That ending. God rest their souls

Incredible show. The best thing going right now.

Really enjoying this miniseries. Home run by HBO.

HerschelwoodHardhead said:

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I'm no political scientist/historian, but I believe that the core issue isn't just with socialism. It's that when a group has ultimate authority/power, it will willingly abuse the people to achieve whatever goals it deems necessary. Socialism is ultimately doomed because it puts the power of regulation, government, and industry all under one roof, and there is no one there to check their power.

Similar abuses can happen under a democratic/capitalist system, but that occurs when industry is in bed with local government/regulation. Abuses happen when no one is there to check their power on behalf of the citizenry. Clearly there are numerous examples of this throughout the history of the modern industrial world (in both democratic and socialist societies).

Government can and will abuse its power, regardless of what type of government it is. Communism/socialism are systems that are ultimately doomed because they are ripe for abuse. They may function temporarily under ideal leadership, but human nature will corrupt the idealism they are founded upon.

However, that's just my opinion. Tangentially related, I've been listening to the Michael Lewis podcast about society's relationship with regulators, and I'd recommend it to others to check out.

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There is no core! It exploded!

IMPOSSIBLE!

As mentioned before, I highly recommend the podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chernobyl-podcast/id1459712981

The director explains everything after each episode. Makes me appreciate the show even more!

Boris (the grey headed man) didn't like hearing that he'd be dead in 5 years. That's when it all seemed to hit home with him. I also liked when the military escorted the two party leaders away.

Does he say the core actually decided to be crazy in that moment and that's why it turned on the civilian population?

Thought this episode was great. Kind of interesting which actual people they're combining for the sake of storytelling.

I thought this episode really captured one of the most fascinating things about Chernobyl to me and it's that basically nobody could really agree on what was about to happen or the best way to fix it.

Even with the entire force of the central government behind them (after a few days) and their ability to literally acquire almost anything in huge quantities (I don't know if it's going to be in the show but they basically get every shipment of lead going anywhere in the whole Soviet Union headed to Chernobyl) there's no definite agreed upon way to fix it.

Swarely said:

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HerschelwoodHardhead said:

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I'm no political scientist/historian, but I believe that the core issue isn't just with socialism. It's that when a group has ultimate authority/power, it will willingly abuse the people to achieve whatever goals it deems necessary. Socialism is ultimately doomed because it puts the power of regulation, government, and industry all under one roof, and there is no one there to check their power.

Similar abuses can happen under a democratic/capitalist system, but that occurs when industry is in bed with local government/regulation. Abuses happen when no one is there to check their power on behalf of the citizenry. Clearly there are numerous examples of this throughout the history of the modern industrial world (in both democratic and socialist societies).

Government can and will abuse its power, regardless of what type of government it is. Communism/socialism are systems that are ultimately doomed because they are ripe for abuse. They may function temporarily under ideal leadership, but human nature will corrupt the idealism they are founded upon.

However, that's just my opinion. Tangentially related, I've been listening to the Michael Lewis podcast about society's relationship with regulators, and I'd recommend it to others to check out.

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There is no core! It exploded!

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I side with Dyatlov, he is the expert. Who are you to question Dyatlov?!?!?

bobinator said:

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Thought this episode was great. Kind of interesting which actual people they're combining for the sake of storytelling.

I thought this episode really captured one of the most fascinating things about Chernobyl to me and it's that basically nobody could really agree on what was about to happen or the best way to fix it.

Even with the entire force of the central government behind them (after a few days) and their ability to literally acquire almost anything in huge quantities (I don't know if it's going to be in the show but they basically get every shipment of lead going anywhere in the whole Soviet Union headed to Chernobyl) there's no definite agreed upon way to fix it.

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More iodine pills please.

The costume designer did an amazing job, seeing the Communist Party hacks in their ill fitting cheap suits and ugly eyewear looks as authentic as the depressing homogenous Soviet architecture of the sets.

In Blocker Buliding you do not cram for tests, tests cram you.

Watched the second episode and the scene where they are getting volunteers, they mention the other reactors are still operating. Wait what? Anyone who has read up on this know why or how that could be the case? Maybe they'll explain in subsequent episodes?

The other reactors operated and produced electricity for years after the accident. I think the last reactor went out of service in the early 2000's. No OSHA in the USSR.

The main reason why, from what I've read but I'm not a nuclear physicist or anything, is that the most dangerous (hardest to control) time for these types of RBMK reactors is when they're turning on and shutting down. They're at their most stable when operating at full power, so without knowing what happened to the other one (which what happened happened while it wasn't running at full power) it seemed safer to just keep them running.

But am I mistaken to think the other reactors were in that same building? How could anyone get inside to operate them or anything? How were they not damaged by the initial explosion? That's incredible

It was a VERY big building, and from what I understand reactors three and four didn't share any direct connections to reactors one and two. So even though all of the controls and everything for reactor three were effected, the control rooms and the various controls for reactors one and two were still fine.

smokeythebear said:

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Watched the second episode and the scene where they are getting volunteers, they mention the other reactors are still operating. Wait what? Anyone who has read up on this know why or how that could be the case? Maybe they'll explain in subsequent episodes?

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On the podcast they said the reactors provided all of the power for the region, and they couldn't afford to shut them off.

smokeythebear said:

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Watched the second episode and the scene where they are getting volunteers, they mention the other reactors are still operating. Wait what? Anyone who has read up on this know why or how that could be the case? Maybe they'll explain in subsequent episodes?

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Plant operators probably covered their nuts with aluminum foil when they clocked in for their shifts.

This is three years old, but talks about why the other three reactors kept on going after the explosion.

Here's why Russia didn't shut down Chernobyl until 14 years after the disaster

I think that's kind of oversimplifying it a bit, but that was definitely a big part of it.

Furlock Bones said:

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everything about radiation poisoning creeps me the eff out. every time i watch K-19 the Widowmaker. ugh.

but, i'm still going to watch this because the story is fascinating and that's a great cast.

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Friend of son was in Kiev on Yale tour when it happened . Tested in Kiev and NYCity when they returned .

Negative !

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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everything about radiation poisoning creeps me the eff out. every time i watch K-19 the Widowmaker. ugh.

but, i'm still going to watch this because the story is fascinating and that's a great cast.

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Friend of son was in Kiev on Yale tour when it happened . Tested in Kiev and NYCity when they returned .

Negative !

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It took the embarrassment of the whole world knowing for them to protect their own citizens.

Oh and shout out to the short haired woman extra in this and GOT.

Amazing episode. Bonus that it was 70 minutes.

unimboti nkum said:

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BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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everything about radiation poisoning creeps me the eff out. every time i watch K-19 the Widowmaker. ugh.

but, i'm still going to watch this because the story is fascinating and that's a great cast.

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Friend of son was in Kiev on Yale tour when it happened . Tested in Kiev and NYCity when they returned .

Negative !

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Also amazing to me is that it took Emily Watson's character forcing herself in to the situation and pointing out that the tanks were full and would explode in 2 days. Had she not done that, along with the 3 guys sacrificing themselves obviously, a whole continent might have been ruined. Insane.

unimboti nkum said:

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BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Furlock Bones said:

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everything about radiation poisoning creeps me the eff out. every time i watch K-19 the Widowmaker. ugh.

but, i'm still going to watch this because the story is fascinating and that's a great cast.

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Friend of son was in Kiev on Yale tour when it happened . Tested in Kiev and NYCity when they returned .

Negative !

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Sorry - don't get it . Somebody explain , please .

I am by no means defending the Soviets here, but there are some creative licenses going on with this series.

The phone call that led to the evacuation order, all of the events described happened over the span of a week, not overnight as implied. They were lumped together for dramatic effect.

Also, Prypiat was evacuated on a Sunday, but the Swedish lab didn't record the spike in radiation until the next day. The playgrounds in West Germany didn't close until a week after the accident. American satellites didn't see the plant explosion until the 29th.

A chronology of events surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

Really glad I threw this on the DVR. I wonder why they didn't wait to start it until after the last GOT though...

Yeah... I get the need to combine some people and events for the sake of storytelling, but I didn't like combining all of the soviet nuclear scientists into one person.

Part of the reason the actual incident was so confusing was that nobody could agree on what was going to happen next. There were all kinds of theories from all different people (academia, the plant that built the reactor, etc).

It wasn't like one person showed up and had all the answers.

hoosierAG said:

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The 3 guys sacrificing themselves obviously, a whole continent might have been ruined. Insane.

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I also think this is a really interesting thing. This has been told so much that it's basically real-world canon.

But according to the book "01:23:40" two of these dudes are still alive as of 2016, and the other died in 2005. Apparently the soviet propaganda machine thought them dying makes for a better story, which to be fair, it totally does.

Guessing they wanted it to overlap with GOT so people wouldn't cancel their HBO subscriptions after GOT ends.