Fallout | Amazon Prime Video | Based on the video game franchise | April 12th, 2024

[Porthos]

@4815162342

 

Open the spoiler box ONLY after watching Ep 5:

 

Spoiler

This is how I imagine some posters over on r/Fallout and elsewhere are reacting to a certain reveal in this episode:

 

 

Not actually gonna check until I'm done, but even a semi-casual Fallout fan like myself suspects.... whooo boy.

 

(might be mitigated by the last three episodes, but I suspect my choice of gif here is probably accurate)

 

[Porthos]

No spoilers, but... I think that qualifies as a WHAM SHOT at the very very end. 

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, Porthos said:

@4815162342

 

Open the spoiler box ONLY after watching Ep 5:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

This is how I imagine some posters over on r/Fallout and elsewhere are reacting to a certain reveal in this episode:

 

 

Not actually gonna check until I'm done, but even a semi-casual Fallout fan like myself suspects.... whooo boy.

 

(might be mitigated by the last three episodes, but I suspect my choice of gif here is probably accurate)

 

 

Alright.

 

Hmmm.

 

*casually checks Twitter*

 

A-yep.  Thought so.

 

For folks who are casually checking this thread out but haven't watched all the episodes yet and actually care about spoilers, I have one suggestion:

 

Get off the net *NOW* until you've actually seen the entire show as this show did not pull any punches. At all.

 

*reflects*

 

Okay think I'm gonna give this some dual thoughts.  This was some damn compelling TV.  I wasn't planning on binging it all the way through, but I kept having to see what happened next.  Was some small sloppy bits of storytelling at the very very beginning, but over all as a piece of Prestige TV this was around 9.5/10 or so.  Very well made.

 

And as a casual semi-fan of the property (ultra casual might be the best term), I have to say it was VERY Fallout-y. Themes, style of story.  Fallout through and through.

 

With one notable fandom observation, which I will put in spoilers, followed by much more in-depth thoughts in another nested spoiler box

 

Some Fallout fans are gunna be

MAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDD.

 

Like "Make TLJ backlash possibly look like a Afternoon Tea Social Debate"  level MAAAAAAAAAAAAD.

 
 

 

I think having the NCR get nuked back to the Stone Age is one thing.  Having the NCR allegedly get nuked in the year 2277?  Which is approx four years before Fallout: New Vegas is set?  Yeaaaaaah... that's gunna cause DISCOURSE.   Dropping an H-Bomb on Shady Sands is bad enough.  Doing it allegedly before New Vegas?

 

Well, being the level headed person I am, I'm actually gonna sit back and see just how Amazon/Bethesda addresses this.  The fact that the show ends with a shot of New Vegas itself makes me go HMMMMMMMMM. Though what state New Vegas itself is in is very much an open question, as it didn't look particularly good.

 

SOMETHING is going on here and I doubt it is as simple as WAH WAH WAH TODD HOWARD HATES OBSIDIAN AND NEW VEGAS ARGLE BARGLE GARGLE.

 

I mean, even before the closing shot there were quite a few New Vegas nods sprinkled throughout the show.  Which makes the nuking of Shady Sands at 2277 all the more... I think I'll use the word "puzzling".   As it wouldn't have been that hard to literally shift everything up be four or five years and have it be immediately after FNV.

 

 

Switching back to non-spoilery/review mode. I've been a part of many many many fandoms over the decades and I can see this being fairly controversial.  Hence the suggestion to unplug if one cares at all about spoilers.

 

Which is something of a shame as this was an exquisitely crafted series with a lot of deep themes to explore, along with a few unanswered questions.  It really is some compelling TV that makes one stop and think about various things.

 

Sadly I strongly suspect a likely fan war over this series might very well overshadow just about everything else.

 

Why?  Well, to coin a phrase: Fandom... Fandom Never Changes.

Edited April 11 by Porthos

[4815162342]

8 hours ago, Porthos said:

@4815162342

 

Open the spoiler box ONLY after watching Ep 5:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

This is how I imagine some posters over on r/Fallout and elsewhere are reacting to a certain reveal in this episode:

 

 

Not actually gonna check until I'm done, but even a semi-casual Fallout fan like myself suspects.... whooo boy.

 

(might be mitigated by the last three episodes, but I suspect my choice of gif here is probably accurate)

 

 

I won't start until Friday so I will stay strong and not click

[dudalb]

Watched the first couple of spidosed last night.

Loved it.

Seems to have hit, from the response, that happy spot where you don't need to have  played the games to enjoy it, but has plenty fpf easter eggs for fans of the games.

[Porthos]

Believe it or not, I am actually trying to restrain my commentary here.

 

(okay, not succeeding at it, but am in fact trying! 😛)

 

having slept on it and seen some other commentary plus having something pointed out to me, gonna go FULL BLOWN SPOILER under this box:

 

Spoiler

okay, when I said I was gonna reserve judgement on the whole Dropping a Nuke on Shady Sands in 2277, this is what I meant:

 

 

This was part of a headline that pointed out that the nuke drops *AFTER* 2277.  Analysis of character ages of the show in regards to Lucy and Maximus does seem to imply that Shady Sands got blown the fuck up very very very shortly after FNV.

 

Even before the ending of the series, there was all of the nods and outright callbacks to FNV (hell, Mr House is in the freakin' show) which is why this *was* the one thing I felt was off.

 

On the other hand, whoever designed this infographic should have realized how it would have gone over.  I get the intentional symbolism of 200 years after the Great War as a piece of (in-universe) meta commentary, but they had to have known how it would look without a date on the mushroom cloud.

 

Now there is some minor discrepancies about references to Shady Sands in FNV that don't seem to align with it having... issues in 2081.  And "Fall of Shady Sands" can be read as being similar to "Fall of Rome" or various other things, but that gets into the realm of nitpicking and thus uninteresting to me.

 

But all in all, this does show why I was wanting to wait around to get some other opinions, see what I might have missed, and well how Bethesda would handle it.

 

Like so, for instance:

 

 

======

Along those lines, however, and still talking about the Big Picture, but this time in regards to fans,  is that the folks squawking the loudest, and hooooo boy are some folks squawking, are reacting because they're emotionally angry at seeing the NCR getting obliterated and they're looking for anything to latch onto to channel/justify/vent their frustrations.

 

Really does seem similar to TLJ backlash in that respect.

 

 

So, I think still a 9.5/10 for me overall.  There were a couple of narrative shortcuts that I wasn't in love with at the very beginning

 

Spoiler

I didn't like how the show traced Siggi Wilzig's movements as he was escaping the Enclave and running into Lucy as it didn't quite flow as well as it could have.  Specifically when Wilzig was at the Yao Guai Bear Cave and when he was at the firecamp with Lucy seemed to jump around a bit too much.  Maybe it'll be a bit more clear on rewatch, I dunno.

 

Couple of other minor things here and there where the structure of the show didn't quite gel/flow for me.

 

What they excelled at was nailing the tone, vibe, and yes, humor of the series.  Not funny haha but in dark dark satire.  Though I will admit for laughing out loud for a minute straight or so about 

Spoiler

how Lucy was sentenced to "death" by the survivors of Vault 4.  I absolutely lost it at the "two weeks supplies" bit and kept on laughing when Maximus came in to "rescue" Lucy.

 

...

 

*clank of fusion core being thrown back into the Vault*

"THANK YOU"

 

Gold.  Sheer gold

 

Also meant it when I said the show stopped to make one think.  For instance, it examined one of the classic Fallout themes of Cynicism vs Idealism... without actually genuinely taking a side.  I think. 

 

Spoiler

I mean, I'm wondering just where Lucy's headspace is at the end of the series.  That she gave her mother a Mercy Kill and left with The Ghoul is a pretty big tell that she's not in the same headspace as she was before she found out how much of a piece of shit her father was and that everything she believed in was a lie.

 

But was that enough to actually start her down the road to being as cynical and as ruthless and as cold hearted as Cooper Howard became?

 

I honestly don't know.

 

Be interesting to find out.

 

There's a lot of meat on the bone of this series, in other words.  Hope it finds the opportunity to be chewed on.

[dudalb]

I am  spacing my viewing of Season one out, this series is too good to binge on.

Easily the best TV Series/Movie I have seen based on a computer/video game.

Edited April 13 by dudalb

[filmlover]

Watched the first episode tonight. My knowledge of the video game is limited but this was a pretty good start, will be watching the rest. Hollywood has finally cracked the nut of creating a successful video game adaptation between The Last of Us and now this.

[ChipDerby]

11 hours ago, filmlover said:

Watched the first episode tonight. My knowledge of the video game is limited but this was a pretty good start, will be watching the rest. Hollywood has finally cracked the nut of creating a successful video game adaptation between The Last of Us and now this.

 

Ditto almost exactly lol

[Torontofan]

Glad they were able to make a female driven action tv show that actually has character development

 

Well done! 

[Dementeleus]

Now I’m worried @Porthos might simply go nova from squeedom.  

 

Dug the season, thought it was very fun and nailed the tone nearly perfectly. Couple of very minor spoilers where I laughed out loud:

 

Spoiler

Casting Michael Rapaport as an asshole Knight (when the Brotherhood is essentially nothing but assholes to begin with) is *chef’s kiss*

 

Spoiler

The Ghoul stimpacking Dogmeat… lmaoooo

 

[lorddemaxus]

3/4ths through the first episode and sadly found this to be very, very slow so far. Like even that Fallout 3 prologue on my 2nd playthrough felt so much faster than this.

[Black Hawk]

7/10. Its alright.

[4815162342]

On 4/11/2024 at 2:45 AM, Porthos said:

@4815162342

 

Open the spoiler box ONLY after watching Ep 5:

 

  Hide contents

This is how I imagine some posters over on r/Fallout and elsewhere are reacting to a certain reveal in this episode:

 

 

Not actually gonna check until I'm done, but even a semi-casual Fallout fan like myself suspects.... whooo boy.

 

(might be mitigated by the last three episodes, but I suspect my choice of gif here is probably accurate)

 

 

Yes I just finished Episode 5 and I have thoughts about the show (with Bethesda's nodding approval no doubt) apparently treating some non-Bethesda aspects of the franchise

Edited April 17 by 4815162342

[4815162342]

@Porthos

 

 

[Porthos]

24 minutes ago, 4815162342 said:

@Porthos

 

 

 

Saw that, laughed a little.  Presume I'd laugh even more had I seen Civil War and known the exact context.

 

But I did make something for you, shamelessly ripped off of a reddit conversation:

 

(as always, click to embiggen)

 

 

Edited April 17 by Porthos

[von Kenni]

Strong 8/10 (as a reference Last of Us was 6/10 for me...had high notes like episode 3 but then character developments and writing ended dissapointing toward the end).

 

I know the game but didnt ever play it. The first episode was a bit mixed but got better after that and the season ended on a high note.

 

Main character and the ghoul were great acting and character arc wise. Maximus was a bit annoying but got better toward the end. The dark humor with a right amount of gore for me was a joy. Themes were nice but a bit watered down but maybe for this it's the point, to have a fun ride and not have too high concept, deep themes to get in the way. Stakes felt okay and episodes had some nice novelty factors.

 

One Piece was a 9/10 for me but somehow I'm more eagerly waiting the next season for this than for One Piece. I guess the world of Fallout with the vaults, mechs, time jumps, and ghouls is more interesting.

 

 

[Liiviig 1998]

8/10. Goggins was great  and Eli purnell was an absolute delight in this.

 

World building was great too.

 

Was sort of ehh on the maximus plotline though.

Edited April 17 by Liiviig 1998

[4815162342]

So that was kind of an honestly messy season. The 8 episode mandate enforced by streamers these days is so goddamn stupid.

 

The geography of the show makes no sense. Characters are hopping between dense forest and vast desert and blighted cityscapes within minutes in every episode, characters seem to teleport when the plot demands it, and there's no sense of scale or distance to where anything is.

Edited April 18 by 4815162342

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, 4815162342 said:

The geography of the show makes no sense. Characters are hopping between dense forest and vast desert and blighted cityscapes within minutes in every episode, characters seem to teleport when the plot demands it, and there's no sense of scale or distance to where anything is.

 

They had semi-fast travel unlocked, obviously. 

 

========

 

The travel was one of the few complaints I had about this, actually.  Mentioned it in a previous post with the movements of Wilzig, but it did pop up in a few other areas.  Didn't bug me enough to overly affect the grade, but it is something I noted.

 

Don't know how long we're enforcing spoiler bars in a series that was binged, so I'm still holding off on some things.  Started a rewatch and some things that irked me on the initial watch, didn't when seeing the whole picture. But other things I noted didn't quite fit as presented so far.  Am holding off on complete judgement in case it's brought up in a future season.

 

But the one that bugs me the most after a partial rewatch is that 

Spoiler

the actions of Moldaver and why she ordered the raid in the first place don't make a ton of sense to me.

 

Use of Raiders?  Beggars can't be choosers/plausible deniability/whatever.  That I can get behind.

How she knew how to get into Vault 33 through 32?  Okay, I buy that as well as Lucy's mother could have told her when the triennial exchange was.

 

How long were they in Vault 32 and why Overseer Maclean didn't know what was going on in Vault 32 is where it starts to break down a little.  Still, incompetence and Vault-Tec go hand in hand, so I can still sorta buy that.

 

But just what was Moldaver up to in her raid of 33?  What was the ultimate purpose?  Was it always a "grab Lucy"/"punish Hank" attack or was it somewhat improvised?

 

One of the few things for me that doesn't fit as neatly as it should as the attack itself isn't all that clear on just what they were doing.  Could be that Moldaver was using a Raider Attack as a cover to try to grab Lucy and then kidnapped Hank in the hopes of luring Lucy out into the Wastes.  But seems a little... complicated and chancy.

 

Still debating on whether or not it's enough to lower my grade to 9/10 as there was a LOT I loved in this series.

 

FWIW, Todd Howard has confirmed that

 

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD

Spoiler

that the bombs fell on Shady Sands very shortly after the events of New Vegas and that as far as they are concerned, all of the events of all previous Fallout games "happened".

 

How that exactly squares with the placement of Shady Sands compared to the actual geography you mentioned?

 

...

 

Fast travel unlocked.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 😉 

 

It is interesting that what looks to be the most controversial storyline came from the person on the production team who has been playing the games since the first Fallout since 1997 and Bethesda was somewhat talked into it, if I read between the lines right.

 

======

 

That nit aside, I am very much looking forward to S2 and am... curious if some of the dangling threads from S1 are gonna be tugged at or not.

 

NB:

 

FWIW, I absolutely agree with you about the eight episode complaint.  At least these weren't short episodes, for the most part.  12 or 13 episode order probably have been preferable regardless.