Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Just finished watching this (over two nights) and was very impressed with it.

The first episode is rightly somewhat all over the place and chaotic which works because that is essentially what it must have for the people involved. Once it settles into the formalities from episode 2 onwards it finds its feet straight away. The actors well all fine but as Mister Tee has already pointed out this isn't really an 'actors film' as the primary feel of the whole piece is that of a dodo-drama and heightened emotions are kept to a bare minimum to great effect.

Sadly the politics of the Soviet era in the 1980s aren't much different to a lot of what goes on in most Western countries these days as democracy is dismantled brick by brick so the series is all too relevant for today. All in all a fine piece of work.

Special mention to chameleon Jessie Buckley who is amazingly different in every production I see her in so much so that I never realise it is even her until well into or after a film/show is nearly over.

Chernobyl appears to be getting a Blu Ray release across most territories this October - something to look forward to those of us yet to see this.

Will also wait for the blu-ray of this, though it is a very raw topic to me personally - I was a three-year old living in nearby Hungary at the time of the disaster, and I often wonder if it had something to do with my mother's eventually succumbing to breast cancer in 2012.

A great read I would recommend to pad your knowledge of this topic is Svetlana Alexievich's "Voices from Chernobyl" - as difficult a read as I'm sure the series is a watch.

I did much the same as you, dws: held off till it was almost complete, and watched the whole series over a week.

Excellent show, with a wide scope. Some of it was heart-crushing -- I know my wife would have made me turn it off at some point during episode 4 -- but it managed to be both thoughtful and suspenseful/gripping, while also relating to the broader socio-political context.

I found the early scenes with Gorbachev particularly interesting. He's fairly inscrutable in these scenes -- hardly a hero, but skeptical/practical enough that I found myself wondering if, seeing what a mess the traditional Soviet secrecy/paranoia made of everything, he was pushed to become the Gorbachev of glasnost who was to emerge so startlingly over the years immediately following.

I don't think of the show as particularly an actors' vehicle -- not compared to, say, Fosse/Verdon, which is nowhere near as good overall, but which contains a Michelle Williams performance for the ages. But Jared Harris anchors the story solidly, and Emily Watson/Stellan Skarsgaard (a Breaking the Waves reunion!) are very good, as well.

I probably haven't seen half this year's Emmy contenders, but this show stands out easily among those I have.

Looking forward to this but will wait for the Blu Ray release.

It's on my agenda to binge watch when I have the time.

Has anyone else watched?

I waited until the entire series had aired so I could watch it without having to wait a week. I've watched through episode two. So far it's absolutely riveting stuff--one of the best miniseries I've seen in a long time.