Fallout Season Two, Episode 1 “The Man Who Knew” review

Back to the wasteland. Fallout’s second season is finally upon us, returning to the radioactive masterpiece of storytelling we received just a year and a half ago. If you want to see what we thought of the first season, click the bookmark below. There’s a lot going on in this introductory episode, so let’s see if the quality established there follows Fallout to New Vegas.

Our episode opens in the past, and focuses on a new actor for Robert House, with Justin Theroux of Mulholland Drive fame taking the place of Rafi Silver. This wealthy and eccentric technocrat is down at the everyday man’s bar, watching how upset the workers are at his inventions taking their place. In a scene that solidifies him as a calculated villain, House does some “field testing on a device” (which we find later is called a brain computer interface). His encounter leads to quite a savage fight, and he really doesn’t care a bit about the carnage, only of the results for his gadget. It's cold-blooded, but sets the stage for what’s sure to be a violent second season.

Speaking of violence, we get plenty of time with Lucy and The Ghoul as they make their way to New Vegas, chasing after her father, Hank McClean. They get in a scrap right at the beginning which results in a lot of dead raiders, but manages to keep the tonal shift between the two of them. Lucy continues pressing her ideology in these scenes, that justice and The Golden Rule matter. It’s good to see the directors and writers stick to the personality they’ve created for her.

The Ghoul, of course, thinks she’s an idiot, but for whatever reason continues to let her tag along with him. I get the feeling Lucy is going to be bait in the long run to help The Ghoul achieve his goals of finding his family, but we’ll have to wait and see. Unsurprisingly, Goggin’s portrayal of The Ghoul is as menacing as before, acted with a conviction that sells his character wonderfully.

While he doesn’t get as much time, his past life as Cooper Howard is still making for great plot delivery. We get to see Howard initially on the run with his daughter, but pressed back into service by Moldaver. He’s reluctant, but given his wife’s close relationship with the higher-ups at Vault-Tec, and Mr. House, it’s a position he simply can’t turn down.

Lucy and The Ghoul get a look at a new Vault in their hunt for Hank, Vault 24. Interestingly, this vault was a cut location from the New Vegas game. Here, it’s purposed into a mind-control experiment vault, with the aforementioned brain computer interface used to brainwash dwellers into communists, or “Pinkos” to use the common parlance of the time. We even get a hat with a star resembling the one from the People's Republic of China (PRC). These experiments don't seem to have gone any better than in this location, but certain findings have triggered Hank to grab a hard drive from the research.

Inside of our triple vault setup of 31, 32, and 33, life is starting to go back to normal… at least as normal as it can be. Vault 33 only gets a few scenes, with Leslie Uggams’ Betty Pearson only appearing a single time. Rodrigo Luzzi’s Reg is obviously still reeling after his buddy Woody (played by Zach Cherry), has disappeared, leaving him without meaning. He helps run an in-breeding support group for those worried about their genetics, which contains the majority of the comedy of this episode. Incest and vaults are an unfortunate combination.

Vault 32 also doesn’t get a lot of screentime, but we do get a look at Chet and Stephanie (Dave Register and Annabel O'Hagan). For someone as seemingly interested in starting a family as Chet, he certainly seems to be fighting it. Stephanie, now the Overseer of the vault, puts him in his place quickly, and he continues to be the pushover he always is. I am curious what it will take for him to break, you just get the feeling that dam will burst eventually. For now at least, he’s taking care of Stephanie’s baby.

Moving on to Vault 31, our boy Norm is still trapped. He’s faced with two options, get into his dad’s pod to be frozen until the time is right to re-emerge, or die by thirst and starvation, or by Bud’s robotic needle. Bud is still threatening Norm, but it’s a bit funny coming from a Roomba with a brain jar. Still, Norm is in a precarious situation, so it’ll be interesting to see how he gets out.

Hank also gets a bit of setup right at the end. Stomping into an abandoned Vault-Tec facility in New Vegas with his hard drive, he gets right to work as if it’s just another day at the office. Choosing clothing, making his way around the facility to find their research on the brain computer interface – all with Working For The Man by Roy Orbison blaring – is perfect punctuation for this episode. He leaves a message for (at least, I assume) Mr. House, promising to make the device work better than ever and earn a promotion out of it. House may be the endgame, but Hank is still a formidable bad guy, and this is just the start as he only played a minor role in season 1

Season Two continues the excellence set by Season 1 in every audio-visual aspect you can think of. Beyond phenomenal costume work, the fighting scenes have extreme impact; you can feel the bullets hitting each raider. Every section of the wasteland or vault is on the money. The references abound, with Dinky the T-Rex and a Starlight Drive-In showing up. We get several amazing musical numbers, with Marty Robbin’s “Big Iron” playing us through the raider fight and The Ink Spots giving us a nice transition into a scene.

There are still a few things about this episode that can feel off. Episode 1 jumps between a lot of different characters, making the pacing uneven at times. This is without even touching Maximus, which was a good idea as it would have made it even worse. If you just finished up a rewatch of the final episode of Season 1, you may feel like this drags as well, given all the fighting happens in the opening. All of the content is worth the trip, but there is plenty of setup and exposition which can make things a bit slow. Given this season’s episodes will be released on a weekly basis, that may hurt it a bit at the start.

Review Guidelines

Fallout Season Two, Episode 1 “The Man Who Knew”

Excellent

Fallout’s inaugural episode of Season Two delivers in its construction of what to expect down the dusty road. That can lead to a bit of a slow go and some pacing issues, but it leaves me excited for what comes next. Backed by the outstanding world, visuals, and soundtrack, however, makes this a tremendous kick off.