Set in the mid-late '80s, CHERNOBYL follows the true story of the infamous nuclear disaster that happened in Chernobyl, USSR, and the aftermath of it, how the Soviet government dealt with possibly mankind's worst man made disaster, and the many lives that were affected by it.

CHERNOBYL, as best I can put it, feels like a cinematic event. Similar to Christopher Nolan's DUNKIRK, we DO have characters who we follow from start to finish, but they play out more like pawns, that are part of a big story, which is a significant historical event in time, being captured on screen.

Right from the show's opening, CHERNOBYL wastes no time setting up characters, or its setting, and instantly jumps to the action within minutes showing the explosion, and while the first episode spends its runtime on the disaster itself, the four episodes that follow it are about the repercussions of it, because what more important than the bang itself, is the reaction to it. And if you thought the nuclear plant exploding was going to be the peak of the show, you are proven wrong, because after that, we witness some breathtaking, intense heart pounding scenes, from Chernobyl's evacuation, to three brave men going underground to drain the water before it gets contaminated, and the one that steals the spotlight, the graphite cleaning scene from episode 4, which is presented in one take.

The desperation and fright of Chernobyl is well conveyed on the faces of the actors playing the protagonists, from Jared Harris as Velary Legaslov, Stellan Skarsgård as Boris Shcherbina, Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk, and everyone else. Not one actor in the show ever feels miscast (though it's a little weird how they're SPEAKING IN ENGLISH AS OPPOSED TO RUSSIAN), and besides the phenomenal technical aspects of the show, if the acting also receives attention during the television awards season, I would be SO happy.