Review: HBO’s haunting ‘Chernobyl’ focuses on the truth tellers who paid dearly

Written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, the series follows scientist Valery Legaslov played by Jared Harris, master of deeply conflicted yet wonderfully understated characters , a real-life figure who was appointed to a committee overseeing the cleanup of Chernobyl. Previously, she was a senior writer for the Calendar section where she covered culture at large, entertainment and American Muslim issues. Legaslov and his team push for answers, and the government deploys legions of workers, all of whom operate within the aging infrastructure of a republic whose power has clearly waned. The miniseries, which premieres Monday, chronicles the events surrounding the April 26 explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Northern Ukraine region of Pripyat and does so in terrifying detail. He took his own life before succumbing to cancer the series kicks off with his suicide. Coal miners dig underground tunnels to keep the nuclear waste from contaminating the groundwater.

Review: HBO’s haunting ‘Chernobyl’ focuses on the truth tellers who paid dearly

Russia still has the official death toll at 31. . They want to keep the catastrophe hidden, especially from the rest of the world. Legaslov, who spoke out about the disaster on a world stage, was silenced by the government, stripped of his title, ordered to cut all ties with his colleagues. Nurses tend to dangerously contaminated patients.

Review: HBO’s haunting ‘Chernobyl’ focuses on the truth tellers who paid dearly

In the first few hours after the blast, unprotected firemen hose down the reactors as if this cataclysmic blast was a run-of-the-mill forest fire. Together with nuclear physicist Ulana Khomyuk Emily Watson , a fictional composite character, they must solve the puzzle of why the reactor exploded in order to contain the lethal mess. He wants to warn everyone to evacuate. It exposes a government paralyzed by its own secrecy while shining a light on the selfless citizens who gave their lives to protect their countrymen — and perhaps the world. . . .