The End – As the opening episode of Fallout begins, Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) shows off his skills with a rope. Inside, a group of guests worry about the risk of a nuclear war. Some suspect Cooper is working a kid’s party because he has to pay alimony. Cooper’s daughter, Janey (Teagan Meredith), asks him about it. Bob asks Cooper to do the thumbs-up since that’s what he is famous for. Cooper doesn’t want to do it. The birthday party continues. Later, Cooper talks to Janey about the thumbs-up thing and how he knows when to run for the hills. Cooper goes inside to get her a piece of cake. Janey holds up thumb up when she sees the cloud coming. Cooper takes Janey and flees while others fight to get into the fallout shelter.

Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) introduces herself and talks about her skills. She talks about the possibility of finding a suitable marriage partner. Lucy submits her application to participate in the Triennial Trade with Vault 32. They accept her application. She speaks to Stephanie about raising their kids together. Lucy talks to her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), outside about her mother. Hank admits he was terrified until he met her mother. Her brother, Norm (Moises Arias), warns her that he could be a cannibal. Chet (Dave Register) tries to delay opening the fault because he loves Lucy. She reminds him that messing around with your cousin is not a good idea. Once the vault is open, Hank introduces himself as the overseer of his vault. Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) is the overseer of 32.

Lucy questions who she’s marrying. Monty (Cameron Cowperthwaite) steps forward and introduces himself. After getting married, Lucy asks about Monty’s sperm count. Hank speaks to the group about keeping the candle of civilization lit. He suggests radiation levels are dropping quickly enough that the next generation will be able to recolonize. Later, Lucy and Monty go to a room together. Monty surprises her by getting naked before they have sex. Norm walks alone until he finds a man without a leg. He turns and runs. Lucy hears yelling in the distance. She soon finds out that Monty is from the surface with other raiders. He grabs her. Monty eventually stabs her in the stomach. The alarm sounds and distracts him. Lucy stabs him with a broken glass before removing the blade.

She injects herself. Lucy steps out of her room and finds a man dead. She grabs a weapon from the armory. Lucy shoots another raider before looking at the chaos around her. Outside, Stephanie gets stabbed in the eye and kills a raider. Chet is approached by a raider who gets squashed by the door. Norm almost gets killed until Lucy saves him and helps him hide. A badly disfigured Monty comes after her. Hank hits him with a shovel a few times before drowning him. Then, he receives an alert of an intervault door breach. Hank and Lucy find their people taken hostage with what appears to be bombs next to them. Lee Moldaver tells them to drop the weapons. Hank believes he knows who she is. She tells them they are the product of one of life’s tricky little choices.

Hank is given a choice of Lucy or the hostages. He locks Lucy in a room nearby. Lee tells her she looks like her mother. She is going to take Hank to the real world. Lee detonates the bomb and tells the others to run and hide. Lucy watches the bomb explode. Outside, a group beats up Maximus (Aaron Moten) and leaves him on the ground. Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones) comes over to check on him. Felix (Jacinto Tara Riddick) tells the trainees that it’s the duty of the Brotherhood of Steel to secure the Wasteland. Maximus is punished when he can’t identify a relic. Felix tells everyone they have to find and preserve. They rush outside when they see a ship overhead. The T-60 emerges and walks towards them. Later, Dane and Maximus get to see one of the suits up close.

Maximus remembers seeing one in his past. Dane is told he’s being summoned. Later, Maximus is told some of them were chosen to get anointed. Dane says they’re going into the wilds. Maximus is upset about it. Someone puts razor blades in Dane’s boots. Someone who might be Maximus is taken away in a hood. Lucy’s Vault begins cleaning up while Lucy tends to her wound. Outside, she says she has a proposal for the assembly. She wants to send a search party to the surface to find her dad. Woody (Zach Cherry) and the others don’t like that idea. Betty (Leslie Uggams) doesn’t think they should open any doors. Woody agrees. Norm tells Lucy that they don’t want to find their dad. Norm speaks to Davey in the hallway. Lucy decides to escape the vault with help from Norm and Chet.

Chet tells her that he’s coming with her because this is insane. Norm doesn’t hold the elevator so it ends up closing on them. Lucy knocks out Chet to prevent him from going. She tells Norm not to follow her, but he is too chicken anyway. Davey and another man arrive just in time to see Lucy leave the vault. Quintus asks Maximus why he joined the Brotherhood. He says he wants to hurt the people who hurt him. Maximus is accused of hurting Dane although he denies it. He admits he wanted it to happen. He is told that’s a sign of weakness. Maximus thanks Quintus for his guidance and giving him a home. He will do whatever it takes to make the world a better place even giving his life. He’d be grateful to the Brotherhood for giving his life meaning. Quintus says good boy. Maximus is told he’ll be Knight Titus’s new squire.

He goes to Dane to tell them. Dane says they’ll still have a place in the Brotherhood. Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) and others play around nearby. Dane told them Maximus wouldn’t hurt a fly. Then, Maximus goes through the ceremony. They’re told that a denizen of the Enclave has escaped. He has an object of profound potential.  The Knights will search the wilds for this individual and object. They’re shown a picture of the person’s companion. Maximus leaves with Knight Titus. Slim and Honcho look for a grave. Dom Pedro has their friend dug up once a year. He cuts some pieces off and puts him back in the ground. Honcho says he knew of the guy. They’re surprised that he’s a mutant. The Ghoul comes out of the casket.

He’s told someone made a run from the Enclave. They’re going to the witch Moldaver in California which is where the Ghoul is from. The Ghoul ends up killing them except for Honcho. He tells him he’s right about this being his last job. He puts him in the grave and leaves.

 

Fallout Review

The opening episode of Amazon’s Fallout leaves a lot to be desired and it’ll probably upset fans of the franchise. Some aspects of the series are truthful to the games, but the most important element is not. Fallout was never a teeny slapstick comedy. It was serious and gritty. Neither of those things were present in the opening episode. It also wasn’t a western or a kung-fu movie with sloppy fight scenes that are far too long.

There shouldn’t be this many jokes or sex scenes in the opening episode. There should be adventure, survival, and a sense of utter desperation and hopelessness. None of the characters are especially likable in the first episode. These characters could be taken from any modern adventure and no one would know the difference. Lucy’s story has been done many times before. The only difference here is that she’s been thrown into the Fallout world.

There are far too many main characters to boot and that doesn’t suit the Fallout style which usually focuses on one character. Amazon just has to make every episode the length of a film when that’s unnecessary, especially when there are so many episodes in the season. The series will probably be tediously slow with eight episodes and the episodes being needlessly long already. The dialogue and overly upbeat performances create a cringy feel that takes away from the seriousness of the situation.

Truthfully, this probably would be okay if it wasn’t Fallout and it was advertised as being made for younger audiences. The unsophisticated story with familiar characters and a little glitz and glamor may be enough to satisfy viewers who don’t want to be emotionally invested in this. The episode scores a 4.5 out of 10. Recaps of Fallout will be available on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link.

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