I’m not the person who went into Fallout knowing everything there is to know about the story through the video game on which it’s based. But like other shows based on video games, like The Last of Us, I appreciate being able to go into the story blind. I admittedly get a different experience from those who can anticipate what’s about to happen. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Fallout Season 1, which blends a surprising amount of humor with the dark, post-apocalyptic story. So, I was excited to check out Season 2, which continues the story right from where we left off.
Note: This review is based on Episodes 1-6 of Fallout Season 2.
Fallout Season 1 Recap
Fallout is set in the future where survivors reside in underground bunkers, numbered vaults where they are safe from the post-nuclear wasteland above ground. It’s eventually revealed that the company Vault-Tec purposely started this war in order to maintain power and control, selling their vaults to people, keeping members of management in chambers where they would lie dormant for hundreds of years, and orchestrating a plan that would see them rule for centuries.
The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) was an important player at the time, a war veteran and famous actor then known as Cooper Howard who was married to a Vault-Tec executive. He learns, much to his disappointment, that his wife is actually a key player in the plan to set off bombs, killing innocent people. Lucy (Ella Purnell), meanwhile, is an infectiously positive young woman who doesn’t know life outside of her vault. When she leaves to find her kidnapped father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), however, she learns the truth. He worked as an assistant at Vault-Tec and existed 200 years ago. He had his body cryogenically frozen and returned to start anew. When Lucy’s mother disagreed with his plans, he bombed the Shady Sands area where she lived, killing her and most others.
Fed up with her father’s antics, especially after learning that he was responsible for her mother’s death, Lucy declares that he’s dead to her and he runs off, as she’s unable to kill him. With nowhere to go from here, she accepts the Ghoul’s offer to travel with him to Las Vegas to find Hank and get answers. He believes Hank may be one of the only people who knows where his family, including his wife and young daughter, are. Were they frozen as well as did they survive these last 200 years, or are they dead?
Season 2 picks up on this journey, along with the journey of Brotherhood of Steel member Maximus (Aaron Moten), who is now in a position of power and trying to navigate what to do with it, under the thumb of leader Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer). Hank, it’s revealed, has run off to Las Vegas, returning to the Vault-Tec labs where he vows to finish the research they started.
Fallout Season 2 Review
It becomes instantly apparent that Fallout Season 2 is far more gruesome, violent, and action-packed than Season 1. These scenes happen out of the gate since there’s no framing story to be told as was the case with Season 1. Overall, based on the episodes I watched, the season is far more intense, more serious than Season 1. While there are still glimpses of humor, the show’s focus is less funny, more gore.
You get that familiar buddy vibe you do with other shows of the same ilk where an unlikely duo are traveling together. They are forced by circumstance to lean on one another, even if they don’t like one another very much. The Ghoul and Lucy have very different moral codes, very different ideas about how to live their lives and respect the lives of others. This butting of heads is a frequent theme throughout, though eventually, we begin to question if they really are more alike than they realize.
Hank, meanwhile, comes across as a far more sinister character. It was revealed at the end of Season 1 that he wasn’t the sweet, innocent father Lucy thought he was. But this season, it’s like now that he’s free of his parental shackles and the lies he kept for so long, he can be the ambitious, power-hungry former executive assistant he once was, desperate for respect.
There are some great new cast members joining this season, including Justin Theroux as Robert Edwin House, the CEO of RobCo Industries, who rules the New Vegas Strip in 2281, along with Macaulay Culkin and Kumail Nanjiani in surprise roles. There are a few other familiar faces you’ll notice through the episodes as well.
I regretfully felt somewhat bored as the episodes progressed. While the narrative is driven forward with flashbacks interspersed with present day goings-on with The Ghoul and Lucy, Maximus, and Hank, a disconnect began to present itself. The series is clearly leaning into the video game lore in a bigger way, presenting characters and storylines that fans of the game expect and those who didn’t play don’t understand in the same way others would. This is a great thing for fans of the video game but threatens to isolate fans like me who aren’t familiar with the story and can’t anticipate what’s coming. It’s an issue that can sometimes be felt strongly, like with The Last of Us Season 2 as well, but not always, like with The Walking Dead, which was based on comics.
I was missing some of the humorous elements, the lighter moments that offered a nicer balance to the story in Season 1. Aside from the cutesy ’50s tunes that accompany even the most violent scenes, and the occasional one-liner, the same comedic edge isn’t there. Every actor hits it out of the park, Goggins, Purnell, Moten, and MacLachlan convincing in their lead roles, as well as Moisés Arias as Lucy’s brother Norm. He gets an expanded storyline this season as he deals with the revelation he has made back in the vaults.
One thing the show gets very right is its glorious special effects, action sequences, costuming, and overall look and feel. You almost feel like you’re playing a video game at times while watching, especially when characters are wearing elaborate armor and fighting bad guys or navigating buildings with threats at every corner. There’s a cinematic movie feel to every scene that makes you wish you were watching it in a theatre.
It’s a Solid Follow-up Season With a Darker Tone
Overall, Fallout is a fine post-apocalyptic drama and arguably one of the best video game adaptations we have seen of late. If you’re a fan of the video game, it’s a no-brainer to watch. Even if you aren’t, you’ll find it to be a worthy, movie-like story that explores themes of power, control, greed, and morality, all set to a lovely recurring ’50s soundtrack and scenery that’s a feast for the eyes.
It’s a bingeable season, but not one that leaves you at the edge of your seat after every episode, itching to watch the next. You’ll be totally fine watching week to week, which is what you’ll have to do unless you wait until the final episode of the eight-episode season streams on February 4, 2026. It’s not an underwhelming season but it didn’t leave me with the same satisfying feeling as Season 1. Those who know and love the video game, however, might feel differently.
Fallout Season 2 premieres its first episode on December 16, 2025. Stream Fallout on Amazon Prime Video.