Derik Badman's Journal

We watched the first episode of HBO's Chernobyl miniseries last night, and it is pretty brutal and horrifying in an all too real way (I was alive but too young to be aware when the Three Mile Island accident happened in my home state). One of the most effective parts, is right in the first scene (well the first that takes place in the timeline, so far, the episode starts with a proleptic introduction). A young woman is in her apartment late at night, we see a window and the horizon in the distance. A silent flash of light in the distance, except not a flash, as it doesn't go away, then a moment later her whole building shakes and we hear the sound of objects and buildings shimmying. There is no loud explosion, no visible burst of flames or shrapnel, just a silent light in the distance, far off in some sense (sound, detail), but too close in every other way.