I do not own any of the footage. All credit's go to HBO, SKY UK, the creator Craig Mazin and the cast crew. hbogo.mk/ www.sky.com/ / clmazin Thanks for Watching !!!
That was no exaggeration, because no accident of this kind has ever really happened before. There were meltdowns and fires in nuclear reactors before, some intentional. None of them however released more radiation than the explosion of hundreds of nuclear weapons at or below ground level, until Chernobyl who released far more radiation than the Fukashima accident. This was an accident involving hundreds and hundreds of tons of graphite and at least 100 tons of Uranium burning and going prompt critical, BEFORE it melted down and turned into nuclear lava, which is why much of the building is still lethally radioactive.
Except he clearly wasn't a geologist. Radionuclide decay has been occuring in the core since at least the Gaia impactor. Otherwise we would not have plate tectonics. It's just convenient that the place it occurs most frequently is quite a ways under our feet.
That is terrifying but here is a weird bit of getting info, there is a site in west Africa with nuclear waste estimated to be 2 billion years old, from the little I’ve read about it it still wasn’t more than this so his statement is still true
Legasov was the bravest. He even got a death sentence from this invisible poison and decided to self terminate on the anniversary of Chernobyl just to get his work and truths out in the world. He was a great man and there should be statues of him all over Ukraine and Russia.
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 unfortunately Sam, I’ve a feeling any statues of Legasov would be pockmarked by bullets and replaced with some hideous likeness of the Butcher of Ukraine
My favourite quote from the entire series: Legasov: "At least evacuate Pripyat, it's 3km away." Scherbina: "That's my decision to make." Legasov: "Then make it." Scherbina: "I've been told not to."
The reality is - as soon as they saw what happened, the evacuation was ordered, that same morning. It took a whole day to gather thousands of trucks and buses from as far as Minsk and Kiev in order to evacuate 50.000 people from the city and at least as many from the surrounding areas. The whole evacuation lasted around one hour and was done in perfect order. The show just decided to lie because it fitted their original narrative. There are a few scenes like that in every episode, where they try to bash you over the head how bad USSR was, using lies. Lies anyone can uncover with 2 minutes of google time, but rarely anyone wants to.
@@Wustenfuchs109 the evacuation took at least two days and Sowjet bureaucracy and ineptitude killed dozens of people there. so maybe when complaining about lies, don't lie.
@@euronimo34 The lying one here is you. Anyone can go and check - so don't be a dick. The accident happened on 26th, buses and trucks were gathered during the course of 26th and were in place by 11AM on 27th. At 2PM the evacuation started, by 3PM it was over. The entire city within 1 hour. So I have no idea what the hell are you talking about. Oh, wait, were you watching a fantasy series as a documentary? Just use google, it is your friend. If you can't be bothered with an actual book on the topic. It's is OK not to know, but it is not OK to be a dick about it.
The look on Legasov's face when he hears it's 15000 is incredible. He suddenly realizes that he and everyone around him are actively dying and will live shorter lives just by standing where they are.
Also look at the young soldier who listens to the discussion. The actor played his role very well, not being able to hide the terror when he heard about the atom bombs.
@lionhead123 Yes, but the point is they're still in proximity to the Reactor even when it's measured by a few miles that's still enough exposure to destroy them over time. Not as fast as those who were at the plant but enough to guarantee they were screwed anyway.
General Pikalov didn't just drive into the facility himself to protect his own soldiers from the radiation. He did it because he understood that the situation was very serious and that the facility directors were trying to hide something. As such, he needed to make sure that everyone knew the correct radiation levels and being the reputable and highly honourable soldier that he was, no one with half a brain would be so insane as to question the reading that he got in there. If it was anyone else, the directors might try and claim another faulty meter or that his guy didn't read it right, but you'd need to be suicidal to question a legendary General's honour and honesty. That's the main reason he went for it and managed to expose the true nature of the beast beyond all doubts to everyone.
General Vladimir Pikalov who rammed his truck into the plant grounds to measure the real radiation levels fought in the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk receiving several wounds in them. Nothing scared him after those terrifying battles; not even an exposed nuclear core.
@@unelectedleader6494 he didn't ask for the hotel, he's telling Valery that he can stay at a hotel in that area. Army men have their accommodations always 😂
It's morbidly funny how Shcherbina treats bringing 5000 tons of sand and boron on short notice as a far easier task than getting past the political hurdles in the way of evacuating the entirety of Pripyat.
A bit of an underlying part of Shcherbina’s character is that while Legasov understood the scientific reality of the situation, Shcherbina understood the political reality of the situation. He somewhat tried to clue Legasov in on this, otherwise he would work through or around it to get or do what was needed.
Well he was only in charge of the cleanup, Gorbachev will give him almost anything he needs for the cleanup, materials, men etc. But evacuation and health policies are not under Boris. That will have to be decided by the central committee back in Moscow.
"There's a hotel." Colonel General Pikalov is like, "I realize I just gave you the worst possible news... But there's a nice place downtown." Dude is an absolute rock. Perhaps my favorite character in the series.
It’s the contemporary Soviet version of “We’re actively dying right now of radiation poisoning, but the good news is you could save money by switching to GEICO.”
@@AnkhGirlyes all 3 were great characters portrayed by good actors. The lady scientists character never existed but I guess was created to represent the voice of the Soviet scientific community
@@Nabium this and to protect the radiator and engine in front. It's the same reason demolition derby drivers drive into each other with their rear end.
That man is Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov and a certified badass. He survived the battles of Moscow, Kursk and Stalingrad in WWII and also through the events of Chernobyl only dying of old age in 2003.
I have no love for the Soviet Union or the Red Army, but I will give my respect to men like him who were shining beacons of honor and loyalty to their homeland even in the darkest of times. Thank you for your service, General Pikalov. You have earned your rest.
@@thegrimcritic5494 I was reading the comments and did not see once somone asking you about your fkn love for the red army or the soviet Union you bitchass bullied girl
@@thegrimcritic5494 Men are not at fault for their regimes. Brave, courageous, talented men are to be respected, even if they fought for someone as evil as the soviet union. The same applies to men like Manstein, Rommel and other german generals of the time
1:52 Honestly, the entire sequence of them washing off the truck and Pikalov is eerily creepy on its own. Watching the runoff dripping to the ground, knowing it's carrying lethal amounts of an invisible killer is the perfect imagery of the true horror of what happened.
I get what you mean. But the washing wasn't the real issue - at 15,000 roentgen per hour that truck would have been so damaged by a few minutes of gamma rays that they would have needed to dig a truck-sized hole and bury the thing. The General will be fine, radiation knows better than to mess with him.
@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III IIRC gamma rays knock electrons, and occasionally protons and neutrons - off of atoms, ionizing some elements and converting others. But gamma rays are photons, they are emitted and absorbed. It's alpha and beta radiation, while far less penetrative, the particles persist, and their interactions with other atoms can lead to chain reactions and further radioactive elements.
@@atraxisdarkstar You are correct. Activation is not a concern in that scenario re: direct gamma. Not sure why I said that... too much cross pollination with criticality accident research, I suppose.
@@KittyPieVibes This one I know for sure: they used a substance they called "bourda" which is the Russian word for molasses and also a slang word meaning basically "goop" - it was sticky brown brewery waste that they mixed with water to form a foamy liquid which captured dust like soapsuds (except far cheaper). It was already in widespread use in the USSR to keep dust down on dirt roads.
It's the good and the bad of dictatorships. They're much more brutally efficient at solving catastrophes. But because of the ideological, Lysenkoist basis of their regimes, they're also likelier to create them.
Notice how Shcherbina turns to Legasov after hearing 15,000 Roentgen, he suddenly realises that the only person not bullshitting him has been the one who he thought was bullshitting him. And even though he yells at Legasov, Shcherbina immediately does what he says and heads off to organise the Boron.
There's another equally revealing scene. + So what's burning on the roof? From thé chopper it looked like bricks. - Must have been concrete. + This was a fatal mistake, tovarisc. I know very little about nuclear physics, but I know almost everything there Is to know about concrete. And I KNOW that concrete does not burn.
He actually realized it much earlier, in the first scene where he meets Bryukhanov and Fomin. Fomin challenges Legasov with how an RBMK reactor core explodes, and Legasov, knowing the fatal flaw but unable to discuss it, says "I'm not prepared to explain it at this time". Shcherbina, knowing the political game, picks up on the subtleties of that statement and challenges the plant leadership, revealing that they're bullshitting him, which leads to this scene.
Did anybody notice how the eyes of the soldier standing behind Valery nearly bulge out as he explains the reality of the situation? He has a pure "I'm fucked" expression
You are exaggerating but at 2:41 he is indeed look scared. Actually it's another amazing detail because he isn't reacting until the "entire continent is dead" part. Because he don't know anything about roentgen and even Hiroshima probably.
Well, let's face it...he most likely is. They all are. As Legasov admits to Shcherbina later in the series, many if not most of the people working at that site have already received what amounts to a death sentence.
"Give them as much protection as you can but even with lead shielding it may not be enough." "Then I'll do it myself" a general truly worthy of the rank.
Love that line. I don't know if it is historically accurate, but it is an excellent example of true leadership. Rather than send some grunt on a suicide mission, and have the communist party apparatchik scream "fake news" yet again, the general puts his own life on the line.
@@texaswunderkind It's accurate. General Pikalov figured a cover up was already in the process, and this was one event that he absolutely could not allow to be covered up. So part of why he went himself was so that none of the corrupt party members trying to cover up the situation could dispute his claim.
My favorite line in this episode, he was told that even with all the protection someone under his command might not be safe, he willfully went in to protect his men. Truly one of the most honorable men I have heard of.
@@stefanodegioia1598 looking at when they first show him you can already tell the sheer rage and disgust he currently has. and then the end of the scene he's just staring at the reactor staring at a more assured death then war before giving the most old warrior look to Legasov.
Agree with the significance of this scene. The lead characters are made aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe: how if not interrupted, within weeks atmospheric radiation would poison most of Europe, making the continent uninhabitable for centuries.
Seeing all those abandoned fire trucks to me is one of the most Scariest scenes in the series, fire trucks that are always filled by people trying to help and you just see those fire trucks sitting there knowing that their crew Will probably never get in a fire truck ever again
Creepier still when you consider that the fire trucks and all the vehicles and helicopters used in the clean up are still there today, abandoned and too irradiated to ever use again. A vehicle graveyard inside an abandoned, decaying Soviet dream, frozen in time.
@@ErikJ05 They were finally shredded and buried a few years ago. The problems went from people looting parts from the radioactive vehicles to keep other vehicles operating to people just flat-out stealing steel to cash out as scrap metal and they finally decided to do away with all of it. That motor park of contaminated vehicles no longer exists.
Surprisingly, quite a lot of the firefighters who arrived on the site survived the initial radiation dose, most of the ones who died of ARS were the ones who climbed on the roof and were directly exposed to the highly radioactive material.
Theres a vehichle cemetery of all tanks, trucks, cars, choopers abandoned in a secluded area. It was planned to be decontaminated and scrapped, or just burried in the ground. As of 2017, the vehichles have been removed from that place
The general is really intelligent. He understand and believes Legasov. He is also a veteran politician and know how to make his moves. He also performs well as a decision-marker: listens to Legasov to know what the problem is, what needs to be solved and executes the steps to do that: final line "going to get you 5000 tons of sand" just brilliantly exemplifies this.
In this scene, intelligent and practical. A military leader understands logistics, and the need for food and shelter. The "There's a hotel" line shows that he sees the greater picture as well as the minor bullshit that can effect how it's handled. Get the freaking genius scientist a bed and some food, so we we can solve the problem. Love it.
He was a great man. Can you imagine walking into invisible yet certain death (prolonged) while having to force yourself to do so because it was the right thing and you were saving millions of lives and an entire continent.
@@eliteofthe9136 Well in Ted 2 Tom Brady’s bedsheets glowed brightly when Mark Wahlberg and Ted tried to steal his ‘genes’, so he was probably radioactive…which actually explains a lot.
Hell of a man. He and all of them who were actually fixing the problem and cleaning up definitely deserve to be honored and remembered by all of humanity. Thanks to this series, I feel like they will.
It's really not similar to Medal of Honor because you can earn the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" not just through combat but also for doing other important deeds for example Kalashnikov was awarded because of his invention of AK-47.
Props to Shcherbina for being so on-point and willing to listen to Legasov for advice after having discovered that he was completely right and that those two clowns were lying to his face in order to cover up their blunder. Get the problem under control ASAP, the consequences be damned if they're less serious than letting things just escalate further.
The quick reaction shot of Legasov after the general tells them the number says it all. Scherbina's face and manurisms when Legasov tells him they are dealing with something that had never happened before is also great. His face says "That's not what I asked. I asked for a solution.".
I loved this series SO much. It's one of the best things I've seen in any form of media. Lines like the dire delivery of "we are dealing with something that has never occurred on this PLANET before" really make it clear to the viewer how serious this disaster really was.
Nope, Three Mile Island was very different. When he says never occurred before on the planet, he is referring to the core being open to the air, putting off the radiation of two Hiroshima bombs per hour. Three mile island had a meltdown and released radiation, however the containment vessels held. So the US had to deal with a meltdown, the US did not have to deal with an open core.
Bonus points when you notice Legasov turned to them when he was explaining what 15000 meant. As if to say "THAT is what happens when an RBMK reactor explodes you morons".
& that "....thank you for your service, you're excused...." line. 1 of the most gently Harshest lines in the series in fact a very polite, "now Fxxk Off !!! to both of you, twice... "😂
An amazing show. You do not understand the magnitude of this situation but this show does a fantastic job of showing it. Later in the series, Boris has this look about him that speaks volumes. When he realizes that they are so far over their heads and there is nothing they have that can counter the 15000 roentgen per hour, you feel for him and the scientists involved in this cleanup. The area around Chernobyl is still incredibly toxic and life is starting to return but the reactor and the radiation in the surrounding area will not fade away for at least 100 years. At the least! Gorbachev even says in his memoirs that it was Chernobyl that brought down the Soviet Union.
I've just came back from Chernobyl and the town of Pripyat. The guide said, that the fatal radiation MIGHT fade out in 100 years, but the radioactive particles that could be ingested and could be fatal won't fade away for at least 50000 more years. So basically, forever.
I've seen just about every horror movie/tv show in the last 75 years. And HBO's "Chernobyl" is BY FAR, the scariest thing I have ever viewed in my life.
That genius cut at 3:55, when the camera is focusing on literally nothing in the distance, completely blurring the main character. Telling a whole story about radiation in three seconds.
It could be deliberate, but it would also not be the first time that a faintly visible special effect did not show well on the consumer end of devices (though I'd say that taking that into account these days is much more of a thing than it might have been 20-25 years a go.
I watched this series at least 5 times now all the way through and this part and the buildup to it is almost heartbreaking. It's like even the most naive knew something was TERRIBLY wrong, even Dyaltov. They just couldn't admit the worst and wanted to believe the core was in tact and able to be cooled. When they say 15000 and ask Jared Harris what that means he casually says "it means the core is exposed" and then proceeded to tell them what they should've already known. The fire brigade never stood a chance and Dyaltov should've been indicted for that choice alone by calling them to put out a fire that was exposing them to rapid death by invisible poison.
Except that this part is completely fictional. Dyatlov claimed in later interviews that he himself visited the reactor building to evaluate the damage, he ordered the shutdown of reactor 3 and adviced the fire brigade to secure the generator hall to prevent further damage. I'm aware that he's probably not the best source and for sure he wasn't the hero in this story, but I think he wasn't the villain either. It just happens that he was the guy who the Communist party could blame, and I'm not very happy that the mini series followed this narration.
@@tobiaswilhelmi4819 but they do a good enough job of showing the corruption in the Soviet command structure that it makes you wonder automatically what actually happened. I mean you can't tell me you didn't go online and look into the incident further after watching this.
@@tobiaswilhelmi4819 It seems the more I look into Chernobyl nobody in the control room was at fault. Dyatlov did everything right with the information he was given. And had he not tried to get the reactor running he would've lost his job if not worse. The control room operators were also severely undertrained and ill informed on what to do. Shame they're seen as villains in this series.
One of the firemen who survived later said that they did in fact have a strong suspicion that the core itself had exploded, but duty compelled them to put the fire out. Because if they hadn't it would have spread to the other reactors, and Europe would be uninhabitable. They may not have been properly trained or informed, but people are smart and they figure stuff out. I think they knew, just not how bad it was going to be. They should have indicted the idiot who used flammable materials like that in the roof of a nuclear reactor, because the firefighters that died were the ones that went up there
When Pikalov approached reactor number 4, out of sheer respect the core stopped emitting, came outside to give Pikalov the correct reading, then returned to continue emitting once Pikalov was gone.
+thomas mayer-m. and his second "oh....... sh*t" moment came not 20 seconds later as legasov explains just how much radiation the reactor is emitting every hour.
I love how at 2:17 he shuts up the directors, before later 'excusing' them to 'party headquarters' by the soldier who had been visibly reacting to the entire conversation.
Legasov may have understood the actual problem and how to solve it (temporarily at least), but Cherbina understood the pollical side of the problem. Getting 5000 tons of sand and boron without proper inspection or documentation is utter lunacy in a democratic society, yet for Cherbina it was still easier than to convince his superior to evacuate the city because the Communist Party does not, and cannot admit that it had made many mistakes leading to people dying and the reactor's explosion. Chernobyl is a show about many things: how people deal with problems and tragedy, the scale of the disaster, the work and sacrifices done to save people. But above all else this show is about how lies and deceptions only made the inevitable worse, and that is a problem just as close to us today as it was half a century or a millennia ago.
I love how they took a “less is more” approach to the music. Gives a sort of creaking “metal settling down” vibe. On a different note, I can only imagine what was going through the mind of the Colonel as he made the approach by himself. The plant grounds evacuated, the site dark and abandoned, everything eerily still and silent and the invisible danger in the very air he was passing through. But when he came to the locked gate he just bulldozed right through it, because he had a job to do and he was going to see it through. Nerves of steel indeed. And they were going to need every person just like him that they could get. Viktor Bryukhanov and Nikolai Fomin were lucky that they weren't stood in front of a firing squad.
The woman who made the music said in a video that she went to a nuclear powerplant to record all the sounds and then pieced together the sounds into the soundtrack. Very atmospheric.
If you listen close during the closeup of Legasov while they are waiting in the tent, you can hear a dosimeter gradually getting louder in the background.
@FloatingOer Yeah, I heard the same thing. In fact if I remember correctly, she recorded the sounds at Ignalina, another RBMK reactor, the very same one where Chernobyl was filmed.
I love the choice to show him getting to the gate, realizing he'll destroy the dosimeter by ramming it, so he turns around and rams it backwards instead. Fantastic bit of filmmaking from Craig Mazin.
A true leader. Not only did he not want to put any of his soliders in harms way, but as the most high ranking officer at the scene, he wanted everyone to know what the correct reading was, and he knew Fomin and Bryukhanov were not telling the whole story. General Pikalov is a true hero.
Pikalov knew that Legasov was probably right, right from the start. But he needed a politically-acceptable way to out Brykhanov and Fomin. By telling them all that the "high rate dosimeter had just arrived" (he probably already had a clear idea of the problem before Shcherbina arrived)... but with this fact shared at the opportune moment came, gave Shcherbina the opening to force the decision (neatly sidestepping Brykhanov and Fomin's conclusions - outright lies). This might seem machiavellian, but it's how a skilled operator works around a problem. Pikalov fought in many battles (both with guns and brains), and knew his duty was to his mission and his men (in that order)... his management of the situation was flawless and saved lives.
Vladimir Pikalov, the general depicted in this series, happened to live until the age of 78, dying in 2003. He served in WWII, where he participated in the Battles of Stalingrad, Moscow, and Kursk. He would also receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, for his work during the Chernobyl Disaster.
At first the Colonel was going to walk to the plant with a dosimeter to save gas but they managed to convince him time was critical. Every Chuck Norris joke ever uttered should be changed to Vladimir Pikalov.
Skaarsgaard plays the bureacrat fear very well. You can see him confidently handling the situation, and then Legasov starts going into the technical details and how bad this actually is (killing the continent, fighting a fire even the experts don't know how to fight)...and he increasingly gets short with them all. You can actively see Scherbina moving into fight or flight mode as the leader...such great acting. He has already decided that he has to do something, and NOW all the subject matter experts are prevaricating and panicky. "For god's sake rough estimate!" I need something to say to action what you need! Don't try to insinuate yourself into the political problem of evacuation...I already know what has to be done, and I have to fight the authority structure to get it done and you won't help that!
Wasn't viktor bryukhanov fault that he want the test? When the nuclear explode he denying the high radiation, says is not high, tried to cover up his responsible, prevent citizen to evacuate pripyat
The whole reactor number four exploding? Yes,It happened.Chernobyl as a show might have been embellised a bit for drama purposes BUT, It is kinda a documentary of what happened irl.
It WAS pretty scary at the time but it didn't play out in the news to be quite that melodramatic. We watched the weather/wind patterns, and scientists said we wouldn't really be affected over here.
I don't know if that was intended but the way General Pikalov is acting in this scene makes it look like he already dealt with similar event in the past...
Pikalov actually survived through many battles like in Kursk, Stalingrad and Moscow. Also survived WW2 after being wounded. So yeah this is almost another day in the office for him :)
@@dnsvls Chernobyl disaster is noting in comparison to horrors of war. But I'm thinking it's possible he dealt with radiation effects before Chernobyl. Maybe during nuclear bomb tests.
@@divinemoments5344 I don't know if he had anything to do with it, but the Soviets had a nuclear waste accident in the Ural mountains at Mayak in the 50s.
He was head of the command that handled radiation and chemical spills in the Soviet Union. The Soviets had several more isolated nuclear waist accident before when they first started their nuclear program. I’m sure it wasn’t even the first time he was near lethal levels of radiation.
The sad thing to think about is how the USSR refused to evacuate until the US got satellite images of the plant and showed the world what was happening, which was about 36 hours later. To put that into their words, that’s 72 Hiroshima bombs worth of radiation released before they evacuated anyone, just to try and protect their image.
What's sad is there are those who would do that in the United States as well, The Three Mile Island incident proved that and the way people are today just makes it doubly so.
Our man here drove straight towards the dying heart of a false star because he knew the risk it would have on his men and wanted none of that shit. I have no love for the Soviet Union nor for the Red Army, but I do have respect for good men who rise up and do the right thing in dark situations. Thank you for your service, General Pikalov. You were, and always will be, a credit to your nation and her peoples.
Love or hate the USSR, you have to admit the sheer bravery of the Russian people. They have been through literally hell for the survival of their people.
It’s the USSR culture of lies, cover up, propaganda, politicization of everything and shoot the messenger culture that provoked the Chernobyl accident in the first place.
I love the part when he turns the truck around to back through the gate. It's like a Tarantino level of "useless dialogue" that helps to add realism and even a bit of suspense to the scene. Really like how the people running the show put that little detail in.
if it's 15000R, then they would get a high reading even from outside the facility. Shows you how incompetent USSR was that the Swedes were able to detect the high levels before the Soviets were. Yet, they kept thinking that it's a fluke
Because, in those days, in the USSR, it was inconceivable that ANY disastrous event could possibly occur when everyone knew that it would be an embarrassment to the nation, and embarrassments do not happen to the USSR. It was not necessarily incompetence, but hubris and a blind devotion to what superiors tell you.
The Soviets knew of the radiation, they didn't need the Swedes to tell them. They had to measure the radiation levels at the site to evaluate how much boron is needed. You shouldn't mix the content of this SHOW with reality. To speak of: even in the mini series it is shown like that. The measurements in the nuclear institute in Minsk is right before the alarm in Sweden.
They also didn't believe that over pressure of steam could lead to an explosion which is just laughably stupid Normal boilers can explode from excess vapor pressure, so why would a larger scaled one be any different?
3:10 I love this exchange between Legasov and Shcherbina because it illustrates their roles and how they work together. Legasov understands the situation but even he is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster. Shcherbina can't understand the disaster like Legasov but he can see it as a problem to be dealt with. Shcherbina works towards a solution while Legasov helps to keep from making things worse than they already are.
"I'm going to get you 5000 tons of sand and boron" is such a dense line. Shcherbina presses Legasov to make up a number on the spot and immediately trusts his judgement and gets it done, no matter the price tag. "Why did I see graphite on the roof" was the first glimpse of trust, but this is where the duo really gains traction. At the same time it's another perspective on the immense scale of the problem: Try getting a hold of 5000 tons of _anything_, let alone flying it in with helicopters in just a few hours. Whole supply chains, defense capabilities - none of it matters. And all that in one line!
Scherbina trusted Legasov well before this. Scherbina was IIRC the reason Legasov was even in the room getting briefed on the problem. He NEEDED an expert, and Legasov suited that need. He also needed something even more important, an honest man who could look at the problem and tell him what the truth is, and Scherbina saw in the briefing that he'd chosen well. Boris is being manipulative, but most of his manipulations for the entire miniseries, even the early bits, was to get Legasov into a position where he could come up with a solution. He showed his trust more openly as the series developed, but it's clear that Scherbina's solution to this crisis was "make Legasov come up with a soltuion."
"You're dealing with something that has never accrued on this planet before." ....that is so utterly chilling to hear. Couldn't imagine being told that in person and not shitting a brick.
Every scene....every conversation....the writers did such a great job.....the actors were awsome.....hands down one if not the best miniseries of the last 10 years.
Firefighting equipment from the real events are still parked there even today among multiple other pieces of heavy machinery and equipment. I hope very soon the war will be over and you will be able to come and see the relics with your own eyes and get a grasp of the scale of the operation that took place after the reactor exploded. It is quite a sight. Just don't go too close to the stuff as some parts of it can not be decontaminated and they are still mildly radioactive.
@Kirillissimus Just like the FDNY rigs from 9/11, they honor their crews' sacrifice simply by being. I would question if I was worthy enough to be in their vehicle's shadow, far below walking in their footsteps. We should be honored for the fact that we know that there are people like this, and the sacrifices made were really for the true good of humanity.
There is a deliberate effort on the part of the creators to avoid showing the viewer the exposed reactor core for most of the show. The characters and the audience know where it is, the characters are able to look at it directly, but the audience does not see it. We see evidence of it - the readings, the horrible burns on the victims, the eerie glow. We hear the creepy music when it's close by. It's like a character on its own, like a sentient otherworldly presence; like a monster in a horror film. It's such a simple cinematographic device: whatever you do, don't show the monster's face. But it's so terrifically suspenseful, and so masterfully done! Really adds to the sensation that these tiny humans, so full of hubris and recklessness, really fucked with a force of nature that's now out of their control.
It gives us more of the perspective of the regular people in the area. Pripyat was an atomgrad. So its citizens likely had an idea of the things that could go wrong with a reactor. Knowing that a monster was loose, but not being able to see it or know just how big and dangerous it is, must have been terrifying.
This was such an amazing series.. 3+ years later scenes like this still give me the chills!! The anger, sadness, and hope are all such strange feelings given today's climate with Russian and the Ukraine... After all we've been through, the world deserves better men.
Apparently... ol Fomin had a nervous breakdown shortly after finding out the true extent of the disaster. Then he attempted suicide during or before the trial and after it. He failed both times and had another breakdown. Sad.
"Boron... Boron and Sand. That'll create problems of its own, but i-i-i dont see any other way." Damn man, you know your situation is fucking dire when you gotta pull some shit thatll cause another major and critical issue just to deal with the current one. Thats just not something you wanna hear.
The part that struck me the most out of this scene is the part were u see where the firetrucks were at made me think this guy needed a full suit n a Lead truck to be there yet they sent those firemen there with no radiation protection just hours after the explosion.
Fire fighters respond when called. We now have training in hazmat so something like this doesn't happen. We now know to look before we run in. You can't help someone if you're hurt.
They were deliberately obtuse. You did what the party wanted or you didn’t last. The only thing that made them fess up was that they couldn’t deny it any longer.
He wasn't scared of the radiation. The radiation was scared of him. Or alternatively, he was scared to send any of his men to an almost certain painful and slow death, and the radiation realized this. Lol
Love the whole series, but the part where Legasov tells Shcherbina "You're dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before" set the stakes for the entire plot and is my favorite part. No one on the planet, Soviet or otherwise, knows for certain what to do about this. Chernobyl was the only event in history where we threatened a substantial part of the planet's ability to sustain life and we did it overnight, literally.
Because movie and TV productions are billion dollar industries. Investors want massive returns, so every project has to be massively profitable. Every new project has to be a guaranteed success before it's even considered, so the executives want everything to be as generally bland and safe as possible.
@@mathewfinch Meanwhile, loads of movies made by these big studios are flopping. Indy 5, The Marvels, Wish and many more in the last few years. They didn't make back their budget+marketing. Oppenheimer and Barbie made money though.
when he says "you are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet " shivers run up my spine.
The sort of thing that would make most people want to start running or stay frozen in terror.
That was no exaggeration, because no accident of this kind has ever really happened before. There were meltdowns and fires in nuclear reactors before, some intentional. None of them however released more radiation than the explosion of hundreds of nuclear weapons at or below ground level, until Chernobyl who released far more radiation than the Fukashima accident. This was an accident involving hundreds and hundreds of tons of graphite and at least 100 tons of Uranium burning and going prompt critical, BEFORE it melted down and turned into nuclear lava, which is why much of the building is still lethally radioactive.
Except he clearly wasn't a geologist. Radionuclide decay has been occuring in the core since at least the Gaia impactor. Otherwise we would not have plate tectonics. It's just convenient that the place it occurs most frequently is quite a ways under our feet.
@@rexringtail471 You are forgetting the literal fact the the mantle and the crust is protecting the surface from those radiations.
That is terrifying but here is a weird bit of getting info, there is a site in west Africa with nuclear waste estimated to be 2 billion years old, from the little I’ve read about it it still wasn’t more than this so his statement is still true
General Pikalov lived nearly 20 years after this because, in addition to lead shielding, he was protected by some big lead balls.
Legasov was the bravest. He even got a death sentence from this invisible poison and decided to self terminate on the anniversary of Chernobyl just to get his work and truths out in the world. He was a great man and there should be statues of him all over Ukraine and Russia.
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 Absolutely.
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 Both of them have Leaden Balls.
The testosterone emissions from his humongous lead balls was so thick that the ionized radiation stood no chance!!
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 unfortunately Sam, I’ve a feeling any statues of Legasov would be pockmarked by bullets and replaced with some hideous likeness of the Butcher of Ukraine
My favourite quote from the entire series:
Legasov: "At least evacuate Pripyat, it's 3km away."
Scherbina: "That's my decision to make."
Legasov: "Then make it."
Scherbina: "I've been told not to."
Oh wow… that is so ironic… haha… so can he decide or not? Lol
@@KP-zd3hc it’s only his decision publicly, but he’s controlled by what the party wants - a mere figurehead.
The reality is - as soon as they saw what happened, the evacuation was ordered, that same morning. It took a whole day to gather thousands of trucks and buses from as far as Minsk and Kiev in order to evacuate 50.000 people from the city and at least as many from the surrounding areas. The whole evacuation lasted around one hour and was done in perfect order.
The show just decided to lie because it fitted their original narrative. There are a few scenes like that in every episode, where they try to bash you over the head how bad USSR was, using lies. Lies anyone can uncover with 2 minutes of google time, but rarely anyone wants to.
@@Wustenfuchs109 the evacuation took at least two days and Sowjet bureaucracy and ineptitude killed dozens of people there. so maybe when complaining about lies, don't lie.
@@euronimo34 The lying one here is you. Anyone can go and check - so don't be a dick. The accident happened on 26th, buses and trucks were gathered during the course of 26th and were in place by 11AM on 27th. At 2PM the evacuation started, by 3PM it was over. The entire city within 1 hour. So I have no idea what the hell are you talking about. Oh, wait, were you watching a fantasy series as a documentary?
Just use google, it is your friend. If you can't be bothered with an actual book on the topic. It's is OK not to know, but it is not OK to be a dick about it.
The look on Legasov's face when he hears it's 15000 is incredible. He suddenly realizes that he and everyone around him are actively dying and will live shorter lives just by standing where they are.
15,000 rads per hour will kill you in about 1 minute. The air will literally taste like metal from the gamma rays hitting your tongue.
Also look at the young soldier who listens to the discussion. The actor played his role very well, not being able to hide the terror when he heard about the atom bombs.
The look of "Yup, thought so... We're screwed."
well its not 15000 where they are at that moment.
@lionhead123 Yes, but the point is they're still in proximity to the Reactor even when it's measured by a few miles that's still enough exposure to destroy them over time. Not as fast as those who were at the plant but enough to guarantee they were screwed anyway.
General Pikalov didn't just drive into the facility himself to protect his own soldiers from the radiation. He did it because he understood that the situation was very serious and that the facility directors were trying to hide something. As such, he needed to make sure that everyone knew the correct radiation levels and being the reputable and highly honourable soldier that he was, no one with half a brain would be so insane as to question the reading that he got in there. If it was anyone else, the directors might try and claim another faulty meter or that his guy didn't read it right, but you'd need to be suicidal to question a legendary General's honour and honesty.
That's the main reason he went for it and managed to expose the true nature of the beast beyond all doubts to everyone.
thats a really fantastic way to consider it actually, nice
King
Honor and glory to this Russian Soldier!
King moment
Bingo
"It's 15 thousands"
"It's another faulty meter, you're wasting our times"
@Devastator Send him to infirmary
its disgraceful to spread disinformation at this time really
Lock down the city. No one leaves.
@@andrew.lanc3r and cut the internet lines *claps*
@@malaysia81878 Yes comrades. We will all be rewarded for what we do here tonight. This is our moment to shine.
General Vladimir Pikalov who rammed his truck into the plant grounds to measure the real radiation levels fought in the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk receiving several wounds in them. Nothing scared him after those terrifying battles; not even an exposed nuclear core.
That's a whole new level of 'badass'
He just asks at the end where’s the hotel lol. I need to get my irradiated rear end to sleep
@@unelectedleader6494 he didn't ask for the hotel, he's telling Valery that he can stay at a hotel in that area. Army men have their accommodations always 😂
If he was a real person, who really drove a truck through the debris, HE would have felt he was going to die soon anyway and had little to lose.
@@taraswertelecki3786 Oh but he was real, and he outlived almost everyone in the show
It's morbidly funny how Shcherbina treats bringing 5000 tons of sand and boron on short notice as a far easier task than getting past the political hurdles in the way of evacuating the entirety of Pripyat.
A bit of an underlying part of Shcherbina’s character is that while Legasov understood the scientific reality of the situation, Shcherbina understood the political reality of the situation. He somewhat tried to clue Legasov in on this, otherwise he would work through or around it to get or do what was needed.
@@ErikJ05 that's what happens when you live in a country whose government is compulsively obsessed with not being humiliated
@@jaybartgis5148 Nice callback to that quote.
@@ErikJ05 Precisely.
Well he was only in charge of the cleanup, Gorbachev will give him almost anything he needs for the cleanup, materials, men etc. But evacuation and health policies are not under Boris. That will have to be decided by the central committee back in Moscow.
"There's a hotel."
Colonel General Pikalov is like, "I realize I just gave you the worst possible news... But there's a nice place downtown."
Dude is an absolute rock. Perhaps my favorite character in the series.
I like the head of the miners (Glukhov?) better.
Especially with the hat.
Fr
It’s the contemporary Soviet version of “We’re actively dying right now of radiation poisoning, but the good news is you could save money by switching to GEICO.”
Him, Legasov and the female scientist
@@AnkhGirlyes all 3 were great characters portrayed by good actors. The lady scientists character never existed but I guess was created to represent the voice of the Soviet scientific community
I like how he backed up so as not to damage the dosimeter. It's little details like that that make this show awesome
Well that, and you could easily damage a radiator driving headfirst into a locked fence.
i doubt the gate there was closed, in reality
I was thinking he backed up so to not crash his front with windows first into the gate and possibly expose himself even more..
@@Nabium this and to protect the radiator and engine in front. It's the same reason demolition derby drivers drive into each other with their rear end.
Makes the movie version Russia crapped out in 2021 look all the worse by comparison due to its LACK of attention to detail.
That man is Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov and a certified badass. He survived the battles of Moscow, Kursk and Stalingrad in WWII and also through the events of Chernobyl only dying of old age in 2003.
1 year after I was born, that's an honour
I have no love for the Soviet Union or the Red Army, but I will give my respect to men like him who were shining beacons of honor and loyalty to their homeland even in the darkest of times. Thank you for your service, General Pikalov. You have earned your rest.
pure badass and luck
@@thegrimcritic5494 I was reading the comments and did not see once somone asking you about your fkn love for the red army or the soviet Union you bitchass bullied girl
@@thegrimcritic5494 Men are not at fault for their regimes. Brave, courageous, talented men are to be respected, even if they fought for someone as evil as the soviet union. The same applies to men like Manstein, Rommel and other german generals of the time
1:52
Honestly, the entire sequence of them washing off the truck and Pikalov is eerily creepy on its own. Watching the runoff dripping to the ground, knowing it's carrying lethal amounts of an invisible killer is the perfect imagery of the true horror of what happened.
I get what you mean. But the washing wasn't the real issue - at 15,000 roentgen per hour that truck would have been so damaged by a few minutes of gamma rays that they would have needed to dig a truck-sized hole and bury the thing.
The General will be fine, radiation knows better than to mess with him.
@@Rutherford_Inchworm_III IIRC gamma rays knock electrons, and occasionally protons and neutrons - off of atoms, ionizing some elements and converting others. But gamma rays are photons, they are emitted and absorbed. It's alpha and beta radiation, while far less penetrative, the particles persist, and their interactions with other atoms can lead to chain reactions and further radioactive elements.
@@atraxisdarkstar You are correct. Activation is not a concern in that scenario re: direct gamma. Not sure why I said that... too much cross pollination with criticality accident research, I suppose.
I always wondered what the liquid was, surely water alone isn’t enough to decontaminate
@@KittyPieVibes This one I know for sure: they used a substance they called "bourda" which is the Russian word for molasses and also a slang word meaning basically "goop" - it was sticky brown brewery waste that they mixed with water to form a foamy liquid which captured dust like soapsuds (except far cheaper). It was already in widespread use in the USSR to keep dust down on dirt roads.
“I’m going to go get you 5,000 tons of sand and boron!” Damn. Taking Shcherbina with me next time I need to cut through the bureaucracy at the DMV
It's the good and the bad of dictatorships. They're much more brutally efficient at solving catastrophes. But because of the ideological, Lysenkoist basis of their regimes, they're also likelier to create them.
That was the thing about Soviet bureaucracy, it could be amazingly efficient when it wanted to be.
He has the yellow pages
*Scherbina walks away *
Me: “where are you going?”
-“ I’m going to get you six points of ID”
He spent the rest of his life cutting through the bureaucracy during the last days of the Soviet Union.
Notice how Shcherbina turns to Legasov after hearing 15,000 Roentgen, he suddenly realises that the only person not bullshitting him has been the one who he thought was bullshitting him. And even though he yells at Legasov, Shcherbina immediately does what he says and heads off to organise the Boron.
There's another equally revealing scene.
+ So what's burning on the roof? From thé chopper it looked like bricks.
- Must have been concrete.
+ This was a fatal mistake, tovarisc. I know very little about nuclear physics, but I know almost everything there Is to know about concrete. And I KNOW that concrete does not burn.
He actually realized it much earlier, in the first scene where he meets Bryukhanov and Fomin. Fomin challenges Legasov with how an RBMK reactor core explodes, and Legasov, knowing the fatal flaw but unable to discuss it, says "I'm not prepared to explain it at this time". Shcherbina, knowing the political game, picks up on the subtleties of that statement and challenges the plant leadership, revealing that they're bullshitting him, which leads to this scene.
"That's my decision to make."
"Then make it."
"I've been told not to."
God, I love this line.
The party has given the orders. You don't contest them.
Never mind that IRL he gave the decision on the morning he arrived. What's the cost of lies, HBO?
@@somedud1140 to show the incompetence of the soviets?
@@somedud1140 It's a dramatization, not a documentary. Liberties/license were taken. Sort of how the Queen was produced.
“ You are dealing with something , that has never occurred on this planet, before “
What a scary line
@@GauravSanjeevkumarBhardwaj1220 Oh stop drama
not great not terrible, all will be fine, I have seen worse. Handover yourself to the infirmary, you are delusional
BECAUSE IT DIDN'T!!!!
Except, that one time in Africa, millions of years ago.
“It’s not 3.6, it’s 15,000”
Not great, but not terrible.
You didn’t see 15,000 because it’s not there!
Another faulty meter.
He's hysterical get him out of here
*Throws up*"My apologies"
It’s a chest x-ray.
Did anybody notice how the eyes of the soldier standing behind Valery nearly bulge out as he explains the reality of the situation? He has a pure "I'm fucked" expression
Yeah and then he looks over at the 2 douchebags lol
You are exaggerating but at 2:41 he is indeed look scared.
Actually it's another amazing detail because he isn't reacting until the "entire continent is dead" part. Because he don't know anything about roentgen and even Hiroshima probably.
Another reason Pikalov drove the truck himself; his soldiers could have bolted if their commander hadn’t taken the biggest risk.
Well, let's face it...he most likely is. They all are. As Legasov admits to Shcherbina later in the series, many if not most of the people working at that site have already received what amounts to a death sentence.
"Give them as much protection as you can but even with lead shielding it may not be enough."
"Then I'll do it myself"
a general truly worthy of the rank.
Love that line. I don't know if it is historically accurate, but it is an excellent example of true leadership. Rather than send some grunt on a suicide mission, and have the communist party apparatchik scream "fake news" yet again, the general puts his own life on the line.
I like to think Zhukov would have said the same thing if he were around for Chernobyl.
@@texaswunderkind It's accurate. General Pikalov figured a cover up was already in the process, and this was one event that he absolutely could not allow to be covered up. So part of why he went himself was so that none of the corrupt party members trying to cover up the situation could dispute his claim.
My favorite line in this episode, he was told that even with all the protection someone under his command might not be safe, he willfully went in to protect his men. Truly one of the most honorable men I have heard of.
And he said it immediately, without hesitation, and meant it.
1:52 a very quick shot but still such a powerful moment. The general stands there as if he’s a harbinger of death. Great cinematography
He has this look that says "get fucking ready cause you're in for a treat.."
@@chris7gabrielExpecially here 2:03
@@stefanodegioia1598 looking at when they first show him you can already tell the sheer rage and disgust he currently has. and then the end of the scene he's just staring at the reactor staring at a more assured death then war before giving the most old warrior look to Legasov.
Agree with the significance of this scene. The lead characters are made aware of the magnitude of the catastrophe: how if not interrupted, within weeks atmospheric radiation would poison most of Europe, making the continent uninhabitable for centuries.
I mean with the news that delivered he basically was the harbinger of death at that moment.
Seeing all those abandoned fire trucks to me is one of the most Scariest scenes in the series, fire trucks that are always filled by people trying to help and you just see those fire trucks sitting there knowing that their crew Will probably never get in a fire truck ever again
Creepier still when you consider that the fire trucks and all the vehicles and helicopters used in the clean up are still there today, abandoned and too irradiated to ever use again. A vehicle graveyard inside an abandoned, decaying Soviet dream, frozen in time.
@@ErikJ05 They were finally shredded and buried a few years ago. The problems went from people looting parts from the radioactive vehicles to keep other vehicles operating to people just flat-out stealing steel to cash out as scrap metal and they finally decided to do away with all of it. That motor park of contaminated vehicles no longer exists.
@@tbd-1 Huh, I hadn’t heard that. Thank you. Still an eerie legacy to see in pictures.
Surprisingly, quite a lot of the firefighters who arrived on the site survived the initial radiation dose, most of the ones who died of ARS were the ones who climbed on the roof and were directly exposed to the highly radioactive material.
Theres a vehichle cemetery of all tanks, trucks, cars, choopers abandoned in a secluded area. It was planned to be decontaminated and scrapped, or just burried in the ground. As of 2017, the vehichles have been removed from that place
“It’s not 3 röntgen; it’s 15,000.”
Dyatlov: “15,000. Not great, not…oh shit.”
YOU DIDNT SEE 15000 BECAUSE ITS NOT THERE
@@nicholaswhatts1380 you DIDAN’T!!!
He's delusional. Take him to the Infirmary
It's another faulty meter
@@OurHereafter you're wasting our time
"You're dealing with something that has never occurred before on this planet... but enough about Pikalov, we should do something about this fire."
Jared Harris was PHENOMENAL as Legasov. Like he's always been a good actor, but I was blown away by this.
His father is the true Dumbledore.
The actor playing Pikalov was actually the voice of Letho in The Witcher games.
The general is really intelligent. He understand and believes Legasov. He is also a veteran politician and know how to make his moves. He also performs well as a decision-marker: listens to Legasov to know what the problem is, what needs to be solved and executes the steps to do that: final line "going to get you 5000 tons of sand" just brilliantly exemplifies this.
In this scene, intelligent and practical. A military leader understands logistics, and the need for food and shelter. The "There's a hotel" line shows that he sees the greater picture as well as the minor bullshit that can effect how it's handled. Get the freaking genius scientist a bed and some food, so we we can solve the problem. Love it.
He's a man and a leader of them. He took his own life into his own hands. When he did not need to.
The lead shielding wasn't meant to protect Pikalov from the reactor, it was meant to protect the reactor from Pikalov.
He was a great man. Can you imagine walking into invisible yet certain death (prolonged) while having to force yourself to do so because it was the right thing and you were saving millions of lives and an entire continent.
@@flightofthebumblebee9529 is a joke because pikalov fought WW2, help with chernobyl and died of old age!
Pikalov to ionizing radiation: "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me."
@@imsorryyoutube6774 iam not in danger I AM THE DANGER
He had hundreds of thousands of soldiers to do this. But he did it himself. "There is only one way to Heaven on first class: self sacrifice."
Comrade Boris: I'm in charge!
Radiation: Do you feel in charge...?
Very good dark knight rises reference. very apt in this instance too.
"Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Comrade Director."
No, but I do feel warm. Thanks radiation.
Watched Chernobyl once** You know I’m something of a nuclear physicist myself
I believe one needs to also watch a TEDx about Chernobyl to consider oneself a nuclear physicist.
@@kazj1728 I thought you were saying the movie TED🤣🤣
@@eliteofthe9136 Well in Ted 2 Tom Brady’s bedsheets glowed brightly when Mark Wahlberg and Ted tried to steal his ‘genes’, so he was probably radioactive…which actually explains a lot.
@@eliteofthe9136 ua-cam.com/video/83xaGtnlvR0/v-deo.html
I’m still addicted to this show after years of
the shot of Pikalov in a mask, being washed down, looking almost at the camera is amazing
Ah you notice it also😅😅
Indeed, him waiting the crew to be done with the washing while looking at the men through his mask is a prelude of the terrifying news to come...
As is the first shot of the insect-like mask as he’s maneuvering the truck.
If enlisted men were sent instead of the general volunteering, they'd be called delusional for saying 15,000
And that's why he went. He knew what was on the line. The truth
Fifthy Thousand People used to live here... Now it's a ghost town
Most people got into chernobyl because of this series. I got into chernobyl because of this quote.
Remember...no Russian
@C-shift Report It was Macmillan
Disciple And will be till the end of time.
Aaahhh, 2007….that E3 trailer showing that mission was amazing!
In December 1986, Pikalov was named a Hero of the Soviet Union (the Soviet equivalent of a U.S. Medal of Honor). Can anyone say he didn't deserve it?
People who deny radiation lol im sure that group also exists 💀 internet has allowed all the idiots to gather and form cults
He's a hero of the world as far as I'm concerned.
He's the savior of both Europe and Asia... So, yeah, he totally deserved it.
Hell of a man. He and all of them who were actually fixing the problem and cleaning up definitely deserve to be honored and remembered by all of humanity. Thanks to this series, I feel like they will.
It's really not similar to Medal of Honor because you can earn the title "Hero of the Soviet Union" not just through combat but also for doing other important deeds for example Kalashnikov was awarded because of his invention of AK-47.
Props to Shcherbina for being so on-point and willing to listen to Legasov for advice after having discovered that he was completely right and that those two clowns were lying to his face in order to cover up their blunder. Get the problem under control ASAP, the consequences be damned if they're less serious than letting things just escalate further.
World has a big problem with self serving clowns covering up their blunders currently
Scherbina is the great hero, he is the guy that solves everything. Listen to the scientists and gets what they need.
_IT WAS DYATLOV!!!_
@@brandondaniels9471 Dyatlov was incharge
@@MrTAggarwal No, he was at the toilets when accident happened, you have to pay more attention to the script dude :D
The quick reaction shot of Legasov after the general tells them the number says it all.
Scherbina's face and manurisms when Legasov tells him they are dealing with something that had never happened before is also great.
His face says "That's not what I asked. I asked for a solution.".
It says "Yup... I was right. We're dead."
I think legasov was so shocked he needed to stall to think of a solution
I loved this series SO much. It's one of the best things I've seen in any form of media. Lines like the dire delivery of "we are dealing with something that has never occurred on this PLANET before" really make it clear to the viewer how serious this disaster really was.
It's wrong though. Corium was created first in the USA. At 3 mile Island.
Nope, Three Mile Island was very different.
When he says never occurred before on the planet, he is referring to the core being open to the air, putting off the radiation of two Hiroshima bombs per hour.
Three mile island had a meltdown and released radiation, however the containment vessels held. So the US had to deal with a meltdown, the US did not have to deal with an open core.
My personal favorite part of this scene, is how Shcherbina COMPLETELY ignores Fomin and the other guy and asks Legasov exactly what it means.
Bonus points when you notice Legasov turned to them when he was explaining what 15000 meant. As if to say "THAT is what happens when an RBMK reactor explodes you morons".
& that "....thank you for your service, you're excused...." line. 1 of the most gently Harshest lines in the series in fact a very polite, "now Fxxk Off !!! to both of you, twice... "😂
An amazing show. You do not understand the magnitude of this situation but this show does a fantastic job of showing it. Later in the series, Boris has this look about him that speaks volumes. When he realizes that they are so far over their heads and there is nothing they have that can counter the 15000 roentgen per hour, you feel for him and the scientists involved in this cleanup. The area around Chernobyl is still incredibly toxic and life is starting to return but the reactor and the radiation in the surrounding area will not fade away for at least 100 years. At the least! Gorbachev even says in his memoirs that it was Chernobyl that brought down the Soviet Union.
I've just came back from Chernobyl and the town of Pripyat. The guide said, that the fatal radiation MIGHT fade out in 100 years, but the radioactive particles that could be ingested and could be fatal won't fade away for at least 50000 more years. So basically, forever.
They had - sand and boron.
Crimson Tiger No you can add 2 0’s behind that number, that’s the time before the place will be habitable again
That radiation will NOT fade away in 100 years, Chernobyl is lost for good.
@@Paulius_Beniusis 5k years? not great not horrifiying, all will be fine, I have seen worse
When we have trouble at work, I'm gonna say, "Dyatlov was in charge. It was Dyatlov!"
Might change my signature block quote to "not great, not terrible."
Whats chilling most of all is 3.6 is cause for concern. At 15,000 the danger is incomprehensible
Emergency situation for reals
The meter showed a reading of 3.6. What is the maximum limit of that detector? UH 3.6. Ok that's sounds good to me. 3.6 it is.
I've seen just about every horror movie/tv show in the last 75 years. And HBO's "Chernobyl" is BY FAR, the scariest thing I have ever viewed in my life.
It's all the scarier for the fact that over the last year we've seen that nothing in Russia has changed.
Go into any bar and tell a drunk woman to calm down.
It’s not scary for being fiction, it is terrifying for being a fact.
And thing is that it was real
Pikalov had so much lead in him from the war, that it nearly extinguished the reactor.
Underrated comment
@@serhafiye7046 Indeed. I gave it a like. Let's hope it receives the recognition it deserves.
That genius cut at 3:55, when the camera is focusing on literally nothing in the distance, completely blurring the main character. Telling a whole story about radiation in three seconds.
It could be deliberate, but it would also not be the first time that a faintly visible special effect did not show well on the consumer end of devices (though I'd say that taking that into account these days is much more of a thing than it might have been 20-25 years a go.
I think there's supposed to be faint smoke visible.
Dude it was focusing on the smoke that he was pointing at, didnt you see it
If you try and see it on a bigger screen with a higher resolution you’ll be able to see it
that's the result of being a 480p video lmao
I watched this series at least 5 times now all the way through and this part and the buildup to it is almost heartbreaking. It's like even the most naive knew something was TERRIBLY wrong, even Dyaltov. They just couldn't admit the worst and wanted to believe the core was in tact and able to be cooled. When they say 15000 and ask Jared Harris what that means he casually says "it means the core is exposed" and then proceeded to tell them what they should've already known. The fire brigade never stood a chance and Dyaltov should've been indicted for that choice alone by calling them to put out a fire that was exposing them to rapid death by invisible poison.
Except that this part is completely fictional. Dyatlov claimed in later interviews that he himself visited the reactor building to evaluate the damage, he ordered the shutdown of reactor 3 and adviced the fire brigade to secure the generator hall to prevent further damage. I'm aware that he's probably not the best source and for sure he wasn't the hero in this story, but I think he wasn't the villain either. It just happens that he was the guy who the Communist party could blame, and I'm not very happy that the mini series followed this narration.
@@tobiaswilhelmi4819 but they do a good enough job of showing the corruption in the Soviet command structure that it makes you wonder automatically what actually happened. I mean you can't tell me you didn't go online and look into the incident further after watching this.
@@tobiaswilhelmi4819 It seems the more I look into Chernobyl nobody in the control room was at fault. Dyatlov did everything right with the information he was given. And had he not tried to get the reactor running he would've lost his job if not worse. The control room operators were also severely undertrained and ill informed on what to do. Shame they're seen as villains in this series.
unfortunately the firefighters were required. their sacrifice was unavoidable with the tech of the day.
One of the firemen who survived later said that they did in fact have a strong suspicion that the core itself had exploded, but duty compelled them to put the fire out. Because if they hadn't it would have spread to the other reactors, and Europe would be uninhabitable. They may not have been properly trained or informed, but people are smart and they figure stuff out. I think they knew, just not how bad it was going to be. They should have indicted the idiot who used flammable materials like that in the roof of a nuclear reactor, because the firefighters that died were the ones that went up there
When Pikalov approached reactor number 4, out of sheer respect the core stopped emitting, came outside to give Pikalov the correct reading, then returned to continue emitting once Pikalov was gone.
😂😂😂😂
"I serve the Soviet Union" - Reactor 4
"You are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before" was the line that really drove home for me how critical this event was.
Actually it probably happened before on the planet, perhaps 4 billion years before, when the earth was forming
@@abominusrex3205 There was a natural nuclear reactor 1.7 billion years ago in what is now Gabon. Google "natural nuclear reactor."
One of the greatest scenes in television history
2:18 boris had his first moment of truth and knew that he is facing a catastrophe.
+thomas mayer-m. and his second "oh....... sh*t" moment came not 20 seconds later as legasov explains just how much radiation the reactor is emitting every hour.
I love how at 2:17 he shuts up the directors, before later 'excusing' them to 'party headquarters' by the soldier who had been visibly reacting to the entire conversation.
"You are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before..." That line always gives me chills.
Legasov may have understood the actual problem and how to solve it (temporarily at least), but Cherbina understood the pollical side of the problem. Getting 5000 tons of sand and boron without proper inspection or documentation is utter lunacy in a democratic society, yet for Cherbina it was still easier than to convince his superior to evacuate the city because the Communist Party does not, and cannot admit that it had made many mistakes leading to people dying and the reactor's explosion.
Chernobyl is a show about many things: how people deal with problems and tragedy, the scale of the disaster, the work and sacrifices done to save people. But above all else this show is about how lies and deceptions only made the inevitable worse, and that is a problem just as close to us today as it was half a century or a millennia ago.
Nappa : His power level is only 3.6 , not great not terrible.
Vegeta : Its over 9000!!!!!!!!
NAPPA : IT WAS DYATLOV!!!!!!! KILL HIM NOT ME
I love how they took a “less is more” approach to the music. Gives a sort of creaking “metal settling down” vibe.
On a different note, I can only imagine what was going through the mind of the Colonel as he made the approach by himself. The plant grounds evacuated, the site dark and abandoned, everything eerily still and silent and the invisible danger in the very air he was passing through. But when he came to the locked gate he just bulldozed right through it, because he had a job to do and he was going to see it through. Nerves of steel indeed. And they were going to need every person just like him that they could get.
Viktor Bryukhanov and Nikolai Fomin were lucky that they weren't stood in front of a firing squad.
The woman who made the music said in a video that she went to a nuclear powerplant to record all the sounds and then pieced together the sounds into the soundtrack. Very atmospheric.
If you listen close during the closeup of Legasov while they are waiting in the tent, you can hear a dosimeter gradually getting louder in the background.
@FloatingOer Yeah, I heard the same thing. In fact if I remember correctly, she recorded the sounds at Ignalina, another RBMK reactor, the very same one where Chernobyl was filmed.
I was always felt like it was the groaning and roaring of the reactor as it spewed its poison. I thought it was great.
@@Neo_Leo85 Yeah I can imagine that. Chernobyl was metaphorically a terrifying monster of human creation.
I love the choice to show him getting to the gate, realizing he'll destroy the dosimeter by ramming it, so he turns around and rams it backwards instead. Fantastic bit of filmmaking from Craig Mazin.
A true leader. Not only did he not want to put any of his soliders in harms way, but as the most high ranking officer at the scene, he wanted everyone to know what the correct reading was, and he knew Fomin and Bryukhanov were not telling the whole story. General Pikalov is a true hero.
Pikalov knew that Legasov was probably right, right from the start. But he needed a politically-acceptable way to out Brykhanov and Fomin. By telling them all that the "high rate dosimeter had just arrived" (he probably already had a clear idea of the problem before Shcherbina arrived)... but with this fact shared at the opportune moment came, gave Shcherbina the opening to force the decision (neatly sidestepping Brykhanov and Fomin's conclusions - outright lies). This might seem machiavellian, but it's how a skilled operator works around a problem. Pikalov fought in many battles (both with guns and brains), and knew his duty was to his mission and his men (in that order)... his management of the situation was flawless and saved lives.
@@matthewhelton1725 Well said.
Vladimir Pikalov, the general depicted in this series, happened to live until the age of 78, dying in 2003. He served in WWII, where he participated in the Battles of Stalingrad, Moscow, and Kursk. He would also receive the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, for his work during the Chernobyl Disaster.
After all that shit, it figures that the only thing that could kill him was old age.
@@Spudtron98not even Chernobyl radiation could put him down
Chernobyl was the result of unimaginable incompetence but the response was made possible by equally unimaginable heroism.
General Pikalov is the definition of "call and ambulance. But not for me"
At first the Colonel was going to walk to the plant with a dosimeter to save gas but they managed to convince him time was critical. Every Chuck Norris joke ever uttered should be changed to Vladimir Pikalov.
General: It's not 3 roentgen. It's 15,000
Dyatlov: How do you get that number from a blown tank? He's in shock. Take him to the infirmary.
"Another piece of faulty equipment, you're wasting our time"
Scherbina: "Thank you for your service. You're excused."
Skaarsgaard plays the bureacrat fear very well.
You can see him confidently handling the situation, and then Legasov starts going into the technical details and how bad this actually is (killing the continent, fighting a fire even the experts don't know how to fight)...and he increasingly gets short with them all. You can actively see Scherbina moving into fight or flight mode as the leader...such great acting.
He has already decided that he has to do something, and NOW all the subject matter experts are prevaricating and panicky. "For god's sake rough estimate!" I need something to say to action what you need! Don't try to insinuate yourself into the political problem of evacuation...I already know what has to be done, and I have to fight the authority structure to get it done and you won't help that!
Dyatlov was in charge....it was Dyatlov!
Wasn't viktor bryukhanov fault that he want the test? When the nuclear explode he denying the high radiation, says is not high, tried to cover up his responsible, prevent citizen to evacuate pripyat
He was on the toilet.
"You are dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before"
There aren't many things more terrifying for an adult person then seeing a man of science preparing themselves to tell them something.
For double fear you have experts. I know it, I am xd.
Wait did this actually in real life???
The whole reactor number four exploding? Yes,It happened.Chernobyl as a show might have been embellised a bit for drama purposes BUT, It is kinda a documentary of what happened irl.
“You are dealing with something that has never accurred on this planet before”
I don’t think anyone really realizes how scary those words are
Almost as scary as "rabies went airborne"
@@mariastevens6406 jesus fuck, I know that's not practically possible but the idea of it is already scary
Have to agree, the word "accurred" is quite scary
It WAS pretty scary at the time but it didn't play out in the news to be quite that melodramatic. We watched the weather/wind patterns, and scientists said we wouldn't really be affected over here.
"In the Battle between us and the reactor, there could only be one winner..."
-- Anatoly Dyatlov, 1999
Pretty sure Dyatlov died around 1994ish, so I'm guessing that quote was from 1989.
You didn't watch Chernobyl, because it never aired.
But...
@@ttime441 you're delusional. Get this man to an infirmary
It never aired? 🤦♂️
THEY DIDN'T!!!
Because it's NOT THERE
I don't know if that was intended but the way General Pikalov is acting in this scene makes it look like he already dealt with similar event in the past...
Pikalov actually survived through many battles like in Kursk, Stalingrad and Moscow. Also survived WW2 after being wounded. So yeah this is almost another day in the office for him :)
@@dnsvls Chernobyl disaster is noting in comparison to horrors of war.
But I'm thinking it's possible he dealt with radiation effects before Chernobyl. Maybe during nuclear bomb tests.
@@divinemoments5344 that's true.
@@divinemoments5344 I don't know if he had anything to do with it, but the Soviets had a nuclear waste accident in the Ural mountains at Mayak in the 50s.
He was head of the command that handled radiation and chemical spills in the Soviet Union. The Soviets had several more isolated nuclear waist accident before when they first started their nuclear program. I’m sure it wasn’t even the first time he was near lethal levels of radiation.
The sad thing to think about is how the USSR refused to evacuate until the US got satellite images of the plant and showed the world what was happening, which was about 36 hours later. To put that into their words, that’s 72 Hiroshima bombs worth of radiation released before they evacuated anyone, just to try and protect their image.
Not only that but the west detected the spikes in radiation 3000 miles away. There was no doubt something bad happened.
What's sad is there are those who would do that in the United States as well, The Three Mile Island incident proved that and the way people are today just makes it doubly so.
@@starfleetcaptain5413 to be fair to the US, not that it wasn’t fucked up, but three mile island was no where close to as bad as Chernobyl.
@@Dovahkiin049 no but damn close to becoming that.
People are all the same, doesn't matter where your from
This show was a masterpiece. I still come back every year or so and watch clips. The acting, the dialog, the sets and equipment they used…all perfect.
It was overdramatized shit.
Go watch some real documentaries on it.
Much more informative and way better.
@@LUCKO2022
It’s difficult to overdramatize the disaster and what could have very easily followed.
'I'm in charge here!' was such a desperate plea from a man whose hands are tied.
Did anyone else hear the background sounds of a Geiger counter? That steady noise of death all around you...
Our man here drove straight towards the dying heart of a false star because he knew the risk it would have on his men and wanted none of that shit. I have no love for the Soviet Union nor for the Red Army, but I do have respect for good men who rise up and do the right thing in dark situations. Thank you for your service, General Pikalov. You were, and always will be, a credit to your nation and her peoples.
Love or hate the USSR, you have to admit the sheer bravery of the Russian people. They have been through literally hell for the survival of their people.
It’s the USSR culture of lies, cover up, propaganda, politicization of everything and shoot the messenger culture that provoked the Chernobyl accident in the first place.
There are more good men than bad men. In the occasion that a good man is working for bad men, they will do the best they can
@@MinhNGUYEn-uq2nt My only wish is that it were directed less by an imperialist mindset
"dying heart of a false star" sounds poetic
@1:04 That protective face mask reminds me of mickey mouse's face, partly spooky, partly funny
I love the part when he turns the truck around to back through the gate. It's like a Tarantino level of "useless dialogue" that helps to add realism and even a bit of suspense to the scene. Really like how the people running the show put that little detail in.
if it's 15000R, then they would get a high reading even from outside the facility. Shows you how incompetent USSR was that the Swedes were able to detect the high levels before the Soviets were. Yet, they kept thinking that it's a fluke
Because, in those days, in the USSR, it was inconceivable that ANY disastrous event could possibly occur when everyone knew that it would be an embarrassment to the nation, and embarrassments do not happen to the USSR. It was not necessarily incompetence, but hubris and a blind devotion to what superiors tell you.
Communism
Back then the government of the USSR denied disasters happened
If you contradicted the government you could find yourself in real trouble
The Soviets knew of the radiation, they didn't need the Swedes to tell them. They had to measure the radiation levels at the site to evaluate how much boron is needed.
You shouldn't mix the content of this SHOW with reality.
To speak of: even in the mini series it is shown like that. The measurements in the nuclear institute in Minsk is right before the alarm in Sweden.
They also didn't believe that over pressure of steam could lead to an explosion which is just laughably stupid
Normal boilers can explode from excess vapor pressure, so why would a larger scaled one be any different?
3:10 I love this exchange between Legasov and Shcherbina because it illustrates their roles and how they work together. Legasov understands the situation but even he is overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster. Shcherbina can't understand the disaster like Legasov but he can see it as a problem to be dealt with. Shcherbina works towards a solution while Legasov helps to keep from making things worse than they already are.
Pretty good writing. Dare I say
"I'm going to get you 5000 tons of sand and boron" is such a dense line. Shcherbina presses Legasov to make up a number on the spot and immediately trusts his judgement and gets it done, no matter the price tag. "Why did I see graphite on the roof" was the first glimpse of trust, but this is where the duo really gains traction. At the same time it's another perspective on the immense scale of the problem: Try getting a hold of 5000 tons of _anything_, let alone flying it in with helicopters in just a few hours. Whole supply chains, defense capabilities - none of it matters. And all that in one line!
Scherbina trusted Legasov well before this. Scherbina was IIRC the reason Legasov was even in the room getting briefed on the problem. He NEEDED an expert, and Legasov suited that need. He also needed something even more important, an honest man who could look at the problem and tell him what the truth is, and Scherbina saw in the briefing that he'd chosen well.
Boris is being manipulative, but most of his manipulations for the entire miniseries, even the early bits, was to get Legasov into a position where he could come up with a solution. He showed his trust more openly as the series developed, but it's clear that Scherbina's solution to this crisis was "make Legasov come up with a soltuion."
"You're dealing with something that has never accrued on this planet before." ....that is so utterly chilling to hear. Couldn't imagine being told that in person and not shitting a brick.
General: "This is exactly how screwed we are."
Scientist: "I told you, we're utterly screwed."
Politician: "Well shit."
Every scene....every conversation....the writers did such a great job.....the actors were awsome.....hands down one if not the best miniseries of the last 10 years.
Right, it’s scarier than most horror movies. To think something like this could happen irl is horrifying
2:41 the accusatory tone in his voice while he is looking at the two men who so far have been actively downplaying the unfolding disaster is amazing
The fire engines still parked with the doors open and equipment lying out is an eerie feeling.
Firefighting equipment from the real events are still parked there even today among multiple other pieces of heavy machinery and equipment. I hope very soon the war will be over and you will be able to come and see the relics with your own eyes and get a grasp of the scale of the operation that took place after the reactor exploded. It is quite a sight. Just don't go too close to the stuff as some parts of it can not be decontaminated and they are still mildly radioactive.
@Kirillissimus Just like the FDNY rigs from 9/11, they honor their crews' sacrifice simply by being. I would question if I was worthy enough to be in their vehicle's shadow, far below walking in their footsteps. We should be honored for the fact that we know that there are people like this, and the sacrifices made were really for the true good of humanity.
There is a deliberate effort on the part of the creators to avoid showing the viewer the exposed reactor core for most of the show. The characters and the audience know where it is, the characters are able to look at it directly, but the audience does not see it. We see evidence of it - the readings, the horrible burns on the victims, the eerie glow. We hear the creepy music when it's close by. It's like a character on its own, like a sentient otherworldly presence; like a monster in a horror film. It's such a simple cinematographic device: whatever you do, don't show the monster's face. But it's so terrifically suspenseful, and so masterfully done! Really adds to the sensation that these tiny humans, so full of hubris and recklessness, really fucked with a force of nature that's now out of their control.
@@Lazaruz95Makes me think of Exodus 33:20 "But He said, 'You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.'" A terrible, vengeful God indeed.
It gives us more of the perspective of the regular people in the area. Pripyat was an atomgrad. So its citizens likely had an idea of the things that could go wrong with a reactor. Knowing that a monster was loose, but not being able to see it or know just how big and dangerous it is, must have been terrifying.
God help the reactor core when Pikalov comes knocking
My favourite quote from this series by Legasov: "You see, a just world, is a sane world. There was nothing sane about Chernobyl."
"It's not 3 roentgen, it's 1500."
"He's in shock, get him out of here."
This was such an amazing series.. 3+ years later scenes like this still give me the chills!!
The anger, sadness, and hope are all such strange feelings given today's climate with Russian and the Ukraine... After all we've been through, the world deserves better men.
I love just how quickly Fomin threw Dyatlov under the bus the moment he knew shit was about to get worse.
It wasn't us. It was The Warriors."
Apparently... ol Fomin had a nervous breakdown shortly after finding out the true extent of the disaster. Then he attempted suicide during or before the trial and after it. He failed both times and had another breakdown. Sad.
"Boron... Boron and Sand. That'll create problems of its own, but i-i-i dont see any other way."
Damn man, you know your situation is fucking dire when you gotta pull some shit thatll cause another major and critical issue just to deal with the current one. Thats just not something you wanna hear.
This scene gives me the chills and makes my heart drop every single time!
“The essay isn’t 400 words. It’s 40,000 thousand.”
"What does that number mean"
The part that struck me the most out of this scene is the part were u see where the firetrucks were at made me think this guy needed a full suit n a Lead truck to be there yet they sent those firemen there with no radiation protection just hours after the explosion.
Yep. They got their DNA destroyed.
Fire fighters respond when called. We now have training in hazmat so something like this doesn't happen. We now know to look before we run in. You can't help someone if you're hurt.
They were deliberately obtuse. You did what the party wanted or you didn’t last. The only thing that made them fess up was that they couldn’t deny it any longer.
"You are dealing with something that has never occured on this planet before."
That line alone is terrifying.
Can we keep in mind this guy drove as close as possible while the firefighters were closer?
He wasn't scared of the radiation. The radiation was scared of him.
Or alternatively, he was scared to send any of his men to an almost certain painful and slow death, and the radiation realized this. Lol
Love the whole series, but the part where Legasov tells Shcherbina "You're dealing with something that has never occurred on this planet before" set the stakes for the entire plot and is my favorite part. No one on the planet, Soviet or otherwise, knows for certain what to do about this. Chernobyl was the only event in history where we threatened a substantial part of the planet's ability to sustain life and we did it overnight, literally.
I'm still in awe of how good this show was. Why is it so rare these days?
Because movie and TV productions are billion dollar industries. Investors want massive returns, so every project has to be massively profitable. Every new project has to be a guaranteed success before it's even considered, so the executives want everything to be as generally bland and safe as possible.
@@mathewfinch Meanwhile, loads of movies made by these big studios are flopping. Indy 5, The Marvels, Wish and many more in the last few years. They didn't make back their budget+marketing. Oppenheimer and Barbie made money though.
I think HBO is just touched by the ability to produce amazing stuff time and time again, kinda like Nintendo but Nintendo is way more evil.
This is the type of man you follow into battle. Leading by example
The General? That's an understatement if you knew what he had to go through during WW2.
The lead shielding wasn't to protect him from the radiation, it was to protect the radiation from his balls
This mini series is a masterpiece.
“It’s not 3 roentgen, it’s 15,000”
“I’m told it’s equivalent to a chest X-ray.”
It will work like a chest x-ray when the skin peels off and exposes the bones
Only Chernobyl has that great truck cleaning services.