‘CHERNOBYL’ Series Finale ‘Vichnaya Pamyat’ Review: The Witness Stand

The time has come for the people responsible for the CHERNOBYL meltdown’s conviction. After a view from a different perspective of the aftermath, the show ends with the momentous trial. The Soviet Union does not treat kindly the people who cause its humiliation, let alone commit treason. However, the truth has no allegiance and is insistent. At the only time possible to make the big reveal, the trio decides to put their lives on the line.

On Monday night’s series finale of CHERNOBYL, Valery Legasov (Jared Harris), Boris Shcherbina (Stellan Skarsgård), and Ulana Komhyuk (Emily Watson) take to the witness stand in Victor Bruykhanov (Con O’Neill), Anatoly Dyatlov (Paul Ritter), and Nikolai Fomin’s (Adrian Rawlins) trial. Unable to hide from his integrity, Valery decides to tell the truth in his testimony. However, his revelation is not well received by the Ukrainian SSR.

The One Good Man

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Boris starts to feel the consequences of his time in the exclusion zone. For a brief moment, he and Valery discuss the worth of the time they spent there. In this intimate, peaceful sequence, the two humanized characters connect deeply with the audience. Boris was not the strong, authoritative man he is and Valery was not the smart, intuitive scientist, either. Instead, they were two men who questioned the weight of their actions. Boris would die soon, as revealed by his coughing during the trial, spewing blood into his handkerchief. As if in a way to comfort his friend, Valery reassured him. The government mistakenly sent the one good man who did what is necessary for the powerplant’s rehabilitation.

Boris and Valery did not start as good friends. In the beginning, Boris despised Valery, still full of the pride of being placed in charge. However, the reality of the situation not only put Boris’ feet back on the ground, but it also developed his and Valery’s friendship. The two men worked for a common goal, celebrating milestones and downfalls together. Their final moments with each other was both touching and fitting for their well-written characters.

The Truthseeker

Liam Daniel/HBO

Ulana went out of her way to visit Valery before the trial. Following his false statement in the International Vienna Conference, Ulana insists that Valery tell the truth in the witness stand. After all, Valery did send Ulana to seek out the truth behind the accident. While Boris and Valery worked in containing the radiation, Ulana interviewed most (if not all) of the people who were at the powerplant on that fateful midnight. To further drive home the point, Ulana goes as far as classifying the statements she received into those who still live and those who died.

Valery’s revelations surprised both the judges and the jury. After the trial, Valery does not speak to Komhyuk as the KGB take him away. This situation is likely what happened in real life as the scientists who worked with Legasov witnessed the similar, if not the same thing. As the end of the episode reveals, other scientists came forward following Valery’s actions, suffering the same horrible consequences.

Untrained and Unaware

Liam Daniel/HBO

One of the reasons behind CHERNOBYL‘s meltdown is the human factor. Combine a harsh, imposing supervisor with unaware and inexperienced employees, and you get a nuclear weapon. As Valery explained, the chain of events that led to the meltdown started with a fatal managerial decision. Bryukhanov, Dyatlov, and Fomin decided to push through with the safety test that was not only overdue but is also not recommended by the power grid. The midnight staff is not trained to conduct such safety tests, either. Most of them did not know about the test run, too. After disregarding regulations and processes (that were useless anyway), the meltdown has begun. The rest is history.

Conviction

Liam Daniel/HBO

Dyatlov wished to take Bryukhanov’s place once he received his promotion. Because of this, the two of them worked together to impress Fomin, agreeing to conduct the safety test. Their greed became their undoing, and Dyatlov’s desperate defense against Valery’s testimony made matters worse for him. Towards the end, these men got what they deserve. After ten years of manual labor, Fomin returned to work in a nuclear powerplant. Dyatlov later died, while Bryukhanov’s fate was unspoken of at the end of the episode.

‘CHERNOBYL’ Series Finale ‘Vichnaya Pamyat’ Final Verdict

The last part of the episode gave much closure to the story of the CHERNOBYL tragedy. The Ignatenko couple’s story, Boris’ death, the people behind Ulana’s character, and all those who expressed brave acts of heroism following the incident were acknowledged. Indeed CHERNOBYL sparked the downfall of the Soviet Union. It is a shame that a tragedy had to happen before the Russians decided to recognize and change the design flaws in their RBMK reactors. The politics and the science behind situations like the meltdown do not always reconcile as was seen here. One thing remains certain, however, and that is the fact that the truth does not give a damn about human problems. It only demands to be known.