“War, war never changes.” This iconic line has stood as a staple of the “Fallout” series, emphasizing the grim future for humanity in a post-apocalyptic world after the effects of nuclear fallout. I can’t emphasize how much I love the “Fallout” games. Each video game has supplied me with hundreds of hours of entertainment. It’s just insane thinking about how “Fallout” was originally just this little top-down RPG (Role-playing game) for the PC (Personalized Computer) in the late 90s. Only for one little game to lead to five sequels, one spinoff game and now its own TV show. The “Fallout” universe is rich with so much lore and different characters to the point where it can be very overwhelming. The TV show follows three main characters: Lucy, Maximus and Cooper. Now before we begin, It’s important for me to give a brief history lesson.
The world of “Fallout” takes place in an alternate reality, where after the events of WWII humans discovered a way to use nuclear energy as a sustainable fuel source. The overall aesthetic of the series alludes to what people in the 1950s thought the future would look like, that’s why everything is run on old Kenbak computers. For a while there was peace all over the world, but in 2052 the world would quickly run out of all its resources, and thus the resource war would begin.
The resource war was fought over the last remaining remnants of fossil fuels between China and the United States. The war would last for 24 years culminating in the year 2077; with the The Great War and the firing of the Atomic Bombs. China fired their bombs first and in response the United States launched theirs as well. This would lead to absolute nuclear armageddon. But over the years life on earth would begin to resurface. With common wildlife starting to mutate into giant creatures beyond our wildest nightmares. This would go on for 200 years until Vaults were opened allowing humanity to go into the Wasteland. But the world of law and order was long gone, leaving these humans with nothing but their survival instinct.
The majority of humans on the surface have become feral. In this world there was a select number of human beings who somehow actually survived the apocalypse but have been mutated into things called Ghouls. Ghouls are humans that have been exposed to a serious amount of radiation, they look like very burnt humans and are missing their noses. Due to Ghouls extensive exposure to radiation Ghouls are given an extended lifespan but this comes with a ton of drawbacks as well. Not only are ghouls heavily discriminated against in the wasteland, they also have a very high chance of turning into Feral. When a Ghoul becomes Feral they basically act like typical zombies that can run. However unless they consume a drug called Rad-X that will decrease their radiation levels and thus will stop them from turning Feral.
Sorry for getting side tracked but time to explain what a “Vault” is. Vaults in “Fallout” are bomb shelters that were made by the fictional company Vault-Tec. However, being a shelter for nuclear fallout actually wasn’t the Vaults original purpose. Vaults were actually originally made for human experimentation but were finished just before the bombs dropped. Vault-Tec would select certain people for each Vault. However while these Vaults would provide safety from the threats of nuclear fallout, each Vault was still used as a form of experimentation. For example in the video game “Fallout 3” Vault 101 was created to see what would happen when a Vault would never open. Another example is Vault 22 in “Fallout New Vegas.” Where the subjects of this Vault experiment would be to see how plants would adapt to the apocalypse.
In the Apocalypse there are a plethora of different factions. With the most notorious one being The Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood of Steel is a militaristic group that worships ancient technology. This group is made up of people called knights, people wearing something called Power Armor. Basically a super suite from before the great war that provides their users with an immense amount of strength. The Power Armor is another staple of the “Fallout” franchise and has been featured in almost every game’s cover art. The Brotherhood of Steel like to think of themselves as this force that will bring order to the wasteland. Eradicating the Ghouls and Super Mutants and creating a supposed utopia. There are plenty of other factions that I would love to go into but I think it’s about time that we get back to the actual show.
Like I said earlier, the “Fallout” TV show follows Lucy, Cooper and Maximus. Lucy is a vault dweller that goes to the surface for the first time. Cooper, or a he’s called “The Ghoul” is a hundreds of years old bounty hunter that’s always looking for a score. Maximus is a member of a military faction called the Brotherhood of Steel. Maximus becomes a squire who wants to prove himself as a loyal follower and to one day be granted the title of Knight.
All three characters are played exceptionally well. Ella Purnell as Lucy does a great job playing a young wide-eyed vault dweller that doesn’t fully grasp how the wasteland is an awful place. Walton Goggins provides a ton of fun acting choices that really add to his character Cooper. The series of “Fallout” takes a lot of inspiration from old Hollywood movies. From cheesy B-movies to classic westerns, “Fallout” as a whole is just a huge love letter to these types of movies and Cooper is the best personification of this by playing a bounty hunter cowboy.
The overall story is pretty interesting and I’m honestly shocked by how engaging each main character’s stories are. I was originally worried that Lucy’s story would just be a mix of the “Fallout 3” and “Fallout 4” main storylines, but my worries were quickly washed away as the main story continued to progress. Cooper’s story provided a surprising amount of world-building that I actually like a lot. Like the creation of the inspiration for Vault-Tec’s mascot Vault Boy’s iconic thumbs up. But my personal favorite character out of the three leads was Maximus. His story of self-discovery was surprisingly really moving, his torment of choosing either between his religion and his friends was a good basis for his character and I’m really excited to see what they do next with him. The Ghoul always steals the show whenever he’s on screen. The whole cowboy getup is just so cool and really makes his character stand out.
The pacing of the show is a little all over the place at times. Some scenes would go on for way too long and sometimes characters would just be physically all over the place. Characters would be here but then they would move on and then another character would go to that same place and do something that the original characters did not. This really happens in the middle and just kinda took me out of the show for a little bit but not by much.
One thing that really surprised me was just how practical the overall aesthetic of the show was. I was half expecting a fair amount of the effects to be cgi but the makeup and wardrobe department went way beyond what I had originally anticipated. You can actually feel the Power Armor whenever they’re on screen. Each movement and footstep gives the viewer a sense of how powerful this armor is. I do wish that we got to see more creatures but I understand why they didn’t have that many creatures because that would require a lot more money. This show only shows a very bite sized versionOverall the “Fallout” show stands as a beautiful adaptation of a beloved video game franchise. While it has some jankiness to its story and pacing, it’s easily made up for by the stellar cast, special effects and pretty good writing. With that, the “Fallout” TV series gets four potatoes. Now I personally can’t wait for season two but I have one thing to say to the showrunners of the TV series Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, you better have super mutants in the next season of this insanely large world. But probably the worst thing about this show is the ending of this first season.
The final episode was just way too rushed and actually had me asking more questions than the ones I had before I even saw the last episode. The information given to the audience is just a little too messy for my liking and doesn’t really do anything except make people want to watch season two. Again I know this is the point but there are other first seasons of TV shows that get the point across in a more effective and satisfying way that both gives a good resolution to the current season’s story but also provides enough to make people want to know what will happen next.
Overall the “Fallout” show stands as a beautiful adaptation of a beloved video game franchise. While it has some jankiness to its story and pacing, it’s easily made up for by the stellar cast, special effects and pretty good writing. With that, the “Fallout” TV series gets four potatoes. Now I personally can’t wait for season two but I have one thing to say to the showrunners of the TV series Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, you better have super mutants in the next season.
