Image Via
( Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.)
With Chernobyl turning out to have the highest rating ever on IMDB, it’s no surprise that people are deeming it “best television show” of all time. The ending definitely did not disappoint.
Following shortly after Valery Legasov, Boris Shcherbina, and Ulana Khomyuk risked everything in order to bring to light the truth behind the nuclear disaster, the creator of the show, Craig Mazin, decided to shed some light on his major decisions, especially in regards to the dialogue.
(Some rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.)
If you were paying attention, ‘the cost of lies’ was a line that appeared not only in the final scene of the show, but also in the first. Here’s Mazin explaining why he centered the show on this idea:
“Well, we are experiencing something now that I used to think was mostly just a phenomenon in a place like the Soviet Union, which is a disconnection from truth.
And the emergence of a cult of personality. And a distrust and debasement of experts who don’t go along with whatever the official narrative is.
Chernobyl – It’s so upsetting, and we don’t know quite how to handle it. What I want people to consider is that no matter what it is we want to believe, and no matter what story it is we want to jam the world into, the truth is the truth.
If you organize your life around some political party’s list of things you should believe, or an individual that you think is going to come and save you, you are disconnecting yourself from the truth. And there is a price to pay.
We live on a planet that is under threat, and scientists are warning us, just as they did in the 70’s regarding RBMK reactors in the Soviet Union.
Governments are choosing to listen or not listen, and people are choosing to listen or not listen. But the truth, the globe, the thermometer, doesn’t care. And the RMBK didn’t care either. It didn’t matter what they wanted to do that night.
It didn’t matter that the fatal flaw of the RMBK reactor was a state secret. The reactor didn’t care. And that’s the problem we struggle with. We are attempting to make ourselves superior to fact, and we are not.”
What did you think of the finale? For more Chernobyl, check out HBO’s Chernobyl Drama Will Give You Chills!
