Emily Watson's Ulana Khomyuk is a composite character of many scientists who helped the main scientist Valery Legasov to make the decision to sacrifice himself so that the other 17 sister nuclear power plants might be fixed, which according to the story, the Soviet state had no real inclination to do.
Ulana Khomyuk represented the thoughts of many scientists who were voices against the attempted cover-up. She was a crusader-character and was Valery's conscience. To tell the story of all the scientists would have made the mini-series much longer than 5 episodes, and this character allowed for story telling simplicity.
Valery Legasov was a flawed human being who performed like an absolute hero in the Chernobyl tragedy and afterwards. He was a sympathetic character who did despicable things like depressing the careers of Jewish scientists when he was their boss. He was not a character out of central Soviet casting
His partner in dealing with the Chernobyl disaster was Boris Shcherbyna, vice chairman of the Council of Ministers. His character began as a cynical Soviet who politically powerful and essential in dealing with the disaster. His character threatened to throw Valery Legasov from a plane while in flight if he didn't immediately explain the exact nature of the disaster to him. Boris transformed from Soviet scumbag into another hero, who supplied every need of Legasov and the other scientists. Again, not another character out of central casting.
I was trying to remember the miner's foreman's name, but he wasn't a character from central casting. Dude was brave as freak (or his character was) by looking down the barrel of Soviet guns, when demanding what was required of him and his men. They mined naked because of safety, because it was more than a hundred degrees in the tunnel they were digging under the reactor core. I never knew about the independence of Russian miners until this mini series and i liked them. These were hero's who I had no idea existed until this show. Again, not out of Soviet central casting.
Yes, most of the characters were human fodder to stop the disaster. The killing of domestic pets was shocking, but was it true? Was it necessary to show the dirty work of the clean up? It is likely that tens of thousands died in the disaster, and yet the current official figure is only in the 30's. Dealing with that many individuals dying, there will be a majority of red shirts (Star Trek guys who had no character development and who you knew would get killed off in the episode)
I disagree with your review, Dieter. It was an incredible mini series.
You can go ahead and keep that HBO subscription
@CGI_Ram
