Fallout TV Review | Prime Series Soars High but Loses Steam

If you can picture screenwriter/filmmaker Jonathan Nolan geeking out for hours playing Fallout 3, the award-winning 2008 video game, then you will have a sense of the passion and commitment that went into bringing what’s been dubbed “the greatest video game series of all time” to life. Nolan would have to move through more than a decade’s worth of projects — from The Dark Knight Rises to Westworld — before Fallout became a bona fide on-screen possibility. Thank goodness for streaming, where these complex stories have more room to be told.

And kudos to fans — thanks to positive reviews after a two-episode screening last week, this highly anticipated series drops a day earlier than planned (April 10) on Prime Video. There’s even a global live-streaming event with the first episode at 6 p.m. PT on Apr 10.

Executive produced by Nolan and spouse Lisa Joy, previous collaborators on Westworld, Fallout offers some of the finest world-building we’ve seen on streaming. It’s the year 2296, more than 200 years after a nuclear apocalypse. The world is a mess. The privileged few are a diminished population living in luxury fallout shelters where ‘normalcy’ reigns. Meanwhile, the irradiated surface is a freaky, lawless landscape with limited resources, humans struggling to survive, and more than a gaggle of post-apocalyptic mutants, some of whom would do fine in a crossover with a watered-down version of The Walking Dead.

Fallout Is a Great Show That Loses Momentum

Fallout

4/5

Release Date

April 10, 2024

Seasons

1

Studio

Amazon Studios, Kilter Films, Bethesda Game Studios

Creator

Geneva Robertson-Dworet

Pros

• The sci-fi world-building is stunning and immaculately designed.
• A great narrative tied together by three strong main characters.
• Witty, bold, and inventive, with generous doses of violence.

Cons

• The pacing loses steam and fatigue sets in near the end.

Bold, fun and witty, it’s great entertainment, capturing the heart, detail, irony, and self-aware tone of the video game without just being Fallout fan service. It’s binge-worthy through and through. Fueled by a solid cast featuring Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets), Aaron Moten (Emancipation), Kyle MacLachlan (Twin Peaks), Leslie Uggams (American Fiction), and Walton Goggins (Justified) as The Ghoul, the eight-episode series storms out the gates with vigor.

Then, somewhere around episode six, the fatigue sets in. The narrative loses steam. Not a lot, but enough to make you crave a little more action and question how creators Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Graham Wagner (The Office, Portlandia) will piece together their puzzle-box mysteries cohesively, making you hungry for more. Ultimately, the job gets done. You will want more of Fallout, but you sense the greatest adventures of this series may lie somewhere other than where you are — over in Seasons 2 and 3, perhaps. That said, cherish the fun at hand while you have it.

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The Series Follows Three Main Storylines

One of the best things about Fallout is that it anchors its main story around three individuals from above and below ground. They’re all trying to survive, of course, and they’re each very different from each other. This gives the entire series a relatively cohesive story to track and sets up all the emotional beats that follow.

There’s Lucy MacLean (Purnell), a headstrong yet slightly naive vault dweller who must head to the surface after a shocking vault incident. She vows to return to her Vault 33 clan, which includes her fearful brother Norm (Moises Arias) and rising ringleader Betty (Uggams). But life above ground proves to be challenging. The girl is shocked by everybody’s ill manners. The creators have a bit of fun with that early on, but with each passing episode, Lucy must continue to adapt. She’s on a mission to find something/someone, and somehow bring balance back to the vault.

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Meanwhile, Maximus (Moten) is headed for a major learning curve, too. One of many young men who have pledged to serve the cultish Brotherhood of Steel’s militaristic agenda, he sets off on a mission with one of the senior Brotherhood fellas (Michael Rapaport in alpha male mode), who’s suited up in powered infantry armor, a staple for these higher-up Steel bros. The high-tech armor suits are a blast, and the series does a great job of showing off the threatening and ominous exterior before taking us inside. Maximus, like Lucy, ultimately must come to terms with the fact that life and existence may not be at all like everything they’ve been told.

The wickedly fun wild card of the series is The Ghoul, a cowboy-hat-toting mutated outlaw who exists in the drug-infested shell of what used to be an honorable gent. The Ghoul, and many like him on the surface, only care about continued survival. They will kill anything in their path, and boy, is it fun to watch Goggins disappear into the role, causing mishap and threat at every turn. Between the Western twang, steady swagger, and dulled facial expressions — through gruesome facial prosthetics no less — the actor has created one of the most memorable TV characters of the year.

Fallout Has a Detailed Post-Apocalyptic World

Beyond Goggins, Purnell, and Moten, the all-star ensemble finds Kyle MacLachlan playing Hank, Lucy and Norm’s father, and the Overseer of Vault 33. Sarita Choudary is Lee, a mysterious woman that may threaten vault life forever). Michael Emerson offers some pep as Dr. Siggi Wilzig, an eccentric researcher holding vital information. The writers do a nice job establishing intrigue and curiosity with these significant characters and all the various side players we meet along that way. We want to know about this world, and the “Great War” that changed everything. About that…

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Early on, we learn about the apocalyptic events that took place in October 2077. The scenes are, thankfully, powerfully moving, especially as they lead up to the inevitable. It also provides context for everything else in the future. The show handles the particulars about the late 2200s to winning ends. There are terms, creatures, and protocols to learn and understand. Ghouls are troublesome. Other than Goggins, we encounter a few of them, each at different states of decay. Or awakening.

A drug called RadAway fights off and can even eliminate radiation poisoning. Everybody seems thirsty for that, especially if you’re among those who’ve already endured a couple of centuries worth of post-apocalyptic suffering. Danger abounds on the surface, of course. There are some great scenes involving the Gulper, a nasty giant salamander who feeds on human flesh. Not fun. Elsewhere, like the beleaguered humans in shows like The Walking Dead and The Last Us, everybody is out for themselves.

All Roads Lead To…?

The evenly paced writing makes this interplay between characters (and tones) mostly work. The writers, hailing from shows like The Office and Captain Marvel on the big screen, have a handle on character development and comedy. They also know how to dangle plenty of creative carrots to keep you interested.

The exceptional production design by Howard Cummings should be noted and praised. The man reportedly made his team watch fan-made videos about the Fallout game and incorporated real junk into the sets of the Wasteland. That’s commitment, so Ghoulish cowboy hats off the man and all the other creatives here who seem to have kept fans of the game in mind when creating the elaborate and intricate world of Fallout. Ultimately, the creators and EPs stay true to the massive scope and indelible tone of the source material, and they fill the series with just enough twists and turns, offering something for everybody — dystopian drama fans, sci-fi lovers, and anybody who digs offbeat dramas in strange worlds.

Maybe that’s the creative hiccup. By trying to please everybody here — Fallout game fans and newbies — the outing tends to get weighed down slightly by “story” rather than fun. And that’s a curious thing for a show that’s derived from something that was mostly spectacle. Still, world-building takes time. There’s more to come. (We hope.) Meanwhile, between its compelling premise, slick gadgetry, dystopian dysfunction, and engaging characters, Fallout is still one hell of a good time. Fallout hits Prime Video on April 10. Watch it through the link below:

Watch Fallout