Fallout Season 2 Episode 1-6 Early Review

The following is a spoiler-free review of the first 6 (out of 8) episodes of Fallout Season 2, premiering tonight on Prime Video

Based on the popular video game franchise of the same name, the first season of the Prime Video TV adaptation was not without flaws, but it delivered the spirit of the video games by offering viewers a compelling wasteland adventure. Meanwhile, that adventure would be not be near as good as it was if not for the trio of lead performances from Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, and Walton Goggins. Taking the story from the inside of the vault and into the dangerous and unpredictable wasteland, the first season moved on and never looked back but as fans of the video game franchise already know, there is a lot more left to explore. Therefore, this new season expands on that world and its lore, continuing to connect dots between the past and the present. Stepping up in terms of ambition and scope, the season attempts to paint a larger picture and offering viewers more to contend with. However, with more to contend with, much like the first season, season 2 takes some time to find its footing. Foreshadowed in the fleeting moments of the season 1 finale, all roads seeming lead to a bomb-stricken version of Las Vegas, a reference to Fallout: New Vegas. Whether or not the new season holds true to the story of the aforementioned game remains to be seen but the story so far here, through 6 episodes, is gearing up towards something big, as it still has quite a few tricks left up its sleeve.

Picking up where the last season left off, Lucy and The Ghoul are once again wandering the wasteland in search of Hank so she could face justice. Meanwhile, The Ghoul (a.k.a. Cooper Howard) continued his own search for his family, who he still believed were alive. Still very much ideological opposites when it comes to everything, for whatever reason, the two needed one another, whether they were willing to admit it or not. Keeping each other honest, their great exchanges continue here, as Lucy is pushed further into embracing the ways of the wasteland. That being said, a journey through the wasteland is never a straightforward one. As much as it is about the destination, it is also about the friends (or enemies) we make along the way. With a knack for finding themselves in trouble everywhere they turn, survival would be a matter of navigating one conflict after another. Far from a simple process, the way Lucy and The Ghoul went about it fueled an interesting arc for their dynamic this season as the hesitance of the former to do what was ‘necessary’ often found a way to complicate things. In order to get by, the ideological gap between Lucy and The Ghoul would need to narrow somewhat, but some growing needed to be done alone. His insight, be it real world experience or his long troubled past, how all the pieces fit together in the grand scheme became clearer here, hinting at more.

Slowly carving away at the past through then Cooper Howard, this season offered more flashbacks into his past as a soldier, famous actor, and as the husband to Barb Howard (Frances Turner), a high-ranking Vault-Tec executive. Working alongside Moldaver as a mole for her organization, Cooper grew increasingly concerned about his wife’s activities and how they related to the corrupt conglomerate of companies responsible for the imamate nuclear warfare. Setting Barb up as probable the trigger woman that set everything in motion, the season appears to suggest that there is more to that story, merely making her a small cog of a much larger machine whose participants and ultimate reach go far beyond what has been revealed to this point. Another major player introduced this season is Robert House (Justin Theroux), a character who will be familiar with fans of Fallout: New Vegas. The founder and CEO of RobCo Industries, House held the distinction of being the richest man in the United States. A man of great power and influence, the reclusive tech genius preferred to operate in the shadows and appeared to play a part in the shadiness behind the circumstances leading to nuclear war.

Once Henry MacLean escaped death, it was time for him to get back to work. Playing a role in the past at Vault-Tec as a glorified assistant, his path from then to now remains unclear, but one can infer from the fact that he was cryogenically frozen with the other VIPs and high-ranking members of management at Vault-Tec and countless other companies, and then unthawed later on to serve some unknown purpose, make him important for whatever the overarching plan may be. A key in discovering who might be the real big bad of the series thus far, who or what Henry was currently working for is certainly up to no good. Part of his work in the present of course included that in Vaults 31-33, where Norm stayed behind in the midst of everything else going on. As the vault experiment moved on to the next phase, he stumbled onto his own adventure that would figure into the story.

Maximus, the last member of the series’ big three, found himself back with the Brotherhood of Steel after having made a name for himself and becoming a knight. Under the tutelage of Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer), the life was all the orphan ever knew. Giving him the backstory treatment, his home of Shady Sands (another Fallout: New Vegas reference) found itself nuked by Henry MacLean as part of a countermeasure to destroy evidence of his family’s past. The sole survivor of the bombing, he believed he could make a difference, but Elder Quintus’ future aspirations for the Brotherhood threatened their future, attempting to rally the philosophically diverse factions and risking war by trying to reclaim their independence from the Enclave. Seeing the writing on the wall, this put Maximum in a compromised position morally. As far as he was concerned, something had to give, with the potential outcome of a wrong action being disastrous. Taking place on multiple fronts, it is only a matter of time until these storylines converge, as the season comes to an end and approaches what it is setting up for.

On a technical level, its budget is once again put to good use in bringing the expanded world of Fallout to life. Building on the first season, the second season offers a more expansive world, featuring more locations that most fans of the video games will recognize. The cinematography is similarly impressive, while strong production design, costume design, and VFX help emulate the video game feel and experience. In particular, bringing the world of New Vegas to life is an impressive feat in and of itself. The strip may not light up as bright as some viewers may expect in the present, but pre-war Vegas is a sight to behold. With the increased focus on characters and story, the solitary experience of the games is not quite as present here, but the interactions between characters and the many facets of the world are fun to watch. This time around, the action packs just as much of a punch, sprinkled in between the wandering and intrigue. Forced to defend themselves when needed, Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul held their own. As brutal and violent as the first season, if not more, a decent body count is left in their wake.

The best part of this new season of Fallout, like the first, is the performances. Purnell, Moten, and Goggins all deliver standout performances, as the latter takes his stellar double performance to the next level. Though playing two versions of the same character, Cooper and The Ghoul are essentially two different characters, each pushing Goggins and his range. Both Cooper and The Ghoul, two sides of the same moral coin, and are both put through the ringer emotionally, either pushed to the brink in the case of Cooper or pulled from the ledge in the case of The Ghoul. Purnell and Moten bring their signature charm and charisma to Lucy and Maximus, the former getting more work, as characters shaped by their experiences, given more context by increased character development. On the supporting cast side, MacLachlan and Turner, as Henry and Barb, do their jobs admirably, the latter having great chemistry with Goggins.

Fallout Season 2 perhaps takes on too much, putting too much pressure on the final two episodes to deliver on the set up, but is still a step up that offers standout performances and expands upon the series’ world and its lore to great success.

still courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.