Fallout, Season 1
- DB
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
A good start, with plenty of room for improvement.
Here's what I've been watching and playing over the last seven days...
MOVIES
Yes, this is genuinely the only movie I've watched over the last week and it's still weird to think that what is basically a kid's film technically features sexual assault of a child and is something that could never be made today, especially not if you gender-flipped the leading characters.
GAMES
Playing an absolutely evil drow Dark Urge means there are a lot of uncomfortable choices being made and content being missed out on, with Gale and Wyll dead already, and the Ancient Grove destroyed, along with all the innocents hiding there. Ah well, at least I got to screw Minthara.
Jurassic World Evolution
I'm coming around a little more to this game now that I'm getting more familiar with what does what, but not having any great attachment to the Jurassic World franchise means I'm still not completely onboard yet, but I'm at least willing to keep going.
Yakuza 0
I'm progressing just a little further each time I play it because I don't feel like I have any choice but to save and leave things at every chance I get thanks to how often new things are introduced. This definitely feels like a game where you should play others in the series first, as it really feels like the developers are expecting players to have somewhat of an understanding from the start.
The camera constantly snapping to back into place constantly is also giving me such severe motion sickness I couldn't really play it for longer spells if I tried anyway.
TV
Fallout, Season 1
Episode 5, "The Past"
This was a bit of a so-so episode, feeling more like a bridge between the first and second half of the season than anything substantial - definitely another episode that reinforces the feeling of the show being one big story chopped up into eight episodes rather than eight individual episodes each contributing to a larger whole.
I will say that I am really starting to enjoy the conspiracy/political stuff going on Vault 33 though, considering it's a big part of the games that a lot of vaults were used for experimenting on their inhabitants rather than being a genuinely safe place and I'm hoping to see that angle fleshed out further.
Episode 6, "The Trap"
A step up from the previous episode, but still feeling a little more fragmented than I would like although it's not bad enough to detract from the episode thanks to the continued excellent worldbuilding.
As someone who really enjoyed the exploration aspect of the Fallout games, I have been a little disappointed at how little is happening in the wasteland of America's ruins, but I have to admit I'm loving the pre-war and in-Vault stuff.
Episode 7, "The Radio"
More chess pieces being shuffled again, this time in preparation for the season finale, which I'm really hoping brings everything together properly to make up for a lack of any truly standout episodes.
And does there really need to be a romance between Maximus and Lucy? I get that they're the two human leads (can't see Walton Goggins' ghoul getting together with either of them), but couldn't the urge to pair them up have been resisted a little harder? Here's hoping this relationship doesn't happen.
Episode 8, "The Beginning"
Starting with the end and ending with the beginning? I see what you did there, show. To be fair, it's also pretty accurate as it's one of the biggest lore dumps in the history of the Fallout series, detailing pretty much exactly how the setting came to be.
I'm not sure about some of the choices made, with those ultimately responsible feeling more like someone creating the Fallout series now would come up with rather than being true to the original game's set-up.
I'm also a little disappointed with how Norm's story in Vaults 31-33 ended, feeling more than a little anti-climactic considering what happened in the rest of the episode. I also can't really see how that'll go anywhere interesting in season 2 either.
Season 1 Overview
While I did like the show, it was more on vibes and the authenticity of the setting compared to the games that made me like it more than the story. So much of what you see and hear is so faithful to the games that it's incredibly clear that the people making the show at least had huge respect for the source material.
It did feel a bit like the wasteland was being wasted though, although I get that it's easier (and cheaper) to re-dress and re-arrange Vault sets as new environments rather than using VFX to create a vast, post-apocalyptic environment.
It helped that there was a lot of good material for the Vault-based parts of the show, but it will be interesting to see if the second season continues with the flashbacks to pre-war times after that finale - I can't see there being too much more to fill in outside of Cooper's family.
And I'm sorry, but I just don't like the Cooper as the Ghoul being so ludicrously good at just about everything he wants to do - I really want him brought down a level or two at some point and to stay there for a while.
Overall, Fallout's first season is a pretty good start and I'm genuinely looking forward to season 2 and New Vegas, although I hope the 'big' moments are a little more spread out - I get that first and last episodes are where you want to make the biggest impact, but it does make the episodes in-between blur together and feel less essential as a result. [7/10]
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