BY: 7-circles
Image from IGN
The premise is simple at first glance: a giant corporation, Vault-Tec, has created luxurious fallout shelters for the imminent nuclear war. When the apocalyptic event inevitably occurs, it is the mission of these “vault dwellers” to wait out 200 years after the apocalypse, and then come to the surface to bring life and civilization to the dead wasteland. But it’s quickly clear that the wasteland itself is not as dead as they imagined, and that the vaults themselves are not what they appeared to be.
The series follows three major story arcs: Ella Purnell plays Lucy MacLean. This is the point of view for the player character in the Fallout games, forced to come up to the surface prematurely on a mission to save a loved one. We also follow a Brotherhood of Steel aspirant, Maximus (Aaron Moten), a surface dweller who was rescued by the Brotherhood and wants to someday become a power armor-wearing knight who wants to be a force of good in the wasteland. We also follow Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul, a mysterious mutated gunslinger with a past deeply tied with Vault-Tec’s mysteries and the apocalypse as a whole.
We also follow Lucy’s brother, Norm MacLean (Moisés Arias), in his quest to uncover the secrets of vaults 31, 32, and 33. Initially, he is presented as a side character, a coward, but he slowly manages to muster the courage to discover the secrets of the vault experiments.
Like any gamer, we were wary that show producers would just go for yet another video game franchise to throw whatever they thought would be appealing to mass audiences, throwing the source material out of the window. But we were pleasantly surprised not only with the fidelity to the original material but the great lengths they went to keep the original look and feel from the video games. The music, the humor, the gore, the characters, and other aspects you would expect from roaming the Fallout wasteland, it’s all in there! It’s a shame that it took movie and series producers so long to understand that people like these games for a reason, and it was never about just grabbing a known name and do whatever with it with the expectation that people will just like it.
In fact, this presents a set of new problems for a series as a whole. In Fallout, life is cheap, wounds are next to meaningless, and the overall physics are well, to be honest what you would expect from a video game. All these aspects might be difficult to adapt to live action. For example, it is amazing to see a story arc involving one of the Brotherhood of Steel’s iconic power armors. The series keeps faithful to the design, size, and implications of having such a potentially story-breaking piece of equipment, but at the same time, in several moments you can see the suited character pretty much “flying” to take a step up a structure or vehicle, the suit feels a bit weightless and often lacking in shadows. In short, it feels like an animation rather than something more believable. Also, the wound healing aspects are not only hand-waved but in fact expected from a video game. Gunshot to the gut? Not a problem! Just inhale/inject some unexplained chemical and you’re good to go! It does take a bit of getting used to, to see characters with life-threatening wounds get repaired in a matter of minutes using some obscure technology. Despite of this, the faithfulness to the original material vastly outweighs the implications for a live-action adaptation.
There is also the matter of the music. In Fallout games, this kind of music is a staple of the franchise. It is famously associated with 50’s era optimistic ballads. However, the first 4 episodes seem to resort to this music a little bit too much. If you’re not a fan of this music you will notice it a lot more, in action scenes, in ironic scenes, in transitions, it is everywhere, at least in the first half of the season.
That said, we are glad they decided to keep so much of the original material, and that they created new stories around it. For people that haven’t played the games, it might take a little bit to get used to the Fallout black humor. It’s ironic, often cruel, often graphically violent. The games and the series have their own version of good old 50’s atompunk. A retrofuturistic aesthetic that is gory, unique, and hilarious, if you don’t have much of a problem with severed limbs and exploding heads.
We would like to talk a little about the characters too.
Lucy is your naive and idealistic vault-dweller, often pushed over the edge and saved by dumb luck. At least until she finds within herself what it takes to survive in the wasteland. She is a good-natured, relatable character, and our main point of view to explore the Fallout universe as spectators. She often seems frivolous though, and a bit on the off side of “read the room”, but the more she learns, the better adjusted she becomes.
Maximus is a little bit more on the gray area. A good guy who doesn’t think of himself as really a good guy. In truth, he is quite ambitious and selfish, and his story is not afraid to show this darker side of him quite often. He is reckless and not really one to think things through on his actions. At the same time, he is loyal, strong, and a great counterpart to Lucy’s naivety.
Then we have The Ghoul. To be honest, his backstory is a lot more important than his current one, with a deep tie with the roots of the Fallout universe. It is through his eyes that we will learn how, and probably soon why, the apocalypse came to pass. That doesn’t take merit from the fact he is an actual badass classic western gunslinger with a very gray agenda, often serving the role of straight-up villain for most of the story. This character is as dashing as he is ugly.
Then we have Norm. At first, it seemed like he was going to be nothing more than a side character soon to be forgotten. However, as the story progresses, it is through his eyes that we discover what happened inside vault 33 after Lucy left, and he is the one that discovers the vaults are not what they seem to be.
We also have Lee Moldaver. Sarita Choudhury plays what we would consider the actual villain in the main story arc. We don’t really get to see much of her until the season finale, but like many things in the series, she is not what she seems to be.
The snake oil salesman. Not really a main character, but this guy played by Jon Daly is by far the most charismatic of the bunch. The moment he appeared on the screen, we knew he’s gonna be a recurring character. He’s funny, irreverent, and a wild card that might spell great help or great doom for the main characters.
Woody and Reg. These two aspiring overseers are hilarious together. Not necessarily incompetent but certainly missing a few tools in the shed. They try to keep the vault values alive, but even if they might not have what it needs to lead, or even if they spend more time bickering with each other than doing anything actually useful, it’s clear they’re both great friends to each other and might take a more important role in the future.
The Dog. When Lucy is not around to show us just how bonkers life in the wasteland is, we have this adorable and loyal furry companion, another staple of the Fallout series. She gives us a point of view for the secondary arcs as they catch up with our main characters.
In the end, we all know who the main character really is.
The different arcs converge and separate in meaningful ways to tell the overall story. We tried not to give out many spoilers for those that haven’t watched the show or played the games. Fallout fans will be glad to see that the series is packed with references to the games, and some will probably already know the direction the series is going for. For newcomers, some of the live-action adaptation handwaves might take a little bit getting used to, but this adjustment will be quick, and both a welcome change of pace and a worthy introduction to the franchise.
All in all, Fallout is an intriguing series that had us fishing for more information, possibly even new insights into the franchise as a whole. If anything, the first season felt a little bit too short, and will leavers us with more questions than answers for season two. It has a satisfying season conclusion, with a clear chapter close and a kickoff for the next storyline. In general, the style stays faithful and succeeds on giving Fallout its own feel, and not just another Mad Max spinoff of the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
