Faster than the bombs can drop, the new Fallout TV show has come and gone, leaving us eagerly awaiting a second season and clinging to the memories of a fantastic journey through the iconic post-apocalyptic series of our dreams.
Part of the show’s magic was its bold and exciting choice not to adapt any of the franchise’s existing storylines. Instead, it crafted an entirely new story out of the foundations set by the video game series.
The show followed three different protagonists with continually intertwining storylines. It all came together for a climactic end that set the story up for a second season and took viewers back to one of the game’s most iconic locations, New Vegas.
So, if you just finished the show and you’re left wondering what it all means and where the story can go from here, don’t even stress it. I’ve got you covered. So sit back, relax, pick up a Nuka-Cola, and read on, you curious little Vault Dweller, you.
This should go without saying, but don’t read any further if you haven’t finished the show yet – because here be spoilers. You’ve been warned.
It’s hard to figure out exactly where to start this off because so much happened in Fallout’s final episode. This episode tied up and brought together the storylines of the three protagonists while also setting up the show’s (hopefully) second season and even introducing an entirely new location.
So, to start, the final episode saw Lucy finally track down her father, Overseer Hank, who was taken captive by Moldaver. We also finally learn a bit more about this mysterious agent of chaos. It turns out that Moldaver is one of the few surviving members of the New California Republic, a group that helped to organise a Californian government after the bombs fell.
This collective was based out of Maximus’s former home, Shady Sands and the destruction of this location ultimately led Maximus to get involved with the Brotherhood of Steel.
We also found out, alongside Lucy, that her father was far from the innocent Overseer he portrayed himself to be. Instead, he was and is an executive at Vault-Tec, whose role is to keep order in Vault 31. It also turns out that neighbouring Vault 33 wasn’t a community. Instead, it’s where Vault-Tec stored its executive branch, all cryogenically frozen so they could rebuild the earth in Vault-Tec’s image.
Vault 33’s cryochambers are where Hank comes from and where he was thawed out to be put in charge of Vault 33 and meet and marry Rose, Lucy’s mom. However, when Rose realised her new husband was less than honest and there were survivors on the surface, she fled from the Vault with her children, where she found the sanctuary of Shady Sands.
However, the sanctuary didn’t last long before Hank tracked down Rose and the children. After this, the children were returned to the Vault, and Hank ensured that Shady Sands was no longer there. Rose was left to become a ghoul, whom Moldaver kept alive, being unable to kill the woman she loved.
So that’s the overarching theme and huge plot revelation. Still, you might be sitting there wondering what the purpose of everything else that unfolded was. Well, the core of the show revolved around Wilzig’s severed head, and right at the end of the story, it’s finally revealed why. It turns out that Wilzig had implanted a cold fusion particle in his head, something that both the Brotherhood of Steel and the remaining members of the NCR wanted.
The Brotherhood wants this to gain even more control, and the NCR seeks to give power to the people to free them from the Brotherhood or whoever else wants to control them. However, another group also wants it: the remaining thawed-out members of Vault-Tec.
This brings us to the final thread in this web, The Ghoul. By now, there was little doubt that Vault-Tec was the ultimate bad guy in this tale, but believe it or not, there was still more to be revealed—which is how The Ghoul got into the mix.
So before the bombs (the first ones, at any rate) fell, the Ghoul was Cooper Howard, a movie star married to a high-ranking Vault-Tec employee. This is how he ended up starring in commercials for the company, however begrudgingly, at his wife’s request. It’s also how he would become the basis of the iconic Vault Boy’s thumbs-up image we all recognise.
After a while, Cooper Howard aligns himself less and less with Vault-Tec. After listening in on his wife’s work discussion, Cooper learns that not only did Vault-Tec conspire with its biggest competitors on the Vault program, but his own wife suggested a planned nuclear attack to wipe out the world.
Okay, that’s all the backstory. Now for the final events. When Maximus arrives to help Lucy and her father, he, unaware of who Hank truly is, lets him go, which results in Hank grabbing a power suit and knocking Maximus unconscious.
The Ghoul then arrives and wants to know from Hank where his family is. But before getting his answer, Hank gets away, with The Ghoul vowing to give chase to see where Hank is heading and who is pulling the invisible and diabolic strings.
Lucy decides to follow The Ghoul, which means leaving an unconscious Maximus. When Maximus finally comes, Moldaver activates the cold fusion particle, lighting up the Wasteland with free electricity before dying from her injuries.
We have some theories about where the story will go from here. We know that Hank is off to find the other Vault-Tec executives, who are apparently held up somewhere in New Vegas, the central location of Fallout: New Vegas.
We still need to find out where The Ghoul’s wife and daughter ended up. There is a chance that his wife is one of the executives cryogenically frozen or that she’s one of the executives Hank is heading towards. Maybe, just maybe, she’s the one pulling those strings.
As for the Ghoul’s daughter, we saw in the series that she was with him when the bombs dropped, so maybe she somehow managed to find her way into a vault, or she’s also a ghoul roaming the wasteland somewhere.
While we don’t know exactly where season 2 will take us, if season 1 was anything to go by, we’re in for an absolute joy ride, and we can’t wait for that next adventure to begin.
If you enjoyed this and want even more Fallout content, you can find our post on possibly the coolest Easter egg hidden in the show here and the seven times that the show tickled the Fallout gamer in us here.