Heartwarming / Chernobyl

"There are other scientists like me. Any one of them could have done what I did. But you... everything we asked for, everything we needed. Men, material, lunar rovers. Who else could have done these things? They heard me, but they listened to you. Of all the ministers, and all the deputies, entire congregation of obedient fools, they mistakenly sent the one good man. For God's sakes, Boris... you were the one who mattered most."

— Valery Legasov

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• Pikalov chooses to measure the radiation himself instead of sending in a subordinate. The radiation level is 15,000 roentgen, and he's an older general; he understands that his word would mean more than a random soldier who may misread or misunderstand the radiation level.
• Lyudmilla's actions may be incredibly foolish, but one can't judge her. First, she doesn't understand just how dangerous being around her husband can be. Second, she's shown as a genuinely sweet, decent person. When her neighbor apologizes for his faux pas about her husband, she shrugs it off, not offended. Then, as Vasily's health deteriorates, she stays by his side, holding his hand, cleaning him and his bed off when he soils the sheets, and staying with him even when his body has been reduced to a burned-out husk. She may have had poor judgment, but make no mistake, she loves her husband.
• In Episode 4, after the Liquidators finish clearing the rooftops, General Tarakanov personally congratulates each one of them. They're all irradiated and still wearing their gear, but Tarakanov doesn't care.
  • In the same episode, Bacho's treatment of Pavel: while he's very blunt and strict, it's made clear he cares for the newbie and when seeing Pavel's distress at killing the pets, he makes it clear he doesn't enjoy it either, but it gives the animals a faster death.
    • When Pavel first meets Bacho and Garo, he reveals he's not in the military. Garo and Bacho look at each other and Bacho says, "We're running out of men." At first, one might think they're thinking, "Great. We're stuck with a rookie." After seeing how they show compassion for him, it's obvious they were thinking, "Oh God, this poor kid doesn't know what he's in for."
    • Bacho also makes it clear, within a few minutes of Pavel's arrival, that Pavel is one of his men, so no one will mess with him.
    • When Pavel hesitates in killing the dog he first shot, Bacho is furious at him. Bacho marches up to him, and is probably about to lay into him (remember, he promised to kill Pavel if Pavel let an animal suffer). When he sees Pavel's traumatized face, Bacho realizes Pavel has never done anything like this. He fixes Pavel with his gaze and says, forcefully, "Don't let them suffer!" Beyond that, the only "punishment" he gives is ordering Pavel to drag the body to the truck. Shortly after, he offers Pavel a drink and gives him an It Gets Easier speech. It seems to work; the next time we see Pavel, he's accepted what he has to do and works alongside Bacho and Garo.
    • Related to the above point, when the two men come across a newly born litter of puppies and their mother, Pavel can't bring himself to shoot them. Bacho gives him an understanding look and orders him out of the building before doing what must be done himself.
  • Another small moment from the same episode: during the rooftop cleanup, one Liquidator struggles to lift a rather large piece of graphite until another Liquidator wordlessly helps him.
  • And before it all, the moment when the first robot worked. After a seemingly hopeless work one after another, Shcherbina and Legasov finally get a glimpse of hope, and they share a genuine, happy smile, before hugging each other.
    Shcherbina: Valery, what's that? A smile?
• When Khomyuk pressures Legasov to go public with the truth and insists that she would do it if she had the chance, Shcherbina snaps at her that a lot of people think that they'd do the right thing at any cost - right up until it's their lives and their loved ones on the line. While it's cynical, he's also clearly protective of his friend, and not about to let him be shamed into martyring himself.
  • This conversation takes on more significance when Legasov claims his testimony isn't finished, and he has more evidence to give. Scherbina could easily have protected Legasov from himself, by doing nothing at all. Instead, Scherbina stands up and outright overrules the Soviets trying to end the show trial, allowing Legasov to finish. He'd come to understand what the truth meant to these scientists, and stood up for Legasov telling it less than an hour after giving him cover not to. Despite the apparent contradiction, both actions were taken in full support of his friend. It also calls back to what Legasov said while comforting Scherbina about being "inconsequential". They hear Legasov, but they listen to Scherbina.
• During the flashback scenes in the final episode, Akimov steadfastly helps Toptunov, telling him "we'll work together", since he knows they're being pushed to do a test they haven't had time to understand or prepare for (and Toptunov has only been on the job for four months). Akimov really comes across as a benevolent, understanding superior (he was technically shift leader, Dyatlov was deputy chief engineer and was supervising the test).
• Shcherbina in the final episode, sick and pondering his death, confesses to Legasov that he's "an inconsequential man" — he's always been adjacent to greatness, without being great himself. Legasov counters that given the amount of effort he put into containing the disaster — moving men and material, forcing the rusty machinery of the Soviet state into action — Shcherbina is a man of towering achievements.
  Legasov: Of all the ministers and all the deputies, entire congregation of obedient fools they mistakenly sent the one good man. For god's sake, Boris, you were the one who mattered most.
  • Seeing his friend sick and probably not going to live for much longer like him is what prompts Legasov to finally tell the truth about the RBMK reactor's flaw.
  • The conversation ends with Shcherbina finding a caterpillar crawling on his hand and remarking on how beautiful it is.
• Though the aftermath is tragic, it's heartwarming that when Lyudmila goes into labor, two other women immediately rush to help a stranger sitting alone on a park bench.
• The series ends with a slate dedicating the series to those who suffered and died at Chernobyl. The epilogue also explains that Khomyuk is fictional and represents the hundreds of scientists who worked at Chernobyl in the aftermath. So yes, there were people other than Legasov who did their damnedest to prevent this horrible disaster from engulfing the rest of Europe, even as the Soviet government continued to hamstring their efforts just to save face. For these scientists, Cold War politics can take a backseat when the lives of millions are on the line.
  In Memory of All Who Suffered and Sacrificed
• It's a small thing, but in episode three, when Khomyuk is questioning Toptunov about the events leading up to the disaster, a thin trickle of blood runs down his face. She fetches a tissue and gently wipes it away. The fact that Toptunov's just told her that he's only twenty-five years old makes the gesture seem almost motherly.
• Despite everything Lyudmilla went through over the course of the tragedy, from needlessly losing her husband to ARS and subsequently miscarrying their daughter, the epilogue informs the audience that she beat all the odds and still managed to get something resembling a happy, albeit decidedly bittersweet, ending in the years that followed:
  Following the death of her husband and daughter, Lyudmilla Ignatenko suffered multiple strokes. Doctors told her she would never be able to bear a child. They were wrong. She lives with her son in Kiev.
• In the second episode Shcherbina is furious when Legasov calls him Boris, yelling ”Don’t use my name!” Later on in the series Legasov calls him Boris and Shcherbina doesn’t object, for his own part calling Legasov ”Valery”. It’s a nice subtle hint at the bond and friendship developing between them.