#fomin

[elenatria]

Bryukhanov in his undershirt, babyyyyy.

Some "new" publicity stills from the site that keeps on giving.

[siriuslymeg]

So I've never had this happen before during my Chernobyl research. I've had a few differing facts or numbers that were slightly off but none like this:

So this is an excerpt from Serhii Plokhy's book Chernobyl. It mentions the devastating car accident which left Fomin seriously injured and deeply affected his mental health. This has been the general consensus, whenever it was mentioned in the things I've read or heard, that he was in a car accident.

However, the book I'm reading now, Ablaze by Piers Paul Read, goes a completely different route:

Like, what??? This almost seems too goofy to be true. Like can anyone imagine Fomin scaling his balcony like a monkey? I had to take a step back when I read this because it was so completely different from the general consensus. I checked Adam Higginbotham's book Midnight in Chernobyl and it doesn't seem to mention anything about Fomin's accident, and I haven't looked too much into it because I'm really not a fan of Fomin but???? @tryingtobealwaystrying do you have any thoughts about this? Lol

[elenatria]

I swear I was only looking for Valoris reference pics...

I was doing a google image search for a better quality version of a Valery pic, and not only did I find it in high res, I found a BUNCH of pics I had never seen before. *___*

There's one more publicity shot from their first Kremlin scene but I've never seen this one before. Look at Boris' deadly glare, tilting his head to the side as if he's about to chew off Valery's face. And those massive fingers. <3

Boris Shcherbina towering over incompetent fools.

Is Valery tied up? Or maybe Boris sees him that way...

First night together. 💗 As Pikalov put it, "There's a hotel... 😉".

That Boris profile. ❤💗

Seeing them from the back during the rooftop scene.

Suspenders porn. Is Valery sneaking glances at Boris while revealing just a few tantalizing inches of his suspender? "I swear it was completely by chance."

...And that explains what Boris' massive hands are doing there. 👇

Boris has no choice but to spring to his feet and get a closer look at those naughty suspenders.

Sad Boris is sad. TT__TT

...but at least now he has someone to look up to.

Look at Boris' compassionate look as he gazes at his Valery who is burdened with a horrible dilemma. 😭

A clearer, more detailed photo than the other Valery/Ulana publicity shot we have and guess what, the deputy director of the Kurchatov institute loves him some Шекспир. 😁 Makes me wonder which play of The Bard is his favourite one.

The day of reckoning...

But before their world falls apart, before they lose each other forever, they have one last moment, they have The Bench.

They will always have The Bench.

💔

Btw why is that guard smiling wtf. Does he ship them too??

P.S.: It does make you wonder though just how MANY other Chernobyl publicity shots are out there and we haven't found them yet.

And I mean it's been years.

[elenatria]

Tolya. 💙

[elenatria]

Our favourite Chernobyl Stooges. 💔

Same quote, but how heartbreaking it is now to get a "brand new behind-the-scenes pic from Con O'Neil'"...

How short life is. How finite.

[elenatria]

More comedy from “Chernobyl”’s very own Abbott and Costello. 

[elenatria]

I’ve been looking at the grandson scene for so long that I couldn’t see anything past it. It seems there’s another deleted scene I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere, and that’s Fomin’s suicide attempt. I never imagined it would be in the script and not just mentioned by Boris.

As for the grandson scene itself, maybe it doesn’t seem so necessary now but it’s not there only for exposition. It’s clear foreshadowing of Valery’s suicide and we see the reasons behind it, his deteriorating health (as Boris suggests) and his need to make a statement. It’s as if Valery is already contemplating suicide after getting the idea from Fomin. Because, contrary to  Fomin who was scared out of his wits, Valery DID want to make a statement. 

[elenatria]

Chernobyl is the only show who gives us a wide variety of beautiful (shipable) persons, from nerd-twink Dmitri to pure-twink Leonid.

Do I have to make a list of Chernobyl’s badass yummy tragic shippable men?

Oh well. I’ll make a list of Chernobyl’s badass yummy tragic shippable men.

Because I’ve never seen a show with SO MANY badass yummy tragic shippable men in such few episodes. And some of them had only one memorable line. One. Line.

Do I start with Dyatlov? Watch me start with Dyatlov.

I remember… he was the second thing that impressed me when I watched ep 1 (the first was Valery leaving many bowls to his cat and committing suicide right after. I had to re-watch the bowl scene.) I was so struck by his guy-next-door looks, I was like “what the hell am I looking at, why does he look so familiar? Why does he not look like… an actor?” And then the detached way he’d say “Akimov…” as his voice trailed off, a voice so cold yet calm and mesmerizing. I’ve never seen such a realistic “villain” before and, just to play the devil’s advocate here, it still kinda bugs me that Mazin talks about him as this super nasty irredeemable villain. I have the impression that even in the recent podcast he talks as if HBO Dyatlov and the real Dyatlov are one and the same. Lack of time to explain himself maybe? Jared starts poking into that with his mention of an excerpt in the script of the court scene where we were meant to feel some compassion for Dyatlov (34:55) (his “history and motivations”). That part was omitted in the script btw, but if anyone has seen it… 

And of course there’s the deleted scene here. That we will probably never see.

I do understand that an auteur has to support his choices no matter what, and Mazin’s choice is Dyatlov = villain. But I do believe he is kinda absolute with some things, conveniently overseeing them, even saying that he didn’t give Jared any jokes because “Legasov wasn’t funny” (46:32) . 

Wut? 1:14

If he had said “I didn’t write Legasov as funny” he would have kinda owned it but the use of the past tense (”wasn’t”) implies that he meant the real Legasov. Same goes for Dyatlov I guess.

Akimov.

His relationship with Toptunov. Enough said.

Akimov wears a wedding ring and that feeds lots of “forbidden relationship” fics and I love it.

On to Toptunov. Yeah. Twinkest twink I’ve ever seen.

And I mean these guys are on fire, and we had to watch the very last episode to find out.

Steamy Toptumov fics? Bring them my way.

Then we have Vasily. 

Thank god I hadn’t seen The Terror before Chernobyl so I watched Adam Nagaitis’ Igantenko with pure eyes.

To this day it hurts to watch his scenes. All of them. And it’s even worse to read his story in “Chernobyl prayer”. Soooooo much worse. Not only because it’s a true story but because his wife’s description makes you feel the pain. How a decaying body can suffer, and the people taking care of it.

I understand some fans were kinda bummed that the show didn’t dig deeper into his and Lyusya’s love story. Makes sense. But to me they’re the definition of tragic puppy love and it hurts as it is.

And then my beloved Sitnikov with his exasperated, confident “Follow me”. I mean. <3 

Another ring-bearer that one.

Aaaaaah look at that handsome confident face marry meeeeeeee. 

Bryukhanov. Another guy-next-door. Had me staring at the screen, listening to his every-day high-pitched husky voice and I was like “Did that guy jump right out of that seaside pastry shop where I was with my dad  back in the summer of 1985?”. Did they use a time machine to bring him to the show or something?

And now I’m finding out he has a fan base. Fuck yeah.

Fomin. Ok I legit knew that guy but I couldn’t put a name on his face

He was James Potter. ^^ And oh, he has worked before with Stellan and Emily in Breaking the waves. Somehow you feel compelled to trust that face, never mind if in “Chernobyl” he was cowardly and scared as a rat. The way he yelled “It was Dyat-lov!…” as they took him away, so beautiful, so dramatic.

And now, on to the main course.

DMITRI.

Oh my paws and whiskers.

He cares about Ulana SO MUCH that he follows her around on a Saturday like a puppy. Bringing her coffee and who knows what else. 

He even jokes about her dedication. But oh look, he’s dedicated too.

Comrade, I don’t wanna say it out loud but I’m crushing on you.

You can see Ulana is almost afraid to look into his eyes when she asks him what he’s doing there. She knows. 

But of course there are so many things keeping them apart. There’s the age difference - people would call her names even if they wouldn’t call Dmitri the same names if their ages were reversed. There’s their professional relationship that shouldn’t be compromised. There’s that ring on her finger that Dmitri doesn’t know if it’s a wedding ring, an engagement ring, or an ex-lover’s present. Does she even have eyes for him? Dmitri doesn’t know.

Even meatier stuff. 

PIKALOV. 

*screaming*

Wanna love a character because of a single line and the way he delivers it? Yeah, Pikalov is your man.

The steady decisive pause before his statement. The honour, the nobility, the self-sacrifice. If you didn’t know by then that “Chernobyl” was going to be the show with the biggest number of small but honourable characters, you got your first hint with Pikalov.

Another overlooked but honourable character. Shchadov.

And he has lots of power bottom potential.

Alrightz. Fan favourite time. I don’t even have to go into details. Glukhov.

Thank you, Mr Ferns, for being the only character in the show to deliver both noble heroic lines as well as eye candy.

Next: TARAKANOOOOOOOOOV.

Big dick energy right there. His resigned pauses between sentences, the way he sucks in the smoke, his authority as he greets each and every soldier. Stunning.

Pavel.  *cries* 3

If you swear to never watch the dog scenes again there is so much shippy potential in that one. Pacho prompts, here I come!!

Bacho, his war code of honour and his “I’m happy every day”.

You *know* he’s not happy but it doesn’t matter. What matters is how he’s trying to convince everyone else that he is. His perseverance. There’s a war to be won, even if he knows he’s losing.

Last but not least: Stepashin. Give me Roose Bolton in a minor courtroom role anytime, ANYTIME.

Honourable mention to Charkov because yeah, you know me. Because I just can’t get over this man. 

Also C-V-B. Also dub con. Don’t judge me.