As early as 2008, there had been rumblings about adapting Bethesda’s Fallout series for the small screen, and for just as long, fans have been skeptical about how well any potential attempt at an adaptation would be able to translate the madcap energy of the video games for television. But, much to the delight of both fans and critics, season one of Prime Video’s Fallout delivered a riotous post-apocalyptic adventure with the franchise’s signature flair.
Season two of Fallout delivers much of the same, continuing to indulge its penchant for eclectic characters, retrofuturist aesthetics and uber-violent action sequences set to swinging big-band tunes. Though the pervasively glib, cut-and-dry dialogue sometimes leaves the series feeling emotionally excised, the continued exploration of warring factions both topside and in the vaults makes Fallout an entertaining if one-note watch.
Picking up in the immediate aftermath of season one, Fallout season two follows The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) and Lucy (Ella Purnell) as they continue their hazardous trek across the desert wastelands of a post-apocalyptic America in search of Lucy’s father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), seeking an explanation for the destruction of Shady Sands and answers about what happened to The Ghoul’s family.
Also navigating the ever-volatile topside world is squire-turned-knight Maximus (Aaron Moten), whose continued ascent through the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel threatens to spark an all-out civil war between the militant organization’s many factions. Though the internal politics of the Brotherhood is one of the weaker plot threads in season two, Moten’s performance provides a much-needed emotional anchor as Maximus struggles to reconcile the Brotherhood’s brutal doctrine with his own moral compass.
Still, even if Moten and plenty of power armor-aided fight scenes keep Maximus’ story entertaining, it’s still frustrating to see him separated from Lucy and the Ghoul, especially given the short but sweet glimpse at the chemistry between Lucy and Maximus in the back half of season one. As for the Ghoul himself, Goggins’ sharpshooting ex-cowboy takes center stage, perhaps even more so than last season, with an abundance of extended flashback sequences.
Whether exploring his relationship with his wife, the ramifications of his time as a soldier, or his early internal conflicts about whether or not to sign on as the face of Vault-Tec, ample time is dedicated to chronicling the man Cooper Howard was before he became the Ghoul. Though season two gives plenty of meat for both Moten and Goggins to dig into for their characters, whether in the past or present, the same can’t quite be said for Ella Purnell’s Lucy, who feels decidedly like a sidekick in the Ghoul’s story rather than the protagonist she was in season one.
It’s through no fault of Purnell’s own – she gives the role her all and instills Lucy with a near-relentless pep that somehow manages to be consistently endearing without crossing the line to annoying or obnoxious. That being said, Lucy’s arc (at least in the first half of season two) begins and ends with her continued ideological clashes with the Ghoul, mainly due to her distaste towards killing.
But Lucy isn’t the only MacLean running around the world of Fallout in season two: Moises Arias returns as Lucy’s brother Norm, whose ill-conceived investigation into the truth behind Vaults 31 and 31 landed him in a precarious position at the end of last season. Without delving into spoilers, Norm’s storyline this season is an intriguing departure from the otherwise one-note incest humor and inter-office politics of Vault 33, but separating Norm from the other Vaulties leaves the other Vault 33 characters feeling unmoored and purposeless.
But even if the absence of Lucy and Norm often leaves the viewer wondering why we still care about what’s going on in the Vaults, standout performances from the ensemble make the Vault 33 scenes tolerable: Annabel O’Hagen and Leslie Uggams are consistent standouts as the warring Vault overseers, and Zach Cherry (though frustratingly underutilized) is excellent whenever he is used.
Also sparsely used but perhaps the biggest scene-stealer of season two is Kyle MacLachlan as Norm and Lucy’s father, the brilliant and morally flexible Hank MacLean, whose experimental exploits and hubris continue to haunt the rest of the characters. Hank, for his part, is having a blast (pun intended) in season two as he pushes the limits of his latest technological innovations, and MacLaclan’s gleeful performance makes Hank a simultaneously magnetic and chilling villain, especially operating alongside other new Vault-Tec baddies introduced in season two.
Certainly, there are still rougher edges to Fallout that need softening: the series’s lighting and cinematography do a disservice to the impressive work of the production design, costuming, and makeup teams, and the continually growing cast of characters leaves the season as a whole feeling thematically shallow. But for what Fallout may lack in substance, it more than makes up for in scope, style and spectacle, continuing to serve its purpose as a subversive sci-fi adventure and a series worthy of the Fallout name.
Grade: B
Follow us on MSN for more content like this.
Fallout
The story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.
