Mazin discussed this at length on the first episode of the podcast about the series. He says they tried having the actors do a Russian accent, but it veered into a comical thing, so it was quickly scrapped. He also didn’t want to task the actors with performing an accent just to indicate where the characters were from…

He truly captured Scherbina's truculence and impatience. He made me even care for the bastard! To see him in something lighter, look at the first two Thor movies - he's the scientist who mentors Natalie Portman's character.

Repeat after me: São Paulo. São Paulo. São Paulo.

Oooh, thanks for finding it, I’ll watch it for sure. I think the deviations (and honestly flattening) of Legasov’s actions and motivations are due to time constraints, and the need to find characters that represent different driving forces in the story arc, just like you said. Regardless of how great an actor Harris…

After his performance as George VI on The Crown, I had great expectations for this performance. He does not disappoint. I take issue with the whitewashing of Legasov as a character - right from the get go he had a good idea of the severity of the situation, and over time he became vocal about how structural changes…

I couldn’t look at any of the scenes, so I can’t speak to their content or tastefulness. I covered my eyes and my husband muted the TV, and I only started watching again when he told me they were over. I’m a wuss, I know. Frankly, did they need 2 scenes (with the second one being even more gut-wrenching than the…

I live in Bentonville, and while I’ve for the most part gotten used to the many Waltons’ investments in the area, the incongruence of what they do for the arts and quality of life versus how they treat store employees like less than shit will never cease to amaze me. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde level of dissonance.

Ding ding ding! Exactly. Legasov’s monologue in the first episode contends with the cost of lies, and I wondered whether we would see him lying through his teeth, especially to Hans Blix and the international scientific community. I don't think we will.

From what I could gather, there seems to be a codependent dynamic based on gratitude that Barry felt because Fuches was responsible for his discharge and making his whole freakout in Afghanistan “go away”, and Fuches’s impulse to prey and capitalize on Barry’s directionlessness in order to put his skills to use as a…

Yes, It's fantastic. I've just read Midnight in Chernobyl, and it's a wonderful companion piece, too.

Anthony Carrigan deserves all of the awards. He manages to be funny, touching, real, and he accent he found for Hank is a masterpiece. I never thought I’d like a reluctant Chechen mobster, but his performance has that effect.

“Family good. Chair bad. Burn chair. Take mom”.

After Sansa said the North should be free and Bran agreed, my first thought was “oooh, I bet the rulers of the other kingdoms are kicking themselves for not having had the idea first!"

As others have said, at least fucking Jon Snow pet Ghost. Not as enthusiastically as I’d like, but I’ll take it.

Can you have a beer with him though?

Good summary. I might also add

Oh man, I’m reading this and the tears are coming down. So glad you’ve made it, I’ve enjoyed your writing since you came to Deadspin. As a wife and mother of 2, during your ordeal I was worried sick about your family. I put myself in your wife’s shoes and a chill would run down my spine every time.

About Laurence’s question:

That’s for sure. It was a VFX tour de force. I don’t have any gripes with how proficiently they shot the episode. With their writing though...

1) if your dentist went out of business, it’s most likely a sign he or she wasn’t all that good.