/2019 at 9:01 AM, shapeshifter said:

But it seems highly unlikely that Lyudmilla survived because her baby absorbed radiation

If she'd been undergoing external beam radiation therapy and Rad Onc somehow missed her pregnancy, then sure, I could possibly see how a fetus could absorb radiation and "protect" the mother. Otherwise, I'd chalk her survival up to the fact that she was a young, healthy woman; whereas she could tolerate whatever dose of total body irradiation she ultimately received, the developing fetus unfortunately could not. 

[Tyro49]

Did the guy who tore open his boot on the roof die? I felt particularly sorry for him, running and falling into puddles of gunk, etc.

[tennisgurl]

*sniffle* All the pets...

That was just such a heartbreaking plot, and while I know that it was certainly merciful to give the radiated pets a quick death than leaving them to die of radiation poisoning, but its still so painful to see. No wonder the liquidators drink so much vodka. Out there, there IS no too early. I do hope that they drink some water or something, killing pets is nightmarish enough, let alone doing it while hungover. 

Lyudmilla and her baby, just ouch. She really was risking a lot to be with her husband knowing she was pregnant, but I cant judge her too harshly, considering how little people knew about radiation and what it meant for people. She basically seemed to just think her husband had been badly, weirdly burned, not that he was basically leaking death all over the place. Plus, its such a horrible situation, I can only feel awful for her. 

Shcherbina just losing it when he realized that the government lied about how much radiation was leaked just because the didnt want to admit that a mistake was made was super understandable, I cant even imagine. There were so many people who really were heroic and self sacrificing and working hard and were trying to do their best in this awful situation, and yet they were being undermined by these jackasses in charge that just refused to really do what needed to be done because they wouldn't just admit that a mistake was made because they thought it made them look bad, or were just desperate to pass the buck as quickly as possible. 

I am really sad that we are only getting five episodes, this is really a great miniseries. The acting, directing, writing, and especially the cinematography are really all amazing. 

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Lyudmilla and her baby, just ouch. She really was risking a lot to be with her husband knowing she was pregnant, but I cant judge her too harshly, considering how little people knew about radiation and what it meant for people. She basically seemed to just think her husband had been badly, weirdly burned, not that he was basically leaking death all over the place

In the end, her instincts were correct; the medical professionals were wrong:

Quote

Contamination: Radioactive contamination results when loose particles of radioactive material settle on surfaces, skin, or clothing. Internal contamination may result if these loose particles are inhaled, ingested, or lodged in an open wound. Contaminated people are radioactive and should be decontaminated as quickly as possible. However, the level of radioactive contamination is unlikely to cause a health risk to another individual (health.ny.gov/environmental/emergency/radiological_terrorism/radterr.pdf).

  

  

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

There were so many people who really were heroic and self sacrificing and working hard and were trying to do their best in this awful situation, and yet they were being undermined by these jackasses in charge that just refused to really do what needed to be done because they wouldn't just admit that a mistake was made because they thought it made them look bad, or were just desperate to pass the buck as quickly as possible. 

They were certainly depicted as jackasses, and records indicate that Dyatlov was a bully, but some no doubt covered up important facts because they believed it was for the greater good, or just for the good of their own families, and some were probably in denial.

Edited June 1, 2019 by shapeshifter

[meatball77]

Quote

And even if the baby did absorb more radiation when Lyudmilla spent time with her husband so "he wouldn't die alone," perhaps that is why the baby only survived a merciful 4 hours, rather than suffering for, perhaps, 2 months. 
But it seems most of the dangerous dosage of radiation would have happened at the time of the event and in the days shortly after. Plus, that was when the baby would have been most vulnerable, since it was at the beginning of the pregnancy.

1

I think there's a good chance that this is what happened.  That the baby died soon rather than instead facing the consequences and getting cancer at one or two.  Or being born with only half of the problems which would have caused it to live longer but suffer to the end.

[Laurie4H]

I really want to watch this but I can’t handle anything with animals being hurt or killed or anything where and animal is even shown to be sad.  How graphic is it in that regard?  

[shapeshifter]

46 minutes ago, Laurie4H said:

I really want to watch this but I can’t handle anything with animals being hurt or killed or anything where and animal is even shown to be sad.  How graphic is it in that regard?  

It's obvious they avoided gratuitous imagery, but there is one brief, graphic shot, and there are a lot of sounds. 
It's an excellent series, but I think it would be fine if you skipped this episode. 
I now wonder if they put the animal stuff into just one episode for this reason (because so many people can't handle it).

[MsBig]

I find this show totally compelling. I didn't know much about what happened in Chernobyl except what I remember form hearing about it as a teenager. The story is fascinating... especially for how much worse it could have been, and the nonsensical bureaucracy and blame-avoidance of the Soviet leadership.

I've been word-of-mouthing all my family and friends to watch the show. The story itself is incredible, but the quality of the show-running, cinematography, script, direction, and acting is superb. It deserves every award available. There were parts of the show that reminded me of Aliens or other incredibly tense dramatic scenarios from other shows or movies. So well done!

So great to see Stellan and Emily reunited after they both found fame (in the UK at least) with Breaking the Waves! And Jared Harris is always a gem. I loved the head miner (can’t think where I’ve seen him before) and lots of the smaller parts.

I'm from the UK myself so the different British accents didn't bother me and I got the fact that they were indicating Russian language with a variety of dialects. Game of Throne took a similar approach. What did throw me off slightly was actually the casting of the pet-hunting young man. I think Nina Gold's casting is genius but I'm not sure she made the right call with him. Nothing wrong with his acting, but his face is so typically Russian that it made me start thinking about the rest of the cast, none of whom look Russian. I hadn't noticed that before I saw him!

I thought episodes 1-3 were some of the best television I've ever seen, but I was disappointed with episode 4 (apart from the opener with the Babushka, which was brilliant). I think partly because I'd built it up in my head and raced home to see it, partly because I had to fast-forward all the bits involving pets, and partly because it just wasn't as great as the others. I could have done without the long pet storyline and more on the bravery of the volunteers in the dicey clean-up operation, and the leadership bungling the robot loan.

I'm really looking forward to the conclusion, though, and sorry that it's only 5 episodes long.

[lidarose9]

5 hours ago, Laurie4H said:

I really want to watch this but I can’t handle anything with animals being hurt or killed or anything where and animal is even shown to be sad.  How graphic is it in that regard?  

I am the same, and thanks to this forum, I was forewarned. So when they started showing scenes of the men patrolling looking for animals, I muted the sound and held up my hand so I could only see the bottom of the screen where there are the subtitles. That way I could know when the scene was done. The subtitles enabled me to see what was going on without seeing it or hearing it. There is an opening scene with the cow, so you may want to close your eyes for that. That one didn't bother me because the cow did not suffer at all. Much like the guy in charge, it's easier for me to take if I know they did not suffer. I appreciated that the script made that clear. They were not enjoying this. They had to drink themselves numb to do it. But it had to be done. Just like the guys on the roof.

Edited June 1, 2019 by lidarose9
clarity

[Quilt Fairy]

For people that want to know more, I really recommend Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham, which I have been reading while watching the show.  I didn't care for it in the beginning, because it jumps viewpoints between a lot of different people, which I find confusing, but after the first few chapters I was mesmerized.  He also gives a detailed description of what happened in Control Room 4, both leading up to and during the fateful test. 

It seems as if the show is going to end with the trial and the suicide of Legasov (already shown in Ep 1), which only takes us to 1988-89. That's unfortunate because the story of Chernobyl continues for many years beyond.  It wasn't even until 1991 that

Spoiler

the Soviet Union admitted that the primary reason for the explosion was a flawed reactor design and not the incompetence of the operators.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, MsBig said:

I loved the head miner (can’t think where I’ve seen him before)

I agree, the head miner was wonderful. The character's full name is Andrei Glukhov, and he is played by Alex Fern.
I found a very short, interesting interview with him here: digitaltheatreplus.com/education/collections/digital-theatre/on-acting-alex-ferns
  
  

45 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

It seems as if the show is going to end with the trial and the suicide of Legasov (already shown in Ep 1), which only takes us to 1988-89. That's unfortunate because the story of Chernobyl continues for many years beyond. 

I suppose they might have a flash forward to the future, but I think it would be great if they did another season too.

[lidarose9]

So for those of you listening to the podcasts or reading books, is it your impression that this disaster helped bring about the breakup of the USSR?

[theschnauzers]

3 hours ago, lidarose9 said:

So for those of you listening to the podcasts or reading books, is it your impression that this disaster helped bring about the breakup of the USSR?

At the time, the western media reports seemed to indicate dissatisfaction with the entire controlled economic system and central control by the Party aggravated by the Reagan era arms race was the culprit. And the fact that Gorbachev’s perestroika campaign wasn’t having the desired results. Now, realizing the massive costs of containment, use of personnel, and disruption of production for consumer, industrial and military use, I think those factors were far more significant than anyone had thought, although the end result was approximately the same.

[Superpole2000]

16 hours ago, MsBig said:

I thought episodes 1-3 were some of the best television I've ever seen, but I was disappointed with episode 4 (apart from the opener with the Babushka, which was brilliant). I think partly because I'd built it up in my head and raced home to see it, partly because I had to fast-forward all the bits involving pets, and partly because it just wasn't as great as the others. I could have done without the long pet storyline and more on the bravery of the volunteers in the dicey clean-up operation, and the leadership bungling the robot loan.

I agree with all of this. I get why they did the dog thing because the world is full of dog lovers and this would have a monumental effect. But for me, the big story was the human robots and the horror of facing that gaping exploded reactor. That 90 second scene was intense, but it was somehow overshadowed in this post-apocalyptic episode.

[sidekickgirl]

In the middle of watching this and am appropriately enthralled and horrified. I have  lived near two nuclear power plants for most of my life. Every year, I have to authorize the school on the registration forms to have permission to give my kids potassium iodide pills in the event of a disaster. And the government issues us pills to keep at home as well. Chills me to the bone seeing why. 

I like how this feels visually 1986. I like the pacing and how it doesn’t seem sensationalized the way Hollywood often retells true events. 

[echo.Echo.ECHO]

On 5/26/2019 at 4:51 PM, One Imaginary Girl said:

The tweets of @SlavaMalamud are a good accompaniment to watching Chernobyl. He grew up in the USSR in the '80s and is astounded about the details that the series gets right.

Thank you for this. Fascinating.

[DrSparkles]

10 hours ago, Superpole2000 said:

I agree with all of this. I get why they did the dog thing because the world is full of dog lovers and this would have a monumental effect. But for me, the big story was the human robots and the horror of facing that gaping exploded reactor. That 90 second scene was intense, but it was somehow overshadowed in this post-apocalyptic episode.

Not for me & Im a huge animal lover/rescuer. I’m rewatching epi 1 after listening to the 4 podcasts (so far) & IMO head of the plant guy KNEW what had happened as soon as he walked down that hallway w the broken windows & saw the GRAPHITE.

Podcasts are incredible!!!

[Melina22]

4 hours ago, sidekickgirl said:

I like how this feels visually 1986. I like the pacing and how it doesn’t seem sensationalized the way Hollywood often retells true events. 

I lived in Eastern Europe (near a nuclear reactor) for 3 years in the early 90s, and this series absolutely nailed how it looked and felt to live there, right down to the women's hair and clothing, the way everyone smoked, and the dreary, fluorescent lit hallways of the endless concrete apartment blocks. This is probably why watching the show is giving me chills. I feel like I'm back there, living the experience. 

[Sharpie66]

I am rewatching the whole series today in preparation for the finale tomorrow. I just finished ep 1, and the scene when Sitnikov is sent to directly observe the situation from the roof after Dyatlov vomits and is taken from the bunker chills me even more now because that is the area that months later was reading 12000 roentgens. And he had absolutely no protection!

[tennisgurl]

In the middle of all this grim horror and sadness, I loved the scene where Legasov, Shcherbina, and their team all geeking out over getting that cool robot to play with. It was just nice to see them smiling and happy for a few seconds, even if it did end up going badly. "Is that a smile I see?!"

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, Sharpie66 said:

I am rewatching the whole series today in preparation for the finale tomorrow. I just finished ep 1, and the scene when Sitnikov is sent to directly observe the situation from the roof after Dyatlov vomits and is taken from the bunker chills me even more now because that is the area that months later was reading 12000 roentgens. And he had absolutely no protection!

Throughout the first episode depicting the initial event
—whenever they kept showing Dyatlov (who I call variations of other D words in my head) yelling at the better scientists to go look into the maw of the exploded reactor—as if he could force them to see something different than what was there
—I kept thinking of how different it would be today with constant contact between everyone throughout the plant—plus stringent safety protocols and precedures to follow and enforce. I mean, even in the early 90s Mulder and Scully had those giant cellphones, and in the frickin 70s, Maxwell Smart had a phone in his shoe.

[BeatrixK]

On ‎5‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 3:06 PM, shapeshifter said:

I agree, although I found myself glancing away from the puppies.

Yeah -- I did too.

As horrific as this scene is (And it's not horrific because of gore -- it's horrific because of the fantastic editing that it uses sound.) -- this isn't being watched because it's the feel good hit of the season.  This is a horrible event that ended up affected a larger percentage of the globe than originally thought...it's something we all may have to deal with as nuclear power becomes more standard. (Yes...we have better safeguards in place, but never, ever underestimate Mother Nature and Father Science deciding we are getting too big for our britches and bitch slapping us into submission once again.) 

But I didn't feel the scene was gratuitous -- it WAS what happened.  It WAS an unfortunate and horrible by product of the 'clean up' (Which is what I felt the overall arch of the episode was -- YAY...fires out.  We can clean up -- Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezie!.  Oh......wait.......uh.....hmmmm...)  It was sad that the animals could be dealt with more humanly in the aftermath of radiation poisoning than the humans who had to melt away.)  But it was what happened.  (And yes...I am eternally grateful they kept the 'OTHER' animal scene out.  Yes, it happened...but we got the point.  I'm glad the director spared that.

And the 90 seconds on the roof - I can't remember a more tense 90 seconds I've ever spent watching anything.  (And I'm going out on a limb and figuring boot guy didn't make it too long after that. )

I figure tonight is going to piece together the findings and explain exactly what happened and when and hopefully serve as a warning that Man needs to seriously quit overestimating how smart we are and how much we need to respect the hell out of science and it's accompanying dangers.

And then, at the conclusion...everyone involved can start crafting their Emmy speeches, because there is no way in hell this series doesn't win every category it's nominated in.

[Calamity Jane]

On 6/1/2019 at 11:39 PM, theschnauzers said:

At the time, the western media reports seemed to indicate dissatisfaction with the entire controlled economic system and central control by the Party aggravated by the Reagan era arms race was the culprit. And the fact that Gorbachev’s perestroika campaign wasn’t having the desired results. Now, realizing the massive costs of containment, use of personnel, and disruption of production for consumer, industrial and military use, I think those factors were far more significant than anyone had thought, although the end result was approximately the same.

Somewhere I read or heard that Gorbachev felt Chernobyl was 50% responsible for the demise of the Soviet Union. 

I just read Chernobyl, by Serhii Plokhy, an excellent account of the political fallout, which turned out to be nearly as toxic as the literal fallout. It sparked ecological concern movements in various regions which morphed into independence surges. Really a fascinating read, and it also explains the accident itself in pretty clear terms. 

Just as an aside, Lyudmila was six months along when the accident happened, not just a few weeks. I think if she had been in the earliest stages she would surely have miscarried. It doesn’t change anything about the depth of her loss at all, though, and having her be just newly pregnant made her ability to conceal the pregnancy easier for story telling. 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Calamity Jane

[marinw]

38 minutes ago, Calamity Jane said:

It doesn’t change anything about the depth of her loss at all, though, and having her be just newly pregnant made her ability to conceal the pregnancy easier for story telling. 

If she was obviously pregnent no competant Hospital employee would have let her anywhere near her husband, even for 30 monutes.

That said, I saw the nurses and orderlies  as more overwhelmed than incompetant in letting Lyudmila stay in the Moscow hospital for as long as she did. She should have been given protective gear, for whatever good that would have done.

[proserpina65]

On ‎06‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 11:26 AM, MsBig said:

What did throw me off slightly was actually the casting of the pet-hunting young man. I think Nina Gold's casting is genius but I'm not sure she made the right call with him. Nothing wrong with his acting, but his face is so typically Russian that it made me start thinking about the rest of the cast, none of whom look Russian. I hadn't noticed that before I saw him!

Are you referring to Pavel, the new kid on the patrol?  Because that was Barry Keoghan, who is Irish.  But looking at his picture on IMDB, he does look very eastern European.  Some of the other actors do as well, but not to the same extent.

[chenoa333]

I've always been interested in watching a documentation on this event but I'm afraid I won't be able to "unsee what I will see". However, I'm going to watch it this week. 

[Macbeth]

On June 2, 2019 at 3:53 AM, Superpole2000 said:

I agree with all of this. I get why they did the dog thing because the world is full of dog lovers and this would have a monumental effect. But for me, the big story was the human robots and the horror of facing that gaping exploded reactor. That 90 second scene was intense, but it was somehow overshadowed in this post-apocalyptic episode.

For me episode 3 was horrifying. I can't imagine a worse way to die. Being exposed to so much radiation your body liquifies. 

They can't give you morphine as your veins are disintegrating. And you can't scream as you have no face. 

So when I saw they were shooting the dogs I was like whatever. They could have used some of those bullets elsewhere.  I do understand that it was considered a health problem, and it was a good way to explore what went on, but the scene with the elderly woman in the beginning was much  more powerful. 

And I really did want to know more about those people on the roof. 

[Melina22]

44 minutes ago, Macbeth said:

whatever. They could have used some of those bullets elsewhere.  I do understand that it was considered a health problem, and it was a good way to explore what went on, but the scene with the elderly woman in the beginning was much  more powerful. 

I'm in agreement with you. I hated to see them shooting the dogs, but to me the human suffering was vastly worse. Animals feel physical pain, which is horrible, but for the most part, they live in the moment, so they're spared a lot of the mental agony suffered by humans. For example, the Chernobyl dogs weren't wandering around thinking, "Oh no! What will happen next? Will my puppies be born deformed? If we can't live here where will we go? Why is the government lying to us? If we die, will we wake up in another place?" 

I know tons of people will disagree with me, but this is how I see it. 

[Quilt Fairy]

7 hours ago, marinw said:

If she was obviously pregnent no competant Hospital employee would have let her anywhere near her husband, even for 30 monutes.

Hers is a true story, she apparently dressed so no one would notice she was pregnant. 

[minamurray78]

But I think the dog scene also relates to the human catastrophe. It relates to the liquidators who had to face, not just the radiation, but also the heart wrenching consequences of this disaster, like removing people from their homes to leave it all behind, or in Pavel's case, found himself drafted to sacrifice animals. I mean, Bacho is a seasoned soldier but the task it's clearly not easy on him either, therefore his rule to not let animales suffer. Chernobyl devastated people's bodies and souls. 

Edited June 3, 2019 by minamurray78

[Mars477]

On 5/31/2019 at 6:41 AM, Grammaeryn said:

So the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Massachusetts is shutting down this afternoon and I'm chuckling over the timing (to calm down my anxiety). They did a practice run in a model control room. I really hope there isn't an equivalent AZ button! 

AZ-5 was the emergency shutdown.  You better hope there’s an equivalent button haha.

[jcin617]

A fantastic conclusion to a fantastic series.  (Although not fantastic events).  I like that the epilogue explained and touched on a lot of the very things brought up in this forum.  I had read previously about what went wrong inside the reactor and I thought it was very well explained here.

[KLeewrite]

Someone needs to help me out here. Legasov got up to deliver his testimony...and my system decided to test its emergency alert system right then. We got the test for a couple of minutes and when the show came back, we were in the control room and Asimov was whispering to the young guy that he was doing fine. Can you fill me in on those couple of minutes that I missed? Many thanks!

[marinw]

9 minutes ago, jcin617 said:

I thought it was very well explained here.

The Producers of this show respect the intelligence  of the audience enough to trust that we can understand it. Although I might fail a pop quiz!

The best show I’ve seen this year.