Introduction
A subtle way that the show pays homage to the game is that each episode picks up almost exactly where the last left off. It feels like you pressed save, turned off the console, took a break, and logged back in to exactly the point that you left it. I remember feeling bad for my Skyrim character because I played nearly 40 hours in a week and then left him sitting in a cave for almost a year before logging back in, completely forgetting how to play, and needing to start all over with a new character. Luckily, I binged these episodes, so no such fate befell our characters in Fallout Episode 13.
Plot Summary and Analysis
For the full plot summary, see here.
Okay, first off, buckle up. This episode covers a lot of ground. The opening scene might feel like fan service and it absolutely is. How do you have a Fallout TV show without Deathclaws? The answer? You don’t. But it also goes a long way to again driving the point home of how the Wasteland so quickly and easily corrupts someone like Lucy to become someone like The Ghoul. As he said in a previous episode. “I was once like you. Stupid.” The one thing they leave us still waiting for is seeing the Deathclaw in action because they take The Ghoul’s advice this time and run away. In the very next scene, we both see The Ghoul attempting save Lucy from herself once again while simultaneously feeding one of his own addictions. Meanwhile, in the past, Cooper Howard inches ever closer to his destiny. HIs refusal to kill is in stark contrast to The Ghoul who shoots first and never bothers to ask many questions. We also see that he sympathizes with the congresswoman. All of that get him his audience with Robert House. One major plot point coming up. House fills Cooper in on everything that he knows, which is everything. It’s hard to determine if you can trust anything these people say. The problem is that they all believe their own bullshit.
Speaking of believing your own bullshit, Norm keeps his crew together through sheer force of will and the fact that their brains are probably scrambled from the thawing out process. But, since the McLean’s are unable to just have nice things, he faces a revolt thanks to his own carelessness. First, though, we get a visit from the Snake Oil Salesman. Initially, it just looks like he might serve as comic relief. And, of course, he does. However, as we will soon learn, he also finds himself entrenched in the McLean family drama. These people just can’t stay out of their own way. Worse, they keep dragging others into their nonsense. Maybe that will change now that Hank and Lucy have been reunited. I have a feeling, though, that it is just getting started.
Character Profiles
Cooper Howard/The Ghoul: Even as they get closer together chronologically, they can’t be further apart. The Ghoul understands what he’s become and how far it is from who he was. You can see that in the literal reflection at the bar. His betrayal of Lucy, while expected, still shocks.
Lucy: Watching her descend further into her dark side by killing a man mirrors the journey that Cooper took in becoming The Ghoul. We don’t see the process and even as we wonder how one became the other, Lucy fills in the gaps.
Dogmeat: He doesn’t do much this episode except survive. In the wasteland, that’s all that can be expected. In addition, his choice of hiding spot saves Lucy and The Ghoul from the Deathclaws. He is a good dog.
Norm: Keeps the group together in spite of it being built on a lie. Finds them shelter and the possibility of contacting others. Then, just as suddenly, he loses it all to an ill timed admission.
Hank: We get to see his pitch to the Snake Oil Salesman. He uses the man’s weakness, his self loathing, to prime him for the mind control device. This detail is the reason for success after so many failures.
Snake Oil Salesman: Because he hates himself and his own actions, he is much more open to erasing that part of himself and starting over. An interesting study of the phenomenon of people selling out their pasts in order to secure their future.
Robert House: The man, the myth, the legend. Calmly, cool as a cucumber, he explains everything. And, still, you just can’t believe a word he says. Except, Cooper gets to him with the lunatic line and he loses it. That’s the only time you see him for who he truly is.
World Building and Setting
This episode simultaneously builds Vegas in the past and the present. We see the Lucky 38 at it’s prime in the past. The presence of the stirking workers and the congresswoman show the seeds of the rot that grows into a place overrun by Deathclaws. We also get to see House in his full glory. Using math and statistics to attempt to tell the future. His philosophy, “The House Always Wins” comes to bear in the realization that he correctly predicted the bombs would drop on Janey’s birthday. However, we must ask, is that because he already knew? Is he actually predicting the future or trading on insider information?
From the games, we know Vault Tec is a major player in both pre war and post war America. But the show is even able to expand on that mythos. They give us the birth of Vault Boy with Cooper. While not explicitly implicated as the ones who dropped the bombs, they played a major role. Even through simple searches of supposed programs created by the company we get knowledge that they are behind the development of Super Mutants and maybe even Deathclaws. This symbiosis is what makes the TV show so great and a must watch for fans.
Themes and Social Commentary
The show and games often deal with some heavy issues.This particular episode leans in on a few of the big ones. When they talk to Cooper about killing House, they strictly define the mission as the “ends justifying the means”. When Cooper gets House’s lecture, the entire speech drips with the same venom. The whole sordid affair brings to mind the question of “killing one person to save millions (or billions)”. I can’t say that even with House dead the bombs wouldn’t have dropped. Maybe they drop sooner?
The other major theme that the show can explore more deeply than the games is the concept of memory and identity. The Ghoul lives will all of his memories, both the 200 years he’s lived after the bombs dropped, but also the life that he knew before everything happened. His descent started once they pulled aside the curtain and exposed the rot underneath. This is most glaring in the glitz and glamour of Vegas becoming the run down Deathclaw ridden New Vegas. However, the entire world before becomes a moster filled Wasteland. And that’s not even mentioning the super mutants, Deathclaws, and centaurs. Even Lucy finds herself becoming warped by everything that happened.
The biggest theme comes directly from The Ghoul, last episode I think, “Family’s a fucked up thing.” Hank uses his love for his daughter to justify the means of experimenting on people and taking away their freedom of thought. The Ghoul uses Lucy’s trust to capture her for Hank. He also will do anything and betray anyone to meet his family again. At what point does all of this stop being love and caring and start being manipulative?
Narrative Structure, Pacing, and Soundtrack
Similar to some of the middle episodes from last season, this episode cobbled together from a variety of characters and plot points. It comes together as something that is greater than the sum of its parts. We see an episode that oscillates between past and present, follows different characters, and shifts tone in the story. However, the three act structure is intact and follows Cooper’s fall from faithful companion and over all good guy in the past to someone who betrays Lucy to her father in order to gain just a possibility of reuiniting with his family.
The overall pace of the episode is quick. Moving from scene to scene rapidly. However, it does take a breath when necessary. The pause by The Ghoul before the first flashback and the walk up the stairs before another are now so recognizable that we know when the transition is about to happen. That predictability, too, moves the episode along. There are only three songs this time, but they are all expertly placed to help tell the story. It makes me wonder if they listen to the music first and write around it or simply find the perfect song somehow.
The Verdict
Fallout Episode 13 pulls the rug out on several things. The “I thought we were friends” line alone is enough to break your heart. But Norm losing his place as leader so quickly after taking it and Hank finding a willing servant in the Snake Oil Salesman are both so unexpected that I need to keep watching to see where it leads. And, none of that even accounts for the House reveal and Cooper’s minor fall from grace.