The world may be more divided than ever before—on political ideology, prospective NBA champions, Billie Eilish—but there’s one thing everyone can agree on: HBO’s miniseries Chernobyl was incredibly good. Fantastic, even. Variety reports that the critically acclaimed dramatization of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster is IMDb’s top-rated television series of all time.
Chernobyl currently boasts a 9.6 out of 10 rating on IMDb. According to Variety, “For now, that puts the critically acclaimed “Chernobyl” ahead of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” (9.5), BBC’s “Planet Earth II” (9.5), HBO’s “Band of Brothers” (9.5), the original “Planet Earth” (9.4), HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (9.3) and HBO’s “The Wire” (9.3).” Considering the fact that IMDb users rank Rick and Morty above The Sopranos, it’s worth noting that IMDb isn’t the ultimate arbiter of quality. But it’s still an impressive showing, and Chernobyl is 100 percent worth the hype.
While some viewers were put off by the use of British accents—prompting memes aplenty—the series got more things right than wrong, and opting not to make Chernobyl lead Jared Harris speak in a Russian accent was just one of them. Craig Mazin, the series’ creator, writer, and executive producer, harnessed restraint and respect to a story vulnerable to crass sensationalization and Western chauvinism. With every episode, director Johan Renck forged a series of haunting visuals that lingered in viewers’ minds long after the credits rolled. And stellar performances by Harris (portraying Valery Legasov, a renowned Soviet nuclear scientist), Stellan Skarsgård (portraying Soviet politician Boris Shcherbina, tasked with leading the USSR’s investigation into Chernobyl), and Emily Watson (portraying Ulana Khomyuk, a fictional character representing the dozens of Soviet nuclear scientists who helped uncover the cause of the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl), in addition to a host of other talent, helped give Chernobyl the rave reviews it deserves.
If you don’t believe IMDb, at least believe me when I say this is a series worth binge-watching. It’ll almost make you forget how mad a certain other HBO show made you a couple weeks ago.