Chernobyl is a 5 episode mini-series recounting the Chernobyl disaster, with the first 4 episodes recounting the disaster from multiple viewpoints, and the 5th summarizing it via a trial of the three main people responsible for pushing a nuclear plant test that simply should not have been done. Indeed, the plant itself was an accident waiting for the right circumstances to happen.

On a whole, it's a really good series. Jared Harris as the principal nuclear physicist serving as technical lead and Stellan Skarsgård as the "one good bureaucrat" are simply exceptional in their roles. The 4th episode drags a bit with a story about soldiers killing dogs and other pets that have been irradiated. Yes, it's sad, and I suppose the point was to show those "little stories" that would fall through the cracks. Still, it slowed the pace of the mini-series as a whole. The mini-series actually could have used a bit more of that as I thought it was interesting, but only up to a point and I think they just went a bit too far. That said, it's a minor issue.

The authenticity of the setting is also remarkable. Granted, I don't know what mid-80s Pripyat and the surrounding area looks like, but it looked genuine to me. Pacing was great (outside of that 4th episode) and I couldn't wait to start the next one. The last episode was a fitting and wonderful end to the series. It's not meant to be a documentary, but it's certainly more than "inspired by true events". I guess you can call it an historical drama and it's one of the best I've seen.

I hesitated between and 8 and 9 on this. It would have been a 9 had they made a better 4th episode; at the same time, it doesn't feel fair to drop a point for one story of one episode (the other major story about using a lunar robot, then bio-robots to clean the roof was spectacular). In the end, I decided on a 9 given I think it's one of those "you have to see it" type TV series, whereas an 8 to me is a "solid and really enjoyable" but not something that would make a bucket list.