TL;DR – This is a series that shows you how important it is to get the vibe of the work you are adapting correctly.

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

End Credit – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Fallout Review –

Like many people, I had a bit of trepidation when they announced that there would be an adaptation of the video game Fallout. Sure, the original video game built a world that is ripe for adaptation. However, at the time of the announcement, video game adaptations were not known for their quality or respect of the source material. But that first trailer showed that there was potential here, and I am glad to say, after watching it all, I think that mostly held up.  

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.   

When I talk about ‘vibes’, there are actually several components that go with that statement. The first is usually the visual component, and on that, Fallout thrives. All of the details of this world feel rooted in the source material. The Vaults feel like vaults, the surface feels like the surface, and the old-time world feels like the old-time world. They have ripped details from all of the games to help build this world, especially from Fallout: New Vegas, which will be even more critical next year. These details help show that you understand the world you are diving into, even if you do the odd ret-con along the way. You can feel the experience of Westworld in the presentation, which fits the setting. The only main visual difference is that there is a bit more greenery here than you would have usually seen. But I didn’t mind that as it felt a touch more realistic.   

In addition to the visual stylings, for a show like this to work, it needs to understand the philosophical vibes that the games were working in, something that can be said has been a criticism of the recent games as well. While it is a bit hit-or-miss at times, I do think they understood the hyper-Cold War America they were lampooning quite well. I was honestly surprised by just how much criticism of big business they were able to slip into a series hosted by Amazon. They honestly do not hold back. In fact, I think they might take it a step further than even the video games did. For every thumbs up, there is a nuclear genocide or, as they say, “The end of the world is a product”.

While most of the show is set in 2296, I liked the conceit that we got, where there was a solid thematic and narrative reason to keep jumping back in time before the bombs fell. That conceit being, of course, Cooper Howard/The Ghoul, one of the few people still alive from the time before the bombs fell. Very long-lived ghouls are something the series has had before, so it felt right in that context, but it also gave us so much groundwork to explore. This also allows Walton Goggins to get to rip across the screen in multiple timelines, holding everything together, which is the best idea I have heard in an age.  

Our main point of view character is Lucy, who comes from a world of pure naïvety and is thrust into the real world. One of the hallmarks of the series is how her costume slowly starts looking less and less ‘vault-ish’ and more and more like the wasteland’s garb as time goes on. But no matter what she learns about the wasteland, there is a core goodness that prevails even during that finale. That is such a hard line to walk, but Ella Purnell absolutely nails it, even when the source of her quest turns out to be a tier 1 expletive deleted. I also like how her naivety is contrasted with Maximus’ (Aaron Moten). One of the small choices that they made was having these comedians pop up now and again and play these minor character roles, and that was a delight.

Narratively, we have three main storylines that are all converging around the cold fusion McGuffin. Lucy is out trying to find where her father was taken, and Maximus is trying to get the fugitive because he let his knight die. He needs to come back with something, and The Ghoul is a bounty hunter getting caps to find out information about where his family is. I was honestly surprised by just how quickly they got the three in the same space when all the guns started to fly. The narrative structure was fine, with a solid foundation, but it used the quirky nature of the world to do a lot of the heavy lifting. I would have liked a bit more with Vault 33, but that might be because of how good Moisés Arias was this season.  

Now that I have had a chance to reminisce about the season as a whole, I will say that it did feel more like a set-up for something else rather than a strong season in its own right. There were prominent cast members who only appeared in the bookends of the season who will be clearly more important next time. There are lingering questions from the first episode, The End, that we are no nearer to understanding in the finale. Also, while it was clear that they liked filming on the Namibian coastline, and it looks great. After a time, it does start feeling a bit samey when we go back to that same half-sand filled house over and over again. While the needle drops are great, the original score beyond the Brotherhood of Steel felt a bit lacklustre.                

In the end, do we recommend Fallout Season 1? Well I would say it is a close second behind The Last of Us with regards to video game adaptations. It perfectly captured the vibe of the universe, even if it was shifting things around the margins. We know we are getting at least a second season, so I would be interested to see where we go from here.

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, Daniel Gray Longino, Claire Kilner, Frederick E.O. Toye & Wayne Yip
Written by – Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner, Kieran Fitzgerald, Carson Mell, Karey Dornetto, Chaz Hawkins & Gursimran Sandhu
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, Frances Turner, Michael Esper, Johnny Pemberton, Leslie Uggams, Chris Parnell, Michael Emerson, Michael Rapaport, Fred Armisen, Michael Mulheren, Cherien Dabis, Glenn Fleshler, Dale Dickey, Michael Abbott Jr., Michael Cristofer, Mykelti Williamson & Matt Berry and Teagan Meredith, Zach Cherry, Annabel O’Hagan, Dave Register, Rodrigo Luzzo, Jon Daly, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Jacinto Taras Riddick, Edythe Jason, Joel Marsh Garland, Mike Doyle, Janie Brookshire, Leer Leary, Jacob A. Ware, Brendan Burke, Jamal Thomas, Roy Spencer, Sheila Head, Ash McNair, Nina Kassa, Joe Caster Baker, Roberto de Felice, Ethan Dubin, Viola Hsia, Daniel J. Martin, Matty Cardarople, Elvis Lopez, Danielle Alonzo, Alexa Marcigliano, Mitzi Akaha, Nicholas Michael McGovern, Elle Vertes, Luciana VanDette, Amir Carr, Dallas Goldtooth, Eric Berryman, Angel Desai, Harry Sutton Jr., Chip Carriere, Russell Ewing, Erik Estrada, Charlie Besso, Alexndra Albert, Anthony Misiano, James Yaegashi, Rebeca Watson & Chelsea Reuter      
Episodes Covered – The End, The Target, The Head, The Ghouls, The Past, The Trap, The Radio & The Beginning