Chernobyl 1x01 "1:23:45" reaction & review

I totally understand! I appreciate that you want to watch it with me, but considering what I've heard about the tone and nature of the show (and what I've experienced so far), I get it! Thanks anyway :)

Melissa Moore

Honestly I wish I could watch your reactions to this, but I've already seen Chernobyl. It's like Schindler's List for me, it's REALLY good... but watching it once is all I can take in a lifetime. xD

Senpai

Interesting! And really fascinating about the plant life becoming heartier to respond to the environment! Nature is really amazing!! Hmm, good point about the structure only lasting so long, and the core still being underneath when it eventually breaks down. It truly is quite a legacy!!! Thanks for all the info!

Melissa Moore

From what I know, radiation outside of the sealed structure will dissipate "relatively" quickly (still decades or centuries...) but they are still a lot of places that are NOT safe (for long term exposure I mean). Nature is really resilient and wild live have returned (in abundance), but not exactly in the same way. Can't really say for animals, but it seems that several plants have adaptated to be far more resilient and efficient in DNA repair function. Now for what is inside the dome... We can only build structure that last for so long. This new dome have a lifespan of 100 years. And what remains of the core will probably still be extremly dangerous for several millenia, unless we find a safe way do deal with it in the future. This is quite a legacy...

Wow, really?! The episode I just watched got me really worried about the animals :( Glad to hear they finally sealed it off! According to the show so far, it sounds like the radiation wouldn't dissipate for like 100 years. But now that they've managed to seal it somewhat, maybe it will be sooner?? Who knows!!!!! Thanks for the info!

Melissa Moore

One thing i find amazing is that these days there is actually an abundance of relatively healthy animals in the area since there are little to no humans there. They also recently finished a structure made of concrete and lead which is basically a big dome which was on tracks and they rolled it into place over the reactor site and closed it of. I think it only happened last year or maybe 2018.

Adam Stinnett

Shagoh0d - I can't see your comment here anymore but I got an email about it! As for what I knew of the actual accident before I watched the series....sadly, I'm not much of a history buff and I didn't know very much. I knew the town had been destroyed by nuclear fallout, that's pretty much it. No details!

Melissa Moore

lol, it's an hbo show

Adam Stinnett

Okay, so... I never bothered to check on Chernobyl's status on Netflix ever, because I just assumed it was there ("Netflix original" and all, I figured it was a given). But I'm Canadian and apparently we just don't have it. Isn't there. And it's pretty hard to enjoy a show I'm watching for the first time by viewing it in the tiny screen next to you in an already not-large laptop. I guess I'm going to have to magically find a way to view the episode in some other, completely legal way... *cough cough* Thanks for nothing Netflix.

Derrick C. Shields

Oh wow!!! Well you will get a chance to now haha. I hear you, I do that a lot when I'm watching something (on my own time, not when I'm reacting, obviously).....it's like if I don't watch the last ep, the season/series isn't really "over" haha!

Melissa Moore

I was thinking about watching Band of Brothers. I assume it is as emotionally wrenching as Chernobyl though, so need to steel myself a bit.

Malcolm Wolf

This was scary as shit, though some scenes were drastically over-exaggerated. I never did watch the last two episodes... i don't know why, i was enjoying it. it's like how i havent seen past ep 8 of season 2 of westworld... for no reason.

Adam Stinnett

This is one of my top favorite HBO mini series (the other is Band of Brothers). The episode title (1:23:45) is the time the reactor exploded if you're wondering what the title means. This series might bring a lot of emotions while you watch it so just in case, you might want to have a box of tissues next to you for up coming episodes.

Thank you so much for the podcast link!!!! I hope I get some time to listen to it, as I'm sure it would help a lot to give perspective on the decisions in the show! I can't wait to see the end credits of the last episode so that I can compare! Thank you for filling in the gaps based on the firemen's wife's book, too! That would be great! Lastly, I really appreciate your concern, that truly means a lot that you are willing to prioritize my well-being over the reactions! I will keep that in mind, and will certainly let everyone know if it ever got to a point that I didn't feel comfortable watching the show anymore! For now, I think I'm okay. The first episode was definitely intense, but I still feel comfortable moving on to the second episode! Thank you though, I truly appreciate it!

Melissa Moore

Haha I can totally see how it became a meme!!! Yes, the buildup is intense. That's good to know that it's intense in a different way after this! That's so interesting about the joke you heard as a child, and the way in which the media handled it at the time! It's very interesting to have real-life perspective on the events!! Yes, the ending was really ominous.....especially the "bird" scene!! It was really shocking seeing all the children and families playing in the environment - although there was nothing bad happening at that particular moment, we the audience know the effect is already in the air and it's very scary!! You are so welcome and thank YOU for your compliments on my reaction!!!!!!!! ^_^ I think this is going to be a very interesting series!!!

Melissa Moore

I want to put this out there, as I am a tad concerned. This show could very well be the hardest show you have ever had to watch, and with that in mind, I worry that you will feel obligated to watch. In the end, your mental health is more important, and hope that if you struggle too much with future episodes that you feel ok with not continuing the show.

Malcolm Wolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeHPCYtWYQ Here is the companion podcast you might want to listen to once you have a spare moment, there is one for each episode. The producers and writers basically go into their decision making on what was shown or not shown, and go into more detail of what happened, and their attempts to make the show as historically accurate as possible. The very final episode does show what the real people looked like in the end credits and explain the few changes they made though, so it is not absolutely necessary to listen to the podcasts if your time is limited The wife of one of the firemen shown here also wrote a book about her side of the experiences, I will be happy to fill a few gaps after the show has progressed a bit.

Malcolm Wolf

Ah this show... 3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible ! Very famous word that have become a meme. This first episode is really tense. It keeps building and building, to a point... If it can be any reassuring, the show will still be hard to watch but not in the same way. The first is really special, as it is just after the explosion. Granted, I may be wrong on this, it has been a while since I watched it, but it is how I remember it. I was born 4 years after the event (in France), but I still remember this "joke" in my kid years, about how great our gendarmerie was (armed police force in France) because the nuclear cloud had been stopped at the frontiere. A very sarcastic joke of course... This was of course what was said on national TV at the time, no need to panic, the meteo is such that the cloud had been stopped just outside our territories :| The end of this episode is really a lugubre omen, with the smoke that keep rising and spreading, and of course, small animals that start to be "affected"... Thanks for the reaction !