Some Thoughts on Fallout Season 2

When the Fallout TV series came out in 2024, I published my thoughts on it on this blog, including why I think that it was a fantastic adaptation of a game property. The sets, the acting, the story, all of it added up to one of my favorite shows currently on TV.

I rewatched it in the lead up to the release of Season 2, and it really held up. Sure, there were some weird things, like fusion cores being super rare and powering whole vaults, that were a bit weird, but overall it was better than I could have realistically hoped for.

I’ve now watched Season 2 in its entirety. Did I like it? You bet I did! Are there still some puzzling aspects of it (which I’ll get to in a bit)? Also yes. Regardless, I definitely tuned in to it eagerly every week, along with my family, to see what drama was brewing in the wasteland that week. Did I mention that we are a Fallout family? Yeah, this was a major event in our household.

Before I go on, here is your obligatory SPOILER warning. If you haven’t watched the second season, I highly recommend that you go and do so before reading this blog. We good? Okay, let’s talk about the strengths of this season first.

The Sets: I made mention before of just how incredible the sets looked in Season 1, particularly the interior of the vaults. This time, much of the events take place in New Vegas, and again, the sets were breathtaking. Walking into Mr. House’s audience room at the top of the Lucky 38 was spot on. The nearness of the Ultra-Luxe and Gomorrah, all felt right. We even got to see the Strip before the bombs dropped, which was really cool.

The Acting: I can’t say enough things about the acting talent in this show, particularly Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell, who both shine like diamonds here. Kyle MacLachlan gets a lot more screen time this season, and he turns in a chilling performance, being both a loving father figure and ruthless villain at the same time. We even got some really great moments with Aaron Moten as Maximus, particularly when he suits up in the NCR power armor while we hear the Fallout main theme play. There are so many great moments that I can’t quite recount them all here.

Super Mutants:  When I first heard his voice, I knew it was Ron Perlman, the famous narrator of the earlier Fallout games. The super mutants that have retained their intelligence, like Fawkes and Erickson, have always been of interest to me. They’ve been exposed to the forced evolutionary virus, but they haven’t just turned into raging barbarians who collect gore bags and decorate in twisted metal. It sounds like they will be a major force against the Enclave next season, and I’m all for it.

NCR Power Armor: This gets its own listing. I have a love of power armor, in general, and Iron Man is one of my favorite superheroes. So, seeing the iconic NCR Ranger helmet adapted to power armor was pretty spectacular, particularly seeing all of its built-in weapons and abilities. It’s too bad it got trashed to the point where Maximus might simply abandon it. I would love it if he were to join the NCR and for this armor to become his signature power armor.

On the other side of the coin, there were some things that didn’t quite resonate with me. Again, I liked it overall, but these were the things that often didn’t work for me.

Trouble on the Homefront: The story arc that takes place in the vaults was one of the weakest threads this season. I do applaud the writers for bringing back the broken water chip. One of my critiques of Season 1 was that this was mentioned then never followed up on again. We get some more movement on that, but it’s just kind of bleh. I am glad we got to spend more time with Stephanie Harper, as there’s definitely more going on with her than is apparent. Overall, though, there just wasn’t enough screen time or compelling beats for this to land. And what was going on with her marrying Chet and not even telling him? Steph has just kind of co-opted him, but we’re not entirely sure why.

Norm and Bud’s Buds: A close second for last, Norm’s arc to spring himself from Vault 31 didn’t seem to go anywhere, and that’s a true shame. Last season, Norm investigating what was going on in the vaults was something I found compelling. Norm himself being physically weak but extremely smart and perceptive was something I enjoyed, and his dynamic with Chet was fantastic. This season, he’s separated from Chet, and that’s not great. The Bud’s Buds group was ultimately a nothing burger as they all get wiped out by radroaches, except for Norm’s friend and potential love interest. Convenient, that. Norm is too good of a character, and Moisés Arias too good of a talent, for arcs with no real substance. Let’s hope Norm gets his due next season.

Caesar’s Legion: This may have been more of a set design issue, but did it not look like someone could have snuck up that berm in the dead of the night to retrieve Caesar’s body? If it had been more separated, in full view of the other side so snipers are a constant risk, and more dead legionnaires who had tried and failed, I think I would have bought the scenario a bit more. But more than that, if no one knew what heir the original Caesar (Edward Sallow) had chosen, how did the two competing Caesar’s justify their taking up the mantle in the first place? And who put Sallow’s body out there and put barbed wire around it? That whole setup had me scratching my head. Having said that, seeing Macaulay Culkin as the new Caesar was pretty cool, and the fact that they want a “Caesar’s Palace” on the Vegas strip was a nice touch.

The Brotherhood of Steel: While it was interesting to see the different chapters of the Brotherhood assemble, and witness firsthand the differences between them, that part of the story ended early enough that I was surprised when we got the stinger at the end. I thought that was about all we were going to get of the Brotherhood for a while. Also, it’s a bit weird that Quintus had chosen Maximus as his champion, then openly insulted him in public, which clearly eroded Maximus’ loyalty. It’s also really weird that if the cold fusion diode were really the key to making unlimited fusion cores (which they established were rare) that it would be left entirely unguarded. It seems like multiple fire teams, each led by a trusted Star Paladin, all in power armor, would have been there to make sure one of the other chapters didn’t go in and seize it for themselves.

Also, the showrunners and Bethesda have had something of an allergy to establishing canon endings for Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4. The arrival of Xander Harkness from the Commonwealth chapter, however, would seem to imply that either the Minutemen or Brotherhood ending of Fallout 4 is canon, as the Institute and the Railroad endings see the Prydwen destroyed, and the Brotherhood almost entirely dismantled. Xander showing up was not as important for lore as, say, if Arthur Maxson had shown up on screen, but it does mean that the Brotherhood is still operating in sufficient force in the Commonwealth to still be a power.

Walking Back the Big Reveal: Last season gave us the jaw-dropping reveal that Vault-Tec might have been the ones responsible for launching the nukes that started the apocalyptic nuclear war. This was something completely new to the lore, which had previously left it ambiguous on whether the USA or China had launched first. This season, they moved away from that. Mr. House even says that it was ultimately “unclear.” We also see a seen where Siggi Wilzig from the Enclave instructs Barb that she should say that line in the meeting. All of the tension they established in that scene in Season 1 was largely undone in Season 2 with the rather vague reveal being “the surface was the experiment.” So, we’ll see where that goes, if they don’t walk that reveal back by next season.

The Tease of the Ghoul’s Family: I’m including this one for the fact that it was telegraphed in advance. For all the other cryopods we see, such as with Bud’s Buds, we can clearly see the figures inside them. Both Barb and Janey’s pods were opaque when we saw them, which told me that they were empty. So, no resolution there, but we do get a clue to lead the Ghoul/Coop on the next leg of his quest. Let’s hope there’s some resolution to this next season.

My Biggest Concerns: Really, I’m a little afraid Season 3 is going to be stretched too thin, especially if we’re only getting eight episodes per season. One of the main issues this season seemed to be that there wasn’t enough screentime to cover it all. More story arcs were opened than were resolved. If we take a look at what might be brewing for Season 3, we have:

• The Brotherhood civil war/Liberty Prime
• Caesar’s Legion vs. the NCR over control of the strip (along with Mr. House)
• The Ghoul going solo to Colorado to find his family
• The Enclave vs. the Super Mutants
• The Pre-War arc of Cooper Howard and his family
• The Vault-Tec/Enclave hidden control chips
• Vault 32’s uprising against Stephanie Harper
• Vault 33’s instability and water/food scarcity
• Norman and whatever he winds up doing

That’s a lot of ground to cover to say nothing of any new arcs they establish that we haven’t heard of yet. If we had 12-episode seasons, that would be one thing, but eight episodes feels like they will be hard pressed to move the plot forward in a satisfying way. I hope Season 3 will start giving us some resolution, so they can really focus down on the major characters and what’s important.

I’m also a bit concerned that the Ghoul is going off on his own. I think some of the best moments in the show are when Lucy and the Ghoul are on screen together. It doesn’t look like we will get much of that for a while since there’s about to be a lot of distance between them.

Final Thoughts

Even with my concerns, I am still onboard with this show. Fallout is one of my favorite game universes ever, and even with some of the flaws and missed opportunities, this team and these actors, are (in my opinion) able to do it justice.

I’m curious to see where they go from here.

Thanks for reading!

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