This is a spoiler-free review of Fallout Season 2’s first six episodes, which start streaming weekly on Prime Video from December 16.
Amazon bet big on the weird apocalypse when it decided to turn Fallout into a TV show. With its kitchy “atompunk” visuals, near-overwhelming amounts of lore, and b-movie violence sitting as equals next to rich conspiracy plots and complex character work, it had every chance of baffling general audiences… and ran the classic risk of annoying the game’s loyal fanbase with even the smallest changes to the established fiction. But that bet paid off. And what do you do when you win big? You go to Vegas. Or, at least in the nuclear wastes of tomorrow, you go to New Vegas – the setting of what many consider to be the best game in Fallout’s long history.
With such a move comes risk again: it’s no easy thing to create something that can stand up to the reputation of one of the greatest RPGs of all time. But while showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet don’t hit the jackpot immediately, this second season quickly finds its identity, and it’s a more authentic adaptation of New Vegas than I ever expected. The writing team has shaped this year’s story around competing factions and figureheads, the game’s flagship feature, making for a tinderbox of a season that’s overflowing with warring tensions, difficult decisions, and backstabbing betrayals. I’ve only been able to watch six out of the total eight episodes ahead of the season’s premiere, but even if the conclusion turns out to be less appetising than a 200-year-old box of Yum Yum deviled eggs, this will still have been a largely worthy follow-up to one of the most surprising success stories in video game TV.
At its core, Fallout Season 2 is once again focused on the journeys of three people. The quests of Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean and Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul have combined, and together they trek across the Mojave wasteland and into New Vegas itself in search of their respective families. It’s a road trip that takes a little while to get into gear – across the first couple of episodes the duo finds themselves in overfamiliar territory – but when things do step up, the resulting character development is strong. That’s particularly true of The Ghoul, who now needs to wrestle with his hollowed-out sense of morality in the face of potentially being reunited with the people he loves. Lucy’s evolution is a little more typical of this kind of fish-out-of-water scenario, as she’s forced to adapt to a more ruthless world while trying to hold onto her humanity, but Fallout’s distinct personality keeps this all very entertaining – there’s violence and drugs aplenty for our wide-eyed heroine to contend with this year.
After having been a close companion of Lucy in Season 1, Aaron Moten’s Maximus spends most of his time with the Brotherhood of Steel this year, which significantly shifts the faction’s role in the story. Now in control of the Cold Fusion relic, the Brotherhood is a major player throughout the entire season, rather than just the backdrop for Maximus’ story. In fact, the ruthlessly ambitious aims of Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer) threaten to overshadow Maximus’ own development within the first couple of episodes, and remain central to the plot as the season unfolds.
That’s not to say Maximus is demoted from his protagonist status. The brewing conflict between the Brotherhood’s uneasy alliance of members acts as a stage upon which he can be both part of a greater power-armoured ensemble as well as a lead character – he’s kept in line as one of Quintus’ dogs in the season’s opening act, but as a visitor (Kumail Nanjiani) from Boston’s Commonwealth chapter of the Brotherhood shapes him, he’s able to shape the faction in return. Maximus may feel a touch more like a cog in a greater machine this time, but he’s clearly the largest gear.
There’s no attempt to choose which one of New Vegas’ many endings is “canon”, although I’d argue it was a wise decision to not get tied up in all those details.
While Lucy and The Ghoul’s journey is very clearly the season’s central throughline, and Maximus’ struggles with the Brotherhood is the parallel support beam, the show’s scope has undeniably expanded beyond the trio that defined the first season. Now structured more akin to Game of Thrones, there are multiple other concurrent storylines that make Fallout feel like the story of the wasteland itself as much as it is the tale of its key characters. All of this does make for a very packed season, and there are inevitable casualties.
There’s no clearer example than the interconnected vaults 31, 32, and 33, which remain a consistent part of the show despite Lucy’s distant departure. Each bunker now has its own storyline, the most pressing of which is the unfolding conspiracy of 31 and its army of frozen Vault-Tec middle managers, discovered in last year’s finale by Moisés Arias’ Norm MacLean. But while it feels significant, that story fights for space against the seemingly inconsequential plotlines unfolding in vaults 32 and 33. An intriguing mid-season reveal suggests maybe better things are still to come and that we haven’t been totally wasting our time, but this is outweighed by a lot of trivial baffoonery. I do very much like Fallout’s comedic approach to its clueless vault dwellers, but it so far feels like this was a joke best left in Season 1.
Out on the surface, there are further stories that deal with the New California Republic and Caesar’s Legion, two significant factions from the New Vegas video game. While the Legion is notably well realised and both groups are elegantly woven into Lucy and The Ghoul’s larger journey, long-time fans who have been waiting 15 years to see more of these factions may well be disappointed that they have, at least within the context of the first six episodes, little bearing on the overall plot, and are only in the spotlight for a single chapter. There’s also no attempt to choose which one of New Vegas’ many endings is “canon”, although I’d argue it was a wise decision to not get tied up in all those details. The narrative solutions Wagner and Robertson-Dworet have devised to sidestep such a problem are strong, and the Legion’s current situation in particular feels like it’d make an exceptional questline in a theoretical New Vegas 2. The NCR gets dealt a weaker hand, but that’s made up for by the way they’re utilised as part of The Ghoul’s story – these factions are used to enrich the journeys of the main characters, rather than be significant players themselves.
There is one New Vegas figurehead that does get to take the spotlight, though: Robert House. The new antagonist of the pre-apocalypse flashbacks, he’s played to slimy perfection by Justin Theroux. Fallout keeps its cards close to its chest with regards to House’s motives, and while fans will already know what his deal is, the involvement of The Ghoul’s former self, Hollywood star Cooper Howard, means there’s still plenty of original, unpredictable material interacting with the established lore.
The Ghoul is given much more depth this time around, with rare-but-vital flashes of vulnerability.
In my review of Season 1, I wrote that I found Maximus to be Fallout’s most compelling lead, as his deep flaws made him the show’s most complex character. That continues to be true in Season 2, where Maximus’ weaknesses see him crushed and manipulated by a number of other forces, and his attempt to find some kind of a redemption arc is one of the strongest throughlines. However, I suspect by the time the finale’s credits roll, The Ghoul will have ascended to become my favourite of the season. He’s given much more depth this time around, with rare-but-vital flashes of vulnerability. There’s a stronger sense of connection between The Ghoul and Cooper, emphasised by the smart crosscutting of scenes across the timeline that help draw parallels and establish contrast between the man he was and the monster he’s become. Goggins is, as before, exceptional at portraying both sides, but he’s particularly strong during the flashback sequences, where he’s forced to wrestle with his wife’s involvement in the looming apocalypse, and how he could play a role in stopping it… if only he gives into a more violent path.
While Goggins is on track to be this year’s undisputed headliner, everyone pulls their weight. Particularly enjoyable this time around is Kyle MacLachlan as Hank MacLean, whose larger, quirkier role allows him to be very, well, Kyle MacLachlan. Any details about his activities in the Mojave wasteland are strictly off-limits in a spoiler-free review, but there’s a lot to dig into from as early as the first episode, with fascinating links established between him, Lucy, and a number of other characters.
While characters remain Fallout’s most valuable triumph, all the efforts that go into building the world around them continue to be top-shelf in this second season. The initial excitement of seeing the video games’ iconic designs rendered in live-action has admittedly worn off, but it’s still great to see the many newly realised places and creatures. Much has been made of the Deathclaw, which was teased during the credits of Season 1’s finale, and the big, bullish brute doesn’t disappoint. But there are other, even nerdier joys – among them the old T-45 power armour and the television-faced Securitron robots, both lovingly built by an incredibly talented prop department. There’s similar skill demonstrated by the set builders, too, with locations like the Lucky 38 casino and Dino Dee-lite Motel appearing exactly as you remember. They’re not just authentically realised, but smartly employed to create a bond between show and game: I certainly got a kick out of seeing Lucy metaphorically wear the beret of New Vegas’ beloved marksman, Boone, by making a sniper’s nest in the mouth of the motel’s giant model T-Rex, Dinky.
As with the first season, Fallout likes to effectively wink into the camera whenever it’s doing something video game-y, and there’re multiple good examples of that across these six episodes, such as Lucy walking herself through options A, B, and C when faced with a sticky situation, all of which translate to the different branching pathways of a choice-driven RPG like Fallout. Previous video game adaptations have failed at paying homage to their parent medium – see Halo’s bizarre first-person battle sequences – so it’s great to see Fallout continue to successfully remould its foundations into a new format.
