Chernobyl does a great job of bringing the history of a disaster to life in a very authentic way. Having already read a nonfiction book about the disaster, after the first couple episodes I wasn't sure if the story would be anything more than a realistic telling of the events, but the finale is impeccably done and makes the show great. This is a story of how the Soviet state was massively flawed, and it drives that point home very clearly, but it's also a story of how humans can be naturally blind to the flaws of their designs, and that's a much more difficult idea to explain. I have always found explorations of the effects deception and lies have on a grand scale to be fascinating questions, so I loved that Chernobyl tackled them in an intelligent way by investigating an important real world event. The science and history is all completely accurate and very accessible, and the acting and writing is very strong. It is interesting and surprising to me that it's so broadly beloved - it has great technical elements and is a compelling overarching message, but it is essentially just an authentic dramatization of a recent disaster. The finale is explosive (ha), but the other four episodes are largely build up and can retread the same ideas a bit, which made me wonder if Chernobyl would have been better as a long movie. In any event, I was dubious that Chernobyl would live up to the hype but I leave very glad I watched it and happy that such an interesting and important true story resonated with so many viewers.