The Chernobyl disaster is something that has always been of interest to me. Even though this is a dramatization not a documentary, it seems to be striving for accuracy and realism in its depiction of the event. I watch a lot of Horror and I'm probably desensitized by that frequency. But this episode had my heart thumping as the plant workers and firefighters fought the disastrous explosion. It's scarier than any Horror film that I've seen in a long time.
This episode did a great job of recreating '80s Soviet Union Pripyat. The architecture and styles looked accurate. The most stunning recreation was the stifling bureaucracy and buck-passing that was no doubt present in the Soviet socialist state. So many layers of supervision. So many organizations and titles. This episode appears to accurately portray the dismal, incentive-sucking grind that citizens of a communist society experienced.
Literal chills. Wow. This is gonna wreck me.
Very accurate in its portrayal of the USSR and believable in its depiction of desperation, the series looks really promising. I enjoyed the episode more than most of the series I've been watching lately.
The world thinks it knows what happened...., We have the official explanation...., Perhaps now we can find out why. Arrogance, denial, and delusional ideals are a dangerous, and in this case, fatal, cocktail. This of course is a dramatization, but, it is one based on the actual events and recollections of those who survived, many of who paid the ultimate price for speaking the truth.
No doubt the most promising pilot episode I've seen in a looong time.
It's hard for me to write I enyoed this episode. Because this stuff happened, people died horrible deaths, many due to ignorance and neglect.
The atmosphere is creepy to say the least. All you get is hopelessness and despair. Of course there is dramatization but it seems to me that this could all very much happened this way. It's believable in it's depiction.
Powerful pilot.
"You can contain information, you can't contain nuclear isotopes."
Wow! This was a very good first episode. But no wonder coming from HBO.
Man!!!. this episode is really something. one side there was tragedy, otherside foolishness. my side tears and worry. loved it
eastern europeans be like oh this big ass NUCLEAR reactor just blew the hell up?let me attempt to touch ALL the debris i can find!
I'm a big fan of horror films, and this genuinely might be one of the most horrifying pieces of tv/film I have watched in the past few years. Making something vaguely intangible like radiation so present and haunting is a feat worth admiring. Dread in spades, and yet we know how this story ends.
I have watched all the documentaries about this subject, and when I first saw people commenting on this series, I had to check it out (btw, the commentaries were mostly full of surprise that this happened, and THAT IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN). The documentaries were like horror movies, this series ought to follow up. It is been forever since I have sought news on the sarcophagus (no better time like the present).
Even though the subject ain't light, I have enjoyed this episode very much.
Powerful first episode. I’m looking forward to more.
Absolutely incredible first episode. Chills throughout.
I was 17 when this happened. Looking at this with old eyes it feels so different
It's hard to say I enjoyed this when it was infuriating and horrifying to see these people walking to their deaths due to negligence and fear of blame (denial? I don't know yet). Soviet Union Ukraine was a helluva world.
I enjoyed it but knowing that it's real, upsets me.
Amazing first episode ! I was wondering along the whole episode if they knew that radiation is actually dangerous? Or in that time there wasn't a lot information about how it works and stuff?
Amazing first episode. The hairs on the back of my neck are not enough to explain what I felt watching the episode. The detail of the nurse asking if there was YODO in the hospital, seeing how the operators open all the water valves in spite of knowing that they are going to die to save lives by putting their own life first.
For the whole episode I was so scared I thought I would throw up.
I am a fan of catastrophic movies / series, the leaders try to minimize the effects, but here it is excessive. "Cool the reactor, there is no reactor, it has exploded, that is impossible, cool the reactor, there is no reactor." Very good, we will continue to see
mother of God HBO!! make the next series about how war on drugs had failed worldwide and how to this day it still has life changing laws around the world because UN won't call off this stupid war!!!
it could easily be said it's a 3rd world war but just on consciousness!!
Brilliant first episode,if you ever want proof of how fucked up communism is then watch this!!
I had no idea of the ignorance of the plant workers. Why were more people not concerned, like the families of those who lived nearby and the firefighters?
... and there are how many of these things on the planet :flushed:
As a work of TV show, it's good. It sets up the characters and the theme it wants to talk about. It starts with the aftermath end slowly reveals how the event unfolds to the disaster Chernobyl was.
However the message it tries to deliver, as it seems already obvious from the start, is very problematic: the all-too familiar story of meritocratic individual not being able to fight against the evil of bureaucracies, epitomized in the face of the Soviet state - the episode even has a speech on the need to believe on the Socialist State. This premise is very shaky, as David Graeber has famously written, bureaucracies - and its "evils" - were more prominent within the so-called neoliberal states and even corporations more than back then in Soviet era. Turning the disaster into a fight between heroic individuals also seem all too common for Hollywood who keeps hallucinating for the existence of an underdog superhero.
But let's see how it goes for now.
I feel like I'm getting radiation poisoning watching this shit
A) Because the atmosphere is clearly the thing carrying this show
B) Because it's repetitive and irritating to listen to people say the same thing and then deny it 10 fucking time
C) Watching people throwing up everywhere makes me want to throw up too
Good pilot that makes you really feel there a catastrophe has happened and wondering about the cause of the core explosion?
I get bored with some scenes without dialogue ,not all of them.
Good first episodes. But I wonder why so many are surprised? Nothing new we didn't know already. Are US Folks not that informed about chernobyl?
Excellent series. A few hiccups concerning facts, but for those people wholly ignorant of Chernobyl and how the Soviets cover things up and lie to the world, still to this day at the horrible expense of its’ citizens.
It's almost better the second time around now that I fully understand what's happening.
Not the whole truth but very little added as plaster to keep the story together. Impressive. Especially the last episode should explain in layman's terms what really went on. Now i really want to see NTV Russia's version of the same story!
Shout by วลาดBlockedParent2019-05-07T08:45:06Z
This first episode gave me more chills than a horror movie :neutral_face: I'm really looking forward to see the next episodes!