MORAL OF THE SERIES

What is the cost of lies? What is the cost of senseless bureaucracy? The answer: tremendous loss of life. When bureaucracy gets in the way of telling the truth and keeping people safe, lies and loss take over. History has shown us too many examples of times when people in power put others in harm’s way for the sake of maintaining an image or reputation of power. Chernobyl shows us yet another one of these examples with a powerful underlying message that highlights, in Mazin’s own words, the dangers of “lying, arrogance, and suppression of criticism.”

WHO I THINK WOULD MOST ENJOY THIS SERIES

Anyone who likes to watch documentaries about important/tragic moments in history will absolutely like this documentary-like depiction of the Chernobyl disaster.

ADDITIONAL NOTES/COMMENTARY

This is a miniseries that I’ve been meaning to watch for some time now. I actually saw the first episode when it first came out in the summer of 2019 but didn’t get as hooked into it to watch the rest for some reason. This time around, I watched it completely and was left in awe by its incredible storytelling. What’s truly great about this show is that it doesn’t just show you the large-scale consequences but also the way that this disaster affected people on an individual basis. Without going into spoilers, we are shown specific stories of people risking their lives and those of others just to be close to their loved ones, others losing their innocence as they are forced to commit traumatic acts in response to the realities of the disaster’s repercussions, and long-term health effects on all of those involved. In terms of production, everything about this show is well done from cinematography to the resonant score. Despite the horrible nature of what is being depicted in the show, there are moments that are simply astonishing to look at as they are accentuated by the brilliant camerawork and powerful background music. The series composer, Hildur Guðnadóttir, actually went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Score for her work in Joker (2019), which just goes to show the caliber of talent that this series radiated (pun intended). Showrunner Craig Mazin and everyone involved with Chernobyl (2019) hit it out of the park, so I’m really looking forward to their next project, which will be an adaptation of the popular zombie apocalypse survival video game The Last of Us (how would you feel about an expansion into video game reviews? ie. Moral of the Video Game. Let me know in the comments!). I’m even more excited now that they recently announced the casting of Game of Thrones alums Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the main characters. With the way that Mazin and company handled Chernobyl’s bleak atmosphere, there’s no doubt in my mind that they will have similar success with the zombie-ridden world of The Last of Us.