What is the cost of lies?

I have now watched all of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl and listened to all of the podcasts, and OMG YOU GUYS.

I have thoughts. And feelings. I am not entirely sure how to make words about those thoughts and feelings so for now, have a quote I had to actually transcribe from (my not-pirated-at-all-no-really copy of) the post-credits bit for episode 5 because I wanted to put it somewhere I could find later.

They're talking to the actors and Stellen Skarsgård says:

"What's really interesting is how the ideology of the Soviet Union, the idea of a system that was infallible, and the fear of people to point out any flaws or mistakes--everything had to be perfect, so you had to pretend it was perfect.

Any system with too strong an ideology, whether it's the idea of a perfect nation, or a perfect belief, leads to exclusion of facts."

The through-line of the whole series is "What is the cost of lies?" and the narrative payoff in the last episode is so, so satisfying. While still being bleak as shit, as is the whole series--which is of course entirely appropriate for the subject matter. I mean, the first episode starts with the main character hanging himself (as he did in real life), and that's not the most depressing part of even that episode. "Enjoy" is not the right word for this show.

The podcast also has some fascinating details about what bits are historically accurate and what's dramatic license and WHY they made those decisions. And it's clear that Craig Mazin, the writer/creator, was very concerned with getting the important stuff right and being respectful of the real people who were there.

So anyway, I can't be like OMG EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH THIS because good lord no, but I appreciated the hell out of it.