Video game to screen is a big deal now. With the success of films like Sonic the Hedgehog (1 and 2) and television shows like HBO’s The Last of Us, the production world is starting to realize that the biggest entertainment industry might have some stories to tell. It’s a sentiment that I have been crowing about for years. I mean, the good stories are laid out in video game format with character development and design, so why not just use them? It’s best for both industries and has the potential to reach a huge audience, gamers and non-gamers alike.
Anyway, soapbox aside, Amazon Prime has jumped on the video game train with a more ambitious attempt at bringing the game to the screen with Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout series. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a George Miller-esque take on the world after an enormous nuclear war that features societal classes divided and their struggles to survive everything going to hell. The rich and elite made it to the Vaults underground, while the poor and unprivileged were stranded to survive above ground with nuclear monstrosities and radiation poisoning. Definitely fun and wholesome family entertainment.
How did Amazon do with this series? Well, they definitely took their own route, while being true to the video game content. The story flow isn’t perfect, but the climactic ending certainly checks the intrigue box on what could come with season two.
So, sit back and relax. Put your thumb up for distance. And let’s blast through this review.
Character-driven story
Much like the game, this story could come at you from any perspective. Thankfully, Amazon Prime took some solid notes about that perspective by bringing in three different types of character classes into the mix that are always present in the games – a Vault resident, a Ghoul, and a Brotherhood of Steel Knight. All three stories weave in and out with each other, adding their own level of interest and providing enough difference to keep the story engaging and flowing. But one of them certainly outweighs the others with a better backstory build and a far better reason for being who they might be. Not to say that the three characters here can’t carry themselves, but one feels far more fleshed out.
The Ghoul (Walton Goggins)
Walton Goggins is a godsend in nearly every role he takes on. He’s meaningful and entertaining, and he knows when to balance comedy with seriousness. Loved him in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and I really got to see him stretch his talents out with The Ghoul. He is the first character we meet in the show and one who stands to lose the most without breathing a word. The series opens with him pre-bomb, where he is a struggling actor who is just trying to keep his daughter happy and his life moving forward. He is introduced as a star-making appearance at parties and just trying to make a buck with the talents he has developed. He is also the first character that is visibly caught in the blast, as we get to see him at his most fearful human level, which is a beautiful balance and complete opposite of who he becomes later in the story.
The Ghoul’s story is probably the most complete in the first season of the show. You get to see all sides of his character and you get to see literally ‘how it started’ and ‘how it is going’. The show’s creators, Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner seemed very aware of who the star was here and treated the development of his character as such. Nearly every episode of the show has a piece of The Ghoul’s former life in it, and Groggins takes every single opportunity to make sure his character development isn’t wasted when on screen. He does this by being self-aware of the character. Pre-war, his character is kind, caring, and someone who stands behind what he did for his country, at war and on film. Post-war, he makes sure to take all of that pre-war build-up and destroy it to make a point that it was all for nothing and he only cares about certain people in his life. His performance in this show is nothing short of amazing and he has created a character that I want to see ride out into the sunset one way or another.
Brotherhood of Steel Knight – Maximus (Aaron Moten)
Aaron Moten’s Maximus is just a step below Groggins in performance and development. While I would have loved to know a bit more about Maximus, as we just get some breadcrumbs about how he made it to his life as a Brotherhood of Steel hopeful, Moten takes what he has been given with the character of Maximus and gives it as much dimension as the script will allow.
Maximus’ transformation from a raw recruit who is picked on and beaten up to Knight is quick. At times, the development of Maximus feels unearned, though the payoff at the end certainly justifies the transformation. Maximus’ growth into a badass who buries his fear behind a helmet is helped by his fellow counterpart, Lucy, who is equally lost on her journey to emotional salvation, and the wild they both must survive.
Like I said before, Moten does a great job with what he has been given with Maximus. I love the actor’s raw emotion as the character. He brings a real sense of needing to belong while at the same time understanding that he can’t be afraid of people, authority, or doing what is right in his mind. Now, what failed Moten is how Maximus was developed. You will eventually get that Maximus survived a huge tragedy. The story provides that detail and pushes that narrative without much energy behind it. You don’t get what the show does for Groggins’ character with Moten’s Maximus. There wasn’t much time given to properly provide a profound backstory that adds a bit more dimension to Moten’s Maximus. That is solely on the show’s writing, as you just get a whiff of his pre-Knight life. You can argue that there wasn’t enough time to give Maximus more story, but there are several moments in the show where the room could have been made. Moten’s Maximus isn’t a total loss, as he has some great moments with Lucy (coming up), but hopefully, the second season gives Maximus more screen time to cook.
Out of the three characters, I think that Maximus was the weakest in the story. This is no fault of Moten, as he squeezed out as much as he could from what was provided. He did a helluva job and eventually, the end pays off more than I thought it would for our favorite Knight.
Vaulty – Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell)
Ella Purnell’s Luc MacLean is interesting. Her character has the most complicated transformation in the story, where she not only has to be the Vault resident that must traverse a world she isn’t familiar with and doesn’t understand, but she also has to go from innocent mind to brutal killer in the span of eight episodes. That is a tall task for any character, especially one that has to deal with an extreme personality change, such as the case of Lucy.
The actual transformation is treated okay at times, as she is immediately and brutally thrown into it all the first night she is out and about in the wasteland. The story does a decent job of leading her through some terrible situations, and chips away at her cheery disposition through the uncaring characters she runs into along the way, including Groggins, who is far less kind to her than anyone else in the season and gets her to where she needs to be at the end of it all.
What I think was done not-so-well with her development is that she transforms way too fast, though the writers seemed to depend on her educated learning side to excuse her sudden amazing gunplay when in crisis. I can’t imagine there are many guns in a Vault, so I’m not quite sure how she became a sharpshooter as quickly as she did in the story. Maybe she was part of the Tunnel Snakes. Kidding, that is silly. Anyway, it is a thesis for juxtaposition with her innocence as a Vault resident and a wasteland badass. It’s an odd and unpaid transformation for Ella Purnell’s Lucy but who she ends up being by the end is quite cool.
Overall, Purnell did a great job of selling Lucy’s journey and situation. Much like Moten, she wasn’t given nearly as much screen time to develop as Groggins’ character, which is disappointing considering how important she was to the story. That doesn’t discount who she becomes at the end, but it does beg the question of what could have been had she been given enough for a bit more adjustment during her journey.
Now, about that story…
Story is everything, or at least most of everything
The great thing about the Fallout series is that groups exist within it, but specific characters do not. This allows for new stories to be told within a generalized structure and flexibility with that structure when the time calls. Amazon Prime took some liberties with the world and left some important residents out, but for the most part, they played it safe with the three above characters and their journeys while adhering to the Fallout world.
I warn you from this point on that there are some potential spoilers, but not too many that it’s going to ruin your viewing. I can’t tell you about the story without getting into the story. That would be a silly review. Let’s not be silly.
Anyway, the story is launched by the destruction of the world through the eyes of Groggins’ The Ghoul. Except he is a human when we see it. We get the picture of how the world became unglued and how it ended up as it did post-war. That painting doesn’t really take long to make, and later episodes give the strokes a bit more context.
Once the world goes to shit, the story shifts to introducing our next character, Lucy. We get a good taste of Vault life, how it works, and what is expected from the residents. We also get a brutal break-in that finds Lucy’s world turned upside down with the kidnapping of her father (stop me if you have heard this before), Overseer Hank MacLean. That incident launches Lucy’s journey into the wasteland to retrieve her father, where she meets up with our MacGuffin, Dr. Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson), who is on the run for some reason that hasn’t been revealed yet. Wilzig’s sole purpose in the story is to get the three above characters to cross paths, though his reason for being is still a baffling mystery of ‘why’.
It’s not terribly developed set of events that get us to Wilzig, and there is obviously something sinister and hidden within Hank’s kidnapping, and within the Vault itself, but it feels fast. That feeling of fast is overshadowed by the inclusion of secondary characters, such as Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias), who is a perceived weakling but curious character, and the comedy relief of Chet (Dave Register) and Woody Thomas (Zach Cherry). Those small moments of comedy hide and side character intrigue help to hide the fact that this story is moving at a breakneck speed to get to where the story wants to be rather than where it needs to be. And maybe the beginning acts are probably the worst part of the series, which isn’t a bad thing because most shows begin poorly, even some of the most successful. As it stands with the introduction to Lucy, The Ghoul, and the Vault, it’s passable and at least interesting thanks to the characters.
From there, we shift from Lucy’s story to Maximus. It’s the opposite of Lucy’s situation, where Maximus is literally getting the hell beat out of him in a less-than-friendly environment, and just trying to find his place in the world. Eventually, Maximus ends up as a squire to a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel, after his best friend can’t be the squire thanks to a knife in her boot, and his adventure takes off. His purpose? He and his knight must find Dr. Wilzig and retrieve him. The reason? Because the Brotherhood said so, and the MacGuffin’s mystery lives on. Maximus ends up running into his own issues where his loyalty is truer than his organization’s braveness, and he finds himself struggling to stay alive and be loyal to a terrible knight. Maximus’ journey hits a fork in the road when his Knight is killed by a giant bear, and Maximus lets him die instead of helping him. From that point on, he takes over as Knight and is determined to find Wilzig in hopes of making amends with the Brotherhood and saving himself from being a traitor who is put to death.
Much like Lucy’s journey, Maximus’ transformation feels really fast. We don’t know much about it, we get that he has some emotional rollercoaster-ing going on, but nothing is solid and grounded. If you weren’t familiar with his world or the Brotherhood, the whole character and what they’re doing would be lost on you. The story doesn’t stop long enough to explain anything, including Maximus. Now, the moment that you see him take over as Knight, you’re locked in and with the situation. The breadcrumbs of order and distrust within the Brotherhood, especially so with Maximus’ relationship with them, are well laid out. We just don’t get enough connection with him to understand what he has been through and what he is internally fighting within his brief introduction that led him to this organization. You’ll want to know, but you won’t get it. You have to fill in the blanks and make assumptions, though those are not difficult to confirm.
The final piece to the trio is Groggins’ The Ghoul. We know his situation, we can fill in the blanks with his former life, and his drive as a violent and cruel person is expected by the time we see him post-war for the first time. His first time on screen as The Ghoul is just him literally emerging from the ground and killing his perceived captors. Those captors serve no purpose other than to introduce him in his post-war form, and to give some context to how he survived so long in his current state. It’s quick and it’s enough, but as mentioned previously, we already have a solid notion of what type of person he might be and how he got to where he begins again.
From his emerging from the ground, he is a straight-up gunslinger. We’re talking old west, Clint Eastwood type, where he is more invincible than he is flawed. He is flawed, and you will see that from the beginning to the middle of the story, but he is mostly just invincible. I mean, Groggins is a big name and his stint wasn’t going to be short in this series, so it’s understandable that he can withstand some gunshots and such.
The Ghoul’s purpose and how he gets on the trail of Lucy and Dr. Wilzig is a little far-fetched, though later in the season we figure it out. His story is mainly driven by Lucy and his obsession with her finding her father, which is a strange connection but a justified one by the end. Wilzig is merely a device for him on his journey, nothing more and nothing less. When he finally hits that story fork with the other characters, The Ghoul gives more reason for his existence, especially by the end of the season.
Overall, the journey of the characters kicks well into gear by mid-season. I think the confusion, the assumptions, and the fast-paced beginning starts to slow and we get a real sense of these characters and what they’re trying to accomplish. Maximus might have the best growth from the mid-to-late season, where we really understand who Moten is trying to be with this character. His anger is justified, and his own moral compass leads the charge, which is absolutely appropriate given the reason Maximus joined the Brotherhood.
Lucy isn’t far behind with her own transformation, though the reveal at the end is a bit suspect in details and requires the viewer to stay tuned to the second season to see how it all plays out. I like cliffhangers, but this felt like the writers hadn’t quite figured out how things were going to go and just kind of left it open at the season’s conclusion. I can dig that because I think the story was going in the right direction, but I wanted more details to get to that ending and I felt that there was far more exposition going on at the end than than true build that leads to that point. The payoff is fine but it could have been so much better.
As for Groggins’ The Ghoul, he is built up through flashbacks in nearly every episode, and his reason for being by the end of the season is justified. He doesn’t need much help, as the story gives him everything he needs to get to the end. His story’s crisscross with Lucy’s helps to prop her up a bit with meaningful content for her character, though doesn’t completely carry her. The Ghoul is the most developed in Fallout, and certainly the best reason to keep watching.
Now, dear readers, I don’t want to go into any additional details or reveal anything else about the season. I know you’re getting shortchanged a bit, but please know that this journey is actually worth your watch. The Fallout series is one of the better attempts at adapting video game material to the streaming screen. It won’t outperform the likes of The Last of Us, but it will stay true to the original content and treat it right. It does enough with its characters to make up for any shortcomings of the story.
Production Quality
Lots of good virtual production sets, great lighting, and believable post-war world bits to enjoy. This show wasn’t done poorly or thoughtlessly. The Fallout series visually represented every expectation I had of how the show should have gone. Its gorgeousness, horribleness, and post-war apocalyptic recovery were quite well represented on screen. The world did feel small at times, but it also didn’t feel too big for these characters to live within.
In short, the production quality was quite good. Not perfect, but quite good.
Conclusion
The Fallout series brings a solid representation of the game to life while focusing mainly on factions and three main characters to drive the first season. While the character development pace was a bit fast for my own tastes, I think the ship certainly got back on course mid-season to end with a cliffhanger that will have you wanting more. This was certainly a worthy season for the show to begin on and a good way to draw people into a brutal, sometimes goofy world that has a lot more to offer in the next go around.
