...and, though not intentionally, I'm guessing, he combined elements of Eminem when he was "Slim Shady" ("I don't give a...") along with Robert De Niro as "Jimmy (Goodfellas) Conway" when the latter got the final news on his dear friend Tommy. LOVED this man's performance here.
he goes from being a statist hardliner to truly listening to the people that know what theyre talking about and heeding their advice to get the job done. Its beautiful.
@@DronZizzle 100%. He has one of the greatest arcs in TV history, told only in 5 episodes. From a dude who is a pure follower of the state to one who truly starts caring about his men and going balistic on the people he used to trust. Going with the advice of his comrads instead of the people up top. Its really beautiful.
It's really sad to see, cause he's genuinely for the best for the Soviet Union, and the system to which he believes in so strongly just betrays him more and more
Well given the ussr state affairs and denial on all gov't levels no wonder he lost his shit and took it out on the phone. You can only take so much lol
Its in the name i think. Stellan Starsgard. An incredibly underrated actor. Just like Jared Harris as Valery Legasov. Paul Ritter(also a rather unknown name) was a beast as Anatoly Dyatlov. HBO's Chernobyl was a very well written series, but its actors of this caliber that made it the great historical show we know now.
@@laraozates5157 meaning the storyline of the character - the journey a character takes in a story. Think in terms of how different Boris' character is in this scene compared to his introductory scene.
You can't be the same if you head "you will be dead in 5 years if you don't leave here". You would be like him if you were performing the longest suicide on earth.
I believed it must have been more than once, I like to think. The things he demanded from the Kremlin, such as the tons and tons of lead, sand and boron, added the 750k manpower, all those thing doesnt come simply at a snap of a finger. There must have been some sort of bureaucratic bs he has to fight through to get what he want to minimized the Chernobyl Disaster. In the show, Gorbachev may have green lighted the requested material but there must have been other career partyman poisoning Gorbachev ear and said that what Scherbina is doing is a waste of time, in order to get Scherbina fired and said career party man gaining his position. Whole damn system is a house of card ready to fall apart.
Man who wouldn't have that reaction. The man was trudging uphill through quicksand to try and help the people of his country from dying a horrific and painful death, and the ones pouring more quicksand down on him was his own government. The government he had just weeks ago worshiped wholeheartedly. Thats got to be one of the most brutal reality checks..
I don't think he believed in it. Just like the miners but (as the higher-up) he had to play along in the farse for his own benefit. He knows he's already dead, so says more and more truth thus paying the debt he took over the years with lying.
Does anybody with an ounce of competence really "believe" in any contemporary political system? I don't think so. I personally believe that Boris Shcherbina - like many people before him, many people now, and many people in the future - knew what kind of bullshit he was dealing with when it came to how the Soviet Union functioned. He gave it his best nonetheless.
Yep, this got him the Golden Globe for sure. In an interview he said he summoned up genuine anger for this scene by remembering how angry he felt in 1986 when the full scale of the accident was eventually admitted and the shadow it cast over Europe, the lies and denials by those at the very top in the Soviet Union.
@@hannibalsmyth6779 I'm afraid I don't, I just surfed onto it with Google months ago. I've tried re-looking for it but you know how effective that can be, lol! There are many interviews where he says that in the part of Sweden where he lived you were not allowed to pick mushrooms or berries or eat reindeer meat because of the fallout, many unexplained cancers for years after and he makes it quite clear that he doesn't agree with nuclear power because of Mans disrespect and clumsiness with such a natural awful force (awful in the true sense of the word!). If it hadn't been for Cliff Robinson, a worker at Sweden's Forsmark NP station setting off a radiation alarm how long would the Soviet Union denied there had been a major accident?
fusspot57 oh I thought you were referring to the historical boris scherbina not the actor himself. Yeah I remember that Stellan actually lived in Sweden during that time which I think was from one of the podcasts of Chernobyl. It’s amazing how the actor used his anger from his past and relayed it in the series. I was born 9 years after the Chernobyl disaster but the series relayed that atmosphere of dread and I felt frustrated at how some people were downplaying the event and protecting themselves instead of being honest. Before this series I had a different perception of Chernobyl but after watching this series I can’t say that it will ever be the same.
in their defense, what would have the people do differently if they were told asap about the accident? nothing but panic and possibly more unnecessary victims. also keep in mind that they had to do investigations to find out what happened in the first place. if it's an accident then how did it happen? and if it's sabotage then it's ww3.
@@rusu989 Sure, but they tried their hardest not to investigate or deal with it for too long. It was only thanks to a few going against the party leadership and exposing it that any action was eventually taken.
At 1:02, I just love the way Boris' face gradually and subtly goes from "what happened?" to "I'm gonna kill those fuckers!" as he puts two and two together and realizes what happened.
@@therabbidt So the Soviet Union downplayed how much radiation was being emitted by the exposed core, saying 2000 roentgen when these guys on the ground measured 9000 (if I remember the number right). So the robot would’ve been able to withstand 2000 and be able to clear the roof of debris, but 9000 destroyed it immediately
@@therabbidt In reality, the robot did manage to clear off some of the graphite on the roof, but it got stuck and the radiation started to take its effect on it. They tried to get the robot back on position to continue working, but by the time they managed to do it, the robot died to radiation.
@@therabbidt so the Soviet Union was downplaying the situation to the outside world, and because of that they were dragging their feet and being careful not to make too much of a ruckus moving supplies to Chernobyl. As a result, it took ages to get the robot there only for it to ultimately not accomplish much of anything. All the while, he and others stationed there around the clock are being exposed to radiation levels that are unsafe for longterm exposure Edit: also, completely forgot another point: the Soviets gave Germany a propaganda count for the radiation expected. They told them 2000 when the real number was closer to 15000
@@therabbidtUssr told Germany the wrong number. The leadership brought that robot to Boris knowing full well it was not going to work just to save face on the world stage
Shcherbina: We need a new phone. Dyatlov: Why? Shcherbina: That one’s broken. Dyatlov: You’re confused, our telephones don’t break. And that’s how Nokias were invented
He was right though.... The suits on the other side of the line could feel so high and mighty with their Party-protocol, fearpolicy and demanding respect... that RMBK-reactor didndt care for any of that, the 15.000 roentgen didnt obey Party policy, the KGB couldnt arrest it and put it in a gulag... this was something wáy over everyone's heads... Shcherbina was doing his best to deal with an impossible situation, and the Party just goofballed him with that Robot: They stil lacted in framing and propaganda... totally ignorant of the grotesque disaster, the size of it, and the consequenses: Still all of those partysuits were trying to kiss ass and saving their own arses.... Having to work with such selfish incompetence in such a situation.... beyond infuriating.
This was when Boris realised how desperate the Soviet Union was to protect themselves, even if it meant sending thousands of men to their deaths by hiding the truth.
Errr.... there was really no other way to stop the catastrophe, but sacrificing hundreds or maybe thousands of lives. That's not the issue. The issue is that - in spite of what's going on - some apparatchnik is lying to the German government and so wasting valuable time and effort on procuring a useless piece of equipment.
Sending the men was necessary but the Soviet Union is so desperate that they must lie about the disaster. Saying the disaster isn’t possible or the high radiation.
Correction, Millions. 60 Million of Ukrainian, Belarus, 200 km perimeter from Chernobyl to Kiev, and everyone who lives from the Black Sea's ecosystem. Maybe add the casualty from the fact they hid the Bubbler Tank problem, that will poison half of Europe and parts of Asia.
"Please tell me how a Deputy of the Council of Ministers explodes. Not a meltdown, an explosion" "That is how a Deputy of the Council of Ministers explodes: *lies* "
His reaction, anger, and frustration are fully justified. He is actively poisoning himself and everyone around him for the sake of cleaning Chernobyl up, yet the state is still not able to stop lying even if it is to get them the resources they need to finish cleaning that radioactive mess.
I can't help but wonder... Who was the idiot that gave the "Propaganda number" rather than the real one? Gorbachev seems like he was willing to give them anything necessary to clean up the mess as soon as possible. So I can't imagine he would have been happy to find out they were stuck in limbo for months only for the damn drone to die in 5 seconds due to details being underreported to the drone builders. Hell, could've just lied and said' "Yeah we're reading 2,000, but let's prep for 15000 just to be sure this works perfectly.
@@Kamina.D.Fierce welcome to the soviet union. The world's first attempt at the "egalitarian" lifestyle, and what happened?? A bunch of powerful, greedy men allowed the lies and corruption of medieval serfdom to bleed into the 20th century. Then again what should you expect from a Union of Soviet Puppets who were all controlled by the very people those revolutionaries claim to attain freedom from? The soviets lied, cheated, and stole everything they could to maintain the semblance of relevance, when all that made them relevant were the thousands of unchecked nukes they were selling to their satellites. Lying about the truth, to the Nth degree, until Armageddon stares you down, is as natural to communists as breathing.
@@Kamina.D.Fierce The propaganda number was likely given by a Commie hardliner like the old man in the board room scene. The Soviet government was always dominated by those types and they had no qualms about subverting the will of the Premier. They even attempted a coup d'etat against Gorbachev himself in August 1991.
@@Kamina.D.Fierce Its the official version of the CCCP, rubbber-stamped by Gorbachev. Its one thing to admit something internally but completely a different to do so to a foreign, hostile state. The problem here is that this kind of behavior leads to this solution being doomed from the get-go which leads to even more problems. The person communicating with the FRG must not tell the real radiation level and probably does not even know it while the people in charge of that person (who know the real value, if there are any) do not know that the robot does not work under the real radiation level.
@@anon_148 Hardly. If they'd come clean about just how deep in the shit they were with regard to the disaster, they might've gotten more help. Just look at the scene in this video: Had they told the Germans they were dealing with 15,000 roentgen rather than 2,000, they'd have gotten a robot that wouldn't have literally melted as soon as it was placed on the roof.
Actually, I think that’s more a look of sheer terror... Shcherbina realized that the roof of reactor 4 was too radioactive for robots to function longer than a matter of seconds, which meant that human workers had to be sent up there instead. He knew it would most likely be a death sentence for them, or at the very least, cut away decades from their life expectancies and plague them with chronic medical conditions. This was one of the reasons why Boris erupted over the phone with his superiors in Moscow, in addition to their refusal to acknowledge the severity of the disaster.
Minnesota Nice no he realized that the state lied to Germany who did have a robot that possibly could do the job, but instead got one that couldnt resist more than 2-3k Roentgen.
Look for some people, the difference between boiling telephone breaking rage and sober discourse is often one good bitchfit and not a moment longer Source: me
@@IrishVikingman He still could have yelled at them out of frustration, but he "blew his wad" over the phone call to the jackasses that sabotaged the robot by lying to the Germans. In short, he felt better after the call and was able to get back to work.
I love how calm Legasov is, he's somewhere between "I told you" and "Boris is acting like how i feel about this bs from the beginning" and just chills, making peace with the world as he knows they are both slowly dying
@@raven4k998 Did u watch the show? The robot was not designed for that level of radiation because to save face the Soviet government lied about it hence the failure. Boris knew exactly what happened when it broke down. Not because of the robot, but because of the State. P.S: Not rads btw, but roentgen.
I know this is a tv show and some events are only shown for drama, but I really do hope that is is one of those scenes where it's 100% accurate with boris yelling at the central committee for lying
That is something we could never know. If the real life figure had a fight with his superiors, it would have been in private and never would have been written on any record, save perhaps his personal disciplinary file.
You can just *read* in his face that he figured out *immediately* what was going on when the robot failed that quickly, and how as he’s leaving the anger and frustration is sinking in.
2:21 The light humor at the end when he says to the official; “you’ll need a new phone” was icing on the cake This whole series was phenomenally acted and portrayed
The voice of a man who has gone from zero knowledge about RBMK reactors to becoming the second most knowledgeable person on the planet over a period of just weeks.
@@DrTenochtitlan With the cutaway model of Reactor 4 as his plaything. Yes. I would say his is one of the better written and acted television characters of the last fifty years.
He might have been the most knowledgeable lay person. But the professional scientists and engineers who designed and built it have much more breadth and depth of knowledge.
Boris can accept that projecting strength is more important than saving lives. He did not get that projecting strength was more important than actually _being_ strong. The Soviet Union would gladly blow up 100 tanks if it gave them 120 realistic-looking cardboard tanks.
@@JoshSweetvale I mean, that was the reality of the Soviet Union by this point. It was, at minimum, 15 years behind the US and it's main European Allies. And they knew it. But they were terrified of what would happen if either their own people or the West found out. Much of their expenditures, much of their policies, were a great façade, a projection of strength to make them appear as if they were keeping up. This is why in the trial, when it is pointed out that Russia cheaped out on the reactors it's met with gasps and a sense of scandal: no one was supposed to acknowledge that, that the USSR was stretching its resources to breaking point just to keep up appearances. People think Glasnost precipitated the crumbling of the USSR, but it didn't. The Union was already rotten on the inside. Glasnost just pulled off the mask.
@@Nuvendil The Union, as flawed as it was, wasn't more rotten than most of the western countries including America to justify its collapse. The fall was violent, and caused by the leadership. A country does not fall just because its system is not functioning properly. I'm not really much arguing here, nor defending the USSR really, just saying that the fall of the Soviet Union was not a house of cards situation, it was political capitulation.
@@TueLesPigeons They couldn't possibly end up like North Korea. North Korea lost 20 to 25% of its population to US bombing during the Korean war, was embargoed and isolated from the rest of the world.
The military of the USSR was an odd beast when you think about it. These were some of THE most loyal people to the Soviet cause second only to the politicians, but that's the thing. They were volunteers who joined the military, believing they could defend the Soviet dream. Thus, they became it's biggest defense and enforcer group, even surpassing the size of the KGB. In this incident however, Boris, that General, and pretty much everyone who showed up for this disaster rapidly discovers how little the system they've been adamantly upholding actually cares for any of them even the most loyal of believers compared to maintaining the USSR's own strong global image. The drone didn't work because they didn't admit how powerful the radiation was so it wasn't shielded properly. As such they went with "bio drones"... soldiers... men... I can almost guarantee even the best equipped of them all who went up to that roof didn't have anywhere close to enough protection to truly avoid radiation effects on their bodies. Not entirely. Thousands of the most loyal men... sent to clean up a mess for a bunch of political leaders who wouldn't dare go within 1000 miles of the danger. Remember the Soviet casualty count for this incident is still unchanged as only... 31
This scene and the final scene with the one good man that mattered the most are probably the best scenes that ever came out of a tv series. 'Nuff said.
This show was a perfect attack on what was wrong with the USSR. Everything from how the blame culture works (top down) to even scenes like this where they put their appearance of power over the safety of their men.
I agree 100%. But - we do the same thing here, put people at risk because of profit margins. I'm in the car business - why don't we put side airbags on all cars? Because it increases production costs. At least here in the US side airbags are not mandated by law.
You're naive if you think this series was ONLY about the Soviet Union. This can happen in any state that lacks sufficient accountability and transparency.
Stellan Skarsgard basically won the Golden Globe because of this scene, I think. This is the scene where the audience really starts to like/sympathize with Scherbina.
I liked him already when he used his newfound knowlegde to dismantle the lies of bruchanov or when he gave legasov that look of desperation imploring him to say that he does not have to send other people to their deaths after the helicopter crashed.
They weren’t fighting a nuclear meltdown. They were fighting governmental incompetence and willful ignorance. They were fighting adults acting like children.
This wasn't a meltdown. It was a horrific awakening, unleashed with fury of betrayal and disgust for the people; against his superiors and the entire chaos of that mess dropped into his lap.
In the after-show podcast, Craig Mazin (series creator and co-head writer) said that episode 4 is his fave of the series in part bc of Scherbina losing every last one of his marbles and losing the religion of his party in favour of his human decency
He was very intimidating as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune as well. Barely reckognisable in that fatsuit and the CGI, but wow, whát a portrayal of an absolutely ruthless, calculating, sadistic béast of a man, who wielded fár too much power and wealth. Amazing actor!
He knows they basically can't because... While they won't ADMIT to the scope and seriousness of the disaster, they've still been told the facts of it. As such, nobody else in the KGB or Soviet government is willing to risk their lives by replacing Boris and going anywhere close to Chernobyl or its radiation.
Well, I suppose he never exposed them to the public so he never did anything treasonous in their eyes. He just gave the ruling elite the assraping they needed over a private phone call.
Love how you could gauge someone's moral fortitude by watching when they stopped venting their frustrations on the people beneath them in the hierarchy and started challenging the people above.
Boris Scherbina was a superman of his time. 1. Fought in Russian-Finnish war. 2. During the Great Patriotic War (the period of WW2 on the Soviet territory, that's how it's called in CIS countries) he was responsible for the railway transportations. 3. Started to develop Tyumen (city in Siberia) as a oil region, which led this city to be one of the biggest oil developing centers in Russia. 4. Chernobyl. 5. Two years after Chernobyl disaster he was responsible for dealing the outcome of the earthquake in Armenia, which was one of the most disasterous earthquakes for this region (the Armenian people, you can add something, if I seem to be incorrect). After watching the series just now, as a person, who heard a lot about this catastrophe and who was raised by the Soviet parents, I disagree with some moments in these series, which seem to be propaganda. But I applause to HBO for the main message: to praise and to remember the Heroes of their time, the People who sacrificed their health and lives. Some of them were the same age as I am, they were scared, but they went and did their important job. And, actually, when I watch the interviews of the liquidators, I admire how humble, brave and unbroken these people are.
and also kudos for making an excellent job recreating the makeup, clothes, atmosfere of the time, all the little details that make you feel like you're actually there. but yes, there's also propaganda. like the lie with the graphite "tipped" ( witch were part of a control mechanism and weren't there just because "it's cheaper" as claimed in the series ) rods.
Maria, I truly agree with you on how much the show used Neo-Red Scare tactics, painting the Soviet Union as though they were inept and lying to cover up Chernobyl. Just wish the producers/director left out the Russophobia and stuck with the human toll of a nuclear catastrophe as they did in so many other scenes in the show. The Soviets were courageous in preventing an even worse catastrophe from unfolding, and I give them immense amount of respect. Just wish the West didn’t try so hard to engage in regime change tactics.
@@ElderStatesman Bryan, I sincerely wish the same. Of course, propaganda exists from all the sides and it's part of politics. But, unfortunately, it influences a lot. As a Russian, I can feel it sometimes even during travelling:) But, anyway, there are many many more nice, hospitable and smart people in the whole world, representing only the best from their cultures, which is truly amazing. Thank you for your comment!
"Dad, can i ask you a question ? _Sure, son, go ahead. _Why is my sister's name Rose ? _Because your mother loves roses. _Thank you Daddy ! _You're welcome, Boris Evdokimovich Shcherbina's meltdown"
When I first started this series, I thought Boris was a complete asshole, but as the episodes wore on, I came love his character the most, He and Valery were both good men who sacrificed themselves for the greater good.
That man is a fucking legend and has nothing but my utmost respect. Both the actor and his real life inspiration. If there's an afterlife I'll buy that man a bottle of the smoothest vodka I can find with whatever they trade in up or, judging by the world we live in, down there.
you know how furious you must be and having really had it when in the Soviet Union you can yell 'I don't give a fuck!' I think that line along with how Stellan Skarsgard delivers it really brings home just how ridiculous the Soviet Union is at it's core at that point.
Scherbinas arc in the series was the best. Imagine devoting your life to a Party, and then when you lay down your life to clean up their mistake, they’re too busy making themselves look good to make your sacrifice worthwhile.
2:20 That soldier isn't accidentally there, he was a spy or agent. Shcherbina knows it and he points him with the finger saying "you need a new phone" since he knows he's been listening every word because they were being investigated by the Kremlin. What a boss
@@Edo_Aelio who else would you expect to be hanging around inside the exclusion zone of a sensitive facility quarantined by the Soviet military in an effort to control information about the world's first nuclear disaster to mitigate political and international fall out? An unpaid intern? Kyle from Geek Squad? Deputy Chair of the Council of ministers was a senior government position, roughly fourth or fifth removed from the Premier. They could have people shot or imprisoned for annoying them. Whoever he told to go get a phone, was obliged to go get a phone.
I love how Boris leaves the room to go scream at his superiors before he's even heard any explanation from the engineers as to why the rover has stopped working... Because he already knows it had nothing to do with them.
Shcherbina was a loyal Party-man, but he was too intelligent to not realise the horrible truth in front of him. At first he was more interested in Party-interests, but quickly he learnt that Legasov was actualyl telling the real truth; This was an unprecedented disaster, and they were to deal wit ha situation beyond comprehension, as the consequenses were too grave. He snapped, because the Party was still trying to water this down and cover it up as an accident. He knew this wasnt 'just an accident'. This was really bad! The only thing that could help here, was be honest, and face the truth!
Boris is obviously the star of this scene but understated is how Legasov has changed too. Early on he was timid and unsure of himself around Shcherbina, now he witnesses one of the all time great TV meltdowns and barely reacts as if he's seen Boris do this dozens of times by now. Great work by both men.
