In 2019, television audiences received the closest thing to perfection. Across many review aggregation sites, Chernobyl stood with near-perfect scores upon its initial airing on HBO, and its widespread critical acclaim was even unprecedented in the Peak TV era. Created by Craig Mazin, later the showrunner behind The Last of Us, the miniseries chronicles the eponymous nuclear disaster site in the Soviet Union in 1986, from the meltdown itself to the subsequent trial ruling the neglect and corruption that led to the direct and indirect deaths of workers. Seven years later, Chernobyl, which won a staggering 10 Emmy Awards, is as popular as ever, evident by its performance on another streamer, charting highly on the Apple TV Store. Over five episodes of riveting, procedural, and harrowing television, Chernobyl provides viewers with everything one could ask for in a miniseries designed to both enthrall and educate.
‘Chernobyl’ is a Dramatization of One of the 20th Century’s Most Cataclysmic Events
Chernobyl was destined for greatness with its star-studded ensemble cast alone, which includes dramatic heavyweights such as Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, and recent Oscar winner Jessie Buckley. Along with supporting turns by Ralph Ineson, Barry Keoghan, and a collection of unknown but exceptional British actors, Chernobyl hardly feels like a dramatization at all. The series, directed by Johan Renck, is a sweeping journey through a fateful day in April 1986, from the heroic first responders at the scene of the disaster and miners digging a hole beneath Reactor 4 to the corporate and legal aftermath that assigns blame for this event. We also learn that the nuclear plant was compromised from the start, as flashbacks depict the chief engineers foregoing a safety test.
Chernobyl overcomes the obstacle that most hinders modern prestige television through clarity and subtle gestures. While the series is heavily predicated on dialogue, Mazin and Renck know exactly when to use subtle gestures to convey the most sincere emotions. The series is filled with deeply evocative images, such as a woman watching busloads of deceased people being shipped out of the city, a dead deer lying in the cold air by a tree, and concrete being poured into coffins. Where most shows of this magnitude get lost in their own scope, Chernobyl methodically takes viewers through each phase of this historical event, treating each episode as its own cinematic story.
‘Chernobyl’ Will Have You on the Edge of Your Seat
The highlight of the series is the recreation of the disaster in the titular city in Ukraine, sequences so intense, nerve-wracking, and attentive to historical detail that you could’ve given the series all its Emmys on the spot. The unflinching horror experienced by the scientists and engineers inside the factory cannot be felt by anyone who wasn’t there, but Mazin’s series is as close as anyone will get to understanding the nightmare that is the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Frantic without being rushed, shocking without being gratuitous, the disaster sequences challenge the viewer to hang on while characters speak in dense jargon and fend for their lives amid unimaginable distress. Chernobyl has the mesmerizing set pieces of a thriller with the sophistication of an austere character drama, and neither aspect is compromised throughout its five episodes.
Sentimentality is tough to come by with such an upsetting historical backdrop, but Chernobyl somehow succeeds in constructing a wholly realized emotional arc that keeps you invested in these characters, even the ones who failed to make it out of the factory alive. It may not be a series that uplifts one’s optimism about the world, but the depiction of sacrifice and solidarity between the firefighters and engineers reassures the value of the people amid this terror.
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On the government side, a body deadset on minimizing the devastating impact and their own culpability, the series taps into the mind of Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shcherbina (Skarsgard), who wrestles with his duty as a government official and a human being defying the politicking involved with the aftermath. Harris, a modern television icon thanks to turns in Mad Men and The Crown, plays Valery Legasov, deputy director of the team aiding cleanup efforts, and his performance is brilliantly nuanced and imbued with pathos.
Seven years later, television is still trying to reach the new standard set by Chernobyl. The 1986 nuclear disaster deserved a sweeping epic about honor, morality, and civic duty, and Mazin announced himself as a premier showrunner with his first TV masterpiece.