According to Gorbachev, the disaster at Chernobyl was one of the key events that brought down the Soviet Union. That's because a totalitarian system like that can only operate if it is perfect; the moment they have to admit that something went wrong, people start to question everything, and central control is lost. That's why all the officials are in denial that anything is wrong, because the alternative is they lose their jobs, their lives, or the whole system. And not to downplay the heroism of those who were being sent into deadly situations, but they really didn't have a choice... they couldn't simply refuse and quit.

That radioactive graphite that was grabbed by the firefighter was basically like sticking your hand into a microwave for 10 minutes. It cooks and destroys your cells from the inside out

Sasha Yuvchenko ( man that was holding reactor door ) actually survived, went through hospitalization, but his health was badly damaged and he lived until 2008 🙏🙏

The "metal taste" is some of the byproduct of Nuclear Fission. When the fuel breaks into seperate elements one of them is Cessium, which is a gas with a metallic taste.

it breaks my heart to know that Valery Legasov didn't live long enough to know just how much of a difference those tapes made. we know everything that happened and why only because of him. RIP Sir

I'm from Poland and my parents were teens back when it all happened and even here they told me kids had to take in a mandatory table spoon of lugola liquid at schools. They were distributing it to everyone. It is not tasty at all but so necessary. But the effects are still felt today, the amount of people sick with cancer in the area definitely grew over the years.

They really nailed the visuals, costuming and locations really match 80's Soviet era, and personally I love the fact they chose lots of English speakers with mostly British accents to portray various social classes, rather than trying to attempt a Ukrainian and Russian accent while speaking English.

I'm reading one of the books the producers used as a source for this series (The Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexijevich). The people living near (mostly workers on the nuclear plant itself and their families) didn´t have a clue about the dangers of radiation, nor that the reactor could pose any danger at all. The read is as chilling as the show...

You have to love the internet, "all our fans thought it would be really fun to see us emotionally destroyed and in absolutely pain from watching this show." I can't wait to watch all these reactions.

This was one of the most accurate and well researched accounts of this disaster and in some ways, they watered down some of the worst things to watch because the truth was even more horrific. The production and direction of this show deserved every accolade that it was given. Can't wait to watch the rest with you

Believe me, the remaining 4 episodes are no less terrifying than the first. There's more to see. Can't wait for your further reactions. KEEP ROCKING!

I love the cinematography of this show. Just the scene with the wife in the kitchen and you see the explosion and she doesn't realize until the shockwave hits.

When this happened in 86 I went out in the rain here in Norway with my friend. He said: we might be getting radiation on us now. That was the first time I heard about this accident. He was right. Live in Norway and a lot of the radiation rained down on us. One year later I got bone cancer and lost a leg. Probably nothing to do with chernobyl, but who knows…

First; your reactions to this phenomenal series are some of the best and honest I've seen. Keep up the good work! All the "911" calls you hear, the evening news broadcast you'll see, newspaper headlines etc, are all real. How I know? I was 15 when the accident happened and the images of the Soviet news lady with her red turtleneck against the blue background are etched into my memory. Fun fact; the "music" you hear throughout the series is made from the sounds that a real RBMK plant makes. The composer went to Chernobyl's sister plant Ignalina NPP, and walked around for hours with her sound crew, recording the various sounds of an RBMK. So, in a way, the real reactor itself is very much present in the series.

Oh man, so stoked you're reacting to this! You two have become my favorite reactors, you're both so good at analysis and not missing anything.

19:04 "This is our moment to shine" oh boy is it ever

It was so infuriating seeing all the people that tried to undermine the problem and learning how they cut corners.

25:39 Actually, the water most likely saved them from the radiation(maybe they died, but it could've been worse). Water is very good at blocking radiation, which is part of why the 3 divers that went into the building survived, because there was so much water the radiation they were exposed to was less than expected. This is also why concrete works well, because although it lacks the density that is normally required to block radiation, it is filled with crystal water.

14:04 'Ring-around-the-rosie, A pocket full of posies. Ashes! Ashes!, We all fall down!' Very clever nuance with the kids dancing in the ashes.

Love your reaction and the detail that both of you pay attention to. This is the best mini series that I have ever seen. It will be interesting to see your takes and reactions on the upcoming episodes. I totally agree with you on the fact that this is more like watching a raw documentary than a drama per se. That speaks to how well this was thought out and put together.

Craig Mazin is a true artist, I am so glad he was chosen to work on this project. I am happy to watch along with you both.

Cherenkov radiation happens when charged particles (such as electrons) travel faster than the speed of light in that medium. For example, if electrons travel in water faster than the speed of light in water, Cherenkov radiation is seen as a blue glow in the water. This doesn't violate the limit of the speed of light because this limit is defined in a vacuum.

There's something just terrifying about seeing the reactor core. It's like seeing into Hell - you're already dead.

Definitely a hard to watch show because you just wish it didn't happen but sadly it did and many people died because of this disaster. I can't wait for you to continue this journey and watch you react to the following episodes.

14:00 The bridge is known as the "Bridge of Death". Why? Well since the explosion civilians went to a bridge near the reactor. Later that day, everyone got heavy radiation and died less than 3 weeks. Keep watching the series, it get crazier.

9:27 you are very correct! as your cells and blood veins dissolve, you will ''taste'' the Iron within your own blood. i've had the experience on a scan, like licking a metal pole.

Fun Fact: #1 The Sounds in the Series are created by ultra low noise recordings taken in chernobyl by the production team. There is a good behind the scenes on youtube about it. #2 Back in the day nobody was informed about radioactivity and its effects in the soviet union. Only the experts knew. Thats why some folks act like they dont realize what happens in front of them.

16:06 I've seen this series multiple times, not including reactions, and even just this part is heartbreaking, knowing what's going to happen to the fire brigade and plant workers. Nobody deserves this happening to them, except maybe Dyatlov...but even he didn't know about the A-Z5 fatal flaw.

9:23 the reason why they fell the metal taste it's because the ionizing radiations are destroying and damaging cells in the oral cavity. It's called dysgeusia (the disorded, not the cause) and happen a lot with people that are doing Chemotherapy

The guy who carried his friend and opened the door was Yuvchenko. He survived! But had ailments in his life and passed away in 2008.

I am so happy that I found your channel!! You two are amazing and this show is something else. Cannot wait to watch your reaction

3.6 *_not great, not terrible_* And that's how a new meme was born.

This show does an incredible job at giving the general public an idea of what radiation actually is and how it affects the body without explaining the science behind it. I work at a particle accelerator research center since I was 18 and I remember how difficult it was to grasp what radiation actually is. They explained it in detail a lot of times so we get the right sense of danger to be able to work with confidence while staying safe. 1. Simplified it's just energy. It mostly manifests as heat that burns you like touching a hot surface. Your body can handle short contact or low intensity, but too much and too long will burn you. 2. The additional part is ofcause the damage done to your cells and your DNA which manifests as cancer, because unlike a hot surface touching your hand it also destroys you from the inside on a molecular level. 3. High intensity radiation has a contagous element. High radiation activates other materials which also start radiating, spreading the problem. Radioactive dust travels through the air and creates a fallout to make it everybodies problem. Luckily with particle accelerators I usually only have to worry about the first, sometimes the third effect.

You get a sub from me! I love that both you appreciate the creative nuances of the piece without overtalking your point.

Yall are really attentive and well informed! Instant sub. Keep up the good work!

I remember doing research for chernobyl as part of a middle school project I think, I'd long forgotten most things about it but what I won't forget is that generations on generations that radiation isn't going anywhere. Like the decay could outlast humanity. That's insane to get a crashcourse of "you can live as long as possible have children and so on and so an and no one will be able to get anywhere near there." at like 13 or 14. Shoutout to the ballsiest generation of people who literally gave their health and lives to save the world.

I loved this programme, it's very well made and I loved the cast. Great reaction guys as usual! My faves.

Just discovered your channel, starting with this one. GREAT reaction video to this show, outstanding. You guys are intelligent, have a great eye, totally cool people, really happy to subscribe to this channel right.....NOW! (there I did it!) My immediate desire is to see you guys react to every great movie and TV show ever made! That's the highest honor I can accord to a reaction channel!!! lol. Did you guys see "Severance" yet? That's a mindblowing show, only 9 episodes, dying for season 2 to start. And let's see, something from the 90s. BOOGIE NIGHTS! Oh man, you guys would KILL on BOOGIE NIGHTS (1998). EVERYONE is in that movie, that is a dazzling party of a movie. Could you guys put that one on your list? And lastly.....something classic, because great art has no expiration date. Ok: Singin' In The Rain! Most entertaining movie ever made, there is no way you will not have the best time watching "Singin' In The Rain". So there you go: a current TV thing, a late 90s blast and a half......and a classic that is the very essence of everything great about cinema itself! THANKS! See you on the next episode!

I really like your reactions, you're very observant and seem keen to learn what's going on

I was 12 when this happened, and didn't really understand how catastrophic it was until I watched this. Absolutely horrifying.

Those were actual calls that were in the show. And the show is very accurate from events to people

I didnt know you guys did a Chernobyl reaction! There goes the rest of my week.

Plutonium apparently has a sweet taste, apparently it's 1 of the ways some people would tell when it was in the air. If I can find that video with that man talking about it I'll link it, he was 1 of the photographers who got to go inside the reactor to document it's sate in the 90's

Dude I just finished watching your prisoners reaction and now your watching my favorite show

if you dont know what happened to viktor he was standing near a pump when it happened splashing his face with boiling water and steam Edit: and that taste of metal is when your exposed to high amounts of radiation and it is currently destroying your cells and when that guy had red on his face thats radiation destroying your cells and melting your skin like a sunburn Edit 2: the firefighters had gas masks but it made them hot and uncomfortable so they took them off.

9:29 that's exactly what it is. Severe ionizing radiation causes a breakdown in the cell walls of tissue in the body, causing the iron-rich hemoglobin in the blood being released in minute amounts throughout the body, including the mouth and tongue.

I love how people know a lot - about this story before they watch the show - it was just so great!

The old guy who intervened in the bunker is probably from KGB. 😬 I watched episode 1 earlier tonight and I decided to watch your reaction before going to bed. :P

That bridge where they were watching is called "the bridge of death" im fairly sure

I was I child when Chernobyl exploded. It was my birthday and I was 7. You cannot imagine the fear during that days. I’m from Italy and we didn’t go to school for days.

09:36 Actually radiation does not taste like metal. There are some specific circumstances that would create that effect, and those were not present there that night. But it makes for a powerful piece of drama and makes hardly any difference in terms of the story. LIkewise many of these symptoms emerged in hours instead of minutes, like the vomiting and bleeding tissues. IMHO this may be the greatest television miniseries yet made. A few of the folks working in Reactor did survive. The one who hold open that lead door, but didn't enter, for one. He got extremely sick, and the half of his body exposed swelled enormously--but he is still alive. Dyatlov survived for a very long time, and this was his second such exposure! He lost his wife and child in a different accident elsewhere and become extremely sick. No idea how he lived as long as he did. 12:40 That is essentially it, about the iodine pills. 13:46 There's a good reason to use low-range decimeters inside the power plant. It shows tiny shifts in radiation levels, which is more usually needed. 16:06 There were no hazmat suits anywhere nearby. In fact, this show has them wear far better fire fighting equipment than they really had. Most simply showed up in their regular clothes.

There were some scenes from part 3 that really happened that they filmed but had to cut from the final edit for being to gruesome, including one where they are trying to change one guys bandages and the skin and muscle fell off his arm, and another guy that his face ended up looking like a real life skeletor. so yes radiation exposure is that bad.

I'm back 😀 Its been too long. I've been waiting for you guys to do a reaction this. One of the darkest , most depressing series, I've ever seen . Heads up it's a true horror movie . It messed with my head for weeks.

This wasnt actually made by HBO, it was made by Sister Pictures, a uk production company.

I was a student in London when this all happened. We saw the radioactive cloud hit our city 😮

Fan Fact: Dyatlov (the real person) survived before Chernobyl a radiation accident on a military submarine.

Shortly after this disaster, despite winds usually blowing in the opposite direction, low levels of radiation started being detected in Irish sheep, and similarly in nearby Scotland - radiation from Chernobyl travelled for thousands of miles. Not knowing what to do, the Republic's government organised sending out iodine tablets to every house in the country - that is, just *one* single tablet, once, when every single resident in every property would, if iodine tablets were needed, need to consume several tablets every day, each - not just one tablet for one person, once. To this day, children in nearby neighbouring Belarus and other impoverished places close to the disaster zone continue to be born with severe, life-limiting - and often terminal - illnesses, and also have intellectual disabilities, at rates far, far higher than the norm; the Republic of Ireland normally - bar the disruption caused by the pandemic - welcomes a few thousand such children every summer, to stay with host families all across the country, as even a couple of weeks of a loving holiday and intense care can potentially add years to the children's lives. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Chernobyl is that, even today, thuggish Putin and his collaborators continue to suppress various truths about the tragedy, just like the Soviets of old did.

It is still recommended to keep iodine pills at home just in case - at least here in Finland, the apocalypse prepper country :D I know a guy who is known as "the most radiating man of Finland". He was outside in the rain when the cloud was over Finland. He lives, they measure his radiotion for time to time.

The show starts at the suicide of Legasov, which made it impossible for the disaster to be ignored, and it did the same for you Brilliant stuff

I know this has been out for a while and I'm just now watching your reactions to this fantastic series. I don't know if you will see this, but I wanted to comment about how so many reactors to this series keep saying to the characters to just say "no" or walk away. You have to understand, this took place in the Soviet Union. Workers were ONLY told enough to do their jobs. Any refusal to do what you were told to do could end up in prison time or getting shot. ANYTHING that contradicted the image of a perfect society was made a state secret and kept from the public.

Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.

Great video guys

This episode is the most terrifying ever. It struck me as a horror movie, only worse.

When can we expect next episode? 🤞😀 really looking forward to see you reaction to the rest of the show

Looking forward to your reaction to next ep))

I'm a chernobyl disaster enthusiast and they did a wonderful job with the show. It gets across the horror and mishandling of the entire dosaster. The only thing they left out was why the testing ended up being as unfortunately explosive as it was, they touched on it though. The soviet government of that time period was all about saving face and keeping the status quo.

@10:15 because he touched the graphite part he got a huge load of beta radiation which caused the beta burn. There is alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Alpha radiation can be shielded even by dead skin or a thin piece of paper, beta radiation can be shielded by thin pieces of metal or just a decent amount of air and gamma radiation is the most problematic as it goes through nearly everything. Gamma radiation will also damage your dna which will in a long term cause cancer or damage the dna so that the cells can´t reproduce and you will basically rot. Beta radiation will react quicker and caused huge damage in a very short time which we can see in this shot.

So when that firefighter held the graphite with his gloved hand, yes there is radiation emitted for sure, and it will cause symptoms of radiation syndrome. The severe thermal wounds on his hand however is actually caused by the extreme heat energy that the graphite is giving off. It just burned through the gloves @_@.

Please do Queen's Gambit after this. It's only one season long so not too long and it's incredible.

The fact that how fast the visual injuries occurred is the part of this show that is the most exaggerated is the most unsettling thing🥴

As horrible as the Chernobyl disaster, it could have been prevented. Even before the factory was running, there were several problem were the design of the reactor, the Soviet Union hired British scientist to look over the blueprint of Chernobyl, all of them said that the reactor had several flaws but they were all ignored. Also the rector that was use was the same exact one that cause another radiative disaster a couple years before the building of Chernobyl.

The Chernobyl disaster has fascinated and chilled me since I first learned about it in school. It’s an endless black box of horror and heroism, but I’ll never forget the fear of realizing the crisis isn’t over. The core has been buried, encased, sealed, enclosed, and entombed; which is all we can do. Enough radioactive material to kill hundreds of millions of people is still right there, and it’ll outlast anything we build around it.

The firefighters were not trained for highly radioactive enviroments. Its likely they didnt fully understand radiation either, an example of how bad it was, only one nurse recieved training she was the one that raised the alarm about the dangers of handling the firefighters clothes. Not even the doctors knew.

its late but i have a thing to say . Some firefighters remained on the ground and actualy survived to tell the tale

All the people who observed the reactor from the railway bridge died. The fallout killed them all.😮

13:54 The "Bridge of Death".

Please put in the part in ep4 with the speech about everyone's first time and how it impacts you I think that was the most important part in the show thank you for the reaction you got a new sub even if you dont I would also urge you to watch the real interviews with diatlov as they made him the villain to have a more gripping show but he spent the last of his life defending the names of everyone in that reactor control room

you have to remember its not the year 2023... this is 1986 people didnt assume and people didnt know because there was not a conversation about radiation like what happened directly after this event.

Iodine salts are used to saturate the thyroid gland, preventing it from absorbing any more radioactive particles. That gland is the first thing that radiation attacks and since the gland is responsible for regulating all of the body’s chemicals, it’s primordial that it gets protected. But it doesn’t protect the rest of the body. As particles decay, electrons are knocked off the atoms and this releases a lot of energy, like gamma rays. These are responsible for knocking more electrons in nearby atoms. Like those of the fireman’s hand when he touched the graphite core fragments. This basically disrupts your own cells, DNA etc. So, you basically start decomposing from the inside out, as the radioactive particles you invest/absorb/inhale continue to make damage for as long as they’re inside you. It’s a nasty way to go. As you’ll see in the last episode.

water actualy dilutes radiation but the water might become irradiated in the proccess

Reallity is even more scary than what they show/tell us. Chernobly had 4 running Reactors and "only" 1 exploded. The rest had to be monitored, you just can't plug them out and go home. The last Reactor was shut down in December 2000! Until this day it was a functioning power plant with employees doing their daily work. The cleanup within the demaged Reactor building is scheduled for 2065!

I was hoping you guys would watch this. Clicked SO fast!

Tremendously executed. It was brilliant craft. I don’t throw that word around. They didn’t make an error. It should be mandatory in high school the way Schindler’s list was.

I remember when this happened!

BTW, all of those people who were standing on that bridge watching the show died. Now that bridge is called bridge of death.

RIP Paul Ritter who played Dyatlov

Read Voices from Chernobyl its actual accounts from ppl who lived thru it. The first story is about Lyudmilla Ignatenko and her husband one of the first fire fighters to respond and what a horrible death she watched him go thru. I was crying reading it. so sad how much she loved him and to this day still does.

6:07 yes, those were actual emergency radio calls

The metallic taste may be due to the presence of Cesium (137Cs isotope) in the air, which is a nuclear fusion product. Cesium is a metal, so its presence in the air can cause a metallic taste. Alternatively, the radiation could have been so high that it damaged the taste buds, or possibly the "insular cortex" that is responsible for the perception of taste. Although brain damage is unlikely as the "insular lobe" is also responsible for compassion, empathy, perception, motor control, self-awareness, cognitive functioning, interpersonal experience, and awareness of homeostatic emotions such as hunger, pain and fatigue. If the "insula" was damaged, there would be disturbances in the mentioned abilities.

you can read the actual UN reports, it's somewhere around 160 million people impacted by Chernobyl, maybe only 1 million died or maybe 60 million died, we don't know.

If you want to see how radiation works look up "cloud chamber radiation" you can literally see how there are tiny little "bullets" (i know its not really a tiny piece of anything its energy) shooting out of it everywhere. You can allready tell that getting hit by thousands of invisible bullets cant be a good thing ^^

How did you guys react when the three operators looked down into the burning core itself? I was horrified

“I’d just quit” in the Soviet Union that’s called being UN-alived most likely by a billet

I love how the director didn't push the fake Russian accent thing. Didn't even try. Just write and tell a great story and it doesn't matter. You don't even notice it.

Stalker is one of the series that are up on the top. With True Detective ( first seasoN ) and of cours Breaking Bad. More suggeatios please!

Other than showing a few symptoms of radiation poisoning ahead of schedule, this show is incredibly accurate to the details. They get a little heavy handed on old school USSR vibe but its more to drive the point home. Not to do disservice to the truth.

i remember this days, i live in Poland

Radioactivity has no smell, no taste and you cannot see. You can only hear radioactivity. What the firefighters tasted was iodine, radioactive iodine. Greetings from a former reactor operator.

One of the first photographers who was on the scene stated that he could taste metal in his mouth nearly 20 years later.

How did you download the whole episode? Is there a way to download to device?