The ghouls wife has been in vault 31 this whole time. She said early on that she was trying to get them a place in one of the good vaults, for management.
Lol yeah my bad. I played fallout 4 a bit and watched the first season but I must've glazed over that.
I misremember the opponents of the great war being more numerous and not specifically China. Though it makes sense.
Her response to the communist brainwashing just seemed absurd on the point of satire.
"but these are Americans".
Like making them believe in communism is apparently worse than being left to presumably die of dehydration while watching state propaganda. It seems like a shit movie night no matter your country of origin.
It was an immersion breaking moment for me. Seemingly placed only to evoke nationalism and red fear hence my earlier comment.
It is explicitly over the top, fallout is parody of American exceptionalism most notably of the ludicrousness of the red scare, for example the giant mecha that shouts "better dead than red" named Liberty Prime, or the first scene in the entire franchise being of an extrajudicial killing of a communist soldier being broadcast on live TV as if it's a great thing.
America (and by extension capitalism) are the bad guys, like the ones who threatened to end the world so they could "win capitalism"
I don't know, I thought it was way too heavy on the memberberries for me.
I don't want to just see things I saw in the games and cry and cheer and clap on command when they play Big Iron. It's a fascinating IP, let's do something new maybe instead of a ten minute long memberberry scene in Novac. Vault 24 is intriguing, more of things like that please. I want more pre-war, too.
I'm a bit worried House is going to be more of an obvious villain, but we'll see on that.
I love Fallout but I don't honestly know if I'd have continued watching this if not for Walton Goggins' performance.
See, I feel the opposite. If they are going to use things from the game, I don't want them to change them. Either think of something completely original, or stay true to what vault 24 was and face the dinosaur the correct way. I can maybe get behind starlight bring s franchise.
House is a self serving asshole who wanted to be emperor of his own domain. No matter how the show shakes out, House *is* a villain. All of the pre-war elite were. Any who survived still are. Just because, in the grand scheme, he is one of the least bad of bad options, it does not take away the fact working for him is the path to indentured slavery.
I mean, House is the emperor of his own domain after he singlehandedly saved it during the war and singlehandedly repopulated it and revitalized it by dealing with local tribes and making the only tourist destination for hundreds of miles around. He's an ass, but he is a legitimately successful ass who ultimately wants whatever is best for his business, and is not opposed to doing things for the good of the locals if they line with his own interests. He's not just a hedonistic warlord (not that the show is doing that yet, but it's kinda what it sounds like you're implying).
He waited with bated breath for the apocalypse so he could come in and be the savior.
How much was involved with the actual end of the world is not important. He did not give his defense systems to the rest of the US and he did not try to cool tensions. He gets no credit for averting a personal loss that he knew was coming.
He waited with bated breath for the apocalypse so he could come in and be the savior.
Am I not remembering some key piece of dialogue here? He didn't wait with bated breath, he just knew which way the wind was blowing. He would've likely bought out all of Vegas anyways if the bombs never fell, he certainly had the money and sway.
He did not give his defense systems to the rest of the US and he did not try to cool tensions.
He openly says it would've been impossible for him to save the world even if he wanted to. His defense system was extremely experimental and likely difficult to scale. You're either forgetting something or misinterpreting something. The Platinum Chip would've probably made it significantly easier for him to scale the tech, if he got it in time.
"By 2065 I deemed it a mathematical certainty that an atomic war would devastate the Earth within 15 years. Every projection I ran confirmed it."
"I knew I couldn't "save the world," nor did I care to. But I could save Vegas, and in the process, perhaps, save mankind."
"The Chip contained vital software upgrades, but not just for my Securitrons. Every aspect of the missile defense grid would have been upgraded, too."
"Given that I had to make do with buggy software, the outcome could have been worse. I nearly died as it was."
"Software glitches set off a cascade of system crashes. I had to take the Lucky 38's reactor offline, lest it melt down."
I am not forgetting anything. He said it himself. He did not care to save more than himself. He is no hero. Just a selfish, lucky leech. Evil as they come as he willingly allowed the world to be consumed by fire and radiation.
Platinum Chip or not, the outcome was the same. Only his life mattered. He saw himself as the beacon of humanity.
I don't understand how it is hard to see he is just the same kind of scum that ruined the world in the first place, with just a bit higher Charisma.
"I COULDN'T SAVE THE WHOLE WORLD" Is the thing to focus on here. His attitude towards the world at large is irrelevant. He saved what he thought he could save and had a clear plan of action to progress the rest of humanity as a whole.
You ever think about that they're in Novac because.... Novac exists in the Mojave wasteland and that people would still be using Novac as a settlement in the Mojave because... Novac still exists?
They're going to New Vegas. The place is a giant desert, with a few pitstops along the highway into the city. That was shown in both the game, and now in the show. I don't get how the characters in the show, being in locations on the route to the city they're going to is "memberberries" but rather the logical places they'd end up in, on the way into New Vegas.
Not only are there several different paths to Vegas in the game - not just Quarry Junction - the show has already added a location that doesn't exist in FNV in Vault 24. there's nothing binding them to rigidly following the path everyone went in FNV and they shouldn't adhere to it because we should have new ideas. They didn't waste time in Primm, they didn't pass through the 188 trading post, the Bison Steve was relegated to a shot during the credits--I think that was an excellent way to do it without it just being mindless fanservice.
Going to Novac and having the Khans be there at their most stupidly ineffectual (no one just...shot her?) just to have a scene with a sniper in the Dino Dee Lite with The Fallout New Vegas Song playing and Helios One in the background is kinda mindless fanservice, imo.
The Khans in particular got a bit of a character assassination done on them here--Cooper didn't even use VATS to dispatch what was essentially a group of Batman goons.
Coffee's one of those goods that doesn't really grow in America all to well almost all the coffee we drink is imported from tropical places around the world (which is why the price of coffee has skyrocketed with tariffs). All that said i doubt they're growing coffee beans in vaults so its most likely left over stock from pre-war.
Loved it, but super miffed they turned Dinky the wrong way just for a scene to play out, and the fact that Helios One is quite literally just a stones throw from Novac for some reason.
That’s wha I came here to say! I felt so dumb but didn’t remember tons of stuff or what did this character do. I didn’t like it at all! I guess need a nice recap video
does anyone actually know what this massive underground vault-tec research/office building we leave hank off at ? i see people saying its the southern CA or LA vault-tec heaquarters but that cant be as neither are underground or look like what was shown at all
Was it underground? I'm rewatching it now. When he was in the office, it looked like he was above ground, looking down on a city. I guess that could have been a screen.
I think it's just a massive undergound bunker where they basically built a skyscraper and a small city inside it. When he first walks through those doors, you can see the lights on the ceiling above. A building like that above ground would have been ransacked a long time ago already.
i dont think we are thinking of the same scene cause not only was it clearly underground but there also was no down looking shot in fact it was the opposite XD when he walked through the doors unveiling the building its 100% starting from a down angle looking up and above the building you could see the ceiling the whole building is in a big round dome either underground or they put a dome around it above ground but considering its fallout its most likely underground XD
It was the same scene, I went back and watched. He was in the office, listening to the answering machine. It looked like he was in a high-rise building. There were windows, and it looked like there were city lights outside, but it wasn't; it was the reflection of the lights inside the office. It was the lights in the window that made me think he was high up.
i didnt mean the general location i meant what the location was as in is it in a secret vault and we just didnt see the vault door, is it a place we already are familiar with lore wise or what. its obvious that its an important vault-tec facility due to it being underground, unlooted and has a global communications systems so i was looking for what it actually is.
Completely random thing I noticed, but I laughed out loud when I realized the Flea Soup woman is the same actress that plays one of the improv roles in Jury Duty lol
That's funny, I didn't even notice. She has such a familiar face and I feel like I've seen her in a hundred movies and shows, but I can never remember what her name is and what I've seen her in.
I felt exactly the same way. What got me was that Norm was stuck and starving for what seemed like weeks, hiding from a 1 1/2 ft robot that he could easily overthrow at any time and potentially eat the brain.
Even not straight up eating the brain, that asshole has done everything he could to "survive" the apocalypse and keep his management heaven running, I'm sure if Norm threateningly said something like "let me out or I'll smash you into the ground until your precious brain fluid leaks everywhere" it would have worked
I just responded to a previous comment that he could have even threateded to start pressing all the buttons and open the doors or even threaten to wake up the people in the cryo if he didnt help. Im sure the brain would have done something, if not then fuck shit up. Norm literally had a handful of options and did nothing until he did.
I will say the brain craked me up with the little syringe he way way to happy to stab.
I was thinking the same thing. I'm sure they might've given the brain some plot armor like bullet proof glass or electrified defenses or something, but the fact that norm didn't even try to do anything was odd.
Exactly! i would be pressing every button or at least threating to press every button. He could have threateded to wake up the others in the cryo and then maybe the brain would have helped him if not then im fucking up this whole place.
Who was Hank MacLean talking to at the end when he entered the “global comms” room?
Why were the Vault-Tec headquarters empty? He probably opened the main gate with his Pip-Boy, I wager. But if he’s going there instead of the main Vault-Tec vault, it means the important stuff was kept in there, not transferred into the vaults (I hope I’m making sense here). So, the headquarters should be populated. Right?
What was the actual experiment in the communist vault? They clearly did some MKUltra inspired brainwashing to get them to subscribe to communist ideology, but to what end? The long-dead vault dwellers are also seen using Mr. House’s brain control chips. I don’t understand how it all ties together, story-wise, for the vault.
2: Vault-Tec as a corporation doesn't exist any more. The other Vault-Tec regional headquarters in games were abandoned as well. There are surviving former Vault-Tec execs but they aren't working in unison, and there's certain not a corporate structure. If anything, the Enclave is the entity keeping tabs on the surviving vaults.
It's implied to be Mr. House, who is "alive" as we know from New Vegas. He mentions several context clues that tell us this.
No answer for this I can give.
They were tasked with improving on the brain control chips. That was the vault's task it seems, specifically modifying someone's beliefs and personality?
That definitely makes sense. What better way to prove the technology's efficacy than converting vault dwellers (who I assume were extremely loyal to America) into communists.
Yeah you’re probably right but that leaves me another question hanging… you’re in New Vegas. The entire territory is under House’s control. Why not go meet him directly? Surely a bruised up guy waltzing in Brotherhood power armor raises an eyebrow or two around, word should get to Mr. House fast enough to warrant a personal invite to talk.
I’ve thought about this a while longer. This is probably one of the vault experiment ideas Mr. House pitched, seeing as every CEO got to pitch a few experiment ideas in exchange for their monetary sponsorship of Vault-Tec. While that seems to be clearer, the experiment itself is still a mystery to me. Was it exploring the lengths of mental resistance against the chips (brainwashing them to be communist, then forcing them to be individualistic)? Because it seems to be overkill. The brainwashing itself could be a vault experiment in on itself, but why add the mind control devices that make you do as you’re told? Either brainwash them to be communist or tell them to subscribe to communist ideology forcefully while wearing a chip. Do you get where I’m going?
I have spoilerish guesses for 1 and 3 so I'm just gonna skip those. But as for number 2 they specify that the Vault-Tec junior executives only get woken up every 30 years ostensibly to keep the various still functional vaults going when they need a bit of company control. They don't really have a reason to use the headquarters outside of emergencies because they largely don't care about the surface world. It kinda defeats the purpose of waiting out the apocalypse in cryo sleep if you are spending time staffing the headquarters and using up their lifespans.
You’re confused. Vault-Tec junior executives get woken up in Vault 31 every 30 years not to mantain the other vault systems going, to maintain the Vault 31-32-33 experiment going. It was part of a separate program, Bud’s Buds, which had an open call for every junior Vault-Tec executive across the country to apply (“we had applicants all the way from Fresno!”). Bud’s Buds is not meant to keep the whole of Vault-Tec running for centuries to come.
Apart from that, the spoilerish guesses you talk about, come from where exactly? If it is some leaked material, go ahead and skip those. If it is based on FO:NV, FO3, FO4 or FO76 canon, you’re free to talk about them with me.
If I’m not mistaken in almost every instance of the lore from the games vault tec headquarters were pretty much unaware of when the bombs actually started falling, so they weren’t staffed. Most of the vaults talk about how there was no response from vault Tec receiving experiment data, maintenance requests, etc. in fallout 4 vault 111 has a terminal that explicitly states all the researchers went rouge and rebelled against the overseer/security because vault Tec effectively ended when the bomb fell, just like America and the rest of the world.
One of the issues lore wise with the games and the show is the narrative that vault Tec dropped the bombs because in the game no one really knows who started the war, and frankly it doesn’t really matter who did.
In the games we know who dropped the bombs. It was the Chinese. In fact, they were dropped about a day or so before Vault-Tec were gonna drop it themselves. That’s why people like Cooper Howard were blindsided.
In reference to Vault 111, vault staffers went rogue and killer the overseer not because Vault-Tec support ended, but because it was never meant for the cryogenically frozen dwellers to thaw out and live in the vault. That’s why there is never a signal sent from Vault-Tec to thaw them out, not because Vault-Tec support was abruptly cut short. Look at Vault 111, and by that I mean pay attention to it: close to no living quarters, extremely short supplies (as listed in the terminal records), minuscule size vault compared to others. The vault staffers were meant to die off. The experiment in Vault 111 is to test our cryogenic freezing on people long term.
I'm also thinking they're in the vault that hank is in right now, but I do think it would be more interesting from a story perspective to see Cooper Howard's family at where the story began in vault 33. I think it would tie in nicely together.
Am I loosing it or when the ghoul picks up the control device I swear it sounds like an Xbox achievement pops. And again later when Hank picks up the series of tiny ones.
I feel like this is just a case of people having shit memory.
My dad and I will watch a show together that could be binged in a couple weeks that instead takes us a year because we only watch it when I visit and only an episode or two per day.
And we don’t need a recap.
You just sit down and remember what was going on.
Hell I will often take a few days to get through a single movie and it doesn’t cause any sort of disruption in keeping track of things. Just restart the scene you were on at most.
Why is Lucy’s dad bad?
Well he blew up Shady Sands (and did some other stuff).
He is VaultTec, VaultTec is bad. And Lucy isn’t too excited about all that.
That’s all you really need to know relevant to Season 2.
I understood everything that happened in the episode. I mean the stuff that we're meant to know from last one, like:
Why does blonde eyepatch lady seem kinda evil? It's not her partner's kid, is it even her kid? Who's kid is that and why does it matter? What's the deal with the console she's trying to access? What was the vault setup again? The managers take turns being overseers because they're famous people? Why does Lucy hate her dad now? What was the point of that blue thing in the guy's neck? It looked like maximus was being proclaimed the leader of the steel brotherhood in the recap; last I remembered he was quite low down so I don't get how that happened. How did revolutionary woman from the past get to the future? Walton Goggins just healed himself with some green light after the hanging, was that a technology shown in the first part?
These seem like real questions you have considering your other comments. So I’ll answer some:
Eyepatch lady is bad because she is from Vault 31, the vault full of VaultTec middle management whose purpose is to keep things running how they want. This is said in the recap.
The kid is hers. Him being her partner was a weird situation forced on him last season where she had the kid and her husband died. If you remember even just the most basic details of the last season, then the first scene with them would jog your memory as to their relationship.
The deal with the console? They show you. She can’t talk to the other vaults. That means she is on her own for how to handle things and can’t scheme with the other Overseers. They also use this scene to remind you that baby guy is suspicious of what happened to Lucy’s brother because he mentions asking him for help (it also reminds us that he is onto eyepatch lady and knows who she is)
Vault setup? Probably mentioned in the recap but not hard to figure out. First of all, they have numbers. So you know it’s 31, 32, and 33. And we reminded that residents have moved vaults by the older dude being clueless to the idea that everything is flipped in his new vault. And we are shown Norm is in the third vault.
The Overseers being from Vault 31 being VaultTec middle management trained by Bud is explained in the recap. It’s also a very simple twist from season one that should be easy to remember. The whole point is that keeping those vaults going how VaultTec wants would be hard because people would lose sight of the vision, so instead just freeze a whole bunch of managers ready to follow that mission and bring a few out every now and then so VaultTec is always in control.
Why does Lucy hate her dad? Fuck did you watch the first season? Next.
Blue thing. Shown in the recap. Cold fusion. The McGuffin of the first season. Not hard to remember. Not really important right now and will probably be explained when it is relevant again.
Maximus isn’t the leader. It shows it in the recap. They’re “hailing” him for killing the enemy leader (which someone else did)
How did that woman get from the past to the future? Good question. We don’t know yet. Presumably a cryo pod but nothing explicitly shown or told
And how does Walton Goggins heal himself? It’s radiation. He’s a ghoul. That’s how it works. I don’t know if that was shown in season 1. It could be a setup for later or just an ability they decided to slip in casually.
Some of these questions are just you not being patient with the show. The rest seem to be a result of watching it second screen or having a mental disorder.
Many thanks! I appreciate all the effort in responding to all my many questions! Definitely a worthwhile trade to endure the little bits of abuse in there, haha. I watched it normally, I just have a bad memory.
I don't remember why the eyepatch lady was acting like that either, and I've played the games (although casually so I don't memorize the lore like many here) and don't recall the healing thing.
Just remember, the uber-fans can be really annoying and act like know-it-alls. You asked questions that many have and their only response is "Go watch S1" instead of just saying it.
Please don't take offense, but the Lucy question felt like you watched the show while scrolling TikTok. In the first episodes she adored her father. She knows he is of importance. As episodes goes by she experiences the outfall of other vaults. The last episode is a "show and tell" where "everything" gets revealed, she knows now that her father is not the person he said he was and she knows what happened to her mother. End of episode, climax, dad escapes, Lucy and ghoul follows. Lucy feels betrayed and is looking to have a hard face time with dad.
I'm not so sure its between the brotherhood, them saying the commonwealth makes me believe that they think something besides the brotherhood will be in power and they need to stop it, seeing as how their morals are "we know best so fuck you and die if you dont agree" 😂
Awesome show as always but really bummed out they didn't show Maximus, even if just for 10 minutes or less or something. He's one of my favorite parts of the series!
Bethesda can't get the tone (or frankly, lore) of Fallout correct if their life depended on it, their stuff always felt like a theme park version the franchise rather than the franchise itself. Not turbo happy they are going to set the "canon" post-New Vegas timeline. West Coast should have always been left to Sawyer and co. While Bethesda stuck to the East.
Keep in mind that these aren't the Great Khans we know from New Vegas. This is much later, and they were already headed for irrelevance during the events of that game.
I remember in the game they make a point to portray the Khans as more than drugged up blood thirsty raiders. Here they are in the shows as... Drugged up blood thirsty raiders for fan service lol.
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. It looks almost like a filter in some places. They probably redid the makeup so it doesn’t take as long and is easier to apply considering how much more screen time he’s going to have.
They said they made it easier and reduced it from 5 hours of makeup to 2 hours. Looks way worse to me. Like a full face prosthetic now that they just slapped on versus actually doing all the make-up. I'm glad its an easier process for them but it definitely looks way worse and it took me out of it a few times.
It's like the later Freddy movies where the makeup looks worse because they used prosthetics that wouldn't require the actor to be in the makeup chair for half the day. Freddy's Dead comes to mind.
i thought it was absolutely miami, but now that I'm thinking about it it could be LA too, but since the shot has the ocean on the right it seems like miami cuz thats normally how you'd shoot the east coast
Assuming that his appearance in FO76 is canon, he does make an appearance as a ghoul in Appalachia some 25 years after the bombs drop as some sort of bounty hunter.
Having Big Iron poorly laid over a boring and unnecessary fight does not make it inspired. I swear, people are so easily impressed, which is fine, but y'all act as if everyone should be as in awe as you are. If they were going to use such an iconic song, they should have made a fight scene with it in mind instead of an afterthought, given its significance to the fanbase for whom it's there.
If by rage bait, you mean that it was meant to spark conversation, then sure, but what I said was true, and I will happily and honestly defend the statement. Though I suspect you just disagree, and therefore, I must be trolling. Is that about right?
Interesting, I didn't expect the show to take inspiration from Fallout 76's Skyline Valley "Communists", Vault 24 seems to be basically the exact same experiment that was being run on those Boy Scouts.
I couldnt get over the fact that when Steph is cutting food her knife is normal, but when she stabbed the table the blade was suddenly backwards, and they still chose to zoom in and focus on it lolol
To the bald guy: “What’s your trade”
Bald guy: “Construction worker”.
Oh! Oh interesting, the bald guy does construction work. Lmao. (Smiling friends took me out of that scene)
That bald guy looks identical to the face used on Houses securitrons
Twin Peaks and The Leftovers are my favorite shows so it’s awesome having both Justin Theroux and Kyle MacLachlan in this
The ghouls wife has been in vault 31 this whole time. She said early on that she was trying to get them a place in one of the good vaults, for management.
Wow, the anti-China, anti-communist propaganda is shameful to the point of unintentional satire... Is Pentagon skimping on their Hollywood budget?
You understand it was the Americans forcing American citizens to watch the Chinese propaganda, right?
propaganda? the whole setting is about Vault tec trying to keep the war against China going on because it makes money
I mean that's sort of a MAJOR theme in this series... i'm not sure how it slipped past you the entire first season unless i'm misinterpreting you?
Lol yeah my bad. I played fallout 4 a bit and watched the first season but I must've glazed over that.
I misremember the opponents of the great war being more numerous and not specifically China. Though it makes sense.
Her response to the communist brainwashing just seemed absurd on the point of satire. "but these are Americans".
Like making them believe in communism is apparently worse than being left to presumably die of dehydration while watching state propaganda. It seems like a shit movie night no matter your country of origin.
It was an immersion breaking moment for me. Seemingly placed only to evoke nationalism and red fear hence my earlier comment.
While the Pentagon does have a Hollywood budget though I can't find anything to suggest that there has been any DoD collaboration on the series. https://www.war.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2062735/how-why-dod-works-with-hollywood/
It is explicitly over the top, fallout is parody of American exceptionalism most notably of the ludicrousness of the red scare, for example the giant mecha that shouts "better dead than red" named Liberty Prime, or the first scene in the entire franchise being of an extrajudicial killing of a communist soldier being broadcast on live TV as if it's a great thing.
America (and by extension capitalism) are the bad guys, like the ones who threatened to end the world so they could "win capitalism"
Why is it called ‘the man who knew’ in the episode. It not in Amazon?
Guess I'll join in on these week by week
Never done that before
This episode felt like so much nostalgia if you've ever played fallout it was almost like I half expected a menu to pop up or a dialogue option lol
Also they have begun setting up the most recent contemporary questions
Automation and the more obvious BMI or here it's called BCI brain computer interface
And do you really know better than the humans who are designing the future
I will try my best not to spoil it for myself, not that I can but it can happen
Fantastic episode didn't want it to end...
And of course the question you can see which system is best as the last season
Especially when you see the dialogue between the ghoul and lucy
Can't wait for ep 2
The moment Big Iron started playing in the series, all the memories from New Vegas immediately came back to me.
I literally shouted in joy, surprised myself even!
I Loved to see Primm Slimm in the dumpster in Credit animation.
I don't know, I thought it was way too heavy on the memberberries for me.
I don't want to just see things I saw in the games and cry and cheer and clap on command when they play Big Iron. It's a fascinating IP, let's do something new maybe instead of a ten minute long memberberry scene in Novac. Vault 24 is intriguing, more of things like that please. I want more pre-war, too.
I'm a bit worried House is going to be more of an obvious villain, but we'll see on that.
I love Fallout but I don't honestly know if I'd have continued watching this if not for Walton Goggins' performance.
See, I feel the opposite. If they are going to use things from the game, I don't want them to change them. Either think of something completely original, or stay true to what vault 24 was and face the dinosaur the correct way. I can maybe get behind starlight bring s franchise.
House is a self serving asshole who wanted to be emperor of his own domain. No matter how the show shakes out, House *is* a villain. All of the pre-war elite were. Any who survived still are. Just because, in the grand scheme, he is one of the least bad of bad options, it does not take away the fact working for him is the path to indentured slavery.
I mean, House is the emperor of his own domain after he singlehandedly saved it during the war and singlehandedly repopulated it and revitalized it by dealing with local tribes and making the only tourist destination for hundreds of miles around. He's an ass, but he is a legitimately successful ass who ultimately wants whatever is best for his business, and is not opposed to doing things for the good of the locals if they line with his own interests. He's not just a hedonistic warlord (not that the show is doing that yet, but it's kinda what it sounds like you're implying).
He waited with bated breath for the apocalypse so he could come in and be the savior.
How much was involved with the actual end of the world is not important. He did not give his defense systems to the rest of the US and he did not try to cool tensions. He gets no credit for averting a personal loss that he knew was coming.
Am I not remembering some key piece of dialogue here? He didn't wait with bated breath, he just knew which way the wind was blowing. He would've likely bought out all of Vegas anyways if the bombs never fell, he certainly had the money and sway.
He openly says it would've been impossible for him to save the world even if he wanted to. His defense system was extremely experimental and likely difficult to scale. You're either forgetting something or misinterpreting something. The Platinum Chip would've probably made it significantly easier for him to scale the tech, if he got it in time.
I am not forgetting anything. He said it himself. He did not care to save more than himself. He is no hero. Just a selfish, lucky leech. Evil as they come as he willingly allowed the world to be consumed by fire and radiation.
Platinum Chip or not, the outcome was the same. Only his life mattered. He saw himself as the beacon of humanity.
I don't understand how it is hard to see he is just the same kind of scum that ruined the world in the first place, with just a bit higher Charisma.
"I COULDN'T SAVE THE WHOLE WORLD" Is the thing to focus on here. His attitude towards the world at large is irrelevant. He saved what he thought he could save and had a clear plan of action to progress the rest of humanity as a whole.
I think the show is for people who aren't hardcore Fallout fanboys but to introduce the world to the rest of the world.
You ever think about that they're in Novac because.... Novac exists in the Mojave wasteland and that people would still be using Novac as a settlement in the Mojave because... Novac still exists?
They're going to New Vegas. The place is a giant desert, with a few pitstops along the highway into the city. That was shown in both the game, and now in the show. I don't get how the characters in the show, being in locations on the route to the city they're going to is "memberberries" but rather the logical places they'd end up in, on the way into New Vegas.
Not only are there several different paths to Vegas in the game - not just Quarry Junction - the show has already added a location that doesn't exist in FNV in Vault 24. there's nothing binding them to rigidly following the path everyone went in FNV and they shouldn't adhere to it because we should have new ideas. They didn't waste time in Primm, they didn't pass through the 188 trading post, the Bison Steve was relegated to a shot during the credits--I think that was an excellent way to do it without it just being mindless fanservice.
Going to Novac and having the Khans be there at their most stupidly ineffectual (no one just...shot her?) just to have a scene with a sniper in the Dino Dee Lite with The Fallout New Vegas Song playing and Helios One in the background is kinda mindless fanservice, imo.
The Khans in particular got a bit of a character assassination done on them here--Cooper didn't even use VATS to dispatch what was essentially a group of Batman goons.
I liked it overall. It’s just that does anyone else find the music overly loud at times, compared to the voices?
That, and it all sounds low quality/compressed
Agreed. The mix is awful. I had to turn the centre channel up by 5db and then lower the overall volume. And I still needed subs from time to time.
I like how over the course of his career, Kyle McLachlan has gone from investigating and solving mysteries to BEING the mystery. 🔍
That coffee had to be a century old and was probably still better than anything he's had in years.
I don’t think Vault food is too bad
Coffee's one of those goods that doesn't really grow in America all to well almost all the coffee we drink is imported from tropical places around the world (which is why the price of coffee has skyrocketed with tariffs). All that said i doubt they're growing coffee beans in vaults so its most likely left over stock from pre-war.
The guy said that century old coffee was probably better than anything in Vault, where they have access to clean water and radiation free food.
The "What's coming in this season" at the end was fuckin amazing. Can't wait.
It lowkey felt too spoilery for me I wish I didn't see it lol
Yea felt like I watched 10 interrupting ads which I then start scrolling and lost a bit of interest. Dump the ads Amazon it ruins everything!
🏴☠️arrrrr
wait there's ads on amazon now?? that's horrible
You can still avoid them by using watching in a browser with a blocker but apps will show you 1-2 minute ads
Loved it, but super miffed they turned Dinky the wrong way just for a scene to play out, and the fact that Helios One is quite literally just a stones throw from Novac for some reason.
Please have a real problem for once in your life, I beg of you.
I mean it kinda was in the game.
Despite watching a recap I’ve forgotten so much. A lot of this episode went right over my head.
That’s wha I came here to say! I felt so dumb but didn’t remember tons of stuff or what did this character do. I didn’t like it at all! I guess need a nice recap video
does anyone actually know what this massive underground vault-tec research/office building we leave hank off at ? i see people saying its the southern CA or LA vault-tec heaquarters but that cant be as neither are underground or look like what was shown at all
Was it underground? I'm rewatching it now. When he was in the office, it looked like he was above ground, looking down on a city. I guess that could have been a screen.
I think it's just a massive undergound bunker where they basically built a skyscraper and a small city inside it. When he first walks through those doors, you can see the lights on the ceiling above. A building like that above ground would have been ransacked a long time ago already.
i dont think we are thinking of the same scene cause not only was it clearly underground but there also was no down looking shot in fact it was the opposite XD when he walked through the doors unveiling the building its 100% starting from a down angle looking up and above the building you could see the ceiling the whole building is in a big round dome either underground or they put a dome around it above ground but considering its fallout its most likely underground XD
It was the same scene, I went back and watched. He was in the office, listening to the answering machine. It looked like he was in a high-rise building. There were windows, and it looked like there were city lights outside, but it wasn't; it was the reflection of the lights inside the office. It was the lights in the window that made me think he was high up.
He literally says he's in Vegas when he's giving that message to his boss.
i didnt mean the general location i meant what the location was as in is it in a secret vault and we just didnt see the vault door, is it a place we already are familiar with lore wise or what. its obvious that its an important vault-tec facility due to it being underground, unlooted and has a global communications systems so i was looking for what it actually is.
I thought it was somewhere around New Vegas.
Completely random thing I noticed, but I laughed out loud when I realized the Flea Soup woman is the same actress that plays one of the improv roles in Jury Duty lol
That's funny, I didn't even notice. She has such a familiar face and I feel like I've seen her in a hundred movies and shows, but I can never remember what her name is and what I've seen her in.
Omg yes, I knew I recognized her from somewhere
She reminded me of Charlie and Mac's moms combined from Always Sunny.
I feel like things happened, but at the same time, nothing happened...
I felt exactly the same way. What got me was that Norm was stuck and starving for what seemed like weeks, hiding from a 1 1/2 ft robot that he could easily overthrow at any time and potentially eat the brain.
Even not straight up eating the brain, that asshole has done everything he could to "survive" the apocalypse and keep his management heaven running, I'm sure if Norm threateningly said something like "let me out or I'll smash you into the ground until your precious brain fluid leaks everywhere" it would have worked
I just responded to a previous comment that he could have even threateded to start pressing all the buttons and open the doors or even threaten to wake up the people in the cryo if he didnt help. Im sure the brain would have done something, if not then fuck shit up. Norm literally had a handful of options and did nothing until he did.
I will say the brain craked me up with the little syringe he way way to happy to stab.
He tried nothing and he's all out of ideas!
I was thinking the same thing. I'm sure they might've given the brain some plot armor like bullet proof glass or electrified defenses or something, but the fact that norm didn't even try to do anything was odd.
Exactly! i would be pressing every button or at least threating to press every button. He could have threateded to wake up the others in the cryo and then maybe the brain would have helped him if not then im fucking up this whole place.
I found it hilarious and completely canon that a Vault Dweller manages to get held hostage by a roomba for weeks 😂
Called storytelling.
2: Vault-Tec as a corporation doesn't exist any more. The other Vault-Tec regional headquarters in games were abandoned as well. There are surviving former Vault-Tec execs but they aren't working in unison, and there's certain not a corporate structure. If anything, the Enclave is the entity keeping tabs on the surviving vaults.
So Hank is just tryna restart the program by himself?
It's implied to be Mr. House, who is "alive" as we know from New Vegas. He mentions several context clues that tell us this.
No answer for this I can give.
They were tasked with improving on the brain control chips. That was the vault's task it seems, specifically modifying someone's beliefs and personality?
I have spoilerish guesses for 1 and 3 so I'm just gonna skip those. But as for number 2 they specify that the Vault-Tec junior executives only get woken up every 30 years ostensibly to keep the various still functional vaults going when they need a bit of company control. They don't really have a reason to use the headquarters outside of emergencies because they largely don't care about the surface world. It kinda defeats the purpose of waiting out the apocalypse in cryo sleep if you are spending time staffing the headquarters and using up their lifespans.
You’re confused. Vault-Tec junior executives get woken up in Vault 31 every 30 years not to mantain the other vault systems going, to maintain the Vault 31-32-33 experiment going. It was part of a separate program, Bud’s Buds, which had an open call for every junior Vault-Tec executive across the country to apply (“we had applicants all the way from Fresno!”). Bud’s Buds is not meant to keep the whole of Vault-Tec running for centuries to come.
Apart from that, the spoilerish guesses you talk about, come from where exactly? If it is some leaked material, go ahead and skip those. If it is based on FO:NV, FO3, FO4 or FO76 canon, you’re free to talk about them with me.
If I’m not mistaken in almost every instance of the lore from the games vault tec headquarters were pretty much unaware of when the bombs actually started falling, so they weren’t staffed. Most of the vaults talk about how there was no response from vault Tec receiving experiment data, maintenance requests, etc. in fallout 4 vault 111 has a terminal that explicitly states all the researchers went rouge and rebelled against the overseer/security because vault Tec effectively ended when the bomb fell, just like America and the rest of the world.
One of the issues lore wise with the games and the show is the narrative that vault Tec dropped the bombs because in the game no one really knows who started the war, and frankly it doesn’t really matter who did.
In the games we know who dropped the bombs. It was the Chinese. In fact, they were dropped about a day or so before Vault-Tec were gonna drop it themselves. That’s why people like Cooper Howard were blindsided.
In reference to Vault 111, vault staffers went rogue and killer the overseer not because Vault-Tec support ended, but because it was never meant for the cryogenically frozen dwellers to thaw out and live in the vault. That’s why there is never a signal sent from Vault-Tec to thaw them out, not because Vault-Tec support was abruptly cut short. Look at Vault 111, and by that I mean pay attention to it: close to no living quarters, extremely short supplies (as listed in the terminal records), minuscule size vault compared to others. The vault staffers were meant to die off. The experiment in Vault 111 is to test our cryogenic freezing on people long term.
My theory is that Cooper Howard's (The Ghoul's) family is in Vault 31, and Norm thawed them out.
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"Suck my unit."
Reporting you now. Good luck getting banned from Reddit.
Have a blessed day.
Lol looks like you got scared now haha
Scared and horny. It's an odd combo.
I don't think so, they said 31 was a vault for jr management and Cooper's wife was definitely senior management.
I rewatched the season finale of the first season and you can see the list of vault dwellers in the crypods and coppers family isn’t on that list
Yeah makes sense, but I'm starting to feel like his family maybe are just monsters now.
I'm also thinking they're in the vault that hank is in right now, but I do think it would be more interesting from a story perspective to see Cooper Howard's family at where the story began in vault 33. I think it would tie in nicely together.
That would be wild. I can't imagine how they'd even react to seeing (and smelling) him.
Am I loosing it or when the ghoul picks up the control device I swear it sounds like an Xbox achievement pops. And again later when Hank picks up the series of tiny ones.
Anyone else getting that or just me…
Timestamp plx
I’m currently watching the episode and noticed the sound when the guys head blows up. Glad I wasn’t imagining things 😅
100% must be intentional. No way a coincidence
Talk about slow start. Typical. Wouldn't be surprised if season 2 is when this show turns to garbage, like always.
Relax dawg.
Bro… go outside and touch some grass. Life’s more than just tv and games
funny that you should mention because I commented that from your mom's garden
"Sorry for the money" lol i love this series. But they shouldnt have spoiled the whole season with the after credits trailer. It's so stupid. The hell
I instantly skipped the after credits trailer. I hate that shit so much. I never watch them for any show.
That scene was literally in one of the trailers before the first episode came out....
which scene? so many plot twist were spoiled like with the starving guy and with the vault tech or robo cop ceo
I mean, I can't think of any reason to watch those things unless you want to get spoiled.
"Next time on..."
"This season on..."
Nope.
Ok I didn't stick around for that. Glad I did
Why would they show in the trailer already what happens with Norm? Made the whole thing half as interesting as it could have been :(
That probably happens next episode if they showed something big like that
Well yes, but still took away a lot of tension the viewer could have had during Norms parts in the first Episode
Thankfully, I didn't watch the trailer and the show was already out when I noticed it was relevant again :D
It's fine, nothing really noteworthy. Hopefully the 2nd episode picks up the pace
Should have thrown a “Damn fine cup of coffee” in there for Kyle McLaughlin
I felt the line being said in my soul. That scene was a great nod.
FORTY CUPS OF COFFEE
Ngl I kinda have no idea what's going on now, even with the recap.
I know right 😂 everyone in this thread talking about theories and stuff and I’m just trying to figure out why the McLean dude is bad
I feel like this is just a case of people having shit memory.
My dad and I will watch a show together that could be binged in a couple weeks that instead takes us a year because we only watch it when I visit and only an episode or two per day.
And we don’t need a recap.
You just sit down and remember what was going on.
Hell I will often take a few days to get through a single movie and it doesn’t cause any sort of disruption in keeping track of things. Just restart the scene you were on at most.
Why is Lucy’s dad bad?
Well he blew up Shady Sands (and did some other stuff).
He is VaultTec, VaultTec is bad. And Lucy isn’t too excited about all that.
That’s all you really need to know relevant to Season 2.
This is actually said in the recap too.
Thanks for shitting all over my memory man. Yes it is quite bad.
Lucy and Ghoul are following her father to Las Vegas which they explicitly say multiple times throughout the episode.
Norm is stuck in Vault 31 faced with the choice between getting in the cryo pod or just dying.
Cooper has just listened to his wife propose dropping the bombs themselves and has rushed home with this info.
And the intro has brought in a new McGuffin and mysterious figure behind it.
What’s hard to follow?
I understood everything that happened in the episode. I mean the stuff that we're meant to know from last one, like:
Why does blonde eyepatch lady seem kinda evil? It's not her partner's kid, is it even her kid? Who's kid is that and why does it matter? What's the deal with the console she's trying to access? What was the vault setup again? The managers take turns being overseers because they're famous people? Why does Lucy hate her dad now? What was the point of that blue thing in the guy's neck? It looked like maximus was being proclaimed the leader of the steel brotherhood in the recap; last I remembered he was quite low down so I don't get how that happened. How did revolutionary woman from the past get to the future? Walton Goggins just healed himself with some green light after the hanging, was that a technology shown in the first part?
And so on.
These seem like real questions you have considering your other comments. So I’ll answer some:
Eyepatch lady is bad because she is from Vault 31, the vault full of VaultTec middle management whose purpose is to keep things running how they want. This is said in the recap.
The kid is hers. Him being her partner was a weird situation forced on him last season where she had the kid and her husband died. If you remember even just the most basic details of the last season, then the first scene with them would jog your memory as to their relationship.
The deal with the console? They show you. She can’t talk to the other vaults. That means she is on her own for how to handle things and can’t scheme with the other Overseers. They also use this scene to remind you that baby guy is suspicious of what happened to Lucy’s brother because he mentions asking him for help (it also reminds us that he is onto eyepatch lady and knows who she is)
Vault setup? Probably mentioned in the recap but not hard to figure out. First of all, they have numbers. So you know it’s 31, 32, and 33. And we reminded that residents have moved vaults by the older dude being clueless to the idea that everything is flipped in his new vault. And we are shown Norm is in the third vault.
The Overseers being from Vault 31 being VaultTec middle management trained by Bud is explained in the recap. It’s also a very simple twist from season one that should be easy to remember. The whole point is that keeping those vaults going how VaultTec wants would be hard because people would lose sight of the vision, so instead just freeze a whole bunch of managers ready to follow that mission and bring a few out every now and then so VaultTec is always in control.
Why does Lucy hate her dad? Fuck did you watch the first season? Next.
Blue thing. Shown in the recap. Cold fusion. The McGuffin of the first season. Not hard to remember. Not really important right now and will probably be explained when it is relevant again.
Maximus isn’t the leader. It shows it in the recap. They’re “hailing” him for killing the enemy leader (which someone else did)
How did that woman get from the past to the future? Good question. We don’t know yet. Presumably a cryo pod but nothing explicitly shown or told
And how does Walton Goggins heal himself? It’s radiation. He’s a ghoul. That’s how it works. I don’t know if that was shown in season 1. It could be a setup for later or just an ability they decided to slip in casually.
Some of these questions are just you not being patient with the show. The rest seem to be a result of watching it second screen or having a mental disorder.
Many thanks! I appreciate all the effort in responding to all my many questions! Definitely a worthwhile trade to endure the little bits of abuse in there, haha. I watched it normally, I just have a bad memory.
maybe just watch season 1 again this is like asking why do the starks hate the lannisters in season 2 of game of thrones
I don't have enough spare time to justify doing that. I'm hoping I can just fill in the gaps in my memory as the show progresses.
I don't remember why the eyepatch lady was acting like that either, and I've played the games (although casually so I don't memorize the lore like many here) and don't recall the healing thing.
Just remember, the uber-fans can be really annoying and act like know-it-alls. You asked questions that many have and their only response is "Go watch S1" instead of just saying it.
Haha, it is definitely weird! Surely that guy could have just summarised it in a couple sentences.
Please don't take offense, but the Lucy question felt like you watched the show while scrolling TikTok. In the first episodes she adored her father. She knows he is of importance. As episodes goes by she experiences the outfall of other vaults. The last episode is a "show and tell" where "everything" gets revealed, she knows now that her father is not the person he said he was and she knows what happened to her mother. End of episode, climax, dad escapes, Lucy and ghoul follows. Lucy feels betrayed and is looking to have a hard face time with dad.
who shot JR?
I think they meant more like not remembering much about the characters and what lead to where szn 2 starts. If not, you def summed it up well haha.
Glad I'm not the only one. Oh well plenty of time for a rewatch soon
So...the post credits teaser for next week is interesting.
100% said "the commonwealth will destroy us" right? So there's a new civil war between the East and West Coast brotherhood?
I'm not so sure its between the brotherhood, them saying the commonwealth makes me believe that they think something besides the brotherhood will be in power and they need to stop it, seeing as how their morals are "we know best so fuck you and die if you dont agree" 😂
I think that was more a credits teaser for the whole season
cheered so hard when big iron came on hell yeahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
i was so happy when i heard the song start playing lol
I knew it was only a matter of time and boy, did they deliver.
Think they wasted the song for this scene. And they cut it to like 30 seconds. Should have been a bigger action scene for this
X2, like Jake Peralta after singing I Want It That Way.
This was slop
Was pretty underwhelming if I’m being honest. The “khans” looked and acted like cheap McDonald’s cosplayers.
“McDonald’s cosplayers”?
The ghoul met Boone’s wife.
Sad.
I just want to know if my boy's doing alright
Darla vs Carla
He probably just misremembered her name, it's been a long time.
Wait what did I miss this???
Yeah he talk about buying a soda from Darla (Boone’s wife) or something
Boone's wife is Carla.
Awesome show as always but really bummed out they didn't show Maximus, even if just for 10 minutes or less or something. He's one of my favorite parts of the series!
Whole next episode will feature him btw.
Thank you, Jonathan Nolan's burner account. Say hi to your brother for me
Happy to hear that 🙂
Guess I'm still in crazy land where this still just doesn't quite feel like Fallout to me...
Bethesda can't get the tone (or frankly, lore) of Fallout correct if their life depended on it, their stuff always felt like a theme park version the franchise rather than the franchise itself. Not turbo happy they are going to set the "canon" post-New Vegas timeline. West Coast should have always been left to Sawyer and co. While Bethesda stuck to the East.
The khans felt very misused.
Keep in mind that these aren't the Great Khans we know from New Vegas. This is much later, and they were already headed for irrelevance during the events of that game.
I remember in the game they make a point to portray the Khans as more than drugged up blood thirsty raiders. Here they are in the shows as... Drugged up blood thirsty raiders for fan service lol.
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...what?
is it me or was Walton Goggin's makeup/prostetics as a ghoul, better in season 1?
Every time he’s on screen I check his nose to see if they made changes. It looks good!
Looks too clean too, and Ella's makeup and hair way too perfect for walking in an irradiated desert for days.
Even the Raiders looked too clean imo. I want them to dirty it up and show the contrast of being outside vs the clean Vault dwellers.
There was one shot during the motel brawl where the CG to hide the actor's nose was very noticeable and I was shocked.
i imagine its prolly got something to do with them filming in the desert where its prolly dangerous to have a lot of prosthetics on in such heat
It was just bad compositing.
I can't be sure but I think they are doing something different with his nose
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. It looks almost like a filter in some places. They probably redid the makeup so it doesn’t take as long and is easier to apply considering how much more screen time he’s going to have.
They said they made it easier and reduced it from 5 hours of makeup to 2 hours. Looks way worse to me. Like a full face prosthetic now that they just slapped on versus actually doing all the make-up. I'm glad its an easier process for them but it definitely looks way worse and it took me out of it a few times.
It's like the later Freddy movies where the makeup looks worse because they used prosthetics that wouldn't require the actor to be in the makeup chair for half the day. Freddy's Dead comes to mind.
It’s fallout time
And then she fallouted all over the place
Did anyone else notice that the area the protestors are beating the Mr handy looks a little like Miami? Or am I way off base here lol
i thought it was absolutely miami, but now that I'm thinking about it it could be LA too, but since the shot has the ocean on the right it seems like miami cuz thats normally how you'd shoot the east coast
I need more Cooper backstory. I want to know what happened between him running from the bomb with his daughter and him becoming a ghoul
If the show continues to do well, I wouldn’t be opposed to a spinoff following Cooper’s ghoul adventures through the 200+ years up until now.
Assuming that his appearance in FO76 is canon, he does make an appearance as a ghoul in Appalachia some 25 years after the bombs drop as some sort of bounty hunter.
I’m sure it’s coming. There’s A LOT of potential for the backstory. It’s almost what I’m looking forward to the most tbh.
The back story so far is well done. Would’ve loved it last season but I think because they started right after the s1 finale it has good pace
Mostly inoffensive, the beginning fight scene was thoroughly unnecessary and uninspired, but the cast is enjoyable to watch.
“Uninspired” mfer it literally has Big Iron plaything throughout the middle of it and it’s set in Novac.
Having Big Iron poorly laid over a boring and unnecessary fight does not make it inspired. I swear, people are so easily impressed, which is fine, but y'all act as if everyone should be as in awe as you are. If they were going to use such an iconic song, they should have made a fight scene with it in mind instead of an afterthought, given its significance to the fanbase for whom it's there.
Who took the jelly out of your donut this morning?
Poorly laid out? Extremely well laid out that scene was awesome
What was good about it?
Why didn't anyone shoot at him? They were all armed and he stumbled around quite a bit.
This has gotta be rage bait 😂
If by rage bait, you mean that it was meant to spark conversation, then sure, but what I said was true, and I will happily and honestly defend the statement. Though I suspect you just disagree, and therefore, I must be trolling. Is that about right?
Rage bait
Rage bait
Interesting, I didn't expect the show to take inspiration from Fallout 76's Skyline Valley "Communists", Vault 24 seems to be basically the exact same experiment that was being run on those Boy Scouts.
Vault 24 was actually cut content from New Vegas! Its cool to see them recanonizing it
I couldnt get over the fact that when Steph is cutting food her knife is normal, but when she stabbed the table the blade was suddenly backwards, and they still chose to zoom in and focus on it lolol
6 minute recap at the start lmao
Solid start, Ella Purnell is so infectiously awesome
Also 8 minute credits. Although the credits do contain a sneak peek at the rest of S2
And it was a great recap. Glad it was there. It did have a skip button.
Yeah it's been nearly 2 years, was needed for me. And I think that still didn't include stuff like the mutant vault I completely forgot got about lol
It didn't tho in my website but glad it didn't That wazz good recap if I ev ver saw one