As a 22-year fan and player of Fallout games, I have certain expectations about any movie or TV series made based on the franchise. I was sadly disappointed in previous expectations of other games-turned movie/series, and with each disappointment, I became more cynical and wary. But like a moth, I was drawn to the Fallout series—I had to see just how awful it was and then pronounce to the world, I told ya so.
This humble pie is actually quite tasty if you wash it down with a nice cabernet.
I watched the first episode last night on Amazon with cautious expectation, hand on the remote ready to change channels at the slightest mistake, continuity error, bad folly, cheap sets, or bad acting. At some point in time (can’t remember because I was too engrossed in the show), I dropped the remote and scared the cats.
It is extremely faithful to the allegory and lore; the sets are perfect reproductions, and if you’ve played any of the games, you will recognize almost everything. The acting is good, as is most of the dialogue. The protagonist is a young woman, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) who, after a bizarre arranged wedding night and subsequent attack, leaves the vault in search of her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), who the marauding surface dwellers have captured.
The Brotherhood of Steel is introduced and portrayed as kick-ass armored Marines. Their airships are faithful reproductions and so are their armor suits from the game.
The lead ghoul is introduced, with his bent-up hat and missing nose (I guess it’s CG; it looks great), and demonstrates a sociopathic and ruthless attitude.
However, even knowing the story concept, it was sometimes difficult to figure out what was going on, and there were a few flat spots where you couldn’t (at least I couldn’t) hear what they were saying; that’s annoying.
There are eight episodes, and they run about an hour. The first one did a lot of establishments; it was not tedious because there are many tribes in the game, and even knowing the game, it took a little time to figure out who was who. The German shepherd Dogmeat is not in the show, but a different dog character, CX404, is, yet it’s unclear if he will become Lucy’s companion or if it was just a cameo appearance.
Early information about the show said it is not the game. It is the game—it looks like the game, it feels like the game, and it sounds like the game. It may not use the game(s) objectives, and already that is the case, but I think it is clearly driven by the game’s design. It may not use the game’s locality (the show starts in LA, not Vegas, DC, or Appalachia), and it is doubtful side missions will be used, but they could be to enrich the story and environment or as a diversion.
I watched the episode on a 50-inch, 4K HDR screen with 5.1 surround sound, which matches my gaming PC. As mentioned, I had put fresh batteries in my critical eyes, so if anything was wrong, I’d spot it or hear it. As I’ve said a few times, you know the story and imagery are working when you are not looking at it but are part of it. I started out looking for the flaws, but it didn’t take long before I became immersed and anxious about what would happen next.
I highly recommend watching it based on seeing the first episode. I hope it holds up. It has some great actors you will recognize, and as I said, the dialogue is good. Walton Goggins, one of my all-time favorites from Justified, is in it, and he always delivers, so I have high hopes for his ghoul character. There are good and bad ghouls in the games, and Goggins looks like he may be ambiguous and slip back and forth.
Here are some write-ups about the show:
Will There Be A ‘Fallout’ Season 2 On Amazon? There’s Already A Promising Update (forbes.com)
The Exceptional Television Rendition of “Fallout” (msn.com)
Fallout review – an absolute blast of a TV show | Television | The Guardian