HBO’s “Chernobyl” is one-hour, five episode mini series about the 1986 nuclear meltdown and the fallout from it.
‘Chernobyl’ was written by Craig Mazen and directed by Johan Renck. It featured stars such as Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard, Emily Watson,

Jessie Buckley, Adam Nagaitis and Paul Rither.
The show tells the story of how Dr. Valery Legasov (Harris) and Borys Shcherbyna

(Skarsgard) along with countless others were tasked were tasked with cleaning up, and solving how this colossal disaster happened. My quick thoughts on “Chernobyl”… This show is brilliant, and this is why you should not cancel your HBO subscription now that “Game of Thrones” is over.

The way that Renck and Mazin are able to show how massive in scale and tragic this disaster was for everyone involved is unbelievable; yet for the most part they stay true to what really happened and rarely make anything up for dramatic effect.

The direction of all five episodes is phenomenal, and the cinematography and music composition stick out the most. Composer Hildur Hildur Guðnadóttir actually made the music from sounds she recorded inside a nuclear power plant. There is one scene in particular, the final scene of episode three, that involves a burial, where the sound and cinematography work together to make the best scene of any show I saw all summer, and it still haunts me two months later.

Mazin’s ability to explain normally complex issues in a way that’s easy to understand is, honestly, incredible. How radiation affects the body, how a nuclear reactor works and how the core of a nuclear reactor explodes are all part of the series.To make someone like myself who was terrible at science throughout high school and is not looking forward to taking a science class in college, understand and want to learn more about nuclear energy and topics along those lines is something to be commended.

Moving on to the performances, everyone is on there “A” game and is phenomenal. Jared Harris gives the best performance of the year, and the best of his entire career. Harris should win an Emmy this year and if he does not, I will lose faith in humanity once again. Skarsgard should get one as well, as he gives the best performance of his career as well. Both of them have incredible chemistry and their growth as characters throughout each of the episodes is fantastic. They truly lift this show to new heights with their performances and are truly incredible together.

Jessie Buckley plays Lyudmilla Ignatenko, the wife of firefighter Vasily Ignatenko, and not only is she the heartthrob of the show, but the fact that their story is based on true events is heartbreaking. Her performance, however, is brilliant. Their relationship is the lynchpin of the show, and they both shine in episode three, “Open Wide O Earth.”

Continuing with “Open Wide o Earth,” this is the best episode of the entire series, and it is the one that will haunt me till the end of my days. The episode deals with two story- lines. First, miners have to dig a hole under the reactor and install a new heat exchanger underneath the reactor in order to save the drinking water from becoming contaminated. Second, the series shows how radiation poisoning affects the body, and how people exposed to too much radiation suffer, like the firefighters. This is the make or break point for most who will watch ‘Chernobyl’ because it is a seriously brutal watch. After watching ‘Chernobyl,’ I can say that radiation poisoning has to be one of the worst ways to die. The entire makeup department deserves every award in the book, because their work is so good in episode three that I had to pause the show, walk around my house for 10 minutes, walk the dog, then come back because of how shocking the show was becoming and their work played a massive role in that decision. I do not get scared easily anymore, but this show shocked me to the core.