I don't usually do episode specific reviews of shows but Fallout's second season was something I felt like writing about recently despite it reaching its general halfway mark. In that post I mentioned how it has been a bit of a rocky second season with little really going on that we haven't seen before, and how it was struggling to give me a reason to care about its main story. For people that haven't played Fallout 4, it actually holds a lot of similarities to the game in which a Vault Dweller finds their way into the wasteland for personal reasons, wanting to find a person that they previously had lost. Naturally, that's a vague description as to avoid spoilers, but I noticed the show has been following in a similar direction. With that, it's not all that engaging. A primary character that never really grows much, constantly makes the same mistakes, whereas the rest of the story going into the past was much more interesting.
I mentioned in that post that Fallout's production quality is genuinely incredible. It's a beautifully crafted television series and really puts a lot of other shows to shame with the attention to its detail it holds. Shot on beautiful anamorphic lenses, shot also on 35mm film stock! A rarity these days for television series which usually have cheap sets and cheap lighting, shot digitally in a very flat tone that doesn't really say much. But Fallout's world remains true to what it is: gritty, textured in that grain and nuclear waste. The unfriendly nature it holds from people of all types and insanities, as well as the wasteland's own threats that come with a mix of nuclear radiation and years of evolution within its nature. Where beasts lurk in gigantic forms. And that's actually where this episode picks up from: the appearance of the Deathclaw. Fallout's perhaps most dangerous creature.
I actually quite like that it took this long for the show to being showing some of the other dangers within the wasteland, where it wasn't teasing or jumping immediately into it all. Where the backstory of the world was made the main focus. And only now as they've traversed it a bit more are those dangers becoming a bit more evident. It has added to some of that pacing within the present where admittedly it has been lacking in interest. With Lucy really just making the same mistakes over and over as the Ghoul manages to pull them out to safety. This episode isn't too different, the Ghoul still manages to pull them to safety, but there is some change in Lucy regarding her perspective on violence finally, and it has been much needed. The Ghoul's story remains the most interesting within the present timeline of the show, with his personal traumas regarding his family bringing more attachment to him for the viewer.
This episode pulls a bit more nostalgia from the games for the audience by showing the arrival of the characters within New Vegas. Which pulls our Ghoul into the past again with his memories of meeting Mr. House and his efforts to perform espionage against his wife as she seeks out more malicious plans regarding the corporation. This is a plot line that has been developing for a while, mixing the connection between past and present, showing the more human side of the Ghoul as he attempts to get his revenge given all he lost and sacrificed in the past. I think the pacing of this episode was a bit better, it felt like it had a bit more motion to it, wit the overlapping stories of different characters. It felt as if there was a broader context unfolding that kept each little story engaging enough for once. Even down to Lucy's curiosities within New Vegas, and how she manages to handle herself a bit more. One slight spoiler is that she finally manages to kill, albeit by accident. But it was about time that her morales came into question a bit more.
I do think this ended up being one of the stronger episodes of the season, less focused on action and the chaos, but more showing the ways in which the past and present and even future are connected for these characters. The troubles that await them going forward as they each have their own agendas. It felt much more engaging, less annoying.