The last episode is considerably easier to watch. And satisfying too, in that it provides a lot of explanation into what happened. It’s not a happy episode. None of them are. But you’re over the worst of it. Kinda…

I am Ukrainian. Chernobyl is only 400 kilometers away from me. So I can tell you a lot about it.
Specifically in this episode, there are a couple of curious moments for me. First: an old lady with a cow. It is significant that she does not want to leave. The twentieth century was full of horrors and she saw them all with her own eyes. She is not afraid of death. She's waiting for her. Perhaps this is due to religion, since Ukrainians are one of the most religious nations in Europe. After all, Christianity tells us that it is better in paradise than in this world.
Second: Bacho's character. Again, it is very revealing if you know the context. He is a veteran of the Afghan War. Afghanistan for the USSR is the same as Vietnam for the United States. After that war, many people who know how to kill appeared in the USSR. This means that organized crime has appeared. Yes, the "Russian mafia" about which Hollywood made so many films in the 90s. In this regard, the dialogue of this trio is very revealing. "The happiness of all mankind" is a typical communist slogan. And it is well understood that people in the USSR no longer believed in ideology. And if you do not believe, you are concerned only with your financial situation, then you have a direct road to bandits.
And the third: cleaning the roof. It would seem that it could be easier. Clear the roof of debris. But one thing: this garbage will kill you in 3 minutes. There is no Superman. Tony Stark is not there either. This shows that we are no longer Neanderthals in terms of technology, but we are also far from colonizing other planets. We have something to strive for.
P.S. Ludmila's child died of a heart defect. The idea that the child absorbed the radiation and saved the mother, from a scientific point of view, is not provable. Although this does not make it easier for the mother.

“The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart.”

The exclusion zone does not exclude people from leaving, it excludes non-authorized personnel from entering.

I watched the whole series. This episode made me cry so much

Oh, you missed the sweetest moment of this whole ordeal. Valery smiling, and Boris hugging him. They are now brothers.

Lyudmilla's child died due to her exposure to radiation from her time in Chernobyl after the accident and before leaving for moscow...
so the delay they did in the evacuation process had an effect on the life/health of the people.. this is one story that we know of..

The first time I went hunting for my own food it broke me emotionally. Then as a beekeeper the very first time I ever had to euthanize a colony it also broke me. But cats and dogs? I don't think I could.

Don't forget to watch lots more happy movies like you did with Airplane, lots of great happy animated movies like Wall-E and Kung-Fu Panda too. Just to counteract all the sad emotions, good for mental health.

I'm glad you kept Bacho's dialogue about killing a man to the kid because I always saw it as being very impactful... especially with Boris' later speech about self preservation when presented with a threat. I think it just shows how in a you vs them situation, nature is made so that you pick yourself. Living with the consequences is something else but that you're capable, you most certainly are, it's part of who we are as living beings.

Just FYI:  In a book I'm reading about radioactive accidents, it says that before Chernobyl, there were other less-known accidents from which people had to be evacuated.  The Soviet government removed the people, and sent in soldiers to shoot livestock and pets so the inhabitants would not have a reason to return.  The book is titled "Meltdown."

The Exclusion Zone is 1,000 square kilometers where humans are not allowed to live until the radiation reaches safe levels--in 25,000 years.

It was a nightmare....but thanks to so many heroes , it could have been MUCH MUCH worse...as hard as it is to fathom...

The baby absorbing radiation instead of the mother is not scientifically accurate, but it is historically accurate. People used to believe that.

West Germany was seen as enemy territory. A symbol of the west. The robot was hard enough to ask for. To tell the truth was unimaginable to the Soviet government.

Tears up at the cow scene.....heh heh....you ain't seen nothing yet!

Some of the details are pretty good. Things like the "stay behind the plastic" at the hospital actually has nothing to do with protection from Radiation. It's actually to protect the contaminated person from germs carried by visitors as the contaminated person is likely to have a severely compromised immune system and the last thing they need is some infection.

They say about the "Tips" of the control Rods. It's actually about an equal length. Fortunately this system with it's positive voide characteristic isn't used in Western Reactors.

The reward for getting through this episode is the finale to come. Nothing about Chernobyl is “good” but the series rounds off the story well. I must say I find it fascinating to watch with someone of a generation that never experienced the old Soviet bloc and the secrecy that came with it. When you hear they lied to the Germans, this was the East Germans of course supposedly behind the same Iron Curtain yet still they didn’t share the true situation. There’s a pertinent quote in the next episode about this. No Internet. No free press. The suppression was incredible. You may think the likes of Putin are bad - and they are - but it’s so much harder for them to keep information locked away despite his best efforts. Not a criticism of you at all by the way, I just find it interesting to see a different generation witness what those of us alive at the time lived for real. I distinctly remember the warnings we had at school about spending time outside - and this was in the UK ! Enjoy the finale.

I lived about 70 miles away from Chernobyl. We had no idea what was going on and how serious it was. They informed the people only 36 hours after disaster. My parents were evacuated to Uzbekistan and returned only after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Yeah. There are still stray dogs in Chernobyl and Pripyat

18:52 look at this shot!!! Extremely sad.
And the song (Black Raven - Chernobyl) at the end of the episode i believe it was deeply emotional as well.