Watch Out for "Fallout"

Minor spoilers ahead.

I know very little about the "Fallout" video game series, but I'm happy to report that the new Amazon Prime series based on it is great.  Taking place mostly in a post-Apocalyptic future that came about because of an alternate history nuclear war, "Fallout" explores a weird and intriguing universe through a couple of different characters.  Before we get any further, I should warn that the show is very violent, frequently icky, darkly humorous, and wonderfully cynical.

First, you have the Vault dwellers.  The first episode is about Vault 33, a self-contained community that lives underground in a fortified shelter, filled with retrofuturist gadgetry. The inhabitants are planning for the day when they'll emerge on the surface and help to rebuild America.  Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), daughter of the Vault overseer Hank (Kyle McLachlan), ends up going to the surface for a rescue mission, and discovers a dangerous world waiting for her.  Her brother Norm (Moisés Arias) stays behind to untangle some of Vault 33's mysterious origins and purpose.  Lucy soon crosses paths with Maximus (Aaron Moten), part of the Brotherhood of Steel - essentially a military cult that patrols the wastelands in mechanized armor.  Finally there's Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), who was a famous actor before the Apocalypse, but is now an undead Ghoul - a mutant gunslinger who remains animated due to strong chemicals and a stubborn will. 

As our characters explore post-Apocalyptic California, with new dangers around every corner, we start to piece together the history of the "Fallout" world and what caused the nuclear apocalypse.  I've seen a lot of media with similar premises, but the execution of  "Fallout" is unusually strong.  Created by Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, along with several members of the "Westworld" production team, "Fallout" cheerfully unleashes killer robots, mutant animals, chem fiends, cultists, and plenty of regular old human baddies on the unsuspecting audience.  Well-educated and well trained, but totally naive Lucy has to contend with the whole world wanting to kill her constantly, while also facing the uncomfortable truth that the Vaults's creators aren't the altruistic bunch she always believed that they were.  Fortunately she's smart, adaptable, and willing to get violent.  And boy, is there a lot of splattery violence in this show, sometimes played for laughs, sometimes played for cringe.

There's a lot going on in the show, but the quality level is pretty consistent.  I wasn't too interested in Maximus's storyline, for instance, which leans into old school military science-fiction tropes.  However, it's all done very well, so I was never bored with these scenes.  The major narratives also connect and build on each other nicely, and there's room for smaller stories and character portraits.  We spend a little time in the second episode with a scientist played by Michael Emerson, for instance, and later a radio deejay played by Fred Armisen.  I think what helps a lot is that the tone is kept pretty light, in spite of the material being incredibly dark.  Lucy is an eternal optimist, Cooper maintains a cool cowboy persona, (I did mention the crew of "Westworld" was involved, didn't I?) and there's always a sight gag or an ironic bit of dialogue to help distract from any existential bleakness.

Weirdly, "Fallout" may be one of the most hopeful pieces of post-Apocalyptic media I've seen in a while.  Things are going very badly and will probably get worse, with all these different factions fighting over the remains of civilization, but nuclear annihilation doesn't mean the end of the world.  There's a ton of life that survived, and is even thriving, even though it's often mutated, irradiated, drug-addled, or undead.  There are still people around like Lucy, who want to do the right thing, and people like Maximus, who can learn to be better versions of themselves.  

Finally, all the actors are great, but the MVP is Walton Goggins, who spends half of his screen time as a noseless-Ghoul and half in Cooper's flashbacks leading up to doomsday.  He's a very charming presence in both, and able to handle both clever quips and moments of touching humanity.  He's at the forefront of the show's satire of Cold War Americana, and key to its mix of tones and genres.  I hope we see plenty more of him next season - and hopefully we'll get a next season, because the "Fallout" universe surely has plenty more in store.      

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