Have Faith, Comrades

We finished Chernobyl last night, a brilliant final episode to wrap up a brilliant miniseries.

We were struck by the below scene in episode one, in which the plant managers and local party apparatchiks are trying to figure out what happened and what to do: 

Watch the old man, the old communist. 

He got that limp in the Great Patriotic War. 

He knew Lenin, didn't he? 

Gentle and kindly, he is a true believer. 

'Have faith, comrades.'

This is not cynicism. This is idealism. His words are inspirational and heartwarming.

His words are also heartbreaking.

For the Soviet state will fail the Soviet people in every way, utterly, completely.