∆ FIGURE 1- HBO’s Chernobyl (2019) Poster

HBO’S CHERNOBYL (2019)

Miniseries Review
By Dylan Reynolds

A HAUNTING ADAPTATION
Chernobyl is a five-episode 2019 miniseries, distributed by HBO, that follows the true events
of the 1986 nuclear disaster of the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor 4. Located on the outskirts of
the city of Pripyat, and near the city of Chernobyl, the reactor, during a rushed and
procedure-less test that resulted in an unexpected surge of power to the core. The
subsequent radioactive fallout and environmental damages resulted in estimated
thousands of deaths.
With Chernobyl, the team behind the miniseries had a hefty task of sticking to facts and
being truthful with the story they aimed to tell, while still being respectful to the victims and
their families who suffered through the most catastrophic nuclear disaster in history.
I’m pleased to say that the team succeeded on all of these fronts, and, subsequently,
managed to deliver one of the most emotionally raw, thematically grounded, and soberingly
dark pieces of media I have ever experienced.
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PLOT
Chernobyl’s first episode is titled “1:23:45”,
the exact real-world time that Reactor 4 of the
Chernobyl Nuclear Plant exploded. The title is
fitting, as viewers are immediately dropped
into the moment of the explosion within the
episode’s opening moments.
Viewers are placed in the apartment of
Lyudmilla Ignatenko and her husband, Vasily,
in the city of Pripyat. Through their window, the
∆ FIGURE 2 – Chernobyl (2019)’s Shcherbina,
Legasov, and Khomyuk, respectively plant’s explosion can be seen in the distance,
sending a massive shockwave through their
walls, and setting the horrors of the event in motion.
The first episode follows the initial days of the explosion, and the Soviet Union’s initial lack
of action, and their haste to keep the situation out of global knowledge. Throughout the
series, we follow Valery Legasov, Boris Shcherbina, and Ulana Khomyuk, as they fight to
bring science and truth to the forefront,
whilst fighting against the Soviet Union
government’s negligence towards the
dangers of the situation.

CHERNOBYL’S HUMANITY
One thing that Chernobyl does amazingly is
allowing the humanity of the situation at
hand to shine through. One of the more
unsettling scenes of the pilot is found
through the observers on the infamous
“Bridge of Death”, as seen in Figure 3. We cut ∆ FIGURE 3 – “The Bridge of Death”, with
from the events of the plant to this scene of the power plant in the background
couples, neighbors, and children watching the plant from afar, innocently enjoying the
spectacle of what they believe to be snow. Of course, the viewers know that this is
radioactive fallout. It's scenes like these that really highlight the realism of this catastrophe,
and the real people it killed and the real families it destroyed.
Lyudmilla and Vasily, based off the real people, Lyudmila and Vasily, have their story told
through the first half of the series, having it largely culminate in episode three, “Open Wide,
O Earth”. Vasily, as a first responder firefighter to Chernobyl, gradually suffers from acute
radiation syndrome, and the scenes between him and Lyudmilla are some of the series’
most heartbreaking, while allowing viewers a window into the sobering reality of the violent
nature of the disaster.
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PAYING RESPECT WITH HISTORICAL ACCURACY

Chernobyl makes it a point to not just make a spectacle of the harrowing events at hand.
While certainly cinematic, Chernobyl prioritizes truth and honor to those affected.
Its final episode offers details of the
historical events with such fine-tuned
accuracy that it’s impressive. This careful
attention to factual representation really
showcases the care and effort that the
team behind the show put into it.
It’s clear that, no matter what, paying
respect to the victims and the heroes of
Chernobyl was the miniseries’ main goal,
and this is reflected even in the title of the
finale: “Vichnaya Pamyat”, which ∆ FIGURE 4 – Vasily Ignatenko arriving at the
translates to “Eternal Memory”. “Vichnaya smoldering power plant in “1:23:45”
Pamyat” is a phrase used at Russian funerals, which further highlights the respect the show
wishes to pay.

CONCLUSION
Nearly four years after its release, 2019’s Chernobyl is still a masterclass in nonfictional
media. The praise and critical success it has received in the years since is very well-
deserved. It boasts near-perfect pacing, emotionally raw acting, and hauntingly beautiful
cinematography. When coupled with its historical accuracy and grounding in reality, its not
hard to see why its one of HBO’s most successful miniseries to date.
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CITATIONS
FIGURE 1

Alimov, Rashid. “The 'Chernobyl' Mini-Series Has Finished, but the Real Life Catastrophe
Never Ends.” Greenpeace International, 30 May 2020,
https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/22799/the-chernobyl-mini-series-has-
finished-but-the-real-life-catastrophe-never-ends/.

FIGURE 2

Arts & Sciences. “The Cost of Lies: A Technical Analysis of HBO's Chernobyl.” Arts &
Sciences, 1 Feb. 2022, https://artsci.wustl.edu/ampersand/cost-lies-technical-analysis-hbos-
chernobyl.

FIGURE 3

Bendix, Aria. “HBO's 'Chernobyl' Series Invented a Main Character to Depict the World's Worst
Nuclear Power Plant Accident.” Business Insider, Business Insider,
https://www.businessinsider.com/hbo-chernobyl-series-invented-nuclear-physicist-
character-2019-6.

FIGURE 4

O'Keeffe, Jack. “Vasily Ignatenko from 'Chernobyl' Is Based on a Real Person Whose Story Is
Just as Horrific as It Is Heroic.” Bustle, Bustle, 20 May 2019,
https://www.bustle.com/p/vasily-ignatenko-from-chernobyl-is-based-on-a-real-person-
whose-story-is-just-as-horrific-as-it-is-heroic-17904065.