TL;DR – This first episode very much captured the vibe, even if the pacing didn’t quite hold up to the end.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

End Credit – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Fallout Review –

Well, this is an interesting one for me. Back in the days of Fallout 3, I devoured this series and this world, but since then, I fell off this world. Maybe its bleakness just didn’t quite do it for me with the current world. However, the thought of a tv series did intrigue me, and Silo recently showed it can be done. With that, I took some tentative steps into the post-apocalypse world to see if it would start a flame in my heart.  

So to set the scene, we open in 2077; that feels like it is a world of the past that is close but not quite like the one we have today, yet actually the future. After a series of resource wars, the USA and China are on the brink of apocalypse, and it is on everyone’s mind as Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) appears as a cowboy at a local child’s birthday party. Which sadly, it comes to pass as multiple nuclear explosions destroy Los Angeles as Cooper rides off with his daughter on a horse. Two hundred nineteen years later, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) lives in Vault 33, one of the few places that survived the carnage. Her dad, Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan), is the overseer of the Vault, and the day of her wedding is a big event for everyone. However, the tri-annual visit from Vault 32 does not quite go according to plan. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.    

Before I go a step further, I have to give credit to John Papsidera and Kim Winther, who cast the episode, because I don’t think it would have thematically worked with anyone but Walton Goggins. You have to capture people in that first sequence, and sure, the world will do part of that for you, but it is Walton and his character’s past that pulls you in. You know he has a complicated past just by how he relates to everyone: a hero and a villain or someone you want to show off, but also be snide to behind his back. That whole build-up to the destruction you know was coming was a fantastic work of television, with just the right amount of worldbuilding and tension going on.  

The first half of our story this week follows Lucy, her wedding, and how it all goes pair-shaped. I do think they captured the vibe of those vaults, the odd retro feel that has this bizarre feeling of being nostalgic even though it is set in the far future. This air of naïve permeates the entire place and only ends when the blood starts splattering. The moment that Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), the new Overseer for Vault 32, you know that something is wrong, even before we start our zoom-ins to make it clear, we got raiders in 32 outfits. I did get a lot of Fallout 3’s opening in this story, which the wonderful Kyle MacLachlan helps. The production design in the part was exquisite, and I loved every detail.

The second half follows Maximus (Aaron Moten) and his life in the Brotherhood of Steel. I am not sure this half worked as well as the other. However, we probably get the most significant needle drop moment when the hovership arrives. This section has a lot of information to ground the character and the faction, so it stalls when it is not tense, with the pacing starting to drag as the episode drives on. I didn’t really find myself caring about any of the supporting characters here, but that might be because most of them were bullies. However, I was intrigued when it ended because it blasted into the world.

While it did lag towards the end, when it became clear where everyone was going to end up, but we had a bit of time to get there. However, each of our two main characters getting their big ‘leaving home’ moment did raise the stakes right at the end. Now, if you are going to start with the Goggins, it behoves you to end with the Goggins. This is the first part of the show where I felt like they got the weird vibe of the wasteland downpack. I did not expect a Junk Jet to make an appearance so soon. But I did like that we leaned into the Ghouls and how wild this world can be.

In the end, do we recommend Fallout: The End? Yes, we would. After years of failures, it has been nice to see Video Game Adaptations starting to thrive. I hope it can keep this focus going forward and not get bogged down in this world like some of the later games did.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Fallout yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Fallout
Directed by – Jonathan Nolan
Written by – Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Graham Wagner
Created by – Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Graham Wagner
Based On – Fallout designed by Tim Cain, Mark O’Green, Scott Campbell, Christopher Taylor  & Interplay Productions & the Fallout video game series by Bethesda
Production/Distribution Companies – Amazon MGM Studios, Kilter Films, Bethesda & Amazon Prime
Starring – Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones & Walton Goggins with Sarita Choudhury, Leslie Uggams, Michael Cristofer, Johnny Pemberton, Mykelti Williamson & Matt Berry and Zach Cherry, Annabel O’hagan, Dave Register, Rodrigo Luzzo, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Jacinto Taras Riddick, Joel Marsh Garland, Mike Doyle, Janie Brookshire, Leer Leary, Jacob A. Ware, Brendan Burke, Teagan Meredith, Jamal Thomas & Roy Spencer