Chernobyl episode 3 live stream: Watch online

For every disaster averted, another threat arises in its place. Chernobyl episode 3 reveals the true scale of the containment efforts.

Last week’s episode of Chernobyl managed to transition from the fevered pitch of the miniseries premiere to a sustainable creep of dread for its second episode. This week, the third episode promises to continue the slow unwinding of the catastrophe.

Watch the trailer here:

Efforts to contain the disaster continue, as the opening narration of the teaser reveals that the crisis which ended the previous episode has passed. Now Legasov is requesting 750,000 people to help contain the damage. It’s difficult to say whether the bureaucratic foot-dragging will continue, or whether Legasov will receive the resources he needs in order to fully contain the disaster. Of course, we could always just look up what actually happened; but where’s the fun in that?

A shot of what appears to be pouring concrete suggests that this is the episode which will begin the construction of the sarcophagus: a concrete structure meant to contain the reactor core.

In the last episode, Lyudmilla Ignatenko (Jessie Buckley) made her way through the hospital in chaos in search of her husband Vasily (Adam Nagaitis). With what we know of those exposed so directly to the reactor’s initial radiation, paired with the shots of grim hospital scenes in this week’s teaser, makes it difficult to hold out hope for a happy reunion.

The true drama of the series, however, does not necessarily lend itself well to an exciting 60-second teaser. What really makes Chernobyl so especially moving is the ways in which it is still sharply relevant today. The reactor itself is still so radioactive that an hour’s direct exposure would be fatal; The Fukushima nuclear disaster happened less than a decade ago. Nuclear power is still used throughout the globe, and the potential for massive cataclysm due to inadequate safety precautions is still very much a possibility.

The emphasis on the terrible danger that the Chernobyl disaster presented to the world is not only for the sake of dramatic tension; it is a warning about the challenges and tragedies humanity might yet still face.

Here are all the details you need to watch Chernobyl tonight:

"Date: Monday, May 20Start Time: 9 p.m. ETEpisode: “Open Wide, O Earth”TV Channel: HBOLive Stream: Watch on HBO and HBO Go, as well as Hulu and Amazon Prime."

Chernobyl airs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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