The series began with lies and ended with the truth. The first episode was full of lies, people lied both to others and to themselves. I talked more about this in a previous post of mine focusing on the dramatic irony in the episode. It all comes full circle during the final hearing in the finale when Valery Legasov gives his speech. Over the course of the series, he uncovers many truths and is able to piece together the entire story. The series begins with the immediate aftermath of the story that Legasov tells of how the power plant blew up, so by ending with the beginning we come full circle with the plot. However, because of Legasov’s explanation, we are not left right where we began, there is a clear progression, not in plot, but in truth. We don’t start at A and end at B, we start with lies and end with truth. This is one of the reasons that makes the series so compelling, its primary goal isn’t to tell you how Chernobyl happened, but rather why: a network of lies. In his speech, Legasov states, “Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth.” The show concludes with the payment of its debt to the audience, not money, but the truth.