What Is the Story About?
The show is based on a post-apocalyptic world (as a result of a strong nuclear exchange) where there is a constant war between haves and have-nots. While many survivors took refuge in vaults aka Fallout bunkers designed to conduct experiments on vault dwellers, the others dwelling on the surface have rules, laws and armies of their own and fight for the survival of the fittest. After over 200 years, a young woman called Lucy leaves her vault 33 in search of her father and ventures into the wasteland that is the surface. She joins hands with a Brotherhood of Steel Esquire and a ghoul bounty hunter who have their own histories and scores to settle.
Who were the surface dwellers that kidnapped Lucy’s father? Will Lucy ever find him? How does she survive in the wasteland? What happened to the ghoul bounty hunter? Will Maximus and Ghoul get their revenge?
Over a course of 8 episodes with over an hour duration, Fallout Season 1 is centered around answering each of these questions.
Performances?
For a show like Fallout that embraces the indiosyncracies and wildest imaginations of a post-apocalyptic world, a strong cast is the most relevant fulcrum. And Fallout is a winner in this regard.
Ella Purnell plays Lucy, a young slightly unaware, secluded and naive girl who is on a mission to bring her father back to Vault 33 with perfection. As she sets out on an expedition to the real world and meets people and beings of different kinds, her character arcs high and wide like an eagle. The Lucy you see in the first episode is vastly different from the fiesty Lucy that she becomes at the end of the first season.
Aaron Moten‘s Maximus’ rise from a victim to an aspirant to a Brotherhood of Steel Esquire to a lord himself in the wasteland is something to witness. The actor portrays vulnerability, envy and ambition through his eyes and puts up a solid act.
However, the scene-stealing performance in Fallout is from Walton Goggins. Reminiscent of his western turns in films and shows, the actor endears as the washed out TV actor Cooper Howard with tender flashbacks with his family before the apocalypse. He smashes it out of the park as the Ghoul – mutated version of Howard after the nuclear attack. He brings in moments of humour, sometimes horror and action,and his combination scenes with Lucy are a hoot.
Analysis
Nowadays every studio is on a mission to acquire gaming IPs that could potentially churn out movies and shows. Akin to The Last of Us (2023), Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout is also an adaptation of the popular video game franchise.
Created by Graham Wagner Geneva and Robertson-Dworet, Fallout is a genre binding sci-fi, apocalyptic, Western action that sets itself on a parallel Earth, almost 2 centuries from present day where the human population is on a consistent struggle for survival, with hugely alarming stakes such as fanatic groups, gigantic beasts, huge cockroaches, cannibals, deranged surface dwellers, ghouls etc.
Fallout starts with an episode titled ‘The End ‘ and features Walton Goggins as a washed out TV star who now does kids birthday gigs for Money. Briefly amidst a birthday party stint with his daughter, the actor and the entire country (even planet) succumbs to a spree of nuclear attacks destroying anything and everything except people who found refuge in vaults aka Fallout bunkers.
200 Years later, Fallout bases itself on a post-apocalyptic world with its own hierarchy, mechanisms, rules, regulations, restrictions and ways of functioning. Apparently with numbered vaults, and a competitive personnel exchange programme, Lucy gets selected to marry a man from Vault 32 as a part of the breeding programme. However, quite expectedly the wedding turns everything upside down.
Vault 33 dwellers get slashed and murdered (while quite a few manage to survive) by surface dwellers who masqueraded as Vault 32 dwellers. Lee Moldaver (leader of the barbarian gang from surface) abducts Lucy’s father Hank MacLean (also Vault 33’s overseer). Much to Lucy’s dismay, none of the survivors of Vault 33 shows interest to save her father. So she decides to take it all upon herself and embarks on a mission to the surface wasteland. But her journey is not all flowers and roses, she battles enemies, animals, and befriends and distances allies during her journey to save her father.
Parallely, the audience is introduced to Maximus, who wishes to take revenge on the ones who did him bad. As an aspirant of squire of Brotherhood of Steel (an organisation that controls the tech in the wasteland), he is deemed worthless by his mentors. But, luckily he gets a chance to become a squire when one of his friends get injured after selection. Akin to Lucy, he also wishes to exchange a head to get what he’s dreamt of, forever. But this man is envious, ambitious and not as nice and well-mannered like Lucy.
The Ghoul, another strange creature Lucy tangles with is none other than Actor Cooper Howard who mutated into a ghoul post the nuclear attack. This creature spits sarcasm, has a strange diction and has a thing for violence, gore and torture. As a bounty hunter, he is also after the same head both Lucy and Maximus are after (a doctor who travels with a dog in the wasteland). The rest of the show follows the trio, how they meet and form allies and settle their differences during their pursuit for the ‘head’.
The trio’s expedition is nothing less than extraordinary and jaw-dropping for the viewer. The makers have rightly adhered to the theme of a post-apocalyptic world and has laid out bizzare and equally unpredictable challenges quite like the game. It could be giant cockroaches, or mutated humans or sickening radiations or cannibals or robbers..anything and everything.
For viewers who find pleasure in rightly presented gore and violence, Fallout is nothing less than a treat. You could find eyes picked raw, heads blown out one after the other, blood splashed over from relentless chopping and what not. But, Fallout still is a show with a beating heart. It talks the right politics and handles the right emotions. For a sci-fi apocalyptic Western action, the show possesses strong anti-capitalistic undertones and human emotions of greed, survival, love and ambition.
The main characters have strong and compelling arcs, while sub-plots are equally engaging as well. Moments of humour shine as much as moments of thrill, surprises and emotions. Fallout introduces a very fascinating, adventurous world to an audience unaware of the game and takes them on an unpredictable ride.
Fans of the game can have rightful criticisms regarding the world building and narrative, but for someone who’s completely new to the world, Fallout was so much fun. The episodes are admittedly long and the later episodes provide a less immersive experience (in comparison to the former episodes) sometimes. Regardless, Fallout is the perfect recipe for binge-watch entertainment on TV today.
Music and Other Departments?
Ramin Djawadi’s music and score for Fallout is another stellar turn for the musician after Netflix’s 3 Body Problem. Stuart Dryburgh and Teodoro Maniachi’s camera work is the right mix of western and apocalyptic themes with more engaging colours and sandy browns. It mixes the Boys template with the dullness of Westworld and The Last of Us. While the initial three episodes are nicely directed by Jonathan Nolan, the subsequent episodes do fall prey to inconsistencies both in direction and editing.
Highlights?
World Building
Blend of Humour, drama & action
Main Cast
Arcs of main characters
Story & Politics
Gore
Unpredictability
Drawbacks?
Too long episodes
Occasionally less immersive production values
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Fallout Season 1 Series Review by Binged Bureau
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