We’re back with another 2-episode review of Amazon’s Fallout. How does it stack up with the first two episodes? Does it continue the same level of quality, or has it begun to fall off the rails like many other shows do around the halfway point? Find out with our Fallout episodes 3 and 4 review.
Scores:
Episode 3 – 8/10
Episode 4 – 8/10
Episode 3: “The Beginning”
We start off by taking a little trip back to the pre-war days, where we get to see our old friend Cooper – or should I say, “The Ghoul” – back in his glory days, filming one of those cheesy western flicks. We get to meet Cooper’s wife and daughter, giving us a glimpse of the man behind the grizzled, wasteland-wandering ghoul we’ve come to know and … well, tolerate. Gotta say, it’s a nice touch; it adds a bit of humanity to this old grouch.
But of course, this being Fallout, we can’t stay in the past for long. Soon enough, we’re back in the present, and The Ghoul’s got his sights set on tracking down little Lucy and what’s left of Wilzig.
Speaking of Lucy, she’s busy carving her way through the wasteland, dragging poor old Wilzig’s severed head along for the ride, which she pokes around looking for what makes it so special. Meanwhile, our good friend Maximus is still hanging around that lovely little town of Filly, trying to get his power armor back in working order. And what does he do? Sells a tooth to pay for the repairs. Only in the wasteland, eh?
But the best part is when the mercenaries show up to try and scavenge the armor, and sure enough, Maximus gives it his best Captain America impression, getting his ass handed to him left and right, but keeps getting back up – all that was missing was for him to say “I can do this all day.” But hey, at least he manages to pull off a nice little move at death’s door, using his power armor to crush some poor guy’s head.
Of course, the Brotherhood doesn’t waste time and sends him a new squire – remember, Maximus is passing off as Titus and has told them his squire died. But who do they send? One of the guys who used to beat him up. Talk about a kick in the head. But you know what they say: revenge is a dish best served with a healthy dose of petty vindictiveness. And Maximus is definitely serving it up.
As for Lucy, well, the girl can’t catch a break, can she? First, she gets snatched up by an aquatic monstrosity that looks like an overgrown axolotl. To make matters worse, she also loses Wilzig’s head. And just when you think it can’t possibly get worse for her, here comes The Ghoul to ruin her day. Fallout sure does love putting its protagonists through the wringer, doesn’t it?
He proceeds to use her as bait to fish out the monster in an attempt to recover the head, but it goes sideways, and The Ghoul loses more than he bargains – some sort of vials that help him deal with a health condition. He might have lost something important, but we get by far the most real quote that anyone who’s ever played any of the Fallout games can relate to –
“Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time.”
Truer words have never been spoken in the wasteland.
And speaking of getting sidetracked, let’s not forget about the power struggles going on back in good old Vault 33. The council is trying to figure out what to do with those raider prisoners – Teach them Shakespeare? Kant? Calculus? Integrate them into the vault’s society? Leave it to a bunch of bureaucrats to come up with the most idiotic solutions imaginable. But at least Norm’s got his head screwed on straight, suggesting they do to the raiders what the raiders were planning to do to them. Now, that’s the kind of pragmatic, no-nonsense approach I can respect.
Above ground, we get a good old-fashioned Yao Guai-style fight from episode 2, with Maximus and his new squire taking on the monster form earlier. Talk about a two-man comedy act. One minute, they’re saving each other’s hides. The next, they’re celebrating after finding Wilzig’s puked-up severed head.
To top it all off, we get another glimpse into the Ghoul’s past, learning that he was the brains behind the iconic Vault Boy pose. It’s always nice to see the little details that tie the whole Fallout universe together.
So, while this third episode may not be quite as jaw-dropping as the first two, the writers have still managed to keep us on our toes. The action, the humor, the sheer bloody chaos – it’s all here.
Episode 4: “The Ghouls”
This episode marks the halfway point of this Fallout extravaganza, and the writers aren’t easing up on the madness one bit. In fact, this fourth episode might just be the most twisted and unforgiving yet.
We open with the Ghoul and Lucy trudging through the desert wasteland, and wouldn’t you know it, they stumble across a feral ghoul in the making. Naturally, the Ghoul decides the sensible thing to do is to put the poor sod out of his misery. And how does he do it? By blasting a hole straight through his skull and then carving him up for a snack like a turkey. Charming.
But that’s just the warm-up. Later on, as they make their way back into the city, Lucy and the Ghoul get into it – and I mean really get into it. Fingers being bitten off, limbs being hacked, these two really don’t hold back, do they? You’d think they’d be trying to work together, but no, they’d rather rip each other to shreds.
And just when you think the Ghoul and Lucy’s little amputation battle is the worst of it, we get a detour back to good old Vault 33. It turns out Steph, the pregnant blonde pirate-looking lady, is getting cozy with Lucy’s cousin, Chet. But things get really interesting when Norman and Chet investigate Vault 32. It seems the vault dwellers there had been dead long before the raiders arrived. Now, that’s an interesting little twist, isn’t it?
Of course, being the Fallout nerd I am, I’ve got my own theories about what went down in that vault. Anyone who’s played Fallout for a while will know that those Vault-Tec experiments were always on the unhinged side, weren’t they? And this business with the rats video and the cannibalism? It smells like another “controlled environment” disaster to me (see Calhoun’s experiments). Maybe Vault 33 got lucky and had some outside contact to keep them from turning on each other, but what about the rest? I wouldn’t be surprised if it became a bloodbath between the vault dwellers.
But back to our stars of the show – The Ghoul and Lucy. It turns out The Ghoul has been keeping the girl around for a reason – to hand her off to organ harvesters in exchange for more vials of the substance from episode 3. This is Fallout, after all. The wasteland ain’t exactly known for its compassion and human decency.
However, Lucy manages to make yet another escape from certain death – I swear that girl’s got more lives than a cat. But the real turning point comes when she’s forced to make that split-second decision – to kill or be killed. She’s finally realized that in the wasteland, sometimes you’ve got to get your hands dirty if you want to survive. From the girl who wanted to talk her way out of trouble to the one who’s willing to put a bullet in someone’s head to save her own skin. Wasteland living will do that to you, I suppose.
As for the Ghoul, well, he might have scored a big haul of those precious vials he was after, but he also stumbles upon one of his old movie tapes. You can just see the gears turning in that weathered old head of his, wondering what kind of man he used to be before the bombs fell and turned him into the ghoul we know today – one that is feo, fuerte, but not formal, that is, lacking in dignity. We’ll have to wait and see if that triggers some kind of existential crisis.
Final Thoughts
I’ve got to hand it to the people behind this show – they’re starting to impress me.
Sure, the runtime might be shorter than the first two episodes, but you know what they say – quality over quantity. These episodes pack a punch. The pacing is tight, the character development is starting to really hit its stride, and the overall sense of style and atmosphere is really doing justice to the source material.
Unlike that trainwreck of a Halo adaptation over at Paramount, which seems hell-bent on ripping the heart and soul out of the franchise (it went from Master Chief to Master Cheeks y’all), this Fallout show is clearly made by a team that actually gives a damn about the property. They’re not just throwing together some generic post-apocalyptic cocktail – they’re crafting a genuine love letter to the games, complete with all the quirky worldbuilding, moral ambiguity, and dark humor that made the originals such a blast, much like HBO did with The Last of Us.
And you know what seals the deal for me? The fact that they’re not just mindlessly recreating the games, beat-for-beat. They’re taking the core essence of Fallout and using it as a springboard to explore new, uncharted territory. Sure, there might be a few hiccups along the way, but at least they’re swinging for the fences instead of just phoning it in.
Fallout fans, rejoice – your beloved franchise is in good hands.
All photos property of Amazon
Luis is a writer based in The Lone Star State. His a work has appeared on multiple blogs, covering a wide range of topics. When he’s not writing about The Witcher or Cyberpunk, you’ll typically find him in the mosh pit of a heavy metal concert, trying new dishes, or watching/playing sports.
The Path/パス is an online bilingual journal of arts, culture, and entertainment bringing you in-depth reviews, news, and analysis on the hottest properties in sci-fi fantasy film, television, and gaming.
Through in-depth research on intellectual properties and major franchises, we develop content covering your favorite books, series, films, games, and shows, such as The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077, Lord of the Rings, House of the Dragon, Fallout, and Shogun.
If you enjoy our takes, consider buying us a coffee! Your support will help us continue producing excellent pop culture writing in English and Japanese for a true East-meets-West entertainment experience! Arigatō gozaimasu!