TL;DR – The first episode back ramps up the wackiness and brutality of the new world.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this series.

End Credit – There is a mid-credit sequence.

Fallout: The Innovator Review Introduction –

We have gotten a lot of video game adaptations, and to be honest, most of them have been trash. But back in 2024, a miracle happened, we got an adaptation that not only had a decent story with compelling characters, but it also was not afraid of the game it was adapting. Because it leapt into that world, warts and all, with some monumental deep cut lore knowledge and care. It is in that space that we jump into the first episode of the second season to see if they can keep that power going.  

So, to set the scene, back in Season One, Lucy’s (Ella Purnell) world all came crumbling down when she discovered that everything she understood about her life and history was a lie. Also, the Golden Rule doesn’t hold much sway in the Wasteland. While walking, or in some cases being dragged through the rubble of a former life, she ran into Maximus (Aaron Moten), a somewhat reluctant squire of the Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a ghoul that is one of the few people left who were alive before The Great War. But the world needs answers, and for Lucy, those answers might be found in New Vegas, where her wounded ‘father’ Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) retreated to. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

Juxtaposition

If there is one word I would use to sum up this episode, it would be juxtaposition, because nearly every story element is playing off it in some way. There are some pronounced examples of this, like how Lucy and The Ghoul have profoundly different ideas as to what is Plan A and Plan B. There are the more subtle effects, like how different The Ghoul is to Cooper Howard on a fundamental personal level. But more than that, this whole episode, and I would take a guess, the primary season arc is going to be who influences whom. Will Lucy’s optimism and ideas of justice rub off on The Ghoul, or will he and the Wasteland wear her down till she is like everyone else? It gives you dramatic tension without having to have everyone shooting each other all the time.

Chaos vs Order

Then you have the tension between chaos and order. Lucy has a very rigid yet kind outlook on the world that is apparently immovable, while The Ghoul is a chaos gremlin wherever he goes. Norm (Moisés Arias) has to pick between two very rational deaths and instead chooses to let loose the battlements and judgmentally derail the Brain-on-a-Roomba’s (Michael Esper) plans. Chaos and violence, order and control, these sit so close to each other that you think they may have to go together, but here we see that might not be the case.  

Cast

One of the real joys in this episode is how much the cast has really leaned into their roles. Ella Purnell perfectly brings that optimistic joy with a growing hard edge. Walton Goggins is equally captivating in either ghoul or non-ghoul form. Kyle MacLachlan lives in those unhinged moments where you are not sure what he will do next. Oh, and Justin Theroux is always a delight, and here he eats up every moment of screentime they give him. There was a lot of lore and exposition that we had to get through to set up the rest of the season, and it never felt draining because the cast injected just what everyone needed to make it work.

Recommendation  

In the end, do we recommend Fallout: The Innovator? While it does have some of the issues with most returning first episodes, where everyone has to spend most of the runtime catching you up, rather than laying the foundation. The cast and the themes cut through that to make a fascinating watch.

Have you watched Fallout: The Innovator? Let us know what you thought of the episode in the comments below.

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

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Fallout
Directed by – Frederick E.O. Toye
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, Moisés Arias, Frances Turner, Kyle MacLachlan & Walton Goggins with Sarita Choudhury, Leslie Uggams, Annabel O’Hagan, Dave Register, Rodrigo Luzzi, Michael Esper, Rafi Silver, Susan Berger, Jared Bankens, Christopher Matthew Cook & Justin Theroux and Leer Leary, Sheila Head, Teagan Meredith, Jeff Wolfe, Shawn Crowder & Lana 5