There’s plenty to like about Amazon’s new Fallout series. The three protagonists, Lucy MacLean (the vault dweller out in the ruins of Los Angeles), Maximus (a squire in the Brotherhood of Steel) and The Ghoul, a relic from the past who has more to do with the state of the world in Fallout than you would think, are so fleshed out that you can’t help but root for all three of them. The series’ visual language, from the vault where Lucy decides to leave, to the Wasteland, stays fateful to the video games, particularly Fallout 4, and there are plenty of easter eggs for fans to savour.
The series plays out like the main questline in the games. Lucy, out and about from Vault 33 into the ruins of Los Angeles with her naivete and chirpy personality (with a borderline tendency for violence), trying to rescue her vault overseer father from the clutches of a raider. While looking for information about her father at a settlement called Filly, only to bump into an ex-Enclave scientist on the run. And like every player who likes playing nice in Fallout games (read: almost everyone), she stands up to The Ghoul who arrived in Filly looking for the same scientist.
Now, The Ghoul is one of the more badass bounty hunters around and if this were one of the games, he is akin to a high-level companion (more on that later) or an NPC who has a skull next to his health bar with a story to tell. Either way you wouldn’t want to mess with him as he runs with the Bloody Mess perk and scores critical hits with ease.
Lucy manages to get away, but not before Maximus, a Brotherhood of Steel squire and survivor from the destruction of Shady Sands (OMG), masquerading as a BOS knight, interrupts the fight. Maximus comes across as an ambitious, not to mention conniving, idiotic and somewhat very lucky individual eager to climb up the proverbial ladder in the BoS, and not afraid to lie, steal and murder on the way up. If Lucy was meant to represent players with good karma (borrowing from Fallout 3), Maximus is a reflection of bad karmic choices.
Lucy’s experience mirrors what players get from the games, in which we get sidetracked by a tonne of bullshit. The Ghoul aptly puts the Golden Rule of the Wasteland to her: “Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time”. It’s like the time that I wanted to get to Med-Tek Research Facility with MacCready in Fallout 4, only to end up ghoul-hunting at a nearby abandoned car park. Little Shaun who I left in the care of the Minutemen at The Castle will probably wait for a VERY LONG TIME before his dad (ergo, me) shows up with the telephone he was asking for.
The three 3D Fallout games have very sci-fi style endings. Fallout 3 had the activation of Project Purity which would bring clean water to the Wasteland. New Vegas threw in a dash of politics with players deciding whether they can activate an army of robots for their (or their patron’s) benefit. Fallout 4 had players deciding the fate of The Institute, which was responsible for bringing about synths (androids) into the Wasteland.
The Fallout TV series follows this tradition and at the end of the episode, Lucy activates a cold fusion device bringing unlimited energy to ruins of Los Angeles. The father she was hoping to rescue turns out the big bad responsible for blowing up Shady Sands with a nuclear bomb (much like one option you had in Fallout 3 to do the town of Megaton in) and is now on the run to New Vegas (!) with The Ghoul and Lucy in hot pursuit. It remains to be seen what the Brotherhood will do with Maximus.
Favourite moments from the TV show? There are so many, so here’s just SOME of them:
- I love the look in Vault 33 and Filly; the series brought the mental image of the Vaults influenced by Fallout 3 and 4 to life! Filly is obviously inspired by Megaton from Fallout 3.
- Yao Guai, Gulpers! While Gulpers are found in the Fallout 4 DLC Far Harbor, I prefer the TV series’ take on them.
- Red Rocket and Super Duper Mart! These are iconic locations across the Wasteland in the games.
- Mister Handy! I like the part where Lucy was waylaid and almost turned into a human organ donor by Snip Snip the aforementioned Mister Handy.
- There was an Assaultron in buried in the sands in one of the earlier episodes. Those were seriously a pain in Fallout 4
- The battle at the Griffith Observatory between the Brotherhood of Steel and the remnants of the New California Republic
- The Snake Oil Salesman selling curative potions which probably turned Thaddeus, a BoS Squire who was almost killed by Maximus, into a ghoul.
- Last but not least, Dogmeat!
What a ride. I’ve never had this much fun in a TV series since Season 1 of Westworld and the entirety of Hannibal. I’m happy that the TV series have done the games justice and honestly, this would make for a very good game.
