Setting the scene and location.
As anyone with any history of playing Fallout knows, every good Fallout game needs an iconic introduction. You need the strong music, references to super-futuristic tech wrapped in a 1950s façade, and the sense of impending global nuclear annihilation. Fallout does everything to live up to that. We are introduced to the West Coast of America, and a flyover of the Griffith Observatory places us firmly in Los Angeles. Fallout is about to meet Hollywood—in more ways than one.
I think this was a great choice for the series. New England, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, Atlantic City—we’ve all been there and written our own stories in those locations. We know those places inside and out—every loot location, every sniper point. The team made an excellent choice in setting the series in LA, so we, as fans, are presented with a blank page to work off. We can relax and stop looking for landmarks or references we know; we can enjoy what this version of the wasteland has to offer.
There is not a penny saved on the scenery and setting. The sets and locations across the series, along with the costume design, are spot on. It is plainly evident that Bethesda and its game designers have had a close hand in all of this. This TV show looks and feels like a Fallout game in every possible way, and it benefits immensely from this.
The characters
The Vault-Dweller
Lucy McPherson is the perfect example of what being isolated from the horror of the wasteland for 200 or so years does to a person. I would go so far as to suggest that she is how almost every player has approached the wasteland for the first time. In that initial decision to play as a paragon of virtue, where you start determined to bring good back to chaos, Lucy’s golden rule defines this new player's energy: "Do unto others as you would want done unto you.”
I think Lucy, as both a vault-dweller and main character, is perfect. The personification of saccharine perfection in a nuclear fallout world is spot on. Ella Purnell excellently portrays the character, and it is utterly unbelievable in many ways, which makes it perfect for Fallout. She is funny, sassy, and kicks ass when the mood is right. It doesn’t take long for her to lose her vault-dweller innocent varnish either; one minute, she’s asking for directions like a girl scout, and the next, she’s throwing acid in an innocent man’s face. Once again, this is the perfect dramatisation of how many people’s playthroughs have gone.
Finally, the decision to have “daddy issues” is exactly the right storyline for this character, again locking this series in with everything we have come to know and love about Fallout. After all, what kind of Fallout playthrough would we have if we weren’t leaving the safety of a dysfunctional vault to track down a loved one?
The Squire
We meet Maximus while his fellow Aspirants beat him up—hardly the best circumstances to introduce a main character—but this visual quickly sums up his life so far. Maximus has been a victim since childhood, caught up in the destruction of Shady Sands and rescued by a Knight of the Brotherhood. It is clear early on that Maximus needs direction, a home, and something to help channel both his cynical view of the surface and his need to feel protected from it. The Brotherhood of Steel, therefore, with their fanatical beliefs around the pursuit of technology, purity of mankind, and a philosophy of might being right, should be a good fit for Maximus, but in this version of Fallout, it seems otherwise.
This is my first downmark for the TV series. I don’t believe they depict brotherhood correctly.
This version of the Brotherhood is very dysfunctional and seems to fight too much inwardly. There is very little honour in this chapter and very little brotherhood within this brotherhood. Everyone is scheming; everyone has a personal agenda, and whilst the hunt for the relic is a strong one, it barely feels like anyone’s primary mission.
I can understand the rivalry within the lower ranks and that some knights might be harsh towards their squires. But in this version of the Fallout story, the Brotherhood feels more like a mean frat house, complete with boys hazing each other, than an ultra-militaristic paramilitary with deep religious and honour-based rules. There are a lot of orders and rules being ignored, such as Knights ignoring their mission orders and dropping from a Vertibird before reaching their target or Aspirants just wandering off from latrine duty. This may be how the West Coast Chapters operate, but it feels like quite a departure from the Brotherhood we know and fear.
There are also some strange references to controlling the wastelands and saving people. Where does this sudden sense of community spirit come from? If it isn’t technological, the Brotherhood should not care very much for it. Theirs is not an order of compassion, philanthropy, or a sense of duty to mankind.
I would also have preferred the airship to look a little less like the Prydwen. That airship is on the East Coast. I have no issue with there being more than one airship, but make it its own design. Give it sails, multiple balloons, or gyrocopter-like rotors. This was a little lazy, in my opinion.
I love the portrayal of Maximus, who is brought to life excellently by American actor Aaron Moten. There are some silly things in there that don’t really need to be there, like not knowing the basic biology of reproduction, but the conflict within him is compelling and something most viewers can relate to. The need to lie or embellish to hide weakness; the desire to be something more whilst yearning to fit in with the rest. Maximus is a very human character in a very inhuman faction.
The Ghoul
In my opinion, Cooper Howard (or the Ghoul) is one of the best characters in any TV fiction series. Much of this concerns the masterful way Walton Goggins plays him. Is he a villain, a victim, a hero, or a bully? Should you root for him to succeed or hope he gets a bullet in the head? Honestly, the best answer to all those questions is “yes.” This character is impossible not to like; his one-liners are perfect, and his gun skills are up there—and all this is even better when you consider he is the famous Vault-Tec poster boy who inspired the now-famous thumbs up. There is something a little “Deadpool” about him; at least he looks wise and skilled. He is immortal (almost), funny, and a really bad person to be around for very long. Bad things kind of happen a lot to him.
The Ghouls in Fallout have generally been depicted really well, too. Their feral nature of losing touch with humanity without a regular supply of medicine has been well done. They are terrifying; just watching this reminded me of the first time I set foot in the Super Duper Mart in Fallout 3 and immediately regretted not turning my room light on before I did.
I love the link to the opening scene. I am really pleased that they first introduced him as a devoted father and family man. When you think about all the ghouls you have blown away playing Fallout, it hits harder when you think each one could have been just another person, devoted to their loved ones and family, before the bombs came.
The Story
Well done to the writing team and scriptwriters here; all the individual character arcs and stories here are so appropriate for Fallout that each feels like a main quest with a few side quests thrown in. The Vault player wants only to do good. The Bounty Hunter Ghoul has put all his stats into guns and charisma, and the Brotherhood Knight wants shiny armour and big guns to feel like a one-man army. The story of this series has it all and is an excellent way to introduce the series to anyone who has never played the games at all. In all honesty, I think that is the most successful thing about this series; it could almost exist without the game ever having done so. My mum could watch this and get it without asking any questions. I honestly believe that is a testament to the writing.
Staying true to the game
From the bobblehead in the shop to the Grognak the Barbarian advertisement on the TV at the beginning, there is no mistaking that this is Fallout. The set design, the costuming, the sounds, the way you hack terminals—there is so much material taken from Fallout that I was half expecting a “mysterious stranger” to appear out of nowhere and blow a bad guy away for the main characters, or a character to call Preston to tell them that there was a new settlement asking for help. Bethesda must be so pleased with the way this series has turned out. The intellectual property they own is on full display, and it is glorious. This actually gave me nostalgia to play the game again, and I have started my Fallout 4 playthrough again just because I watched this show. There can be no better compliment to the series than that; it made me miss Fallout and got me playing again as a result.
Final thoughts
It’s a hit, no doubt. If they can maintain this energy and quality, I would welcome a second, third, and fourth season of Fallout. It is rare to see something this well done that satisfies people who love the game and those who have never seen or played it before. The cast and the production team should get serious attention at all relevant award shows. The casting quality is off the scale, and the script is engaging. There really isn’t much to moan about (although I wish we’d seen a Radscorpion or two).
It's bloody at times, it's gory, and it has some really dark humour too, but that's Fallout, and it fits entirely with this show's genetics. Is it gratuitous at times? Absolutely, but that's hardly out of character for this game. I mean, it's hard to call it gratuitous when I think back to times when I may have launched Gunners out of cannons into solid walls... for fun. The only part that is kind of out of place is the level of sex included. I'm used to seeing a screen fade out to black and an experience perk, but that's television for you, I guess.
At the end of the day, what Fallout does is prove that whilst genres change, special effects change, and fans get older and change, – War… War never changes.
WRITTEN BY WoorLord
EDITED BY Jess - press@ufplanets.com
