Chernobyl (2019) - Review

Starring: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard, Emily Watson & Paul Ritter

Written By: Craig Mazin

Directed By: Johan Renck

Certificate: 15

In the US, 'Chernobyl' was broadcast as a five-part mini-series on HBO, home of several popular dramas such as 'Game Of Thrones' and 'Westworld'. Here in the UK however, it was broadcast on Sky Atlantic. In the past few years, the Sky channels have made more of a name for themselves as home to an increasing number of quality TV shows, and in 2019 they appear to have reached a new peak with 'Chernobyl'. It was well-advertised in the run-up to the premiere, and was soon being sold as the "highest-rated TV show of all time" on IMDb. It's no exaggeration to say that the show was acclaimed from practically anyone who saw it. So what is all the fuss about, and is this really the best TV show of all time? 

April 1986: Near the city of Pripyat, disaster struck at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant when reactor No. 4 exploded during a safety test. 'Chernobyl' centres on what happened on the night of the disaster, the ramifications it had for the government of the Soviet Union, and the devastating effect it had on the lives of the people living in Pripyat and beyond. The series follows the committee that managed the response, as well as the individual efforts to investigate the cause and prevent the spread of radioactive contamination. 

'Chernobyl' is one of the closest things we've had this year resembling anything that looks like some common ground. In a year where division runs rampant, this one of the very few things that almost everyone I know seems to absolutely love. Even among friends, it's about the only show this year that we've all watched and been thoroughly impressed by. This includes one friend in particular who can be very tough to please, and others who rarely watch TV dramas - 'Chernobyl' has been the exception. The only genuinely negative one-star reviews I've seen have come from loons on sites such as Amazon or IMDb. Most of the time it's just the same old complaints that the show is SJW propaganda (because shock horror, there's a woman in it), or the fact that the show isn't 100% historically accurate to the finest detail. The rest of the complaints are primarily made up of Russian conservatives who don't like the facts and blame the disaster on American intervention. In short, the overwhelming majority of negative reviews don't have a leg to stand on. 'Chernobyl' isn't critique-proof, but it's genuinely difficult to level any serious legitimate criticism at it. 

Part of the reason I think 'Chernobyl' has proved to be quite so popular is its timing. With an advertising tag-line reading "What is the cost of lies?", the connections between the Chernobyl disaster and modern political events give it some relevant clout. When a disaster of this scale is brought about by human error, there's always a keenness to attribute blame to individuals (and as the show proves, deservedly so in the case of individuals such as Dyatlov). Yet it should be known that Chernobyl is still the direct result of lies, cover-ups and the desire to save face. Doesn't that sound awfully familiar with the present situations we're in with Brexit and Trump? I concede that comparing something like Brexit to the devastating effect of Chernobyl isn't entirely proportionate. Chernobyl is after all much more of an extreme bang as opposed to Brexit's slow, pathetic whimper. But both are examples of a man-made, self-inflicted harm that come as a result of lies. Some might think I'm reaching, but Legsaov's line of "Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth" couldn't feel more relevant if it tried. 

'Chernobyl' feels equally as timely thanks to just how relentlessly grim it is. One odd criticism I found whilst trawling the 1-Star reviews section was that the show was humourless. Really? Does it need explaining why injecting deliberate humour into a series about the Chernobyl disaster would be incredibly detrimental, not to mention inappropriate? 'Chernobyl' is not something you sit and watch whilst digging into a bucket of popcorn. The scale of the problem faced by Legasov and the other scientists feels suitably massive. Every time it feels like a glimmer of hope appears, an even bigger problem seems to emerge. The clock is ticking as just by being in proximity to the plant, Legasov and Boris are significantly shortening their own lifespans. The more time they spend there, the more their years are eroded away. Not only is there the problem an exploded reactor core spewing with radiation and a risk to millions of lives, there's the struggle against officials who refuse to evacuate the surrounding area. Together with characters having to complete their investigations with the eyes of the KGB looking over their shoulders, there's a battle to face wherever they turn. 

This sense of a bleak, hopeless struggle is reflected in the production as well. Johan Renck's direction is sublime. It's atmospheric too with some scenes, such as one where children watch the explosion from a nearby bridge unaware of the radioactive ash falling all around them, having an unusual paradoxical beauty to them. As you'd expect from a show like this, the use of colour is consistently muted. The set design is terrific and there's some truly skin-crawling use of practical make-up effects, especially in Episode 3. The show's ability to immerse the viewer is fantastic, and that's what makes it so scary: just how real it all feels. One thing I hadn't expected from 'Chernobyl', at least in the online response to it, is just how many memes it would generate. Many of Dyatlov's lines in particular, such as "You didn't see graphite. You didn't! Because it's not there!" and "3.6 Roentgen. Not great. Not terrible." have all found a new life as memes. A friend of mine even has "3.6 Roentgen" on a shirt. You wouldn't necessarily expect something like this to be considered meme material, but in hindsight maybe it isn't so surprising. There's a lot that can be said about memes being used as a coping mechanism against the stresses of life (sometimes in genuinely funny ways, other times in more obnoxious ones). With a show as heavy as 'Chernobyl', it makes sense that memes would become a way for the viewer to cope with what they've just watched. 

I've also got to give 'Chernobyl' credit for depicting the effect the explosion had on so many different people. The show had the task of recreating the events leading up to an the explosion itself, and then showing the impact it had both socially and politically. That's a lot of ground to cover, so it could be forgiven if it ended up focusing on some aspects more than others. But 'Chernobyl' balances things very well all things considered, allocating a decent amount of time for various characters to get events from their point of view across. Recurring characters such as the first-response firefighter and his pregnant wife do a good job at humanizing the devastation. It's not just politics and squabbling engineers - it's real everyday people whose lives are destroyed. Episode 4 even slows things down enough to focus on an outsider brought in and made to join a team tasked with putting down the radiated animals in the exclusion zone. But the show doesn't slip up when it comes to the scientific side either, and on the whole it does a good job keeping your average viewer up to speed. At one point, Legasov has to explain the science of a nuclear reactor to Boris, and when he does, he's indirectly explaining things to the audience too. Before this, Chernobyl was something I only had basic awareness of, and my own knowledge of reactors was GCSE Physics level at best. By the end of the series, particularly after Episode 5, which serves an effective recap of events, you're left better educated on what took place. Obviously the show doesn't have time to explain away every little detail, but it does a more than serviceable job. 

My overall thoughts on 'Chernobyl' have remained pretty much the same since I finished my first viewing. So is it the best television show of all time? Probably not. But it's most definitely up there. If you can't tell already from this review, 'Chernobyl' ranks highly on my mental list of must-watch TV shows. Like I've said, it's not critique-proof, and there's some small niggling issues you can take with it, such as the pacing which falters a little around Episode 4. But there's no big serious error in here that holds the series back from being something truly special. A show of this quality that gets people talking, and with such a unanimous positive reception, is becoming increasingly rare. Timely, informative, expertly made and acted, this may not be the best TV series ever, but it's the best so far this year and destined to be remembered as a classic.

Chernobyl

9/10