The Happiness of All Mankind

Lore & Background

Hundreds of liquidators are conscripted to decontaminate the surrounding area, among them a team sent to kill the pets and wildlife left behind. An attempt to clear graphite and debris from the roof with a German robot fails when radiation destroys its circuitry. Shcherbina and General Nikolai Tarakanov then send 3,828 liquidators onto the roof in 90-second missions to clear the debris by hand.

Khomyuk learns, despite official secrecy, that the AZ-5 button causes a brief spike in reactivity because of a design flaw, and that Legasov already knew of it. She urges him to expose the flaw at a conference in Vienna. Shcherbina warns him of the risks. The episode also shows Lyudmilla giving birth to a baby who dies within four hours.

Reader's Guide

The storyline of the liquidator draftee Pavel, played by Barry Keoghan, and the soldier Bacho, played by Fares Fares, runs through the episode.

Some of what it shows is contested. The series presents the death of the baby as a result of radiation from Vasily; a medical responder has said that such beliefs were false. Lyudmilla Ignatenko herself said in 2019 that she was harassed and criticised after the series aired, and that she had never given permission for her story to be told, which the producers reject.

The first broadcast on HBO drew 1.193 million viewers in the United States, and 1.311 million watched in the United Kingdom.

Did You Know?

• Ralph Ineson plays Nikolai Tarakanov, the chief supervisor of the cleanup operation.
• The roof-clearing missions shown in the episode last 90 seconds each.