""To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it." Still applicable today. :( Scary part is they toned down the radiation injuries, and didn't show some of the worst like Akimov's.

I love the quote: “every lie we tell owes a debt to the truth.” The music was also perfect in this series.

The purpose of the scene with the old woman and the cow is to show how this situation is different. She survived the revolution, world war II, famine, plague and was the last of her family but Chernobyl is different. This situation is worse than all the others combined. We all saw what happened to the fire fighter whose skin and organs melted away. That's not a fate you just leave someone to even if they tell you they're prepared to die and they genuinely mean it. No one is prepared to die like that.

When I first started watching Chernobyl, the very first sentence caught me, and I decided that this was worth watching. The series begins with "What is the cost of lies?" And it ends with "What is the cost of lies?" Everything in between those two describes what that cost is. As someone most likely has pointed out, the three divers had some protection because they were immersed in water a lot of the time.

"I've seen them before" these KGB Operatives were posing as a couple in the bar when they asked "are you here about the fire?...... Anything we should be worried about?" Luckily he knew to shake his head and say "no", otherwise he would have been arrested!

I think the speech Bacho gives to Pavel after the first time he had to kill is one of the most powerful and best lines in the series.

This series was so good at showing the humanity side and the technical aspects of the disaster. It also showed that no matter how dark the time might be there are always people willing to do what needs to be done. There will always be heroes. Great reaction as always.

When the series was new, a commonly heard reaction from horror movie fans was that the reactor was scarier than any Hollywood monster.

For anyone who wants a detailed explanation of events and the science behind the "accident" Scott Manley does great job if it on his you tube channel. Doesn't dumb it down but makes it very easy to understand. Plus he makes you realize just how complex it is to keep a reactor operating safely.

I was 14 years old when the Chernobyl accident happened. My family and I watched the news closely about the accident, when the truth came out, with fear that radioactive contamination would be widespread. After a couple of weeks when it became apparent that the threat was relatively localized and an Ocean and most of a Continent away, life went back to normal. It wasn’t until this TV miniseries that I got a true sense of the tragic impact of the accident, how it could have been worse, the bravery and sacrifice of so many who worked hard to keep it from getting worse, and how it happened in the first place. This story demonstrates the best characteristics of average Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, etc., who responded. It also shows the total corruption and irresponsibly deluded secretiveness of the Soviet security apparatus and many of its agents who would have kept the truth from us all if they could.

This show was done incredibly well. The first time I watched it, I did the same thing and binged it all in a day.

Lyrics to the Cossack folk song. Played when the animals are being dumped in the pit. "BLACK RAVEN" Why do you circle over me? You won't have your prey, Black raven, I'm not yours! You won't have your prey, Black raven, I'm not yours!

"Listen Comrade. These are the most important 90 seconds of your life." Yeah Boss, NO PRESSURE.

Marijke, seeing Lyudmilla in the unit looking at the ceiling next to an empty crib is so heartwrenching. In many hospitals today, women who have lost their babies in childbirth are housed in a separate area than the main maternity ward/unit to avoid further pain and depression caused by being surrounded by healthy happy babies and their overjoyed mothers. Nurses petitioned for this move to happen to give some sensitivity to the plight of the devastated mother and her mental state.

This show is so immersive. I remember my brother recommending it to me before he left (he was visiting that day). He showed me the trailer before leaving, I basically started watching right after he was gone. I only had time for two episodes that night, I had to go to work. I HAD TO watch the other three in the morning when I got back home. I couldnt go sleep after my nightshift, I had to see it 😃😃 And then I couldnt sleep because of the stress and sadness lol.

The old woman's monologue in the beginning of The Happiness of All Mankind is lifted almost word for word from the Alexievich book.

Chernobyl is still giving off radiation. They did a documentary on PBS a couple of years ago called Building Chernobyl's Megatomb, because they have constructed a HUGE structure to completely encase what's left of the site.

The Queens Gambit! You absolutely have to do this Mary. Come on people up vote me!

The woman acting as Lyudmilla the firefighter's wife, is an Irish actress who was just nominated for an Oscar this year for a recent film that she was in.

It almost felt like a duty to watch it all at once -- a small tribute to those who sacrificed so much. Of course, it helped that it was so riveting and infuriating....

After the Chernobyl disaster, Boris would be sent to deal with the devastation of the Armenian earthquake. He worked with the international community to save countless lives using thermal imaging and rescue dogs from Austria and Czechoslovakia to quickly find trapped survivors. A statue dedicated to him in Tyumen. How could he think he did not matter.

What an awesome reaction haha. At 8:32 I can tell that her "F@K" came from the very deep...i love it!! Hahaha. 😎👍

This series is so great that I have probably watched 10 reactions and honestly I can say yours was the most honest, especially for the firefighter and his wife. It truly is a gut wrenching story and I'm old enough to have lived through it. I remember watching in horror as the news showed the helicopter dumping sand and boron, falling from the sky. Old people still live in the zone and tourists and thrill seekers still go through it!!!

Chernobyl was such a powerhouse of storytelling. It's a difficult watch, but so well crafted. I love seeing reactions to it as well, the more heartfelt the better. There's a visceral quality in getting to share that viewing experience again. Thanks, Mary. I know you had a hard time with this one, but I thoroughly appreciate the chance to watch along with you.

The show does a pretty darn good job on accuracy, with some notable exceptions. Some things they changed or got wrong they admit to, but others they do not. For instance, they get the whole "baby saved mom by absorbing radiation" part quite wrong, as well as the fact that the main reason you do not have close contact with people that have radiation sickness is due to their suppressed immune systems and infections, not because they are dangerously radioactive to other people. I know I already mentioned it, but the History vs Hollywood article on Chernobyl is a must read after you have had time to digest watching the series. Thank you again for doing these reactions, it is a great show and very important for people to see. 🖖✌

I felt the same when I watched this series. I liked your insights about how people were able to "push down" their limits and continue what they needed to do.

14:38 all the sounds used came from actual nuclear power plants. This series is a work of art. EDIT: that includes music. There are no instruments. There's just industrial equipment.

Please protect Mary at all cost. Your reactions r so pure. My daughter died a few years ago. She was born too early. N we could only stay til the next day. We waited for out ride(my ex's uncle) and we weren't allowed to stay in the room so we had to wait in the area of the hospital w women who gave birth and were on the way home n we had to sit n watch happy excited fathers wheelchair their woman n baby to their car. So I greatly understand n felt sitting there after losing your child in a room full of crying babies. I can't explain the feeling but all I can say is your reactions r so beautiful.

Love the miner. Best character in recent memory.

For goodness sake, Mary! Of all the good reactors - you were the one that is most clued up. I enjoyed this and I binge watched

Lord Bolton is the prosecutor. Did you notice that the Maester from Winterfell was the guy who cut the phone lines in the 1st episode.

"Our goal is the happiness of all mankind"

I saw in a recent BBC report that Belgium just recently decided to shut down all 7 of the old nuclear reactors at the 2 nuclear power plants in the country. Decommissioning is supposed to start this year but it will take more than 20 years to fully deactivate and demolish the reactors.

Mary's reaction to "We are getting a baby" is priceless!

I like in the first episode, we are shown the explosion from afar. And it feels "not great, but not terrifying", which was exactly what everyone (especially the government) thought at the time. Then, in the last episode, we get a step by step, down to the seconds detailed explanation of the explosions, and we are finally shown the truth of it.

Been waiting for this reaction from you. It’ s tough to watch, but one of the best mini series ever.

The series was amazing and really highlighted the various issues that caused the explosion and the repercussions. Your reaction to this was the same as mine: shock, horror, anger, utter sadness. I love your reactions and your sharing your joyful and gentle soul with us all.

Weird things about the situation. The Soviet Empire was built on coal so the coal minors could tell state officials to F-off as long as they kept producing coal. The firefighters clothing is still in the bottom of the hospital 35 years later and to this day are emitting deadly levels of radiation. This point is horrible so read at your own risk, but when she went in and hugged her FF husband he was in the "walking ghost phase." After deadly radiation you start to feel better. You walk, you eat, play chess but then the radiation melts you from the inside out. It is horrible way to die

Great Reaction. I do not know anyone who did not binge the series. It just captures you.

Many of those who helped clear the roof were Russian national service military personel. They were told they could do 1 year military service, or spend 2 weeks at chernobyl. For many it was a simple choice.

Mary. For a little science leason ... from a Chemist (a few facts people miss). When the reactor lid initially blew off, that was a excessive-pressure steam explosion - basically, the pressure in the reactor from the steam exceeded the up design failure limits of the reactor and the pressure tore the liud off and propelled it into the air. When the air rushed in immediately there after, the reactor was "filled" with oxygen which combined with the hydrogen generrated therein (from the water) and the graphite much which was present as a dust. This resulted in two simultaneous explosions. First a dust explosion as the graphitie dust ignited and burnt in fractions of a second of making contact with the oxygen (the same reason wind-mills would often blow themselves to bits when grinding grain / wheat. The second, and far more severe, was the ignition of the Hydrogen with the Oxygen. Hydrogen has a very low ignition point (about 58 degrees celsuis - ie. a warm water pipe). When Hydrogen burns, it tends to burn extremely severely ... ie. it EXPLODES. These two simulatenous explosions are what demolished the Reactor Build the reactor was stationed in. And that is the science behind the explosion and why there was a subsequent large fire. You combine a severe radiation contamination into that and you have a Chernobyl sized disaster.

I became emotionally invested in the grooming cat in the background....

The last episode is the most fictionalized. In reality Legasov and Shcherbina weren't even there during the trial. I totally understand why they did it this way, though. They had to explain for the viewers how the accident happened and this was probably the best way. And it's dramatic as well. It was a little silly to have Boris give evidence, though, since he had no knowledge about nuclear power plants, as we found out in episode 2.

25:07 I like the condensed videos. This is how you should watch band of brothers!

The divers survived because they were so deep in water, which is a great radiation shield. Also the protective clothes they were wearing was better at shielding from radiation than what was thought at the time. Currently the same materials are used in a lot of radiation protective clothing...

In the Soviet Union, there could be severe consequences for being held responsible if something goes wrong, particularly in strategic, top-secret industries like nuclear power or state security. It explains the reason why the security guy shot the cow (to get the old lady to evacuate). It explains why Dyatlov and his bosses acted the way they did (i.e., the insistence on completing a successful test; denying that the core exploded). It was a system that depended on fear, secrecy, and heavy security (KGB) to somewhat work, which is one of the reasons why it was unsustainable. Great reaction!

The show also turned down the horror of the animal section. People reported animals were walking around with body parts melted together from radioactive disintegration. To the point where workers could not recognize cats as cats and dogs as dogs. Some cats looked like lizards. Some dogs looked like frogs. Just imagine seeing something like that and it almost looked alien-like.

Yeah the prosecutor is from game of thrones. You just know you're about to have a bad day when Roose Bolton is your prosecutor in a soviet showtrial.

This show is masterful. So glad you watched it! It's so emotional, but so worth it

I love that you have 0 self control and just binge watch everything

You are, by far, my most favourite movie reactor.

Every time I see a present day politician out without a mask on I think about when that miner says “if these worked you’d be wearing them”

If you go back to the first episode, when we first see Lyudmila, she is vomiting (from morning sickness) in the bathroom, flushes the toilet and walks out just when the core explodes.

The lady who plays the wife of the firefighter also play Anna Delvey/Soroken in Investigating Anna. It’s about a woman who cons all sorts of people and hotels in NYC. It’s currently on Netflix.

11:28 To bury the Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Lelechenko, he was transported in a covered truck. A lead shield was placed between him and the driver. Therefore, it should not be surprising that these coffins were filled with concrete.

When Stellan Skarsgård says something we listen

Mary, your reaction video is wonderful, even for a very difficult to watch topic. Thank you for your honest reactions, I enjoy watching them.

I definitely binged the entire show in one evening. Brilliant filmmaking. Watch After Life with Ricky Gervais. Three seasons. Funny and incredibly emotional.

To answer your question, with shows like this, I think multiple episodes per video is appropriate. Tbh, I also quite like not having to wait. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and reaction.

The firefighters were not radioactive, and did not pose a threat to anybody once their clothing was removed. They did not ingest radiation in any significant amount that would cause them to be any risk to any others. This has happened, however, the only cases where this happened were outside of Chernobyl (ex. in Brazil), where people ate food that was covered in radioactive dust. Breathing in some radioactive smoke, as the firefighters did, would not have been sufficient to pose a risk to others. The baby would not have taken the radiation from the mother, and the mother did not get enough radiation exposure to cause any issues with or without the baby.

Same as you: binged the whole series in one night. I had an important meeting at work early the next morning. It... didn't go well. haha

haha. yeah i totally binged it too. really well done. it was very amusing watching your outrage when characters were doing stupid things! : )

At the time this all happened, it was assumed that radioactive material could be transferred to a fetus in the womb by being around someone dying of radiation poisoning. However that does not seem to be the case. Ludmila's baby probably died of unrelated congential disease rather than as a result of her interacting with her husband. In addition to not including that information in the miniseries, resulting in numerous online attacks on her, the producers had asked her for permission to use her story, but she declined and they used it anyway.

Fun fact: the Chernobyl plant director and the company who built the plant have never worked with nuclear power plants before the plant was even built

Taking care of my mother for three months As she slowly died of cancer..Is extremely brutal ,my life is forever changed things you never would think would happen to a human being ,,actually did.. Bones breaking while just laying in bed,, eyes turning fully white as she went blind.. She was perfectly normal when they gave her the diagnosis she came home and went straight into hospice at home where I took care of her every day ,,every second.. I didn't cry one bit didn't have time to think about it then she took her last breath no magic butterflies no magic ghosts appearing above the body just silence she was at peace... About a week after I Imploded I was crying for days still do ,, it'll be 4 years this March.. rip Mom and dad and everyone lost...It was an honor to be your son 10 reactors just like that are still in use in Russia

10:50 They pressed AZ-5 and then the reactor exploded. Nobody messed with it but in the last episode you will learn all about what that button is supposed to do, and why it did the opposite. 14:39 the music is entirely composed of sounds recorded at Ignalina RBMK reactor. Doors, Consoles, Machinery, Ambient sounds etc all composed into this music. You literally listening to the sounds of a real reactor as music score. And wow does it add to the eeriness.

I don't know if anyone has pointed out a favorite excruciating detail of mine from episode 3, I heard it on the podcast for the show, but the reason Lyudmilla Ignatenko the wife of the firefighter was holding his shoes was that he couldn't be buried with them so she had them for him. It almost breaks me up every time I see it.

Nothing but respect for those miners true bravery

The accompanying podcast that aired with this each week it was broadcasting is great. Listen to it if you can Mary.

8:28 i saw one of those 3experts reacts to movies in their field, the woman said this depiction is not realistic. They would have burns and blisters but they wouldn't be more horrifying to look at than the walking dead.

I watched the first episode and then watched the next 4 the following day. This series was so good. I couldn't get it out of my head for several days after. I told everyone I knew to watch it. It's a tough watch but I think everyone should see it at some point. I'd say the same thing for Band of Brothers. I feel it's important to know and remember what previous generations went through.

I watched your videos the same way you watched the series........Outstanding choice to condense the reactions to two videos, Mary.......very powerful.......the series isn't quite a documentary, but may be even more effective showing it this way...........keep up the good work (and stay outraged)............

I watched it as soon as I was able -- I have done similar for most reactions to this series as I'm a big fan of the series. The only problem I had with your binging it this way was that it ended up leaving about 12 minutes for each episode, which honestly seemed a little short to me. But thank you for posting -- I'm glad that you watched this.

The director of this series is currently working on the HBO version of The Last of Us....

Two adorable and beautiful cats :) - they should react more often hehe And thx for your reaction, chernobyl is the best series in the last 10 years (for me)

Another semi-documentary that is really good is Dopesick. Highly relevant

Read about the screenwriter, Craig Mazin. He worked on scripts in Hollywood for years and wrote a lot of comedies that became films but this was a passion project. This was his first dramatic work to be made into a series (and he claims he won't go back to comedy). His main goal was not just to tell the story of the events (the "science") but to also focus on the "common people" of Russia and to honor their heroic contributions.

8:30 Your reaction here is so good.

Fun fact: Lyudmila was holding her husbands shoes in her hands because his feet in real life were too swollen.

"If these worked you'd be wearing them", this guy is so sharp. Just sees through all their bs.

You took the animal control scene way better than I expected, unless a waterfall of tears was edited out..

Reaction recommendations Movies: Nightcrawler, 1917, Dark City, Train to Busan Series: Westworld, The Pacific, The Expanse, Dark

In answer to your question, inhaled radioactive material is far more likely to ruin your life than radioactive material that's nearby but outside your body.

The best thing about this show was the miners. Real men. Bluecollar bastards who step up when needed, but don't take no crap from nobody. They are united, tough and have (naked,lol) hearts of gold! That is the kind of man i aspire to be!

Ouack, ouack ...ooops! (2:42) Cast you mind back to episode 1, when we first saw Lyudmilla. What was she doing? She was throwing up in the toilet in the middle of the night. That's the equivalent of a double blue line on the pregnancy test, no problem!

My son was born the preceding January. I was unnerving to find that, not 50 Km from us, sheep were grazing on contaminated grass - the rain had washed radioactivity out of the air.

I didn't plan to but also binged it one lazy sunday, for one because it's just so good and for another I couldn't see dragging this out any further than it had to...

The politics of this disaster is the most distressing part. I do like the binge format for a mini-series like this. I didn't get to binge it the first time because each episode was released a week at a time.

The description in the last episode of the events that caused the event was brilliant...

The issue of "stay behind the plastic" & "don't touch your husband" These measures mostly protect the patient who likely has virtually no immune system left and is vulnerable to secondary infection. Any particles of radioactive material on the outside of his body would have already been thoroughly washed off. Anything inside his body is far more dangerous to him and the difference between "touching" vs "being close" is likely negligible.

20:25 f cat

This series was amazing, and I hope you continue to learn about it. Always the best. Be well.

Fantastic show. The last episode especially was one of the best episodes of TV I’ve watched.

Good to see you. Thanks for this one, especially. One of the best. Part 2. Here we go!

MArijke, you did much better than I expected. I have to say though. The animals were contaminated and they had to go. None of the cleanup humans wanted to be in this situation same as the animals. So I feel more intensity for the human sacrifice in this situation a bit more than the animals.

The series really impressed me & I watched each episode as it was released on HBO so it may have been a week in between, I can't remember for sure. It was a powerful mini series. Binging is fine, I'm sure whatever works best for you will work best for the viewers & channel.

Actually, for some strange reason the "divers"/engineers lived for a fairly long time after that.... which you could call the most dangerouse dip.

Regarding the killing of all animals. I saw a story about one of the teams that were out and shooting them, they came across a slimey looking lizard, they were confused about what type it was, until it looked at them and meowed. Its horrible but letting the animals die the same way as you saw the firefighters or any of the really badly radiated men would just be cruel. And they would just decompose out in nature and spread the radiation even more

Even if you do know something about Chernobyl, going into this mini-series is just super shocking. It just hits you how much this disaster was never unavoidable.

So glad you watched this amazing and important show. Your reactions are always great and these were very heartfelt. I think watching in one go might have helped and could be a great thing to do every now and again. It's hard to think I really great short mini series but I loved was Wolf Hall by the BBC which was also 4 or 5 episodes I think. Other shorter series not regularly done other reactors that I'm sure you would love, His Dark materials (2 series, 8 episodes each i think) or maybe even some scandi-noir with The Bridge or the Killing. If you ever wanted to take on something bigger then I'd love reactors to do The Wire but my personal favs would be Vikings or the Expanse (of those YT seem to allow anyway)