That line "Don't let them suffer" gets me every time. Also have to commend the veteran for sparing the young guy from the burden of ending the puppies.
those vodka bottles at the start are famous/infamous; they were state owned and once you opened one the top couldn't be re-sealed so you had to finish it
@@ThatBonsaipandathey were not in Russia. They were in Soviet Ukraine. The Soviet Union was a bunch of different countries including Soviet Russia. Just clarifying a bit. Most people seem to think that the Soviet Union was Russia but it was not. Russia was just the largest Republic within the Soviet Union.
I think it's important we watch things like this. Even fictionalized, we shouldn't let ourselves look away from the horrible things other people went through. It's the only way most of us can honour their memory, in my opinion.
Too bad most people only know superhero fiction and dont know a god darn thing about their own past. A human with amnesia as to where he came from doesn't have a clue as to where he is going. Unfortunate.
@@kingwacky184 Think we would likely be arguing semantics here. Some characters were combined due to the complexity of the situation. Some aspects were fictionalized a touch; however, this does not detract from the seriousness, stakes or sacrifice of those involved. That message is certainly not diluted in this story. If we got right down to it, my thought is that we would end up arguing about whether or not the word "a" or "the" should be used in a sentence. The sad fact is that the threat from Chernobyl still exists and will continue to exist long after my generation and many subsequent generations are dead and gone.
There was a deleted scene involving the soldiers when Pavel first arrived in the camp. Each of the soldiers was given a card that indicated how many roentgen (radiation units) they absorbed. If the number reached 24, the soldier was sent home. If the number went over 24, the soldier's commanding officer was shot for negligence. Bacho then told Pavel that his number was 23. Garo's number was 23. Every soldier that Pavel saw walking in the camp was 23. They would be always be 23. The scene was cut because it was considered "too callous." But it certainly did display the Soviet disregard for their conscripts, and how willing they were to disobey their own rules in order to avoid any kind of personal responsibility. Even in the face of the disaster.
That is one point of view looking at it, but if you take a good overall picture, what government would act differently? Chernobyl accident if nothing demonstrated a will of CCCP to deal with aftermath. And although the price was high - someone had to do it - and they did it! They cleaned whatever they could, prevented a thermal blast, meltdown to the river and most importantly, stopped melting down process of a reactor core. Compare that to the Fukushima accident involving all reactors. It's 2024 and 13 years later, every single day, there is at least 30 tons of highly radioactive contaminated water going directly into the pacific. Now do the calculations 13 x 365 x 30 = 142 350 tons of highly radioactive waste going into Pacific. And it's still leaking my friend. So who is going to clean that one up? Give it a thought and don't blame the Soviets for being able to do what Japan as the most sorted out country in the world couldn't...
Yes, yes, the tragedies in Japan and America are ‘different.’ Or didn't you know? Was everything okay there? Don't you get tired of demonising Russians?
@@Cryo_Gen BUAHAHAHAH sure bud sure... Because it is "NOT" radioactive, not even today are workers allowed to enter into the perimeter of nuclear reactor let alone go deal with the fuel...
@@adrianshephard224 The incompetence and corruption within the CCCP is directly what led to the Chernobyl disaster in the first place. And the ones who cleaned up the mess afterwards and prevented further catastrophe were people like Legasov, not the CCCP. If the CCCP had their way, half of Europe would be uninhabitable right now. If the soviet government did their jobs properly, thousands of lives would've been saved. Instead, they decided to ignore the problem for as long as possible and only decided to do something once the rest of the world found out just how much they fucked up.
This came out at the same time as the disastrous final season of Game of Thrones, and someone mentioned that the rubble on the roof was a better villain than the Night King. So true.
Yup i remember i was so furius with hbo i sweared to never see something made from them,the next week they released chernobyl ... and i forgive them instantlly
Yup, that was the reason my wife and I watched it, we still had the trial of HBO from GoT, and decided to watch this as it came out almost immediately after the GoT finale. That's the one thing I'm thankful for about the last season of GoT lol
The song that the Russian commander of those in charge of rounding up the animals was singing adds some real dark context to where his mind is at during this. The song is called Chorniy Voron and tells the tale of a dying soldier watching a Black Raven which are circling above him, awaiting his death. A part of him knows that they are not sadistic or actively wishing him harm but merely existing, yet he he cannot accept this situation and defaults to hate it, and to fight back with all he has left to deny the Raven it's meal. It's about the last of his fighting spirit, recalling his life, wishing for the prosperity of the family he left behind, then finally facing death and accepting becoming the Black Raven's prey as well as his own demise. Kinda similar to how they are accepting what radiation is doing and in turn is trying to convince himself that he is like the Raven when he takes the lives of the animals, merely acting as nature should, and not the monster that the dying soldier makes the Raven out to be at first.
I mean it's a meme now, but that was a very real concern for the people of the USSR. Maybe not so much in the 80s. The KGB would harass you and make life very difficult for you, but "disappearing people" was a very rare thing. Back in the 50s when Stalin was still alive, yes, people were "disappeared" on a daily basis but after Stalin's death and especially during Gorbachev's reign the USSR experienced a period of easing of direct state oppression. You'd have to do something very naughty to earn a bullet in the 80s' USSR.
The soldiers had a choice. Or a tour in Afghanistan, or 2 minutes on that roof, most took the roof. I remember on the day that it happened that the sirens went off and we had to go inside. ( me 11 my brother 10) and we couldnt play outside for a month. And no ground bound vegetables for a year( potatoes, spinach etc)
Glad you two made it through! Episode 4 is the hardest of all of them and 5 is more light hearted. It will go into more detail about the accident but that's all i'll say about it. Here's some interesting tidbits about the episode: 1. When the general was explaining the job about going on the roof, that tv was playing actual footage from the cleanup. It's from a documentary you can find on TH-cam called 'Chernobyl 3828'. It's a very interesting documentary about the people who cleaned the roofs up and has a ton of real footage from it. 2. During the actual roof scene, if you time it from the time he sends them to out to the time the bell rings it actually is 90 seconds. It makes it feel much more intense, especially since it's just one long shot. Definitely my favorite scene of the series. 3. The 'Joker' robot was real and is still sitting in the boneyard with the other vehicles used during the cleanup to this day, and it looks exactly how it did in the show.
Ep. 5 will provide full explanation of what happened that led to the explosion. A must see. Among others, the reactions of Dyatlov, Fomin and Bryukhanov when they learn of the flaw.
An incredible story about the Chernobyl area happened just last year. You know the forest that turned red in the first episode. That is simply called the Red Forest. It's still highly radioactive. Normally when you visit the area you are not allowed to stop when driving on the road past the Red Forest because of the radiation,. But when the Russians invaded Ukraine last year they took over the Chernobyl area and the soldiers dug trenches and fortifications in the actual Red Forest. They later just abandoned the position when allegedly there were reports that soldiers were showing symptoms of radiation sickness. How stupid can you get.
It is still not compleatly clean how much damage to the ecology was done by that digging in a Red Forest... russians has uncovered things that should be covered for a reason
Sadly most of those young soldiers likely never knew what actually happened there or to an extent of how dangerous the area is. Not sure how much of the Chernobyl Disaster is taught in Russian schools.
In response to your question at the start of the video over whether or not the soldiers were drafted or conscripted they were indeed conscripted. In the following months however the soldiers were given something of a fatalistic choice. They were told they could serve two years in Afghanistan, or 2 minutes at Chernobyl. An urban legend is that many of the soldiers chose to run headlong into a losing battle in Afghanistan rather than face the radiation.
I love how "Haylo" laughs when "Kiss" is freaking out on this and your other reactions. Not because you are laughing at her, but because you know her so well that you absolutely get what she's feeling and it's such a natural reaction.
Poor Kiss :( I knew that this is a real hard episode for her :/ And cg on 25k subs! As one of your first subscribers im glad that your channel is growing and growing! You deserve it your reactions are wholesome!
I'm brand new to your channel. I've been blown away and so moved by your reaction to this incredible series. A new subscriber for sure and looking forward to more reactions. What I appreciate most is the pure honest emotion from you both. It's a heart wrenching story. We are all crying with you.
The soldiers that were cleaning up the pieces of graphite on the roof are been told. They either spend 2 minutes on the roof, or they will have to go for 2 years war in Afghanistan...
A famous story about why the animal control was so important. A group of men came a cross a small animal that they first thought was a lizard that was stuck against a rock, its skin had almost complete melted off and sort of fused it with the rock. Right before they shot it, it meowed at them. They couldnt even recognize it as a cat anymore
As bad as what we saw (re: the pets) was, the reality was often worse. I'm not going to go into it, but it's a description burned into my brain. Hardened soldiers with no prior issues suffered extreme PTSD from that duty. I guess it was necessary, but shit, I really don't think I could have done it. If it helps at all, and it probably won't, they didn't show it in the series, but most of the animals were suffering from fatal radiation sickness.
There’s actually a written account that describes that when they poured concrete into a pit of dead animals, they starting to hear yelping and whining. A puppy was still alive in the pit. HBO made the decision to not recreate the scene, and thank god they didn’t.
I hope this isn't a weird thing to say, but with all the misery in the world over the last week especially, seeing the empathy that the two of you have makes me feel a little better about humanity.
For reference at 21:35 when he looks over and the camera pans down... that is the reactor core. That is the exposed reactor with its lid on it's side with that mangled mass of piping that is the fuel rods and water channels from inside the reactor core. Remember the guys from Ep.1 that were ordered to go check on it and panicked and ran when they realized they just looked directly into the burning core. Now you have all these men that don't even realize what they are looking at staring over that edge at the core.
This was the most heartbreaking episode. As a soldier, you're trained to eliminate your enemy. You're taught that your enemy will fight back against you and that you must defeat them before they defeat you. But when you're sent out to hunt down pets, well... that cant be easy.
Imagine being an arrogant, overbearing Nuclear engineer and supervisor who is running a test, pushing your men to get the test done, knowing that no matter how severe you push the reactor, you still have that failsafe button on standby to end it all without incident. All bases are covered. I mean, it's not like the failsafe button could ever act like a detonator. (Nothing published supports that notion...)
Expected this episode to shatter the two of you. You actually held up better than I expected. It is incredibly tragic and important to remember the cost to all living creatures. It's equally important to remember the actual causes of this tragedy which is not just "nuclear power is bad" but far more nuanced and complex. Most countries do not like being faced with their own failures and the USSR was no different than most in this respect. The choices they made created a situation where safety was secondary to appearance.
Thank you Haylo & Kiss for your reactions so far to Chernobyl. I love your empathy and emotional connection to this story, hard though much of it is. The last episode isn't as tough to watch and provides a good explanation of how the disaster happened. It's very well done. I look forward to your reaction to it :)
Proud of you both for making it through this incredibly brutal episode! Also, mad props to Haylo for saying that she had appreciation for this episode to show the world of what some of the men had to go through.
Well done Haylo and Kiss. You are through the worst of it - and both of you did better than I thought you would. Now you just have to watch the trial and find out the nitty gritty of how this came to happen. The summary of facts at the end after Legasov's haunting final words will leave you stunned.
Hey, thanks for this reaction series! I love this show, this particular episode is really sad and hard to watch, but it's on of my favourites. I had the opportunity to be in Pripyat and it was a life changing experience.
I lived through this in real time.. Luckily hundreds of kilometers away in the "free world" but still we had restrictions regarding beeing outside and food due to the radioactive fallout that was coming up north from Chernobyl.. :P
In Soviet Union all males at the age 18 if they didn't enrolled in university and didn't have health problems were subjects to mandatory military conscription. 2 years for ground troops, 3 years for navy. After service they remained potential subjects to draft until 50. There were some volunteers, mainly qualified engineers and scientists, but overwhelming majority of liquidators had been drafted.
The most terrifying sound in existence is a gieger counter going off. I remember doing NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) training in the military and our instructors spoke to us honestly and said that if you suffer enough exposure for ARS (acute radiation syndrome) you are better off not worrying about getting your protective gear sorted, you're better off using your service pistol and giving yourself a "9mm injection". After we we were told about what radiation can do and after seeing this series, I fully understand and agree with their advice.
The opening moments of this episode are some of the most intense in the series. My mom's comment when we watched this episode was "none of the other soldiers shot your cow," which is exactly the point. The people living there have seen a lot and survived a lot, but what was coming from Chernobyl was more dangerous than all of it. Radiation poisons everything, *everything*, EVERYTHING.
When I watched this show I was across the world from my boyfriend of a few months who was watching it a little ahead of me. He warned me that episode four would be extremely hard for me to watch because, which was sweet of him. He thought I would be particularly hard for me to watch because I am a vegan and he figured I'd be especially sensitive to depictions of animals dying. Unfortunately the opposite is true for me. Because I've seen so much real footage of animals being hurt and killed in slaughterhouses, pets being euthanized, etc, I was far more desensitized to that kind of content than most people. I watched with a kind of hollow numbness. I actually envy folks who have the much more normal response of outright crying...it means they've been able to stay distant to some extent from the harsh realities of how animals suffer in our world. Thanks as always for your lovely and empathetic reactions ❤
The liquidators ‘only’ received 25 rem max from each shift, some did it 7 times, but radioactivity decreased with each time, at most 100 rem across a few months.
As far as I know, Dyatlov in real life was not as big of an a**hole as he was depicted in the show. He was in denial only for a short while that night. Then he actually also tried to find and rescue poor Khodemchuk, whose body was sadly never retrieved. Though some do recall he was a quite difficult person to work with, sometimes a bully, but not as abusive as it was shown in Ep5.
There's a story from the companion podcast about how they started covering the pit with concrete when they realised one of the animals were still alive but they had used all their bullets. They thought that was too bleak to put in the show that people wouldn't believe it
This story is something every American should hear. I was 21 when I listened to the news reporting about this in Finland together with my grandparents. When they started to exchange all the sand at playgrounds and telling people to keep rheir doors and windows shut at all times we inew things were pretty serious. None of it surprised us though since we knew that if a Moscovites lips move, he is telling lies. We felt terrible for the people though.
A note about the baby, saw a video of a medical doctor watching this and she said that it doesn't work like that, the fetus soaking up the radiation to save the mother although fetuses are vulnerable to radiation. Furthermore, she wouldn't have been affected by being near her husband after he had been cleaned up. So in all likelihood, the baby was doomed before she even left Pripyat.
I agree, a lot of the scenes regarding her are based on her own account, and admittedly she's not an expert on radiation. She'd already had one pregnancy before where the child died a few hours or days after birth, so it's not actually medically improbable that she'd have a miscarriage. I think Europe wide there was an issue at the time where many mothers had unnecessary abortions because of unfounded fear of radiation, which is a real shame.
The dogs are deadly to the population and wild animals and when they get hungry they will form packs and become lethal to everyone. If they leave the exclusion zone they would cause great problems. It is sad, but most of these poor animals will develop cancers and die long slow deaths. This is a mercy.
I actually love you for crying for these people's sake. So many people gave their lives and suffered horribly for doing it, and the soviets didn't give them nearly enough credit for their sacrifice.
(our goal is the happiness of all mankind) You can imagine how the rulers see the happiness of mankind And Knowledge and science are considered a crime🙂
Poor Kiss, I wanted to hug her during the whole episode =( Gut wrenching, that's what it is. The sadness of it all. But at the same time, the importance to show it. To show how are we humans capable of the best and the worst deeds.
Just to note: This is an English (country of the UK) production. In the UK, male (and female) nudity is more acceptable to show than violence (even punching someone). - Sort of opposite to the US. - You can then be assured they won't show violence, though, as with turning the camera away or focusing on something else for the animal deaths.
Chernobyl the Severe Days was recorded by Vladimir Shevchenko. The flashes of light on that video are results of radiation affecting the film! Shevchenko later passed away from making the trip to Chernobyl, he went unprotected wearing only a face mask. The helicopter accident was likely due to flying into the sun and getting blinded by the light they ran the rotor blades into the crane. 3,828... that is the number of men who cleaned the roof of Chernobyl. 1,200 R is equivalent to 751 Gastro Intestinal Xrays
The Russian Central Committee had disseminated information that vodka could slow or reduce the effects of radiation sickness. This is why all of the volunteers and conscripted men in the exclusion zone drink (also to numb themselves of the gruesome and taxing work). However, it has not been determined that vodka has any positive effects on radiation sickness.
It's terribly sad, but very necessary. We all love animals, we love our pets. But those animals are covered in terrible radioactive waste. Imagine the damage just one of those animals could do if it was brought into a quarantine zone. Imagine if a child hugged one of those poor dogs.
My father was in the Army at the time and was part of taking satellite photos of Chernobyl an hour after the explosion he use too tell me stores about it and that he and many American soldiers were stationed there in Germany at the time. Many of them feared that the radiation would spread to them so they started sending their families back home because of it
Girls, what you saw are practical effects of communism... hint, it's clearly visible in China, North Korea, Cuba... remember it for the next time you see what become of US universities. That's the lesson to be had with this HBO series. Love your reactions. Wishing you a great day. Bye bye
This was the hardest of the episodes. The answers you seek will be provided in Episode 5. Thank you for continuing. So sorry this was so heavy for you.
As sad as it is, they had to eliminate the animals. Not only for the fact they were contaminated, but they would have also died slow painful deaths from radiation poisoning.
You shouldn't look away. It's like the "why we fight" episode in band of brothers. You need to see the horrors we are capable of so we don't repeat them. I know it's hard, but you should force yourself to look. It will change your whole perspective on humankind and the damage we can do.
13:38 You didn't love sausages in the last episode though... Just (kinda) kidding, but your emotional reactions to this show have been a delight! Still, I think this is the saddest episode of the show. Got yourselves a sub! Can't wait for ep 5!
You guys made it, this is the hardest stretch of the series and you got over the last hurdle. I felt physically ill the first time I saw it and went to go hug my cat for the next hour.
I'm sure they've mentioned it, but there were four reactors at that facility, and the other three just kept on running. I believe some of them continued to operate for decades.
@@Supernatpy The plant is technically still operational in the sense that people still work there in the decommissioning process. In 2017 a ransomware attack in Ukraine took down the plant's website and the radiation monitoring systems. And in 2022, Russian forces captured the plant during the invasion of Ukraine, with radiation levels increasing due to contaminated soil being kicked up and dispersed in the air by Russian vehicles and munitions activity. Russian troops have since withdrawn from the plant and the surrounding exclusion zone though.
I need to know who is the guy who said “she can have that one“ when scientist asked for documents. He looks exactly how my father when he was young. I pausedmand compared to the old photo and it was really difficult to say the difference (except hairstyle). I am shocked
26:01 for what it’s worth: That was what the doctors said, but is scientifically incorrect. While the baby did die, it was not due to her having contact with her husband
The sad, haunting song being sung at the end of the animal control scene, Black Raven: Black raven, black raven, Why do you circle over me? You won't have your prey, Black raven, I'm not yours! Why do you spread wide your talons Over my head? If you hope for a game, Black raven, I'm not yours! I'll bind my deadly wound With a gifted handkerchief, And then speak to you Of one thing only. Fly to my home, Tell my mother, Tell my darling, That I fell for the Homeland. Take the bloody handkerchief To my lovely sweetheart. Tell her that she's free, To another I am wed. I took a bride who's quiet and modest, In an open field under a bush, The matchmaker was My sharp sabre. A tempered arrow wed us Amidst fateful battle. I see my death coming - Black raven, I'm all yours!
Another point is that the "radiation suits" don't actually block any radiation, they just make it easy to clean off the radioactive dust from the workers. Think of how difficult it is to clean up glitter, now imagine each piece of glitter is a piece of radioactive graphite burning your cells. The suits just make sure none of it gets on your skin or worse inside your lungs where it will get stuck.
And that's where the real hazard comes from. Particles that cling to or become absorbed in the body and constantly bombard your cells with radiation 24/7 until they are either removed (difficult if not impossible) or decay (could take thousands of years).
That line "Don't let them suffer" gets me every time.
Also have to commend the veteran for sparing the young guy from the burden of ending the puppies.
those vodka bottles at the start are famous/infamous; they were state owned and once you opened one the top couldn't be re-sealed so you had to finish it
Have you ever seen a half empty bottle of vodka in russia?
Didn't think so!
@@BewareTheNoid well they are not in Russia, Chernobyl is in Ukraine. But they are are probably good at drinking vodka too
@@Cristopher-S.G At the time, they were in russia (Soviet Union). The soldiers are drafted from all over the country (which was MASSIVE at the time).
@@ThatBonsaipandathey were not in Russia. They were in Soviet Ukraine. The Soviet Union was a bunch of different countries including Soviet Russia. Just clarifying a bit. Most people seem to think that the Soviet Union was Russia but it was not. Russia was just the largest Republic within the Soviet Union.
@@Cristopher-S.G eh semantics, ussr was basically one big country made up of smaller countries.
I think it's important we watch things like this. Even fictionalized, we shouldn't let ourselves look away from the horrible things other people went through. It's the only way most of us can honour their memory, in my opinion.
Not to mention, if we all looked away from everything that upset us, there would never be heroes like these people.
This isn’t all that fictionalized. The basic story is essentially true.
Too bad most people only know superhero fiction and dont know a god darn thing about their own past. A human with amnesia as to where he came from doesn't have a clue as to where he is going. Unfortunate.
After I saw it, I feel EVERYONE should watch this. All other shows seem frivolous now.
@@kingwacky184 Think we would likely be arguing semantics here. Some characters were combined due to the complexity of the situation. Some aspects were fictionalized a touch; however, this does not detract from the seriousness, stakes or sacrifice of those involved. That message is certainly not diluted in this story. If we got right down to it, my thought is that we would end up arguing about whether or not the word "a" or "the" should be used in a sentence.
The sad fact is that the threat from Chernobyl still exists and will continue to exist long after my generation and many subsequent generations are dead and gone.
There was a deleted scene involving the soldiers when Pavel first arrived in the camp. Each of the soldiers was given a card that indicated how many roentgen (radiation units) they absorbed. If the number reached 24, the soldier was sent home. If the number went over 24, the soldier's commanding officer was shot for negligence. Bacho then told Pavel that his number was 23. Garo's number was 23. Every soldier that Pavel saw walking in the camp was 23. They would be always be 23. The scene was cut because it was considered "too callous." But it certainly did display the Soviet disregard for their conscripts, and how willing they were to disobey their own rules in order to avoid any kind of personal responsibility. Even in the face of the disaster.
That is one point of view looking at it, but if you take a good overall picture, what government would act differently? Chernobyl accident if nothing demonstrated a will of CCCP to deal with aftermath. And although the price was high - someone had to do it - and they did it! They cleaned whatever they could, prevented a thermal blast, meltdown to the river and most importantly, stopped melting down process of a reactor core. Compare that to the Fukushima accident involving all reactors. It's 2024 and 13 years later, every single day, there is at least 30 tons of highly radioactive contaminated water going directly into the pacific. Now do the calculations 13 x 365 x 30 = 142 350 tons of highly radioactive waste going into Pacific. And it's still leaking my friend. So who is going to clean that one up? Give it a thought and don't blame the Soviets for being able to do what Japan as the most sorted out country in the world couldn't...
Yes, yes, the tragedies in Japan and America are ‘different.’
Or didn't you know? Was everything okay there?
Don't you get tired of demonising Russians?
@@adrianshephard224 that water is not highly radioactive. that is a myth
@@Cryo_Gen BUAHAHAHAH sure bud sure... Because it is "NOT" radioactive, not even today are workers allowed to enter into the perimeter of nuclear reactor let alone go deal with the fuel...
@@adrianshephard224 The incompetence and corruption within the CCCP is directly what led to the Chernobyl disaster in the first place. And the ones who cleaned up the mess afterwards and prevented further catastrophe were people like Legasov, not the CCCP. If the CCCP had their way, half of Europe would be uninhabitable right now.
If the soviet government did their jobs properly, thousands of lives would've been saved. Instead, they decided to ignore the problem for as long as possible and only decided to do something once the rest of the world found out just how much they fucked up.
This came out at the same time as the disastrous final season of Game of Thrones, and someone mentioned that the rubble on the roof was a better villain than the Night King. So true.
Yup i remember i was so furius with hbo i sweared to never see something made from them,the next week they released chernobyl ... and i forgive them instantlly
Yup, that was the reason my wife and I watched it, we still had the trial of HBO from GoT, and decided to watch this as it came out almost immediately after the GoT finale. That's the one thing I'm thankful for about the last season of GoT lol
Lmfao
Whoever said that is 100% right.
Man,those men who went into the water showed more acts of heroism than anyone did in The last season of GOT
The song that the Russian commander of those in charge of rounding up the animals was singing adds some real dark context to where his mind is at during this. The song is called Chorniy Voron and tells the tale of a dying soldier watching a Black Raven which are circling above him, awaiting his death. A part of him knows that they are not sadistic or actively wishing him harm but merely existing, yet he he cannot accept this situation and defaults to hate it, and to fight back with all he has left to deny the Raven it's meal. It's about the last of his fighting spirit, recalling his life, wishing for the prosperity of the family he left behind, then finally facing death and accepting becoming the Black Raven's prey as well as his own demise.
Kinda similar to how they are accepting what radiation is doing and in turn is trying to convince himself that he is like the Raven when he takes the lives of the animals, merely acting as nature should, and not the monster that the dying soldier makes the Raven out to be at first.
Thanks for telling, I was very courious about that song myself, but I don't speak either Ukranian or Russian (and I can't read Cyrillic letters).
The roof guys were supposed to only go up once, but many of them lied and went up multiple times so that others wouldn’t have to
“…that was you all along, you just didn’t know”
Truest words ever spoken
"Heck the KGB!"
"Hey!"
"Maybe I shouldn't have said that. What if we get murdered?" - That was reaction gold!!!!!
😂
Well, maybe it's good for them to stay clear of windows in higher buildings for now.... Just to be sure. 😉👍 😆
I mean it's a meme now, but that was a very real concern for the people of the USSR. Maybe not so much in the 80s. The KGB would harass you and make life very difficult for you, but "disappearing people" was a very rare thing. Back in the 50s when Stalin was still alive, yes, people were "disappeared" on a daily basis but after Stalin's death and especially during Gorbachev's reign the USSR experienced a period of easing of direct state oppression. You'd have to do something very naughty to earn a bullet in the 80s' USSR.
and airplane too :):)dont fly@@5init4rgaming40
it's ok KGB doesn't exist anymore
The soldiers had a choice. Or a tour in Afghanistan, or 2 minutes on that roof, most took the roof.
I remember on the day that it happened that the sirens went off and we had to go inside. ( me 11 my brother 10) and we couldnt play outside for a month. And no ground bound vegetables for a year( potatoes, spinach etc)
And no milk...
@@gfimadcatand no wild boar meat.
3 and 4 were the hardest to watch. 5 is absolutely wonderful. It’s still sad, but it gives understanding.
Glad you two made it through! Episode 4 is the hardest of all of them and 5 is more light hearted. It will go into more detail about the accident but that's all i'll say about it.
Here's some interesting tidbits about the episode:
1. When the general was explaining the job about going on the roof, that tv was playing actual footage from the cleanup. It's from a documentary you can find on TH-cam called 'Chernobyl 3828'. It's a very interesting documentary about the people who cleaned the roofs up and has a ton of real footage from it.
2. During the actual roof scene, if you time it from the time he sends them to out to the time the bell rings it actually is 90 seconds. It makes it feel much more intense, especially since it's just one long shot. Definitely my favorite scene of the series.
3. The 'Joker' robot was real and is still sitting in the boneyard with the other vehicles used during the cleanup to this day, and it looks exactly how it did in the show.
That documentary is also the one that they show on the "tourist buses" when you go to visit prypjat (Chernobyl). I was there myself a few years ago.
@@gnusky Until you read the end credits and the tears flow all over again
Ep. 5 will provide full explanation of what happened that led to the explosion. A must see. Among others, the reactions of Dyatlov, Fomin and Bryukhanov when they learn of the flaw.
An incredible story about the Chernobyl area happened just last year. You know the forest that turned red in the first episode. That is simply called the Red Forest. It's still highly radioactive. Normally when you visit the area you are not allowed to stop when driving on the road past the Red Forest because of the radiation,. But when the Russians invaded Ukraine last year they took over the Chernobyl area and the soldiers dug trenches and fortifications in the actual Red Forest. They later just abandoned the position when allegedly there were reports that soldiers were showing symptoms of radiation sickness.
How stupid can you get.
It is still not compleatly clean how much damage to the ecology was done by that digging in a Red Forest... russians has uncovered things that should be covered for a reason
Sadly most of those young soldiers likely never knew what actually happened there or to an extent of how dangerous the area is. Not sure how much of the Chernobyl Disaster is taught in Russian schools.
@@trevorbryant4360 You're the one who's not being told anything. Not World War II, nothing.
How stupid can you be?
As stupid as the lies you tell.
@@Мафедрон The Big Lie rules America now and with far worse results.
In response to your question at the start of the video over whether or not the soldiers were drafted or conscripted they were indeed conscripted. In the following months however the soldiers were given something of a fatalistic choice. They were told they could serve two years in Afghanistan, or 2 minutes at Chernobyl. An urban legend is that many of the soldiers chose to run headlong into a losing battle in Afghanistan rather than face the radiation.
I love how "Haylo" laughs when "Kiss" is freaking out on this and your other reactions. Not because you are laughing at her, but because you know her so well that you absolutely get what she's feeling and it's such a natural reaction.
Poor Kiss :( I knew that this is a real hard episode for her :/
And cg on 25k subs! As one of your first subscribers im glad that your channel is growing and growing! You deserve it your reactions are wholesome!
I'm brand new to your channel. I've been blown away and so moved by your reaction to this incredible series. A new subscriber for sure and looking forward to more reactions. What I appreciate most is the pure honest emotion from you both. It's a heart wrenching story. We are all crying with you.
Same i really like their genuin reaction,i wish in the future they could react to good and emotional movies
The soldiers that were cleaning up the pieces of graphite on the roof are been told. They either spend 2 minutes on the roof, or they will have to go for 2 years war in Afghanistan...
A famous story about why the animal control was so important.
A group of men came a cross a small animal that they first thought was a lizard that was stuck against a rock, its skin had almost complete melted off and sort of fused it with the rock.
Right before they shot it, it meowed at them. They couldnt even recognize it as a cat anymore
What kind of lizards size of the cats are in Ukraine. I call cap
Huge cap my dude, although glad to see that misinformation is still a tradition lol
@@jordanzdebski5132 Maybe it was a cat the size of a big lizard. Like, an adolescent cat. A big kitten.
As bad as what we saw (re: the pets) was, the reality was often worse. I'm not going to go into it, but it's a description burned into my brain. Hardened soldiers with no prior issues suffered extreme PTSD from that duty. I guess it was necessary, but shit, I really don't think I could have done it.
If it helps at all, and it probably won't, they didn't show it in the series, but most of the animals were suffering from fatal radiation sickness.
There’s actually a written account that describes that when they poured concrete into a pit of dead animals, they starting to hear yelping and whining. A puppy was still alive in the pit. HBO made the decision to not recreate the scene, and thank god they didn’t.
I hope this isn't a weird thing to say, but with all the misery in the world over the last week especially, seeing the empathy that the two of you have makes me feel a little better about humanity.
this is 100% true, gives hope that there is some empathy and love for other human beings
Nah. It’s not weird. It’s perfect
One of the actors (Ralph Ineson) is the voice actor from the Diablo IV: Book of Lorath video you guys did.
For reference at 21:35 when he looks over and the camera pans down... that is the reactor core. That is the exposed reactor with its lid on it's side with that mangled mass of piping that is the fuel rods and water channels from inside the reactor core. Remember the guys from Ep.1 that were ordered to go check on it and panicked and ran when they realized they just looked directly into the burning core. Now you have all these men that don't even realize what they are looking at staring over that edge at the core.
„Poor animal, its so sad…!“
3s later: „I LOVE SAUSAGE!“
This was the most heartbreaking episode. As a soldier, you're trained to eliminate your enemy. You're taught that your enemy will fight back against you and that you must defeat them before they defeat you. But when you're sent out to hunt down pets, well... that cant be easy.
Imagine being an arrogant, overbearing Nuclear engineer and supervisor who is running a test, pushing your men to get the test done, knowing that no matter how severe you push the reactor, you still have that failsafe button on standby to end it all without incident. All bases are covered. I mean, it's not like the failsafe button could ever act like a detonator. (Nothing published supports that notion...)
To sum it up in three words to describe the tragedy - It’s horrifying, it’s infuriating, and it’s above all, heartbreaking.
This was humanity.
Expected this episode to shatter the two of you. You actually held up better than I expected. It is incredibly tragic and important to remember the cost to all living creatures. It's equally important to remember the actual causes of this tragedy which is not just "nuclear power is bad" but far more nuanced and complex. Most countries do not like being faced with their own failures and the USSR was no different than most in this respect. The choices they made created a situation where safety was secondary to appearance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
Thank you Haylo & Kiss for your reactions so far to Chernobyl. I love your empathy and emotional connection to this story, hard though much of it is. The last episode isn't as tough to watch and provides a good explanation of how the disaster happened. It's very well done. I look forward to your reaction to it :)
Proud of you both for making it through this incredibly brutal episode! Also, mad props to Haylo for saying that she had appreciation for this episode to show the world of what some of the men had to go through.
This series is very sad and distressing to watch, but it's also very eye-opening about events and people about whom we all should know more.
21:56 - I remember I counted, that was really 90 seconds in the show, without stretching, one-shot. I like it.
"Black raven, black raven,
Why do you circle over me?
You won't have your prey,
Black raven, I'm not yours!"
Well done Haylo and Kiss. You are through the worst of it - and both of you did better than I thought you would.
Now you just have to watch the trial and find out the nitty gritty of how this came to happen. The summary of facts at the end after Legasov's haunting final words will leave you stunned.
23:46 - Legasov worked for the Kurchatov Institute, which designed this type of reactor.
Hey, thanks for this reaction series!
I love this show, this particular episode is really sad and hard to watch, but it's on of my favourites.
I had the opportunity to be in Pripyat and it was a life changing experience.
I lived through this in real time.. Luckily hundreds of kilometers away in the "free world" but still we had restrictions regarding beeing outside and food due to the radioactive fallout that was coming up north from Chernobyl.. :P
In Soviet Union all males at the age 18 if they didn't enrolled in university and didn't have health problems were subjects to mandatory military conscription.
2 years for ground troops, 3 years for navy. After service they remained potential subjects to draft until 50.
There were some volunteers, mainly qualified engineers and scientists, but overwhelming majority of liquidators had been drafted.
The liquidators don’t get enough respect for marketing Chernobyl as safe as it is
The most terrifying sound in existence is a gieger counter going off. I remember doing NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) training in the military and our instructors spoke to us honestly and said that if you suffer enough exposure for ARS (acute radiation syndrome) you are better off not worrying about getting your protective gear sorted, you're better off using your service pistol and giving yourself a "9mm injection". After we we were told about what radiation can do and after seeing this series, I fully understand and agree with their advice.
The opening moments of this episode are some of the most intense in the series. My mom's comment when we watched this episode was "none of the other soldiers shot your cow," which is exactly the point. The people living there have seen a lot and survived a lot, but what was coming from Chernobyl was more dangerous than all of it. Radiation poisons everything, *everything*, EVERYTHING.
The name of the roofs were named after the generals daughter .
15:40
Reactor: is having a meltdown
Boris: hold my phone
LOL
When I watched this show I was across the world from my boyfriend of a few months who was watching it a little ahead of me. He warned me that episode four would be extremely hard for me to watch because, which was sweet of him. He thought I would be particularly hard for me to watch because I am a vegan and he figured I'd be especially sensitive to depictions of animals dying. Unfortunately the opposite is true for me. Because I've seen so much real footage of animals being hurt and killed in slaughterhouses, pets being euthanized, etc, I was far more desensitized to that kind of content than most people. I watched with a kind of hollow numbness. I actually envy folks who have the much more normal response of outright crying...it means they've been able to stay distant to some extent from the harsh realities of how animals suffer in our world.
Thanks as always for your lovely and empathetic reactions ❤
The liquidators ‘only’ received 25 rem max from each shift, some did it 7 times, but radioactivity decreased with each time, at most 100 rem across a few months.
As far as I know, Dyatlov in real life was not as big of an a**hole as he was depicted in the show. He was in denial only for a short while that night. Then he actually also tried to find and rescue poor Khodemchuk, whose body was sadly never retrieved. Though some do recall he was a quite difficult person to work with, sometimes a bully, but not as abusive as it was shown in Ep5.
The one reason I subscribed was to watch the next episode with you, let the tears begin👌
OH yeah, can't wait for the final episode, hurry up 😃
The happiness of all mankind may be the single most depressing hour of tv I’ve ever seen
KGB, FSB.....the letters change, the organization stays the same....
There's a story from the companion podcast about how they started covering the pit with concrete when they realised one of the animals were still alive but they had used all their bullets. They thought that was too bleak to put in the show that people wouldn't believe it
This story is something every American should hear. I was 21 when I listened to the news reporting about this in Finland together with my grandparents. When they started to exchange all the sand at playgrounds and telling people to keep rheir doors and windows shut at all times we inew things were pretty serious. None of it surprised us though since we knew that if a Moscovites lips move, he is telling lies. We felt terrible for the people though.
Ralph Ineson, never knew it was him but that voice is unmistakable. Dude has a one in a million voice I swear.
A note about the baby, saw a video of a medical doctor watching this and she said that it doesn't work like that, the fetus soaking up the radiation to save the mother although fetuses are vulnerable to radiation. Furthermore, she wouldn't have been affected by being near her husband after he had been cleaned up. So in all likelihood, the baby was doomed before she even left Pripyat.
I agree, a lot of the scenes regarding her are based on her own account, and admittedly she's not an expert on radiation. She'd already had one pregnancy before where the child died a few hours or days after birth, so it's not actually medically improbable that she'd have a miscarriage.
I think Europe wide there was an issue at the time where many mothers had unnecessary abortions because of unfounded fear of radiation, which is a real shame.
The baby died of natura, causes, she would of perished without the disaster occurring.
"Don't let them suffer."
That line is so freaking heavy man.
3:10 The general here is played by Ralph Ineson, who did the narration on the Book of Lorath Diablo IV videos.
The dogs are deadly to the population and wild animals and when they get hungry they will form packs and become lethal to everyone. If they leave the exclusion zone they would cause great problems. It is sad, but most of these poor animals will develop cancers and die long slow deaths. This is a mercy.
Never gets any easier to watch. Just going to leave a hug here in case anyone needs it.
I actually love you for crying for these people's sake. So many people gave their lives and suffered horribly for doing it, and the soviets didn't give them nearly enough credit for their sacrifice.
(our goal is the happiness of all mankind)
You can imagine how the rulers see the happiness of mankind
And Knowledge and science are considered a crime🙂
Poor Kiss, I wanted to hug her during the whole episode =(
Gut wrenching, that's what it is. The sadness of it all. But at the same time, the importance to show it.
To show how are we humans capable of the best and the worst deeds.
Just FYI, at the end there...that is not how radiation works.
They made it much more dramatic that it was in reality.
There’s a really good documentary called 3828. It’s the real footage of the REAL people who had to clean it up.
Just to note: This is an English (country of the UK) production. In the UK, male (and female) nudity is more acceptable to show than violence (even punching someone). - Sort of opposite to the US. - You can then be assured they won't show violence, though, as with turning the camera away or focusing on something else for the animal deaths.
You have made it through the toughest episode to watch. It's all closure from here. 😁
Chernobyl the Severe Days was recorded by Vladimir Shevchenko. The flashes of light on that video are results of radiation affecting the film!
Shevchenko later passed away from making the trip to Chernobyl, he went unprotected wearing only a face mask.
The helicopter accident was likely due to flying into the sun and getting blinded by the light they ran the rotor blades into the crane.
3,828... that is the number of men who cleaned the roof of Chernobyl.
1,200 R is equivalent to 751 Gastro Intestinal Xrays
8:15 KGB agent: “stand down; she apologized.”
Been waiting for this episode all week
Kiss: Oh no those poor animals 😭
Also Kiss: Yum! I love sausage 🐷🔪☠️
Love you guys, but that’s peak hypocrisy.
The Russian Central Committee had disseminated information that vodka could slow or reduce the effects of radiation sickness. This is why all of the volunteers and conscripted men in the exclusion zone drink (also to numb themselves of the gruesome and taxing work). However, it has not been determined that vodka has any positive effects on radiation sickness.
"It's annoying."
Yes, authoritarian regimes such as the former USSR, China and North Korea can be quite... annoying.
@@kingwacky184 And the people still suffer due to vanity and hubris.
And US government.
It's terribly sad, but very necessary. We all love animals, we love our pets. But those animals are covered in terrible radioactive waste. Imagine the damage just one of those animals could do if it was brought into a quarantine zone. Imagine if a child hugged one of those poor dogs.
My father was in the Army at the time and was part of taking satellite photos of Chernobyl an hour after the explosion he use too tell me stores about it and that he and many American soldiers were stationed there in Germany at the time. Many of them feared that the radiation would spread to them so they started sending their families back home because of it
The guy in your thumbnail (Barry Keoghan) IS The Joker. 😉👍✌️
Girls, what you saw are practical effects of communism... hint, it's clearly visible in China, North Korea, Cuba... remember it for the next time you see what become of US universities. That's the lesson to be had with this HBO series.
Love your reactions.
Wishing you a great day.
Bye bye
This was the hardest of the episodes. The answers you seek will be provided in Episode 5. Thank you for continuing. So sorry this was so heavy for you.
As sad as it is, they had to eliminate the animals. Not only for the fact they were contaminated, but they would have also died slow painful deaths from radiation poisoning.
You shouldn't look away. It's like the "why we fight" episode in band of brothers. You need to see the horrors we are capable of so we don't repeat them. I know it's hard, but you should force yourself to look. It will change your whole perspective on humankind and the damage we can do.
They spare you most of the dogs being shot.
13:38 You didn't love sausages in the last episode though...
Just (kinda) kidding, but your emotional reactions to this show have been a delight!
Still, I think this is the saddest episode of the show. Got yourselves a sub! Can't wait for ep 5!
I'm gonna love your reaction to the last episode. Looking forward to it.
There is information at the end of episode 5 so please watch the episode even when it seems like it is over.
Shcherbina's explosion was bigger than the one he had to clean up
My first reaction was "Kiss is wearing eyeliner... oh no!..."
9:08 - 9:12 that emotions, it was so cute :)
if you dont cry watching this episode then you're not human 100%
You guys made it, this is the hardest stretch of the series and you got over the last hurdle. I felt physically ill the first time I saw it and went to go hug my cat for the next hour.
I'm sure they've mentioned it, but there were four reactors at that facility, and the other three just kept on running. I believe some of them continued to operate for decades.
You are right the last reactor was shut down December 15, of 2000
@@Supernatpy The plant is technically still operational in the sense that people still work there in the decommissioning process. In 2017 a ransomware attack in Ukraine took down the plant's website and the radiation monitoring systems. And in 2022, Russian forces captured the plant during the invasion of Ukraine, with radiation levels increasing due to contaminated soil being kicked up and dispersed in the air by Russian vehicles and munitions activity. Russian troops have since withdrawn from the plant and the surrounding exclusion zone though.
Thank you for watching this and sharing this with us.
what model of SteelSeries headphones are the white ones?
Don't look away.
I need to know who is the guy who said “she can have that one“ when scientist asked for documents.
He looks exactly how my father when he was young. I pausedmand compared to the old photo and it was really difficult to say the difference (except hairstyle). I am shocked
26:01 for what it’s worth: That was what the doctors said, but is scientifically incorrect. While the baby did die, it was not due to her having contact with her husband
Ya'll are excellent commentators. I really enjoy listening to you !
0:45 It was a draft. Just men and boys.
After this, the best true story series is "Band of Brothers", also from HBO, and staring every actor that you know in it's huge ensemble cast.
K-19: The Widowmaker next pls.. 😉
The sad, haunting song being sung at the end of the animal control scene, Black Raven:
Black raven, black raven,
Why do you circle over me?
You won't have your prey,
Black raven, I'm not yours!
Why do you spread wide your talons
Over my head?
If you hope for a game,
Black raven, I'm not yours!
I'll bind my deadly wound
With a gifted handkerchief,
And then speak to you
Of one thing only.
Fly to my home,
Tell my mother,
Tell my darling,
That I fell for the Homeland.
Take the bloody handkerchief
To my lovely sweetheart.
Tell her that she's free,
To another I am wed.
I took a bride who's quiet and modest,
In an open field under a bush,
The matchmaker was
My sharp sabre.
A tempered arrow wed us
Amidst fateful battle.
I see my death coming -
Black raven, I'm all yours!
O god.. Here we go lol.. *starts watching*
Another point is that the "radiation suits" don't actually block any radiation, they just make it easy to clean off the radioactive dust from the workers. Think of how difficult it is to clean up glitter, now imagine each piece of glitter is a piece of radioactive graphite burning your cells. The suits just make sure none of it gets on your skin or worse inside your lungs where it will get stuck.
Well, they do block radiation, but you are correct in such a case the vast majority of radiation is probably going right through.
And that's where the real hazard comes from. Particles that cling to or become absorbed in the body and constantly bombard your cells with radiation 24/7 until they are either removed (difficult if not impossible) or decay (could take thousands of years).