[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for “Chernobyl” Episode 5, “Vichnaya Pamyat.”]Even though it’s a documented event in world history, there’s still something shocking, arriving at the end of “Chernobyl,” to see the fateful power plant explosion that set in motion the events of the series.It’s particularly even more jarring when the series finale, “Vichnaya Pamyat” opens with a calm, serene look at life in Pripyat before the biological tumult arrived.
It’s both a reminder of what was lost and an effective beginning of the end.
Series creator and writer Craig Mazin and director Johan Renck wondered whether it was necessary to see the Chernobyl explosion in any other context than in the premiere, when it’s seen filtered through a living room window miles away.“I remember Johan and I are having a discussion like ‘Should we even show this explosion in a big way at the end at all?’” Mazin told IndieWire.
Read full article