TL;DR – A riot of whimsy as we delve into the world of Fallout, as the characters try to make sense of everything that goes on.

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

Fallout: The Golden Rule Review Introduction –

One of the great things about Fallout has been its ability to be filled with contrasts, yet still manage to keep the whole from being ripped apart. Which, as we have seen from a multitude of adaptations, is a difficult thing to pull off. Grounding something this inherently silly is a rare skill, and the show pulls it off again here.

So, to set the scene, many years before the time of the show, there lived a town called Shady Sands. Life was still hard, but they had found their niche in the wilderness, and they were starting to rebuild the world that had been lost during the Great War that rained down nuclear fire on the earth. However, their success drew the attention of forces they did not know were out there, or in this case, under there, which is why they may not have acted quickly enough when the trader walked into town acting odd. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there may be [SPOILERS] ahead.   

Emotion

Given that Fallout does live in this quasi-absurdist mashup of post-apocalypse and 1950s American futurism, it is both profoundly antiquated and yet also set over 200 years in the future. It could just be enough to live in that absurdist space and make references to the absurdity. To be fair, Fallout does this quite a bit. Indeed, in this episode, Norm MacLean’s (Moisés Arias) storyline has this in spades, and of course, literally everything that Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) is up to. However, what elevates the show is how they dabble in wild jingoistic tosh, but they also back that up with real emotional depth.  

Where we see this the most this episode is in the story of Maximus (Aaron Moten), who was the only major plotline missing last week in The Innovator. Back in season one, the most contentious choice that the show made was revealing that Shady Sands had been destroyed by a nuclear strike, via the reprehensible Hank MacLean. But this episode changes it from being an abstract story to seeing it in real time. You, as an audience member, know that a trader coming into town is bad news, and you want to yell out to stop them. You know that the bomb is going to explode, yet you still root for the town to defuse it. But more than that, and unlike a certain other nuclear media of the last few years, it shows you the human cost. It was honestly emotional watching Max’s parents spend their last moments saving his life and then embracing before the coming doom.

But that emotional core stems from all of Maximus’ story this week because he is the accidental hero stuck in a world he might not be ready for. All he ever wanted was to be one of the knights of the Brotherhood of Steel. But he has been out in the world, he has seen that things are not as black and white as was preached all his life, he knows there is real good in the world and horrors that can barely be explained. Once a joyous man, he has now been worn down, telling himself that the Brotherhood of Steel are the best people able to bring order to the Wasteland and that his job should be making the Brotherhood a better organisation. It is the working within the system or outside argument, and for Maximus, it is grinding him into the shadow of who he was.  

The Golden Rule is a Video Game

Indeed, Maximus’s path is one of the directions that Lucy (Ella Purnell) could end up walking in the constant struggle between her and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) as to what is better in the Wasteland. For her, even though the Golden Rule is what she has been brought up with, and might well be hogwash, it is still the best way forward to bring hope to people. This is put to the test when a radscorpion stabs both a random bystander and The Ghoul. Lucy has two patients, but only one Stimpac. It is the most video game choice that has ever video gamed. It also reminded me of the ways that Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves incorporated the game into the film through the narrative. We still don’t know where this will land, and probably the outcome of what happens when she meets up with her reprehensible and irredeemable father.  

War is Brewing Everywhere

While the episode opens in a declaration of war, it seems that hostilities are everywhere and increasing. Hank is starting up the mind control program, which will be a treat to every major player out there, including his own. The Brotherhood of Steel are speedrunning a build-up to a civil war, and the appearance of Kumail Nanjiani is only going to escalate. Norm has escaped his fate of a long, slow death of starvation, and it only took a little murder and unleashing all of Bud Askins’s buds on the Wasteland, or maybe unleashing the Wasteland on all of Bud Askins’s buds. The New California Republic might be in full retreat, but The Legion is still out there. And then there is whatever move that Robert House might be making in New Vegas. All of these threads are pulling on a fuse leading to a powder keg, and we are left wondering if the next tug will be enough to set it off.

Production

We then have to talk about how stunning this show looks. The open sequence in Shady Sands was a visual delight that perfectly fit the vibe of the show. Was Area 51 being hidden by sand that gets blown away by nuclear-powered fans, silly? Absolutely. Was it also a delight? You betcha. They have put a lot of work into making that desert shine, bringing the Wasteland to life, and it shows. Indeed, I do love that the writers and set designers clearly care about the franchise, because this week, not only did we get some deep-cut references like the New Plague hospital. But we got nods to fan projects and even at least one fan theory shown to be true. Each of these factors helps sell the worldbuilding in a way few shows can nail.     

Recommendation 

In the end, do we recommend Fallout: The Golden Rule? Absolutely. This show keeps moving from strength to strength and because of that I will be here for the ride. Have you watched Fallout: The Golden Rule? 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 – Chris Brady-Denton
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 Michael Cristofer, Kumail Nanjiani, Xelia Mendes-Jones, Bashir Salahuddin, Rachel Marsh, Adam Faison, Rajat Suresh, Jeremy Levick, Brian Thompson, Sisa Grey, Chris Browning, Judson Mills & Shinelle Azoroh and Amir Carr, Grace Kelly Quigley, Cody Alexander Guevara & Lana 5