Oh you thought this was a rough episode? *grabs popcorns*

We haven't gotten to the hospital scenes, comrades.

“Is this spoilers?” “Dude, this is history” Fkn dead😂

The only bad thing about Chernobyl reactions is having to sit through reactors (fail to) educate each other about stuff they know basically nothing about.

They think this episode is rough? Laughs in Soviet.

Great reaction but please try and listen to the show a little better. Some of the questions y’all asked will be answered and this is an extremely serious and amazing show. They will go back and explain what lead up to the incident in a future episode.

Never heard someone that knows this little about high school level physics and biology talk so confidently about science like this dude with the pen and paper

People after watching Episode 1: Wow, that was brutal. Episode 2: *Laughs in scientific horror of what's still in danger of happening.* Episode 3: *Laughs in medical horror of the terrifying human cost shown in stark terms.* Episode 4: *sobs* Episode 5: *Laughs in incandescent rage*

"We need to get the the reactor hall." Suraj - "That's where we are!" lmfao

Normies and Blindwave both react to this on the same day?? Not great, not terrible.

Marketa has the patience of a saint. She's talking about personal and family experiences and it's a battle to be heard.

Who goes out "...to stare at a burning fire." "I mean, it's the 80s. Nobody had sh*t else to do." I seem to recall crowds staring at the twin towers' explosions in the vicinity before they fell, on 9/11.

I love how everybody who is watching this show suddenly becomes an expert on nuclear fission.

I was 9 when it happened, and i remember here in Sweden, everyone was in a state of panic. Kids weren't allowed outside, there were certain fish and berries that we weren't allowed to eat (it took 30 years for those suckers to get edible again!), and we had to keep our windows closed at all time. My mom was watching the news 24-7 and I remember being scared because i didn't really understand at the time exactly what was going on, and angry. Every single person on the planet needs to watch this show, and i am so glad you guys are reacting to it.

One of the reasons why they kept denying the core exploded is because, for a nuclear reactor's core to explode, a series of increasingly unlikely events all have to happen in sequence, one after another. The odds of these events happening just right are millions to one. And they all happened on this night. Normally, core explosions really are impossible, or so close to being impossible that thinking otherwise is considered ridiculous. Except, of course, when the odds fall just right and the thing explodes.

Who's going to be the first to send them a history book?

(Plays Fallout one time) “Let me tell you guys about radiation...”

Hugs for all of you. This series is hard to watch, but fascinating too.

"Are these spoilers?" ".... I mean, this is history." I dunno why, but that made me laugh!

Sweden was the first country that detected that something wrong had happened in the Soviet Union. When the Swedish nuclear power plant workers came to work that morning of the explosion all the workers that have been outside have been exposed to the Chernobyl radiation so when they went through the safety test the alarm went of on every worker that tried to enter the plant.

“That’s the last time they saw each other” UNFORTUNATELY, no

"I dont know if I can watch another" Boy, you are in for a rough time, this was the "easiest" episode to watch..

to the "how far did it spread" point: you can easily attribute every case of thyroid cancer of the last 30 years in *all* of europe to *some* degree to chernobyl.

Ahhh, the modern day knowledge of radiation. Some of these normies would be out there throwing a party watching the blaze from 50 feet away if they were there.

Not Maester Pycelle! Maester Luwin! :3

As a physicist it’s interesting to watch people that know nothing about radiation speak about it like they have any idea of what is going on.

Normies: this was a rough episode. How much worse could it get? Me: *laughs in ARS*

“How could he know?” He did see the graphite on the ground from that hallway window. In this story, Dyatlov chooses the lie.

Hannah needs to be on this panel

Normies reacting to Chernobyl? *Not terrible, great!*

This is currently the highest rated show according to IMDB. And it deserves it.

The sounds and music of this show are superb👌

You guys think ep1 was tough? Oh you sweet summer children....

guy in the powderpuff blue shirt who doesn't stop talking must be a blast in movie theaters...

I love hearing people talk so confidently about stuff that they actually have no idea about...

"It was cause irritation for sure"......umm, more like death. Hence the name Bridge of Death.

This makes me glad I didn't watch this with a group.

Many lines of dialogue in this series are direct quotes, as retold by eyewitnesses, and the audio recording of someone calling the fire department is the real thing. The firefighters were just told it was a roof fire.

Y’all need a good old 5 hour long lesson in history and physics, like, damn.

Guys, you know you dont have to pretend to know everything and give us “history class”. Just enjoy the show. I get annoyed when people pretend to know everything and give statements that probably they just googled before watching.

Even taking into account disasters like Chernobyl, nuclear energy is one of the safest forms of energy we have. And all active plants in the west are A LOT safer than the shoddy RBMK reactors from the soviet union.

Didn't expect The Normies to have a go at something this serious. Kudos for going for it.

"Why should we care about future people?" is EXACTLY the type of comment I'd expect from Pat.

The Normies, Blindwave and Nikki & Steven, I am so happy ! This is such an amazing show and everyone should watch it, it WILL get pretty heavy but it's worth it to understand what all of these people went through. You guys will definitely enjoy it!

Did anyone else think the keys on their table was a giant fly for a second?

The most effective horror stories are stories that actually happened. Freddy, murderous demon vampire? Nope, real horror stories are more terrifying. Stuff that happened and can happen again at any time.

I love the denial in this series. All these guys denying what’s wrong is exactly what would happen. No one wants to accept that they’re responsible for this disaster and basically walking dead men. Amazing mini series and it showed the horrors this disaster truly was. I hope it never happens again.

Also pretty much everything you hear in russian like that call for the firefighters is an actual recording from that time

We weren't allowed for pick and eat forest berries and mushrooms here in Sweden for 5 years after Chernobyl happened

Love the reactions, love the channel, but listening to the 100 or so blind statements about what is going to happen to everyone in the first three minutes of the reaction is like listening to Donald Trump teach a class on geopolitics

This is the greatest show that came out this year.

The level of knowledge in that room about basic nuclear physics is shocking... This isn't a lesson about "the peril of nuclear power". It's a lesson about lies and suppression of information. Could have been a water treatment plant, food manufacturer, medication developer. This was also a cheaply made, badly designed Eastern reactor without the fail-safes and containment buildings that are used in the West.

This series depicts the horrors of Chernobyl quite well. Yes, it is hard to watch but I find it very educational as well.

Fukishima and Three Mile Island were *firecrackers* in comparison to what happened in Chernobyl.

This is a very skillfully made show. The acting is really good, and the music also fits to all scenes. It being real and things that did really happen to people adds a strange strong deeply uncomfortable feeling to watching it. The beginning of the series: someone kills himself. That already sets the tone.

It’s brutal, but it’s an excellent show. It is very well produced. Enjoy.

Normies and Blindwave reacting to Chernobyl at the ame day? Great.

Great to see major channels picking up this show finally! It really deserves all the praise and awards, and EVERYONE should watch it. Chernobyl is something that you should NOT be ignorant about. Btw Dyatlov has pretty much become meme now....especially that "not great, not terrible" line

this show is insane.. glad youre reacting to this.

Nahid during history class: "Spoilers bro!"

I love that Americans see this. The scene with the council meeting is shocking for people that grew up in non-communist countries. But for us east Europeans, it was just day to day. Incompetent people in charge that cared only about how they were perceived by the party and nothing else. It was hell and it should never happen again.

After this happened there was a May Day parade in Kiev, Ukraine. The government said it was safe to go ahead (They didn't want to be seen to not be in control of the situation). When a nuclear plant worker is is exposed to 5 roentgen he would be sent home. It would be a 3 or 4 weeks before he could return to work. The men, women and children at the May Day Parade were supposedly exposed to the equivalent of 24 years worth of working in a power plant...every hour!

14:40 A beam of ionized/glowing air would be kinda cool/beautiful to see, if you didn't know the horror that is causing it.

Fukushima is still leaking into the ocean. Great reaction vid.

14:13 According to history, no one on that bridge survived.

Don't worry too much about reactors in the US. The Soviets cut alot of corners on their reactors to keep them cheap; they didn't even have containment buildings around their reactors.

Jared definitely deserves an Emmy for Chernobyl....He was amazing in The Crown also...so underrated

Everyone worried about nuclear power in general...dont. Accident like Chernobyl is not possible in any other reactor type than in RBMK reactors that were solely built in USSR....and exactly for the reason that the dangers of that reactor type were well known. And even though there still are some 10 such reactors working in Russia, they were fixed so that the flaws that made Chernobyl disaster possible, those deadly flaws were pretty much eliminated. The last episode gives you the whole process that lead up to the accident, after which you should have much better idea just how much was required to even have the reactor to point of explosion back then....it wasnt just 1 or 2 things but series of events that lead to the explosion. Meltdown is ofc possible in any fission reactor but only if everything fails like in Fukushima where tsunami took out all backup emergency power...and even then in USA and mostly everywhere else the heavy concrete containment building would greatly help limit the damage to the reactor building itself. As for nuclear waste, ye for sure it has to be buried away for thousands of years, that is the biggest problem of nuclear fission..however it CAN be done: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onkalo_spent_nuclear_fuel_repository For sure the challenge is how to keep ppl away from it thousands of years, but I honestly dont see a scenario that if its buried deep enough in solid rock that some ppl would just accidently dig it up thousands of years later..besides even if someone did, even the most highly radioactive used fuel would be but a fraction as dangerous after hundreds, let alone thousands of years. Perhaps not entirely harmless (as in long exposure would risk you getting cancer) but not deadly in matter of minutes, hours or even days of exposure. Overall we NEED fission based nuclear power alongside green renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels FASTER in energy production. AFTER we have gotten rid of coal and other fossil fuels ONLY THEN can we start talking about getting rid of fission based nuclear power plants. And if we ever get nuclear fusion plants operational....well there we would have almost 100% clean nuclear power with infinite energy source.....cause in fusion we use hydrogen and the only byproduct is ofc helium. Only the reactor core itself would become radioactive, but even that would not be nearly as long dangerously radioactive than fission based reactor cores.

Be patient, Mickey...you will get to see what led to the explosion!

I was born in 96 in italy but I remeber my mom used to tell me that in 86 they couldn't eat anything that grew in the garden because it coud give you cancer. They had to buy everything from the store thay was made in greenhouses. And that was italy, I can't imagine countries closer to the disaster.

Dont blame Dyatlov. None of the engineers thought that such an explosion was possible. The atom at that time was called "peaceful" and people to the last did not believe that the power plant could turn into a nuclear bomb. The desire of people to live contributed to the denial: if the disaster really happened, they are all doomed, and therefore engineers, including Dyatlov, tried to find alternative explanations. In fact, there was no soldier. The engineer went to the roof voluntarily. He understands perfectly well that there is no more important task than to determine the real state of things.

OK the black guy is about the only one in the group I would be actually able to stand to watch a movie with without wanting to break a beer bottle over their head

So glad y’all are reacting to this!!! As soon as I watched the first episode I binged it!!

YESSSS this is the highest rated show of all time on imdb. a flawless miniseries. best minseries of all time imo

Lot of familiar faces acting in this limited series; a good bunch in this episode alone (aside from Jared Harris). For example: - The actor playing Comrade Akimov was Sam Troughton, who is the son of David Troughton (who played Professor Hobbes in the Tenth Doctor episode "Midnight" on "Doctor Who"; and he's also the grandson of 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton) - The actor playing Fomin (the balding, glasses-wearing deputy head of the power plant) is Adrian Rawlins; you might recognize him from playing James Potter in the "Harry Potter" movies - The actor playing Stolyarchuk (the one control room guy with the pointy nose, glasses and mustache) was the guy who played the lead Lannister soldier in the "Ed Sheeran scene" from the GoT episode "Dragonstone" - The actor playing Sitnikov (the guy who was sent out onto the roof) was the same one who played Jory in the first season of GoT - Finally, the old Communist apparatchik who stirred up the meeting should be familiar; Donald Sumpter, who was Maester Lewin in GoT, and was one of the Prime Minister's aides in the first Black Mirror episode "National Anthem"

This one chic who asks them to be respectful because this actually happened and all the jolly dudes just joking around... life in a nutshell

Yes!!! So glad you’re watching Chernobyl! It’s brilliant can’t wait to watch your reactions

Guys do not spoil the show in the comments.

You think this episode is rough? Dyatlov: "It isn't!!!"

Chernobyl was an amazing mini series. LOVE how the director owns up front and lays out what he'd changed for the sake of storytelling. I remember when this was happening live in 1986. It was horrifying. To see more of the story so many years later is surreal. It IS an important part of History. Human History. The FIRST of it's kind. Terrifying. I would have liked a bit more data on present conditions.

It's not much of a stretch to say this might be the best TV show ever made.

You guys have no idea how radiation works but that doesn't stop you from making irritating statements like "anyone who saw it [the explosion] is fucked already" or other inaccurate predictions about what it'll do to people. Just let the show do it for you.

Episode 4 is going to destroy them. “Don’t let them suffer!”

suraj please try to cut down your long winded remarks :(( i feel you but please (more towards the beginning of the reaction)

You think radiation is far worse than it is. It is true that high levels are terrible, but you constantly say that everyone in the entire city nearby is already dead, not true.

Not an easy watch, and it get harder every episode. I’m on episode 4 right now. Although I was planning to binge it, I found my self needing at least a few days break after every episode. This is a very serious and somber mini-series but it a must watch for sure. HBO knocked it out of the park with this one.

Thank you Normies for covering this! Not always easy to watch but I was completely captivated at how incredible this mini-series was.

"Dyatlov, he's gone cuckoo" - a funny line, considering surname Dyatlov is based on the name of the bird. Dyatel (Дятел) means Woodpecker.

nuclear power; still the answer...just don't F up

"is it rain? Acid rain? So this rain is a direct result of the explosion? No if they were anywhere near the city during the explosion they had to leave like immediately." Lol I didn't think it was possible to over exaggerate or overestimate a disaster this big. It's not the black plague combined with the rapture.

Fantastic to see The Normies reacting to Chernobyl! Be brave, it will not be easy to watch, that's for sure, but this mini series is more than worth it, a milestone and a great homage to everyone that contributed in preventing a much worst situation to happen, because if it did we sure would be living in a much different world, especially in Europe.

Listen to The Chernobyl Podcast alongside the TV show if you can. It's done with the show's creator, it's very interesting and fleshes things out even more

The Normies=3.6 roentgen

This reaction would be 1000 better if you guys don't talk non stop.

“Acid rain” after an hour? Jeez I love you guys reactions but sometimes less is more, much more in this case!

As a guy that was there at Chernobyl when it exploded i can confirm there is a 1 in a million chance of gaining superpowers.

Great reaction. Nearly missed it :) I would advise against googling the topic or character names because reality could spoil the show for you. But I suggest to listen to the official podcast for each episode (after you watched the episode of course), where author and creator Craig Mazin gives some background information and explains some of the creative descisions for the show. Overall they tried to stick to the facts as best as possible. As somebody who grew up in east germany in one of these soviet-era public housing blocks, I especially recognize little things like the clothing of that era, the style of wallpapers in apartments and the furnishings. They recreated that "east european" era with great attention to detail. Since I was a child back then, I only remember vaguely the panic over the radioactive clouds and acid rain. But my parents must have been quite concerned at that time. According to the actual events of the accident Craig Mazin explained in an interview: ""It became clear that there were certain aspects of the story that everyone agreed on. And those stories struck me as terrifying and shocking. From that point forward, if there was a conflict, (...) I went for the less dramatic version. We’re dealing with a largely oral history. There’s a lot of written material, but the written material occasionally disagrees with itself. It’s a story that took place in a closed society. There’s a lot of challenges there." So what you see in the show is mostly the "less dramatic" version of events. There are examples, where reality seemed so unbelievable, that they feared, the viewer wouldn't believe them, if they portrait it that way in the show. I find it funny how most of you on the couch instantly feeled the need to try to explain how nuclear power plants or radioactive illness works as if you were suddenly experts on the subject matter giving lots of bold statements or declare "everyone here is dead". :D You did get some things right, but lots of things wrong. Please relax and enjoy. The show will give you more insight into effects of radioactive fallout and also explain in detail why the reactor exploded. You don't have to know (or pretend to know) everything. And just to set the expectations: The "elephants foot" will be no topic for the show since there are more important issues to deal with. I also agree with Marketa. Yes Nuclear Power Plants are very efficient, but they are neither safe nor clean energy. It is correct that RBMK reactors (like in Chernobyl) never where used outside russia and that we learned alot since then and from accidents like Chernobyl. But it is naive to think that today's reactors are save. They are safer than in the past, but there is always a possibility for something going horribly wrong even in small details nobody never thought of. See the challenger catastrophe as an example for one minor detail causing big consequences. And we all know that the US government has its own history of hiding and covering up stuff or being frighteningly inefficient to handle crisis like all big bureaucracies. And a nuclear power plant explosion is way worse than lets say a coal plant explosion. Of course everybody claims "their own" nuclear power plants are safe. Before Chernobyl all these governments where right. But just because USA didn't had a similar big catastrophe so far doesn't mean it couldn't happen any time in the future. But the biggest problem with nuclear power plants is the high-level waste they produce which can stay dangerous tens of thousands of years, having possibly longterm health risks and opening the complicated question how to isolate it safely for all this time. In times of clean renewable energy from solar, wind, water or gheothermical sources, there is technically no need for nuclear power plants. Most goverments just don't want to take the effort to make the switch and invest the needed money or work because who cares about future generations? What I personally really like about this show is how realistic the series portraits the human behaviour in these kind of extreme situations. Yeah, KGB and soviet ideology had a big influence on a higher level handeling the crisis, but lots of these descisions could happen anywhere. In the end, most of it comes down to power structures, human psychology and the nature of bureaucracy. These people are not perfect but most of them aren't evil as well. Most of the mistakes or "ignorant" descicions where made because of miscommunication, denial, the pressure to deliver success, the fear of loosing your job and of course the bureaucracy involved. Dyatlov for example didn't believe in an explosion, because it was unthinkable for him, that the reactor could explode. Not because "some authority" told him so, but because he as chief-engineer very well understood how the reactor works and what the (worldwide) scientific consense at that time was. No scientist could imagine, that a reactor could explode this way. We will later in the show learn how and why it exploded, but for Diatlov it was simply impossible. Of course he should have listened to all the witnesses who claimed otherwise and he also made some serious mistakes handling the crisis (for example not mentioning that the low level dosimeters can't go higher than 3.6, not warning the firefighters or rescue teams, sending colleagues into their death giving wrong orders), but here comes psychology in play. He was responsible and I find it believable that he was so in shock that he completely fell into denial because otherwise he would have to aknowledge that he is responsible for an unbelievable catastrophe. And of course the bureaucrats in the management want to believe their chief engineer, because everything else would be terrible for their career and conscience. So they grasp at every little spark of hope that it is not THAT bad and ignore most of the other signs. I believe that the scene in the bunker is the moment where Diatlov starts to realize how wrong he was and vomits and collapses at least partly because of this. It is terrible but considering human psychology and the pressure they were under sadly not that far fetched.

finally everyone is reacting to it

I love how everyone is quite cheerful in the beginning of the video, and at the end everyone looks depressed, speechless and stunned. Just shows how great this show is.

So cringey listening to reactions talk like they know anything about what is going on. Just watch and they fill you in.