Like most everybody I thought Chernobyl was great, despite many liberties taken. Its greatest strength was how it moved, almost flawlessly, between "small" and "big" points of view -- the poor bastards inside the plant, the first responders, the local political committee who decides to try and keep it all secret, all the way up through the lead scientists and party bosses. Hell, even Gorbachev was believable in his shock and frustration.
I actually had to look away during the animal culling scenes but again, it was incredibly effective to move from "big picture" strategy and planning down to the level of the grunts who had to do the very awful, very shitty actual work of cleaning and razing. (The dudes running out to shovel up blocks of deadly irradiated graphite seemed to have easier jobs in comparison.)
And so maybe the conclusion was all a little too cut and dried. Legasov never had a "final confession" moment, and maybe a bit more ambiguity would have served the show well.
As for Russia wanting to make their own "correct" version, it's hard to imagine them doing a better job at showing so much sacrifice on the part of technicians and soldiers who did their jobs knowing they could die horribly. The whole point of the series is that bureaucrats lie -- it's their job, after all -- and poor bastards, including children, die.
I'd like to think that message comes across in any language.
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