‘Chernobyl’s Third Episode Shows the Disaster at Its Most Devastating

No part of HBO’s Chernobyl is a fun time. Yet even by this disaster miniseries’ own bleak standards, “Open Wide, O Earth” is a painful, gut-wrenching exercise in loss. Through one woman saying goodbye to her dying husband, Chernobyl‘s third episode communicates the full extent of the nuclear disaster’s pain and unyielding horror for thousands of innocent people. Spoilers ahead for Chernobyl Episode 3.

Most of “Open Wide, O Earth” revolves around gritty specifics. While Jared Harris’ Valery Legasov comes up with a plan that may halt the spread of radiation to the Soviet Union’s water supply, Emily Watson’s Ulana Khomyuk tries to find out exactly what caused this meltdown. However, it’s Jessica Buckley and Adam Nagaitis who carry the emotional weight of this episode, as well as this miniseries as whole.

Four days after the explosion, a young wife named Lyudmilla (Buckley) comes searching for her husband, a firefighter who was assigned to Chernobyl. Initially, she’s forbidden from seeing him by a strict nurse; but eventually the hospital worker takes pity on her. She’s allowed to visit her husband as long as she’s not pregnant, promises not to touch him, and leaves after 30 minutes.

The second those guidelines are laid out, it’s clear all three of them will be broken. Yet nothing prepares viewers for how emotionally painful it is to watch a spouse unknowingly poison the love of his life. The second Lyudmilla enters the room and sees her husband Vasily (Adam Nagaitis), time slows down. The once normally lit hospital is filled with strategic bursts of white lights as Hildur Guðnadóttir’s hauntingly slow score throbs in the background. In this moment it’s unclear if a romantic reunion is unfolding or if this scene is foreshadowing the deadly light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. As the episode unfolds it turns out: a bit of both.

The focus on Lyudmilla and Vasily’s romance highlights what Chernobyl does so well. Harris’ Legasov spends this episode attempting to fix Chernobyl’s mistakes through a countless number of horrible conversations. Whether he’s quietly asking miners to give their lives for governmental oversight, or noticing the imposing men following his every move, he’s always actively pushing this story forward. Conversely Watson’s Khomyuk spends her time on screen looking backwards. As the infected men she interviews continue to deteriorate, she slowly starts to piece together exactly why this explosion happened. Both of these perspectives are important. Understanding how to move forward and why this disaster ever happened are vital to moving past Chernobyl, and mirror the way we talk about the disaster now.

Conversely, Lyudmilla and Vasily embody how this disaster must have felt back then. Every time the camera cuts to this episode’s central couple, the infected Vasily is worse. The special effects department never holds back, showing scene after scene of his red skin transforming into blisters and finally into white and black rotting flesh. It’s a visual that, when taken alone, looks as if it belongs in a horror movie. Yet in the context of the ever-loyal Lyudmilla it’s so much worse. This is a woman who is quite literally watching her husband die in painstaking detail.

Every minute they spend together, every time they touch, Lyudmilla is unknowingly exposing herself more to the radiation that is almost guaranteed to take her life. When she tenderly holds her hand over her stomach, it’s almost too much to bear. This moment encapsulates the true horror of Chernobyl, more than any of this series’ political negotiations or elaborate explanations.

Earlier in Episode 3, Vasily chastises his wife for holding his hand after the nurses have warned her not to. She kisses it and shrugs him off, saying, “It’s safe for them, it’s safe for me.” It only feels appropriate that this intimate story paired with a flippant remark would end with Buckley’s Lyudmilla tearfully watching her husband being lowered into the ground. That’s the strength of this series. Through this small, devastating storyline Chernobyl communicates that every one of the thousands of people Legasov says are in danger have a story as painful and literally toxic as Lyudmilla’s. Chernobyl‘s story about a wife and her dying husband isn’t about these two characters. It’s about all the real lives destroyed by the disaster, one couple at a time.

New episodes of Chernobyl premiere on HBO Go and HBO NOW Mondays at 9/8c p.m.

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