Chernobyl

[Kaos]

I'm watching the new HBO limited series on the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in Russia.  

I personally know someone who was there and fled when things went badly.  Ended up here, with his family, in New York. Knew no one.  Didn't speak the language.  Drove a cab, put himself through college.  Has a degree now in biomedical engineering. One of the smartest guys I know.  

We've talked about it briefly.  He's one of the most patriotic, America-loving people you'd ever want to meet. He endured the lies to the public and the state-controlled press, knowing something far worse and more devastating than they were led to believe was going on.  He loves America because he says nothing like that could ever happen here.  (As I watch the majority of the so-called mainstream media march in fawning lockstep with the democrats and their repugnant socialist agenda I'm beginning to have my doubts, but I digress.)

He got out but he and his kids have suffered. Liver transplant for one of his daughters,he's survived tumors, all kinds of issues. He's never said, but I get the impression he lives in fear of something else cropping up.  

Watching this series is painful for him.  The apartments he lived in were carbon copies of the ones shown.  It's fascinating to me, though.  

Well acted mostly by people I've never seen before, but with a few solid players included.  

Am I the only person watching it?  

[Saniflush]

I want to watch it but am waiting for someone to pirate it.  

[Godfather]

I want to watch it but am waiting for someone to pirate it. 

or you could just use my login sweetums.

[Kaos]

Finale was a bet of a downer, but it had to be.  The trial and aftermath were going to be less compelling than the chain of events that led up to it.  

The series as a whole was a reminder of how great television has the potential to be when it tells the story without adding hackneyed tropes, political slant and overly dramatic fluff. Every character was based in reality and every action had a grounding in truth. Even the pregnant wife was a real person and what happened to her was accurately portrayed. This is what really happened without the typical Hollywood "based on a true story" creative license that leads to lunatic spin. 

Great acting throughout. You can bank on Jared Harris earning an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Valery Legasov.  Fantastic makeup work on the 'melting' workers who were subjected to massive doses of radiation. Some truly harrowing moments. If the radiation-burned living corpses didn't get you, the pet execution squads probably did. 

It's a timely story of how total state control and paranoia can lead to destruction.  The real damage from Chernobyl wasn't really the explosion itself (although that was catastrophic) it was the realization that they knew beforehand it was possible but that state controlled pride wouldn't allow them to admit it or let the people in charge of the reactor know that there was a specific set of circumstances that, while seemingly the proper response to a deteriorating situation, could actually turn the reactor core into a nuclear bomb.  

It's a sobering thought to consider whether there are more potentially catastrophic situations similar to this (see the crashes of Boeing 737 Max 8) that remain hidden. Could it happen again?  And even worse?  Consider that more than 1000 square miles (about the same size as all of Baldwin County) has been rendered uninhabitable for maybe the next 20,000 years.  

What concerns me is the toxic waste dump in Emelle Alabama -- the largest in the country.  Cancer rates in the areas surrounding that place are significantly higher than those of other areas.  So many people I know from that area are struggling with cancer-related illnesses.  I wonder what they're not telling us.