Fallout Is A Slow Burn Worth Warming Up To

A video game by the name of Fallout first hit gaming shelves in 1997. Today, Fallout is now a household name in the gaming sphere, with nine main titles and a premise with world building that’s few and far between, locking players in for years. Gamers around the world fell in love with the game’s role playing capabilities in an apocalyptic world of vault dwellers, ghouls, and creatures. One gamer in particular Jonah Nolan — now the series writer and director — wanted to take Fallout’s unique world to a new level and an alternate medium. Thus, the new Fallout TV series is born.

While the game franchise is roleplaying-centric, Nolan chose to focus on three main characters from the game, all derived from different sectors within the apocalyptic Fallout world. The series is set in 2296, 219 years after the Great War of 2077 that killed the vast majority of humanity in a nuclear holocaust. Some citizens of pre-war America managed to survive the war in vaults, which are massive fallout shelters constructed by the Vault-Tec Corporation across the United States. In this post-nuclear world, the citizens living in said vaults are called “vault dwellers,” which is where Lucy comes in, played by the ferocious Ella Purnell. Lucy is a kind, naive woman who grew up (literally) sheltered from the world. Driven to find her dad who was coerced and taken out of their vault by an outside raider, Lucy takes matters into her own hands and leaves the safety of her vault to head into the “real” world — a post-nuclear world filled with those who have never experienced the luxury of vault living. On her mission, she comes across The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), who was Cooper Howard before nuclear radiation turned him into a rotting half-corpse, and Maximus (Aaron Clifton Moten), who is a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, a post-war technology-focused paramilitary order.

I want to preface that I didn’t play the game before watching this series. I wanted to go in without any preconceived notions to discern if the story itself was good on its own. From this viewpoint, I have mixed feelings. The stand alone story is certainly a slow burn, but the world building is fantastic. I still found it hard to follow the story with a myriad of characters I had no knowledge of, but the cinematography, action, and set design kept me close to the fire. The first four episodes alone felt geared solely towards long time fans and players of the game, with what seemingly felt like Nolan’s desire to appease them and their Fallout lore. Is it weird to say that I felt like an outsider watching the first few episodes? But, Jonah Nolan, who also worked on The Dark Knight and Westworld, is known for his writing and world building, so I trusted the process and I’m elated that I did.

While it was a slow burn and I unquestionably took some time researching the ins and outs of the game, I came to appreciate Nolan’s take on the fascinating world that is Fallout. The characters themselves are something to be marveled at. The Ghoul is a complex character that is a mystery of his own. Episode by episode viewers find out something new about this character, whether that be a piece of his life and career before the war or a snippet of his current life and condition. It’s just enough to keep you fascinated about the entity that is The Ghoul. There could be an entire mini-series on his character and I’d watch it. The Ghoul offers a darker character and storyline in contrast to the sweet Lucy and often times confused Maximus. It’s a wonderful balance that allows for absurdity and is an absolute blast to watch.

In the game, Lucy’s fate is up to the player. So, being that this was Nolan’s version of Lucy, it was fascinating to see where he would take her. Purnell offers a phenomenal performance that brings that character of Lucy to life like no other. Her character is seemingly one dimensional in the first three episodes, as Purnell takes a naive and nuanced stance to her vault dweller character. She is often apologizing to others in a world that is unapologetic and harsh and reassuring herself with her infamous “okey dokey” line. But as the series plays out, her personality and overall disposition are revealed through her interactions, encounters, and decisions — all making her a badass women and forced to be reckon with by the end of the show.

There is something for everyone in Fallout. While it takes some time to build, here I am in awe of Fallout’s allure, mystique, and universe building.

All eight episodes of Fallout are now streaming on Prime Video.