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| War Never Changes |
Fallout is a post-apocalyptic web series based on the role-playing video game franchise created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins , it premiered on Amazon Prime Video. It was a co-production between Amazon MGM, Kilter Films, and Bethesda Game Studios.
In this review, I will be non-biased since I enjoyed the games and there's elements in this show that got on my nerves and respectively disagree with. This has "minor" spoilers to give conext and let you know things ahead-of-time before planning on watching this.
The Story
The series depicts the aftermath of the Great War of 2077, an apocalyptic nuclear exchange between the United States and China in an alternate history of Earth where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retro-futuristic society and a subsequent resource war. Many survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults on behalf of Vault-Tec. More than 200 years later in 2296,a young woman named Lucy leaves behind her home in Vault 33 to venture out into the dangerously unforgiving wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles to look for her father, who has been kidnapped by wasteland raiders. Along the way, she meets a Brotherhood of Steel squire named Maximus, and a legendary ghoul bounty hunter, each having their own mysterious pasts and agendas to settle.
I really like the story and if you're not familiar with the games, you won't get confused as the early episodes will introduce you to the Fallout Universe without having to require playing the games. This season is influenced by Bestheda's Fallout 3 main story-line, but not based on it.
This season's story-line focuses on three main characters, Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul.
Lucy is a typical vault-dweller who leaves her home to venture onto the surface. She is very naive, as vault-dwellers are unfamiliar with the dangers of the surface. However, I feel that the writers were a little lenient on her and didn't depict her experiences in a more traumatic way. It seems like the show-runners didn't want to make the show too dark, as portrayed in the games. Throughout the season, her character does grow and adapt to life on the surface, and she learns from the mistakes and consequences of her actions, but it feels unrealistic. I wish her character development had been better because she had so much potential. Ella Purnell portrayal of the character is a little stiff at times.
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| Lucy, the Cheesy Dweller |
Raised in the Brotherhood of Steel, a quasi-religious paramilitary organization. Maximus is depicted as a squire and sent on a mission with his knight, Titus. After being mistreated by Titus, Maximus refuses to save the knight's life during a Yao Guai attack, steals the power armor, and assumes his identity. It seems like this action was meant to send a "message" about "fairness" and "equity," suggesting that Maximus didn't have to climb the ranks to become a knight. I thought this was stupid, however, I think the beginning of this subplot could have been better. For example, instead of being mistreated by his Knight, the dying Knight could have told Maximus to use the armor after his death to continue the mission (but that's just my opinion). I would have liked Maximus more if he were a more fleshed-out and natural character, instead of feeling like a rehashed version of Finn from Disney's Stars Wars. Aaron Moten's acting is "okay", but he get's a little better in latter episodes.
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| Maximus, the Obsidian-token Knight |
I can't reveal too much about the Ghoul without giving away spoilers because he's one of my favorite characters and plays a significant role in the show (and carries the weight). The Ghoul is a renowned bounty hunter and gunslinger with an intriguing backstory. He doesn't fit into the typical "good" or "bad" guy categories but falls somewhere in between. Walton Goggins delivered an outstanding performance in portraying this character. Given their greater experience, Goggins and the other veteran actors showcased a more polished and professional performance compared to their younger "millennial" counterparts.
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| The Ghoul, the Meth Addict |
It was missed opportunity to bring back Ron Perman as the narrator from the Fallout games with his iconic "war never changes" line. Maybe he'll in for the next season?
Is the story woke? No, it isn't. The show has an engaging storyline that will keep you watching and wanting more. However, there are "woke-ish" human aesthetics and elements surrounding it. These elements and aesthetics can often be distracting to the main story.
All the characters are original creations, respectively, but the "diversity" cast is kind of forced and tokenized. I can understand their point of view of the so-called "American Dream," or should I call it the "Californian Dream," and this is a fictional/idealized version of America, but some parts didn't feel natural at all. Obviously, they were there for the ESG/DIE scores, not for merit or natural artistic aesthetics (duh, because it's Amazon!).
Except for one of the main characters, the Ghoul, all the European men are portrayed as old, weak, stupid, or evil. Which is alarming and very chauvinist.
Another distracting and predictable element was the forced miscegenation between Lucy and Maximus. (Sorry, most people don't like that.) Yeah, I don't mean to be prejudicial, but that was so fucking cringe and forced, especially when Lucy randomly asked Maximus if she wants to have sex with him at the worst possible time. I asked myself, is she a whore that came out of the closet as a mud shark? That scene had the worst dialogue I've ever heard, Karey Dornetto's writing in that episode felt like it was written by AI and it was terrible.
Most of those moments can be edited out without ruining the main story, seriously, it has nothing of value. Even if Maximus was European, it would still make me cringe.
While the games's storylines were more earnest with a sprinkle of dark humor, this show's humor was cranked up 50%, and half of it was unfunny with unnecessary sex jokes that added nothing of value to the story. (What's with feminist writers doing gross sex jokes?)
Another thing that bothered me was the inaccuracies and plot holes that wouldn't happen in real life. Yes, I know this is a post-apocalyptic fiction story, but some things don't make sense for me to take the show seriously, and I think the writers had no idea what they were doing. Two major ones that bothered me; one was when Lucy and Max visited one of the bomb's craters, and around it were buildings and vehicles that were close to its edge, this would not happen in real life, as everything would've been vaporized from existence. Second, when one of the characters finds an abandoned facility, all of the corpses have been decomposed for two years, but the blood on the walls and floor is still fresh like they were recently killed. Yeah, blood doesn't work like that; it would've been dried up by now with a dark appearance.
Another criticism, is the changes and rectcons to the lore's continuity. Again, I won't spoil it but there changes to Fallout's lore that cater's to the show. I bet most of everyone involved with the show have NEVER played the video games. If true, that makes perfect since and they should've hired the original writers from the original games and actors who were fans, but then again, this is Amazon, and they don't care.
With these changes to the Fallout lore, it should be on it's own continuity, and that's probably there plan anyway. I don't care if it's on it's own continuity as long it doesn't interfere with the main games, because most of these feminist-cult weirdos have never played them.
How are the visual and sound effects?
Stuart Dryburgh and Teodoro Maniaci's cinematography is excellent at capturing the atmosphere of Fallout. The way they skillfully capture the tone of the film is commendable. Their use of lighting, framing, and camera movement effectively contributes to the immersive experience of the show.
They faithfully added the aesthetics and iconic props (and easter eggs) from the original games including the Pip-Boy and the Vault Boy mascot (at least they didn't turn him Black).
Although, there some sequences that are noticeably "cheap" with noticeable green screen backgrounds.
They film the show in many places such as New Jersey, New York, Nanimbia, and Utah, bringing the wasteland to life. Post-production did a great job on "most" of the special effects. The post-production and editing was mostly done in Quebec, Germany, and India.
Some of the sound effects are generic, but some are memorable, especially the Ghoul's gun when he fires it.
What about the score?
Ramin Djawadi, famous for his score for Game of Thrones, Pacific Rim, and Iron Man, did the score for Fallout. As much as I like Djawadi, his original score in this show, is unfortunately forgettable. It's nothing but generic background music. However, they added period songs from the 1940-50s including the "I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" is a 1941 song by The Ink Spots from Fallout 3 that fits the tone and themes of Fallout. Only one episode had Inon Zur's iconic theme song and it was only used once.
Entertainment Value
With my criticism and nitpicking, is this show worth your time? That's a good question.
If you're a hard core Fallout fan who's "color blind" and don't care about the woke-ish aesthetics and sex jokes. Go for it!
BUT, if you're a hardcore Fallout fan that's a purist, and despise the woke-ish aesthetics and cringe, I suggest use caution and lower your expectations. While it's core story isn't woke and actually interesting, some of those elements mentioned can be distracting.
Conclusion
Amazon's Fallout is a flawed mess with an good story to tell with nice cinematography, high budget visual effects and Walton Goggins' amazing performance, but it's distracting woke-ish aesthetics and cringe moments can be distracting, especially in this political climate. It's worth a look, but it's nothing S.P.E.A.C.I.A.L.
I give Season 1 an honest 6 of 10 Vault-Boy bubble heads.
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