Let’s Sort Out That Twisty ‘Fallout’ Ending
The world of Fallout is full of violence, monsters, and desperation. Survival is everything. The postapocalyptic Prime Video series, which is based on the popular video game of the same name, embraces gory, dark humor. While it’s safe to say that season 1’s eight episodes did not directly adapt any of the game’s story lines, a tease for season 2 references a familiar location for Fallout fans.
Our story begins in a retro-futuristic 2077. In this bizarre alternate history of the world, technology from the 1950s and 1960s has far outlived modern advancements. Another Cold War threatens humanity, and the population is forced to live in massive fallout bunkers called Vaults. When Vault Dweller Lucy (Yellowjackets’ Ella Purnell) leaves her protected community for the first time in the premiere, we learn that most of the population was left to rough it out on the surface. Mutations—from the heavy radiation!—roam the earth, while some humans turned into zombie-like Ghouls. Now humanity is in a constant fight for resources. With so much to dig through, let’s break down the crazy Fallout finale.
Who Is the Real Villain in Fallout?
Fallout kick-starts the series by introducing audiences to Vault 33 Overseer Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) and his daughter, Lucy. In 2296, life in the Vault is simple and heavily focused on breeding to replenish the population. But when raiders from the surface overrun the neighboring Vault 32 and kill everyone inside, Lucy’s life is changed forever. The raiders continue their assault on Vault 33, and the gang’s leader, Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), kidnaps Hank. To rescue her father, the doe-eyed Lucy leaves the colony and braves the outside world.
Eight episodes later, we learn that Moldaver isn’t as terrible of a person as we thought. The true villain, surprisingly, is Hank. As the gang leader reveals, many of the Wasteland’s power players—including Lucy’s father—are cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec employees from 2077. Even worse, Vault-Tec allegedly dropped the first nuclear bomb more than two hundred years earlier.
How Is the Ghoul Involved?
Two other characters in Fallout uncover this terrible news simultaneously. The first is Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), a former cowboy actor. Turns out his wife was the Vault-Tec board member who suggested starting a nuclear war. Somehow Cooper survived the fallout but now lives as a ghoulish bounty hunter, tracking down anyone who may know what happened to his family.
Cooper’s search sends him on the same journey as Lucy, as they race to find a certain MacGuffin that Moldaver requires. The device, which is implanted in scientist Dr. Siggi Wilzig’s (Michael Emerson) skull, is a cold-fusion reactor that would restore power to Moldaver’s New California Republic. The city, formerly known as Shady Sands, was left decimated when Hank detonated a nuclear bomb to keep control of the region.
What’s Going on with Vaults 31, 32, and 33?
As Lucy and Cooper converge at the Observatory, Lucy’s younger brother, Norm (Moisés Arias), uncovers a similar mystery in Vault 31. While many of Vault 33’s inhabitants carry on with their duties following the attack, Norm remains skeptical. He finds out that his colony of the three Vaults was composed of a managerial class meant to rule over Earth’s population following nuclear war. Like Lucy, he learns of his father’s identity via a former Vault-Tec employee living as a sentient brain in a jar. Also, Norm accidentally traps himself in Vault 31, where the rest of the cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec employees remain in a deep slumber.
What Happens at the Observatory?
Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the cultlike faction the Brotherhood of Steel, leads his mech-suit-wearing army on an assault against Moldaver’s New California Republic. In the finale, he successfully takes control of the Observatory and the cold-fusion reactor.
Moldaver dies in the attack, but not before she reveals that Lucy’s mother was turned into a Ghoul when her father decimated Shady Sands. Lucy ends her mother’s life and partners with Cooper to track down her father, who escapes during the melee with one of the Brotherhood’s mech suits. In the closing minutes of the finale, Hank arrives at a recognizable skyline for Fallout fans: New Vegas.
Is Fallout Season 2 in the Cards?
Whereas the first season borrowed very lightly from the plot of the video-game series, the introduction of New Vegas could signal that more familiar characters and locations are coming for season 2. Fallout: New Vegas is one of the most-celebrated games in the series, featuring an alternative Las Vegas set in Fallout’s twisted Wasteland. The Prime Video series has yet to receive an official renewal, but viewers can safely expect more mayhem as Lucy and Cooper follow Hank into Sin City.
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