Chernobyl Brings the Horrific 1986 Nuclear Disaster to Life!

I googled the highest-rated show on television. As far as I could remember, it was Breaking Bad.

Not anymore.

Just the trailer had me gasping on the edge of my seat as the eerie tune played followed by bloodshed and the sinister Russian announcement.

Forget about historical accuracy, forget about what staunch historians have to say, it is one of those pieces of art I live my life to watch. The series starts off slow, poised on the story for a very good reason. It doesn’t rush you through and keeps you gripped with incredible endings in every episode.

The officials say that the radiation is controlled and the scene cuts to kilometers away from the radiation where a bird drops dead. An incredible example of ‘Show and not tell’

You know you’ve struck Television gold when a series starts like this—

Chernobyl definitely falls into the horror genre, not because it’s ‘horror-movie-scary’ but it’s ‘life-threatening scary’. The real-life horror of seeing what it is like to be affected by radiation and what it can do to your body. The horror of realizing how something invisible can turn you into a living corpse. The horror of not being able to see a force that shortens your life in the most inhuman ways possible.

The acting was so spot-on as if the actors were born to portray those roles. Special mention goes to Jared Harris’ performance that literally shook me.

You feel terror after seeing the terrorized firemen and the fear they have in their eyes. You feel pride when you see the mine workers and subordinates of Chernobyl toiling relentlessly and sacrificing their lives for the greater good. At the same time, you feel ashamed of being a human after seeing shameless guys like Dyatlov and USSR officials did to hide their insecurity.

This series makes you think and feel a lot as a human. The whole spectrum of human emotions. Fear to anger, pride to shame.

The script and dialogues laced the characters with the story. The cinematography was nothing short of brilliant.

“Why worry about something which is not going to happen?”

This line will have a profound meaning in your life after watching the series.