‘Chernobyl’ Was Already Devastating — Then It Killed Dogs

Chernobyl has already made viewers watch as factory workers, nurses, young married couples, unborn babies, and surly miners have faced almost certain death. Can it really get any worse than that? You bet it can, and that horror can be found in Episode 4, “The Happiness of All Mankind,” aka the episode all about shooting sweet, innocent dogs. Spoilers ahead for Chernobyl Episode 4.

If there’s a silver lining to Craig Mazin’s devastating miniseries, it’s a very small, cynical one: thanks to the actions and sacrifices of these brave men and women we, as people living in the year 2019, are still alive. So let’s dive right in to this series’ latest horror. “The Happiness of All Mankind” follows a format very similar to “Open Wide, O Earth.” While Valery Legasov (Jared Harris) covertly constructs a way to publicly blame this horrific nuclear disaster on the Soviet Union government, Ulana Khomyuk (Emily Watson) is still trying to get to the bottom of exactly where the explosion went wrong. As Chernobyl’s leads worry about the large-scale horrors of this disaster, the series drifts into the small traumatic stories that defined the day-to-day realities of living through this government mistake. Last week that meant staying with a young pregnant wife as she slowly watched her husband die from radiation poisoning. This week it means watching a group of soldiers kill as many dogs as possible.

The unique horror of Episode 4 comes from its bluntness. As soon as Pavel (Barry Keoghan), a young civilian draftee, appears onscreen the veteran Bacho (Fares Fares) tells him exactly what’s going to happen. All of the livestock, pets, and animals in this area have been infected with radiation poisoning. Their job is to kill all of them and kill them quickly. The truly horrific kicker? Because most of the animals they’re tasked to kill used to be pets, all they have to do is whistle to call their prey out of hiding.

“I only have two rules. One, don’t point this gun at me,” Fares’ grizzled soldier says. “Two, if you hit an animal and it doesn’t die, keep shooting until it does. Don’t let them suffer. Or I’ll kill you, understand?”

There’s no twist to this subplot. Everything plays out exactly as Bacho described, and that’s what makes this particular episode a nightmare. Time and time again, Bacho and Pavel call out to these lovely, loyal animals, these creatures who used to be furry family members. And every single time these hopeful pets come running, they’re greeted by a bullet.

As with every element of HBO’s miniseries, Episode 4 refuses to sugarcoat the real terror it’s dramatizing. At one point Pavel begrudgingly shoots a sweet dog, only to miss. The camera zooms in on the poor dying creature before Bacho puts it out of its misery. Later in the episode, Pavel finds a group of whimpering puppies. And just when this particular subplot seems too painful to watch a moment longer, Chernobyl shows a pile of dead pet bodies literally falling out of a dump truck. It’s brutal.

And that’s the point. It’s tempting to talk about horrific national tragedies in terms of the grandiose. It’s easier to process them through the high stakes drama of Legasov’s arguments with the powers that be, or Khomyuk’s meticulous investigative work. But those two approaches, as valid and important as they are, are emotionally distancing and in their own ways insincere. Presenting Chernobyl as a political thriller or even as a horror story would only be telling part of this graphic chapter in human history. To communicate the full scope of this tragedy the heart-breaking but necessary human sacrifices needed to be shown. And in real life this man-made disaster included shooting beloved dogs and cats, not just to lessen these creatures’ pain but for the ultimate good of the world.

New episodes of Chernobyl premiere on HBO Mondays at 9/8c.

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