When Fallout first premiered on Prime Video in the spring of 2024, I didn’t expect much. Contemporaneous attempts to turn hit video games into streaming series (like Halo, Resident Evil, and Knuckles) had all flopped, and there was no reason to believe a live-action take on Bethesda’s post-apocalypse franchise would be any different. In hindsight, I should have paid more attention to the people involved. The show was stacked with TV icons, including Kyle MacLachlan and Walton Goggins. Throw in Ella Purnell fresh off a breakout role in Yellowjackets, and Fallout suddenly looked somewhat promising. And then there was Jonathan Nolan.
Nolan and Lisa Joy, the married Hollywood power couple who co-created HBO’s Westworld, were signed on as executive producers for Fallout. More importantly, Nolan personally directed the show’s first three episodes, setting the tone for everything that followed. So it makes sense that Fallout’s first season resembles Westworld’s in the best way possible. Both debut seasons are tightly wound mysteries propelled by a handful of disparate characters moving in lockstep toward a mind-blowing revelation. And in both cases, it largely worked. However, by that same logic, we probably should have expected Fallout season 2 to take a step in the wrong direction in the exact same way Westworld did. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.
Amazon provided the first six of Fallout season 2’s eight episodes for review, and they feel weirdly familiar. In the same way Westworld stumbled in later seasons, with its big season 1 mystery solved, Fallout seems to be spinning its wheels in season 2, without a clear direction for its many characters.
Fallout season 1 ended with a few shocking revelations. Spoilers ahead.
- Hank MacLean (MacLachlan) is actually a VaultTec employee from before the apocalypse who was cryogenically frozen and sent into the future to serve as Overseer of Vault 33
- It was VaultTec that launched the first nuclear missiles as part of a business plan to force high-paying customers into its vaults
- The MacGuffin that propelled the plot throughout season 1 was the recipe for cold fusion, which could have provided free energy for the entire world, until VaultTec acquired and buried the technology
- Shady Sands was a thriving post-apocalypse community living above ground, but when Hank found out, he blew up the entire town so VaultTec’s plan to eventually dominate the world could succeed
That’s a lot to digest, and it all added up to an explosive season finale, but now, all the remaining narrative rubble seems to be getting in the way. With no clear mystery remaining to drive the plot forward, and the show’s many characters even more far-flung than before, Fallout season 2 struggles to recapture that season 1 magic. (Nolan also notably doesn’t direct any of its first six episodes, though Joy helms episode 6.)
Image: Prime Video
For one thing, MacLachlan’s heel turn was exciting at the time, but in season 2, it sets up an entirely new plotline that’s more distracting than interesting, and also has zero connection to the original video games. Meanwhile, the chemistry between Hank’s daughter Lucy (Purnell) and Brotherhood of Steel member Maximus (Aaron Moten) has fizzled out now that they’re no longer traveling together, although I will admit that Lucy and the Ghoul (Goggins) is a fun season 2 pairing. Still, while season 1 captured the thrill of watching multiple characters race toward the same destination, season 2 effectively siloes those characters and squanders any remaining momentum.
The other revelations from season 1 don’t amount to much in season 2’s first six episodes. The cold fusion plotline, in particular, which seemed to have so much potential, is instead used to set up a petty power struggle among the religious militia, the Brotherhood of Steel, which means all their cool power armor suits mostly stay on the rack while the Brotherhood debates how best to use this new technology. The only saving grace for this plotline is the introduction of a new character played by Kumail Nanjiani, who expands the world of the Brotherhood and pushes the story in an intriguing new direction.
Image: Prime Video
On the plus side, much of the building blocks of what made Fallout season 1 a joy to watch are still here. The games’ vision of a retrofuturistic nuclear wasteland with a 1950s Americana vibe is still going strong, thanks to thoughtful production design and lots of great Golden Oldies needle drops. At least the work Nolan did in setting the tone for Fallout is still paying off here.
Still, I worry that Fallout’s downward spiral will only continue. As Westworld soldiered on, the world got bigger, but the story got more generic. By the time HBO canceled Westworld — on a major unresolved cliffhanger! — it didn’t seem like anyone even cared where it was all headed. Fallout risks going down the same path. The last few episodes of season 2 might correct that course (season 3 is also already greenlit, for what it’s worth) but if not, Nolan may develop an unfortunate reputation for setting up exciting sci-fi TV shows that fail to pan out.
Fallout season 2 to December 16th at 6 p.m. ET. After that, new episodes air weekly each Wednesday.
