{"id":57556,"date":"2024-05-20T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=57556"},"modified":"2024-05-21T11:51:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T15:51:42","slug":"spoilers-im-talking-about-the-fallout-tv-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=57556","title":{"rendered":"SPOILERS: I’m talking about the Fallout TV series"},"content":{"rendered":"

I mean it. If you want to experience the Fallout<\/em> TV series fresh, without any more foreknowledge than you have probably received already, don’t read this. Because I’m going to be talking about several things IN-DEPTH. Also, TRIGGER WARNING: if you are part of the (honestly small) group of people screaming “I can’t believe they disrespected Fallout<\/em> like this! They got SO MUCH wrong! It’s horrible!” then you probably need to go away and not read this, either. Because, putting it right up front; I think the Fallout<\/em> TV series is brilliant; and a wonderful addition to Fallout<\/em> lore. The writers REALLY understood what these games are about. Not that mistakes weren’t made, but NOT in the lore or the tone. Just in general continuity and storytelling. I unabashedly recommend this series to EVERY Fallout<\/em> fan.<\/p>\n

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I don’t know how many long-time Twentysided readers are still around. I know a bunch of you, even if we may not have had much interaction a decade or more ago. Shamus famously disliked Fallout 3<\/em>. I loved Fallout 3<\/em>. In fact, it is STILL my favorite Fallout<\/em> game. I don’t have it installed right now, but the last time I did, I had well over 150 mods installed. I never liked New Vegas<\/em> as much…the layout of the map was less interesting, and less usable in my opinion. While New Vegas<\/em> engaged you in a more extensive main storyline, this was simultaneously more problematic. Because Bethesda just doesn’t write very good stories. In that regard, the lousy story in the base game of Fallout 3<\/em> greatly benefited by the player being able to ignore it easily. And it should be noted both Fallout 3<\/em> and Fallout: New Vegas<\/em> had fantastic DLC\/Expansions.<\/p>\n

The Fallout<\/em> TV series is set in 2296; the latest date of any Fallout<\/em> story. The first game occurs in 2161, 84 years after the bombs fell on the United States on October 23, 2077. However, this is not the first Fallout<\/em> game *chronologically.* Bethesda’s Fallout 76<\/em>, released in 2018, is set in 2102; although I have seen a couple of claims that the game occurs in an alternate timeline; NOT the main series continuity. As I can find no “official” reference for this, I generally consider it to be unimportant. 76<\/em> has little impact on the other Fallout<\/em> games, with the most important reference being that Vault 76 is trying to initiate their own “Reclamation Day.” This is a concept that formed a pillar of some or even most Vault-Tec vaults. Reclamation Day is allegedly the purpose for maintaining a population in the vaults in the first place, so that at the appropriate, safe, time; the vaults can be opened and the now-recovered nuclear wasteland can be repopulated. The game explores some origin lore of various factions and mutations, but much of this is not 100% compatible with earlier established information. That, coupled with the relative unpopularity of the game, may be why at least some consider the timeline to be unofficial.<\/p>\n

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So that gets us back to Fallout<\/em> 1 as the first lore-friendly playable game in the timeline. Most lore is established in this game. Fallout Tactics<\/em> occurs 36 years later in 2197, and expands on the Brotherhood of Steel, who were introduced in the first game. {NOTE: the original version of this paragraph listed Tactics<\/em> as introducing the Brotherhood of Steel. I used this wording to fit the structure of the paragraph, even though the BoS actually appeared in the first game, while Tactics<\/em> enhanced the lore of that faction for all following games. I have changed it because that choice just didn’t work out.} Fallout 2<\/em> takes place in 2241, 80 years after the first game. Fallout 2<\/em> introduces the New California Republic AND the Enclave, two more factions that will remain integral to future Fallout<\/em> stories. This game also creates the idea that SOME Vault-Tec vaults were designed to be social experiments, or a home FOR scientific research; including experiments ON the residents. The residents weren’t always made aware of these conditions. Fallout 3<\/em> begins 36 years later (weird how that comes up again) in 2277 on the Eastern coast of the United States, specifically around Washington D.C.\u00a0 Fallout 3<\/em> solidifies an idea that is important to the Fallout<\/em> TV series, which I’ll get back to. Fallout: New Vegas<\/em> occurs 4 years later in 2281 and primarily revisits the New California Republic, as far as lasting lore goes. I have always felt that ONE major factor contributing to the disregard of Fallout 3<\/em> paired with enhanced love of New Vegas<\/em> is the simple change in background. The Capital Wasteland was a completely different setting, with a Brotherhood of Steel presence that called into question the goals and moral alignment of previous game entries. The return to the California\/Nevada\/desert setting with a familiar background; one that explicitly continues some of the same stories of the earlier games; seems to have placated many players that felt Fallout 3<\/em> was just “too different.” (Something I want to make clear here, if it’s not clear already: New Vegas<\/em> overall is great game, and there are many things Bethesda did with this entry that genuinely deserve praise. Most notably, the huge variety of followers available with actual, mostly-developed backstories. And I already mentioned the fabulous expansions.)<\/p>\n

Fallout 4<\/em> is set 6 years after New Vegas<\/em> in 2287 and revisits the East Coast. The premise of Fallout 4<\/em> is basically “so what happened to Massachusetts?” The game revisits a topic first included in Fallout 3<\/em>: synthetic humans, or “synths.” These are robots created by “The Institute” located in The Commonwealth. I have no doubt they will be part of future Fallout<\/em> stories, but overall Fallout 4<\/em> has little to do with existing lore.<\/p>\n

The TV series returns to California…in fact the setting is explicitly set in the area formerly known as Los Angeles. Three main characters are introduced: Lucy MacLean, daughter of the Overseer of Vault 33; Maximus, a Brotherhood of Steel initiate who seems very much to be the least popular and most-abused member of his chapter; and Cooper Howard, who we meet in a flashback to October of 2077. Coop is a movie star of Westerns whose fame is declining due to his rumored association with Communists. We also learn he was a marine during the Chinese invasion of Alaska in 2066-2067, before being honorably discharged and pursuing an acting career. On the morning of October 23rd, 2077, he is performing for a child’s birthday party. Adults at the party whisper that he needs money to pay alimony; so we can presume he is divorced, though his daughter is with him. His introduction ends as he and his daughter witness the first bomb hit downtown L.A.<\/p>\n

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Cooper’s story is a background story for the entire Fallout<\/em> series. Through his flashbacks we learn about Vault-Tec, other companies, and the general state of the U.S. government, American culture, and the world in the days leading up to The Great War (the bombs.) But…flashback? Yes. 200 years after the bombs fall, Cooper Howard is still alive. Sort of. He is a ghoul, a necrotic former human, as some say. Most humans who become ghoulified do so through exposure to radiation; some hand-waved trick of dosage amount, healing characteristics, genetics, and any number of other factors resulting in these post-humans rather than death. While ghouls typically have incredible healing abilities and long life touching on immortality; the trade-off is that their mind is usually destroyed after only a few years, and they become “feral.” Imagine zombies. BUT, as far back as Fallout<\/em> 1 the idea that ghouls could be created chemically was introduced. In fact, some people were experimenting with doing it intentionally. In some cases, a ghoul could even use certain chemicals or other treatments to maintain control of their mind. How Cooper became one of these kinds of ghouls is not explained in the first season of the TV series, but the idea that ghoulification is a somewhat uncertain and unpredictable process is introduced.<\/p>\n

Cooper has an attached personal story that doesn’t really get explained until the last episode, although everything that came before sets it up. Lucy’s adventure is the punctuation on Cooper’s: we are introduced to Lucy as a vault dweller in Vault 33. Vault 33 in 2296 is presented as the absolute epitome of what Vaults are constantly advertised to be throughout the lore of the series: dripping with 1950’s Americana, perfectly-functioning, and home to a cross-section of American society who all like the same things and are polite to a fault. Lucy herself is unbelievably positive, unlike her thoroughly disinterested younger brother. Lucy opens her segment making a case for her history of abilities and accomplishments, and incidentally the vault’s lack of a suitable marriage partner with whom she is technically unrelated, as reasons for her to be chosen for an “intervault exchange.” This is a rare, but NOT completely unheard-of, idea in the Fallout<\/em> universe. The various vaults were aware of the location of all nearby vaults in case of emergencies; and some even communicated. Vault 33’s case is a new one, as far as I can remember: Vault 33 is directly connected to Vault 32 via a locked vault door. Apparently exchanging residents between these two vaults is a regular occurrence. It turns out that reproducing is apparently the primary reason for the exchange, as Vault 33 will hand over a supply of spare parts and in return will receive a new resident…a husband for Lucy.<\/p>\n

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I’m not going to get into Maximus’ story, as his is really about concepts related to the Brotherhood of Steel. He is important to the story, and the elements he represents are definitely adjunct to the main story…but understanding why this series embodies the concepts of Fallout<\/em> doesn’t really require Maximus at the moment. Also, I’m gonna skip around the story a bit. So there will definitely be spoiler for later elements of the show.<\/p>\n

TL:DR, the intervault exchange doesn’t work out. After having sex with her new husband (never getting out of her wedding dress…dude was ready to go), Lucy puts on her Pip-Boy, which is when she is notified her new husband is mildly radioactive. Of course, any good vault dweller knows that a life-long vault resident would NEVER be radioactive, so this guy must be a…RAIDER. It is broadly passed over in the background that the residents of Vault 33 are aware of various things that have happened on the surface. That this information is not necessarily accurate nor complete is an important plot point. Around the same time, the visiting residents of Vault 32 assault Vault 33. Through this fight, Lucy starts with a dagger (a combat knife, really) and ends with a tranquilizer gun. The confrontation ends with the leader of the raiders threatening Lucy’s father to either come with them back into Vault 32, or they will kill the rest of the vault and take Lucy. Lucy’s father, Hank, locks Lucy in a closet and is subsequently tranq’ed and taken. Oh, and the leader of the raiders knows who she is, and says she looks like her mother. Who died when Lucy was very young.<\/p>\n

This begins Lucy’s quest to leave the vault, which includes the iconic moment of being exposed to the blinding light of the sun as the big external door is opened, and find her dad. Straight out of the Big Book of Fallout Protagonists. She starts off in her blue and yellow Vault-Tec jumpsuit, and lightly-armed. In the town of Filly, she encounters Cooper and Maximus, who have both been tasked via separate means with capturing an escaped Enclave scientist who possesses world-changing lost technology and is meant to be delivering it to a woman known as Moldaver. Lucy learns Moldaver is the woman who invaded her vault and kidnapped her father. And knew her mother, somehow. While Maximus, and in fact the Brotherhood of Steel as a whole, is only interested in securing the lost technology…I mean, that’s kind of their whole thing; they pursue it LITERALLY with religious fanaticism…Cooper is largely uninterested until he learns this escaped scientist is going to Moldaver. Cooper knows Moldaver. In fact, he’s known her for a LONG TIME. She was alive, just as he was, when the bombs fell. What she is at this point is not explored, and I feel that was probably a choice that was a mistake. If Fallout<\/em> had NOT been a success, and we never got another season, it would have been a pretty big thing to leave unexplained.<\/p>\n

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While Cooper fights other bounty hunters and Maximus, Lucy is chosen by the escaped scientist (after having his foot blown off by Cooper to keep him from running) to escort him to Moldaver. Despite the doubts of, well, EVERYONE ELSE that a fresh-faced, recently-emerged vault dweller can accomplish anything in a world they don’t even understand, the scientist (and his genetically-modified, hyper-capable dog) insist on Lucy. They manage to escape from Filly before Cooper manages to kill or neutralize all opposition. The two of them don’t make it far before the scientist announces he won’t live much longer due to blood loss, and his inability to travel quickly will only slow Lucy down. He tells her to cut off his head and deliver it to Moldaver (his head containing the techno-thingy, we were shown\u00a0 him “injecting it” earlier.) And this is the key moment that really drove home that the writers understood the series, and knew what they were doing. Despite Lucy’s objections, and her insistence that she can find a way to heal him and get him where he is going, he persists in handing the quest off to her. He knows she can do it. He knows she WILL do it. “Because she’s a Vault Dweller.” She will always do what’s right. And she will get the job done. This works so well for reasons that some may call “meta,” but that the setting actually gives a home to IN THE SERIES\/GAMES.<\/p>\n

The TV series takes place in 2296. We know all the various characters are aware of the events of the games. While some haven’t been mentioned at this point in the story, some have. The legend of the Vault Dweller, first and foremost, is very likely an established part of history, especially on the West Coast. As is The Chosen One, the hero of Fallout 2<\/em> and descendant<\/em> of the The Vault Dweller. The Chosen One is doubly-important for this story, as the history of the New California Republic turns out to be integral. The scientist is from the Commonwealth. He is undoubtedly aware of The Sole Survivor, the protagonist of Fallout<\/em> 4. The Sole Survivor’s actions probably directly affected him. He would also likely know of The Lone Wanderer from Vault 101, the Vault Dweller who brought clean water to the Capital Wasteland and destroyed an entire branch of the Enclave…his own employers. The scientist, when he first comes in contact with Lucy, advises her to return to the vault. She tells him matter-of-factually that she won’t go back without her dad. I can imagine this exchange echoed in his head the entire time until he meets her again when he is desperate, and decides that the legend of the Vault Dweller is what he needs to bank on.<\/p>\n

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Hey, would you look at that. I didn’t cover NEAR the number of things I wanted to in this post. I didn’t go looking for all the various complaints to address. The show honestly seems to be quite well-received, actually. Even on Reddit people are mostly trying to connect vaguely-referenced bits to previous lore and speculating over what the next season may feature. The two most-valid complaints I’ve seen is the huge, glaring inconsistency about what Cooper knows about power armor; and the overall narrative structure. Completely agree with the first, although the structure doesn’t bother me. In fact, I think it was probably the best choice to tell this particular story in the format they had available. Quite well done in those regards.<\/p>\n

Soooo…maybe we’ll revisit this topic in future, or maybe not. I love Fallout<\/em>, and I’m more than happy to talk about it anytime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I mean it. If you want to experience the Fallout TV series fresh, without any more foreknowledge than you have probably received already, don’t read this. Because I’m going to be talking about several things IN-DEPTH. Also, TRIGGER WARNING: if you are part of the (honestly small) group of people screaming “I can’t believe they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paige-writes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57556"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57578,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57556\/revisions\/57578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}