I was really nervous about Fallout.
Not because Bethesda’s take on the material is somehow holy to me, but because they have yet to do anything unique with the franchise. The original two games, released almost 30 years ago, featured whip-smart commentary and satire in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of modern America. While the rebooted series became an easy to swallow first-person shooter adventure title, with only brief glimpses of what made it so special to begin with.
In adapting Fallout, a less interesting group of artists could have taken the easy route. All it takes is some references, a big action set piece here and there, and not much else. Luckily, Prime Video’s big investment in showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy has paid off. Fallout isn’t just a great adaptation of the material. It’s one of the best new sci-fi shows since The Expanse.
Smartly set both before and after the nuclear apocalypse, Fallout is the story of three wasteland survivors, each from very different origins, in search for the one big thing that could set their lives in a better direction. Lucy (Ella Purnell), is a vault dweller who has never seen the surface world. Maximus (Aaron Moten), is a member of The Brotherhood of Steel, a group of wannabe knights enforcing their archaic brand of justice on an ungovernable wasteland. Finally, there’s The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a bounty hunter toeing the line between amorality and the only law worth a damn.
How and why they cross paths would be telling, and part of the fun in Fallout is not knowing what’s around the corner. For those familiar with the franchise, think of the random encounters in the original two games, rife with pop-culture references and dry wit, and you get the idea. The wasteland is an unpredictable, wild place, where the only constant is the desire to survive another hour longer.
That anarchy is one of the great strengths Prime Video’s adaptation has going for it. Fallout is both deliriously funny, but immensely tragic all at once. In depicting the world as it leads to the downfall, the series gives every violent outcome unexpected weight. It’s funny because of how over-the-top gruesome it can be. But the moment you stop and think about it, the callous and desperate nature of each act leaves a knot in the stomach.
Fallout is an unabashedly political show. It’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer, but in a time when people are still arguing whether or not Starship Troopers is a satire, there’s really no room left for subtlety. Instead, Fallout leans into Paul Verhoeven -levels of absurdity, amping up both violence and obscenity where it can. One of the first signs of this is in the vault, where a perpetually peppy Lucy tells her suitor they can’t continue messing around, as sexual relations between cousins are ultimately less than optimal.
As the series expands into the wasteland, Fallout finds joy in delivering scathing criticism of both the military industrial complex and the corporate monopolies ruling the world. Vault-Tech, the company behind the Vaults, gets a far bigger role than ever before. But also becomes the target of most of the satire in the show. It’s not hard to see what major company Nolan and Joy are mocking, and it’s reminiscent of relationship The Simpsons had with their parent company, Fox, back in the day.
While there are missteps, they luckily remain few and far between. The first episode features an unfortunate and off-putting cameo that luckily doesn’t last long. A story arc involving another Vault overstays its welcome by a bit. But mostly, my biggest gripe with the series is that it’s only eight episodes in length. If anything, Fallout deserves a long, rich season to fully enjoy the wealth of material they’ve got going for them.
Just as things really get going, the season comes to a close. There’s already another in the works, and hopefully we won’t have to wait long for it, but it’s still a pain. While we’re doing the retro-thing, why not just bring back a full 20-episode season structure? Especially for a show like this, that thrives on guest appearances and disparate stories in the wild yonder.
Despite the complaints, Fallout remains a wonder. It’s a rarity in game adaptations (even next to the terrific The Last of Us). A genuinely great series that understands precisely what it needs to be, as opposed to feeling tied down by the source material. It utilises the visual aesthetics of the franchises retro-futurism gorgeously, but never forgets to loop back into pointed commentary. Like the best sci-fi, it speaks of present day worries and insanities, while painting them in the absurdist light of tomorrow.
Led by a stellar cast and handled with care, Fallout deserves all the praise it has coming. It’s one of the most exciting new series out there, and hopefully one that we’ll enjoy for a long time to come.
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