Young Lady, of all the reactors I have watched, you are by far the most informed on the events around Chernobyl. Full marks.

"why they gotta show us a bird in there its gonna like die" oh boy, episode 4 is not going to be fun for her.

If you’ve seen Joker, the woman who did the score for it also did the score for this show. She had quite a year lol

Chernobyl: the whole series gives off great cosmic horror vibes.

The 'tasting metal' is a bad sign. It's a regular symptom of radiation exposure. The exact cause seems to vary, but there's a few main ones. 1: The radiation is ionizing heavy metal particles (particularly iodine) that are already in the air, making their taste 'stand out' more. 2: The radiation is ionizing the nerves in your mouth, your brain translates the effect to a metallic taste. 3: The radiation is killing the taste buds in your mouth and releasing the metals in them, you are actually tasting the dead cells. This show is fantastic. It changes a few things to be more dramatic, but it also underplays some events because the real version is just... too much for TV. Chernobyl was nightmare in real life and the show fully captures that.

Dyatlov's behavior bears some explanation which the show never gives. He did indeed have a lot of experience with radiation and had formerly install reactors aboard nuclear submarines. While doing this he had an accident and got a high dose of radiation. At the time he had received one of the highest doses anyone had been exposed to for a very long time. This gave him a very blase attitude towards radiation as, in his view, he had experienced and survived the worst of it already. Combine the fact that the model of reactor he was operating was extremely stable compared to the old submarine models and he essentially developed the mindset of an old veteran who thinks he's seen it all and is now on a quiet easy assignment. He dismisses the radiation poisoning of his men because in his view he's already been through the worst and if he can they can. After all, he received the biggest on job dose in decades, what are the odds these scrubs got something even nearly as bad while operating the nuclear reactor equivalent of safety scissors? Essentially he survived a very rare very deadly freak accident and it inflated his ego massively.

The denial was a nationwide phenomenon for the Soviet Union because of the way the government operated. It was incredibly sad and could have been avoided.

9:35 You are correct, it’s a dramatization. The actual events were much worse. Especially with the radiation poisoning later on. One of the fire fighters wives described the last few days of her husbands decline. His organs had melted and were decomposing, they were being thrown up through his mouth. She had to take a bandage and pull her husbands decomposing organs out of his mouth. A seriously harrowing and gruesome way to die. Rest In Peace to all those first responders who didn’t know what they were up against.

What enrages me is when Dyatlov goes out for a smoke and SEES the graphite on the roof. He knows exactly what that is and still lies.

Research the disposition of the U.S. military forces stationed in Germany, I was stationed in Germany from Aug 85 thru Aug 87 during the Fallout period in Germany, The U.S. government would not evac our dependents back to the states because it was not cost-effective. We had a rise in miscarriages of several hundred percent among our young soldier families but continued our mission of patrolling the inner German border between west and east Germany and stayed prepared to execute the NATO mission As a Platoon Sgt and later a First Sgt of a Cav Troop. sitting up with these young families during their grief still haunts my dreams. K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry.

7:50 That laser beam effect shooting up into the air is accurate. The radiation was so intense it ionised the atmosphere.

It is easy to say “Screw you guys, shoot me” but you don’t realize that those people (the political elite) was destroying entire families in cases like that. So if anything, he did it for the sake of his family’s safety.

_Oh my gosh, the bird died!_ Oh, you sweet summer child.....

There's an eerie peacefulness to the place, even back when they were still building the new sarcophagus (I was there in 2011). Except when you drive past the red forest, where your radiation counters briefly spike.

Valary Lagasov was married with children. The cat was taken care of.

Bonus info: The soundtrack for the show, is made partly with real-life sounds recorded from an actual reactor - I think it’s kind of cool and adds a really cool atmosphere :D

You forgot about Gustav Skarsgard (another of the siblings), who plays Floki in the show Vikings.

One of the great scenes in this is when Donald Sumpter rises to his feet as the respected elder statesman and then orders the city to be sealed off to rapturous applause. You expect in a scene like that for him to be the voice of wisdom, reason and compassion and the fact that he does the exact opposite makes it so effective.

The same shock on Nikki and Steven's faces when they heard that idiot speak of sealing off the city and cutting the phone lines.

This show is beautifully made. Obviously there were more things going on. Coming from a post Soviet country and having known people going through deportations(gulag-labor camps) and hearing stories from every decade of the 50 years of cencership. I have tried to show this to my family members(who were in various age ranges) while this catastrophe happened nobody really knows the full affect to this day. My mom was 15 when this happened. My great uncle was sent to clean up. He died when i was a new born. He was told not to have children after(he was in his 30s, had step sons).I just remember that i knew about it as long as i've been remebering stuff. People still go there and its not as dangerous as it seems. You have to be cautious ofcourse. In Estonia people(men mostly) came back from the service in Afghanistan and were sent to liquidate the areas surrounding the no go zone. Because every man had to be in service(Red army) they were the first to go. So ours were called the Estonian Samurais(still are). Because you will see in this series what happens i will not spoil it. People still struggle with getting benefits to take care of the consequences on their health. Kids are sick to this day. DNA is damaged and it goes on with every generation. There are programmes which help, but they need funding so its limited. There are so many interesting videos on this subject on KZfaq too. Bald and bankcrupt is a great channel to see what it was like or Ushanka show also wonderful content.

Can still clearly remember watching TV one evening with my father when the news alert came on about the Chernobyl disaster, we were in the Highlands of Scotland and even there radiation levels had risen considerably.

The people on the bridge, are not watching the fire, there are watching the blue beam that goes from the power plant to the sky. The radiation.

One of the best series I've seen. Ever. And I'm saying that with complete confidence.

One of the best series i ve ever seen. Was a kid in the Netherlands at the time. My father who is a professor in chemistry was NOT happy at all....

Not only the surrounding countries the whole world, the radioactive cloud spread with the wind and with the rain got absorbed into the soil.

Some of the characters are fictional, or amalgamated, but the story of the fire fighter that touched the graphite, read into Vasily Ignatenko once you have finished the series.

My Grandfather worked at Moscow Hospital No.6. I remember him telling me that when the patients from the power plant were first admitted, they had no idea that they were contaminated with radiation. He was friends with a chief engineer at the plant, Anatoly Sitnikov. I remember the only time I ever saw my Grandfather cry was when he was telling us about the slow deterioration of Toyla, as he was called by close friends. He lived for around a month after the incident. The thing I found saddest was that they were childhood friends and this was the first time they’d seen each other in many years. That always stuck with me.

It’s a great series, and has an excellent podcast by the writer. It covers in detail the differences between show and reality. It’s called The Chernobyl podcast, by HBO, easy to find. A few thoughts on some of your comments. “It’s just a normal city.” Actually it wasn’t, it was one of the best places to live and work in the Soviet Union. It existed only to serve the nuclear reactor, and had much better facilities and standard of living and wages than most other Soviet cities. Kinda like Palo Alto in the US 🙂 “They cut the phone lines?” Telecoms and transport in the Soviet Union was highly controlled by the state. Just like everything else. Cutting the phone lines was a standard reaction to any incident. “Why didn’t they just leave (the control room)?” In 1986 few Soviet citizens, even working in a nuclear reactor, had a good idea of the effect of radiation poisoning. But all of them had an excellent idea of the effects of disobeying the State. And remember, everyone is employed by the state. Geopolitical point, as noted on screen, Chernobyl was located in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). An SSR was basically the equivalent of a US state. The country was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or, commonly, Soviet Union. Ukraine is the post Soviet country. This might sound pedantic, but saying the explosion happened in the Ukraine is like saying the Pilgrim fathers went to the USA (same geographic location, completely different political entity). It’s great you’re watching this show, but gird your loins, this is going to be tough for you to watch!

Really cool watching a reaction where someone knows so much about Chernobyl going into it! Added a totally new dynamic to the reaction!

14:15 "Is this like a spectacle"? Yeah. People come from all around to gawk at fires. If I'm ever burning a particularly large brush pile, 10 people will drive by. And I live in the middle of nowhere. Lol

Loving all these reactions. This series was brilliantly crafted and the opening scenes (the suicide and the distant perspective of the explosion) are very strong.

Best miniseries ever. Thanks for watching and reacting.

You’re both very bright - you notice the right stuff - and are responding authentically as well. Gives an older guy hope that we might be OK.

Jared Harris (who plays Legasov) is also in "The Expanse." That show is fantastic as well. Best Sci-Fi on TV. You two should give that a try.

Jared Harris is also in the first season of The Expanse which is a great scifi show if you guys are looking for another series to react to.

Love this Series! One of the best series I've seen in a long time! Chilling! I was very young when this happened and still remember how scary it was! It shocked the world. Great reaction guys!

Great reaction guys, I remember seeing the space shuttle flying over head in the UK and the ash cloud as a kid, its nuts.

If you guys are interested in researching further and separating fact from fiction, try HBO's Chernobyl podcast that they ran concurrently with the show, an episode after each show episode. It's basically an incredible making-of, and in it the showrunner completely lays out his approach and thoughts, and goes into detail about everything that really happened and everything they changed for the show, and explains why and where the changes were made. A lot more of the show is based on reality than one might initially think. Also yeah The Expanse is amazing, but that's a bigger time commitment. Strongly recommended though if you want to see how exciting a no-bullshit, hard sci-fi show can be when done right.

Great reaction! Super impressive with how close you guys pay attention to the details. 💖

When they decided to seal the city and cut the phones... that was a priceless reaction! I cannot hardly wait to see all your reactions to the rest of the episodes! Heads up on Ep 4.... it will be very hard to watch!

Of all the chernobyl reactions I've seen this lady has been the most informed, her husband too. Good on you for doing your homework guys.

Way to go Kacee, you knew more of the details than me before starting the show, and i had just finished high school when this happened :)

"It was just a regular town" 50 thousand people used to live here and it's a ghost town.

Dude - I am going to binge watch your reactions now...... I really enjoyed you two.

I was born two years before this happened in Romania just a few hundred miles away. It's a great show if you can say that about something like this.

I'm so excited to see your reactions to this show! I loved watching your witcher videos.

That is a very heavy series. Great a ting and story. Enjoy. Excited to see your responses

Really looking forward to watching your reactions to this series! Just have tissues at the ready. While one of the best-made shows I've ever seen, it's also one of the most emotionally devastating given the heavy material. I still cry even watching people's edited reactions.

I was at school when this happened and it was at the time of the Cold War so Russia denied there was any problem to the West. It was only after the detection of higher than usual radiation levels in Sweden and Norway that they finally admitted about the disaster. Radiation actually reached Wales, UK.

Love watching your reactions, keep up the great work.. :)

Pripyat was a town immediately outside Chernobyl specifically designed to accomodate the workers of the power plant and their families. I believe it had around 40.000 inhabitants or something like that at the time. Only workers of the power plant and their families were allowed to live in the town. Working at the power plant as an Engineer or even in any position was considered to be a high prestige job at the time, and the apartments of Pripyat were very modernly equipped. Living there as a worker on the power plant meant that you and your family had access to the latest middle class luxury and consumer goods unseen in the rest of the Soviet Union where many families lived in poverty or at least relative poverty compared to most Western European people. This meant that as a worker at the plant you were willing to do a lot in order to keep your job and thus retain the right to live there with the relative comfort that this brought to you and your family. Refusing to obey orders meant you risked being fired and losing access to these comfortable living conditions.

Great reaction!!I am so happy that I found you on KZfaq 👍🏻👍🏻

Chernobyl was made by British production company Sister Pictures, they also made Broadchurch and Giri/Haji and Gangs Of London.

Actually Valery Legasov wasn't some RANDOM person whom they picked for managing the situation. He was an ACADEMIC of Russian Academy of Science above anything. This was then and it is NOW the highest level in scientific career of ANY scientist in the countries of post-soviet block, and it was SO prestigious that academics had the same level of respect just like the highest party men. He was not just some professor, as if they could choose another one. He was an ELITE specialist!

So I noticed that people think that diatlov and the others are either in denial or that they know the reactor core exploded but they don't want to admit it. In truth as far as they know an RBMK reactor doesn't explode. The worst they were ever expecting is a meltdown. Imagine that you are an expert in cars and someone told you that cars drive underwater, it's the same thing when people keep telling them that the reactor exploded.

Yayy a new reactor I've discovered to react to this series for :D (subscription incoming don't worry)

It's easy for us now, 30-something years later and knowing what we know today, to look back at these engineers and bureaucrats and scream about them being in denial, or being dictatorial, or whatever else. But here's the thing... they had absolutely no idea that such an event was even possible. Everything they had been taught in school, every bit of their extensive on-the-job experience, had conditioned them into believing that it was simply impossible for a reactor core to explode. Why didn't they know it? Because the reason for the explosion was a design flaw in the RBMK, and that design flaw was a state secret at the time. None of them had any idea that such a thing could happen. So the reason you see so much denial is because it made about as much sense to them as if you told them that Martians had done it. Such things just don't happen... or so they thought at the time. The ultimate cause of Chernobyl was: secrets and lies.

This show was one of the most depressing things ever.

after watching it for 500 times,still number 1 in my top 5 tv series.

The situation with the leadership initially is known as Confirmation Bias, and it is the human factor in stuff like plane accidents. When we get completely contradictory statements to our current image and overview of a situation, we tend to use our current image to explain away the contradictory statements to have the world continue to make sense. It is the main reason why there are at least 2 people flying a plane, or sailing a big boat. At a certain point you are snapped out of your self denial and get a grip of the new situation, even if you then end in confusion of what is happening.

You wonder how long USSR would have waited if Sweden didn't report the fallout reading.

Seeing your reactions in just the first few minutes of the show... oh boy. Oooooooh boy. You've got some rough seas ahead.

This series is deserving of all the praise. Just amazingly well made. Love the reaction. And did you notice GoT Maester Luwin of Winterfell?

There is a podcast series [1] on HBO's channel by the show creator Craig Mazin and Peter Sagal where they tell how much and why they adapted some sources as the story they choose to tell. Probably better to listen to just one at the time like an aftershow for each episode. About Legasov's tapes, they are real, but the circumstance of his recodings might be a bit different then what they showed in the series. Bits and pieces of the original recordings still existed and quite a few people try to piece them together. Here is the longest one I found [2], and a playlist (some in Russian) of many source and documentaries [3]. Someone transcribed all the tapes (in Russian) and put them online [4], and there is a blog translates them into English if you want to check what Legasov actually recorded (a bit spoiler I'd say) [5]. There is a sky news documentary [6] quite good with lots of interviews with the actual people involved, but better watch it after finishing the series. And there is a documentary told by Legasov's daughter [7]. Also, this is the first-hand documentary made in 1986 called Chernobyl - Chronicle of Difficult Weeks (in full Russian) [8], where lots of later documentaries using its footages, since they were literally shooting the film during the cleanup, and the director of this documentary actually died before it was released, just months after he started filming because of excessive exposure to radioactivity and the camera he used is still radioactive till this day, the sky news documentary also interviewed his widow and cameraman (it is one hell of a sad story, a lot of people died just to try to show the truth. Here is a part of its translation footage of the first few minutes [9]). This series is going to get heavy and the sense of dread will just keep building up. When you think it cannot get any worse, it will. Be prepared. [1] kzfaq.info/sun/PLO79iP69FaZPKaMDoSPAtGdoa3wd3lp9n [2] kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p91_o7h4zK7UqZc.html [3] kzfaq.info/sun/PLOsSyCpQHktxIz5CaAIMC1WB2-6-3Ehdz [4] pseudology.org/razbory/Legasov/00.htm [5] legasovtapetranslation.blogspot.com/ [6] kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jt1jhqmAy8i2aGg.html [7] kzfaq.info/get/bejne/htamqcaU0q2WlHk.html [8] kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fb6am7B_qpecZps.html [9] kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b51_jdmQutyqgGg.html

You guys are great. Please watch "The Haunting of Hill House" next. It's an amazing show.

New sub, dunno where I've been. Great reaction to a great show, along with excellent pre & post discussions. Can't wait to see more!

I see a suggested video of fresh eyes on this masterpiece of a series, I subscribe.

This is a good series, and I like your reaction. It happened when I was 16, and I lived not far from Chernobyl at the time (about 200 miles). We weren't told that something had happened until 10 days later when they started distributing iodine pills. It was way too late for that. 10 years ago my wife (who had also lived in the same area at the time) got thyroid cancer, and I have no doubts as to why.

The beginning is so funny, he tries to say something and you talk without a break :D cool

the bird in the plant is a Canary,they are often used on mines to detect when there is some poisonus gas leaks

You guys are gonna LOVE this show!

Stellan has another son called Gustaf Skarsgard, who has a major role in Vikings as Floki and has been is Westworld and a few other things. Very talented family

Jared Harris was in Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr.

yes..!! was waiting for this one.!

One of my (very few) complaints about the series is that in some important places they do fictionalise rather extensively. For example, Bruykhanov (the plant manager, the guy with the curly hair and hoarse voice) was not nearly as callous as he's portrayed. He was reportedly the first one to suggest evacuating Pripyat, and he worked hard to try to mitigate the damage right away. And there was no order to cut the phone lines and blockade people in Pripyat. The characters are representative of a system, a system that was obsessed with secrecy and security, but the events did not literally happen that way. Just feel I need to say this whenever the "Cut the phone lines" scene comes up - that part was fictional.

Can't wait for the rest, it's a great series. If you two take suggestions, the Expanse is a great sci to show on amazon, Band of Brothers is a great HBO mini series, and The Boys is also another great show on amazon. Look forward to seeing the rest, love the discussions at the end.

I was born just a few months before it happened in neighbouring Slovakia. My parents often fed me anything not live/recently live and nothing from a metal cover like canned food. Supposedly they suspected and supposedly that pretty much meant chewing on a clean kitchen towel dipped in black tea with sugar.

I remember being a very little kid when this happened and we werent allowed to go outside for a few weeks here in western germany, everyone was scared, thats all i remember and i didnt understand it back then obviously, after all i was only born in 1981 and this happened in 86, not many memories from back then but being scared and very bored staying inside stuck.

Heeeey!!! Finally, you guys will enjoy this work of art! Kisses from Brazil! s2

Just finished episode 1 and came right here. Good show!

u guys are the best!

23:50 actually what was presented in the show was... um... let's call it... "family friendly" version of what seriously happened... Especially carnage...

LOL the High Sparrow getting even more people killed by denying anything was wrong.

Great reaction to a great production...like.

I remember Jared Harris as Professor James Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

I so wanna watch this, but Im going to wait. Havent seen Chernobyl myself yet. When I do I will for sure get back here right after ;)

This is great show...I'm ready for the next 4 episodes :)

It was the KGB that was watching him it was the Soviet Union they watched everyone.

Hi, im from Ukraine, LOVED this series, my fother was drafted in july 86 to do roadbloks... awful times

This is definitely a great show! You guys should also consider Watching THE EXPANSE!!!

You just earned a sub for enduring this show. It's a great show but it grinds you down.

You guys did well. As reactionists. Despite of your lack of knowledge of radioneuclides. The explosion was hydrogen, the explosion leading to graphite on the ground was saturated radio. (Sucks) worst possible thing. It was fully absorbed. I was a kid. But I remember most of it. It still pollutes the air to this day.

Guys! I love your reactions!

this show will send you through the feels and make you constantly flip imaginary tables... series like this should be a remainder for governments, but also people in respevtive positions and the general population that lies do not pay, that beiing uneducated about something does not pay, that blind and devout servitude to a higher ideal does not pay.

Stellan Skaarsgard was also in "Good Will Hunting" with Robin Williams, Matt Damon, BenAfleck, and Mini Driver. Highly recommend checking that one out. Jarad Harris is the son of actor/singer Richard Harris best known for the song "MacArthur's Park."

I was 16 when this happened, I remember it well it was on the news a lot. There was no surprise about the inefficiencies of the Soviet System.

When you finish this series, you need to watch "The Orville" as a palate cleanser.

During 50’’s in Vegas, one of the big attractions was to see a mushroom cloud from your hotel room! You can look up those on google. And well done young lady!

the guy 2ith the bloody side, was the one holding the door open his name is sansa and he lived into the 2000s.