The “Fallout” show has been a long time coming for the “Fallout” franchise, as it debuted in video game form back in 1997. The “Fallout” franchise is about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world taking place in the future 200 years after a nuclear war broke out. The game’s main focus is slowly doing quests, along with completing the main storyline. The “Fallout” games as well as the show have the interesting ability to flesh out all walks of life, from the largest organizations to the smallest villages, they all have motives. “Fallout” manages to use the blueprint of the games perfectly by adding to the already rich lore and giving the “Fallout” fans one last bit of content to enjoy.
Within “Fallout”, four main characters have their storylines and interact with each other, but none more so than Lucy MacLean. MacLean is a vault dweller meaning that they live in underground vaults and are the offspring of a generation from before the war who wanted to survive the nuclear war, hiding in the vaults to escape the calamity of the outside world. They lived peacefully until one day they were raided and her dad stolen. She decides she must find him, leaving her vault behind and her brother Norm. The third most important of the four is introduced as Maximus of “the Brotherhood of Steel”, an organization that steals post-war technology and uses it to build its military and religious purposes. The coolest character by far and a real scene-stealer is the Ghoul. Ghouls in “Fallout” are people who have been mutated to the point they have become immortal. The Ghoul plays his part like a cowboy from a Western, except he’s very much an anti-hero or simply an antagonist in the series. Besides MacLean, the Ghoul and his backstory get a lot of screen time, as they reveal that the Ghoul had been living before the war and was a famous Hollywood actor.
The show managed to showcase multiple sides of the story extremely well, as each character represents a different group. While Lucy and Norm MacLean started as vault dwellers, most of Lucy’s story takes place out in the wasteland. Norm’s storyline is the least action-packed but it is a very interesting side story as he learns many secrets of the vaults and who is truly in control of them. Although Norm doesn’t interact with the other main characters, he still manages to have a delightful story. As there are plenty of other interesting vault dweller side characters and it shows the nature of someone who decided to live in a vault, a life of isolation. “Fallout” wonderfully juggles between these four characters and still manages to have intriguing and unique side characters. The show isn’t perfect as the pacing can be a little off on occasion with one character or another having too much screen time, but the show overall is delightful and interesting. The four main characters interacting with each other and the rich world around them creates a beautiful backboard where no matter how they throw at it, it sticks.
This show for many is very personally important beyond the content of the show itself. The “Fallout” games shaped many people’s lives over the years and have become some people’s favorite games. Although it is the last “Fallout” game we will probably ever get, Fallout 76 is hated by most of the community. The game before 76, “Fallout 4”, also received a lot of hate for various reasons. This means that the “Fallout” show is some people’s last vestige of hope for this franchise, and for many the show managed to grant them that hope. “Fallout” manages its in-depth world and characters very well and can be enjoyed and understood regardless of whether you’ve played the games or not. This show is a must-watch currently and has plenty more content down the road with another season coming soon.