Introduction
This time around, they keep us in some suspense about our main characters. Instead of starting the episode with the fallout from the Hank, Lucy, and Ghoul meeting last episode, they take us back to the before times. This fills in the end times capitalist conspiracies that other companies came up with to fill in the blanks as they see them. It’s a jarring cold open that will give you the heebie jeebies and make you repeat the mantra, “This is only a TV show. It’s only a TV show.” They discuss the end of the world as if they are ordering off of a menu and casually mention the water chip failure rate as part of the process. It all just feels too real right now. Let’s dig into Fallout episode 14.
Plot Summary and Analysis
For full plot summary, click here.
A less action packed episode allows them to dig deeper into the how and the why. If you play the games or are a lore nerd (or both) you know the how and the why. Thankfully, the TV series both pays honor to the lore in the game but also adds to that lore. For instance, the cold open this time fills in what seems like minor details in the form of people selling their “end times solutions”. However, instead of offering solutions to avoiding the end times, or even making the end times more bearable, they are selling solutions that will profit them during the end times. And, we will cover this later. But, that just shows what’s wrong with the current pursue profit over all else attitude that we subscribe to in this day and age. I’ve seen some people aruge “We will meme our way through WWIII” and this, through the parade of ideas, shows just that.
Meanwhile, Hank’s use of the “automated man” and subsequent reunification with his daughter make us wrestle with some questions that are much more complicated than just “how” or “why”. What does it mean to be free? Is free will an illusion? Do good intentions pave the road to hell? How much do we owe family and our parents? And you thought it was just going to be Super Mutants and Deathclaws. Well, lucky you, it is also that. Ron Perlman, he of “war never changes” in the first games, drops by as a Super Mutant to set us up for some fireworks in future seasons or games with his monologue. And, what now that The Ghoul, Thaddeus, and Max are back together. Only two episodes to go to answer these questions and more.
Character Profiles
Barb: She features prominently in the episode. Her transformation from office worker and loving mother to office worker and loving mother willing to drop the bombs gets explored. While Cooper can’t understand her motivation, the addition of the elevator scene gives them an off ramp into the realization that Cooper eventually finds out the truth and that’s what sets him on his quest to find both her and Janey.
Cooper Howard: After his encounter with House and now the growing realization that his wife means what she says when she wants to drop the bomb, his entire world is falling apart. While he met it last episode with drinking into oblvion, this time he faces it head on. The constant oscillation between hope and despair must be weighing on him.
Hank McLean: Above it all, he wants you to believe that he’s a loving father, willing to do what he needs in order to make a better world for his children. In reality, he’s an inept villain, robbing people of their own humanity to create the world that he wants. It’s just fascism with extra steps.
Lucy: At every turn, she is tested. Lately, she’s been failing those tests. The thing about it all is that it’s not completely her fault. She was high on drugs for most of last episode and not in her right mind. This time around, her father heavily manipulated the situation in his favor and knew that she’d eventually cave due to her moral compass and not wanting two dudes to just beat the life out of each other.
World Building and Setting
We always knew that Vault-Tec was not on the up and up. But, this drives that home. They both take the meetings for all of these companies trying to profit from the end of the world and knowingly green light faulty technology. Those who worked for the company face a decision. Become a part of it all or risk becoming victims. Worse yet, representatives from The Enclave are apparently targeting certain individuals within the corporation and threatening them if they don’t go through with it. So, truly, are there any heroes in this story?
Hank finds that willing subjects, perhaps, respond better to the mind control tech. At least, that seems to be the implication of the Snake Oil Salesman from last episode. We also get some of that this episode. When Lucy tries to free them, the automatons look around and one asks, “Do we have to leave? We kind of like it here.” I can’t relate, but perhaps some people just want to be told exactly what to do. The last bit of the game that gets introduced to the television series is Super Mutants. In the short time we get them, I’m hooked and want more.
Themes and Social Commentary
Again, with so little action, they make you sit with some heavy issues in this episode. I know I started last post with that same idea, but this time around, everything just digs into the dark parts of your brain and makes you think about it all. You can’t shut it off and shout, “Deathclaws, fuck yeah!” like you could last episode. And, so, we have to reckon with the banality of evil (for good people to do nothing, etc) and what responsibility corporations have. Okay, this one is going to sound weird, especially when I’ve no doubt established my hippie bona fides. Corporations bear no responsibility. It is up to us as the consumers to ensure that the corporations are acting the way that we want. We have given up that power and now we sit at the cusp of everything burning. I don’t think it’s too late.
This episode also hammers home the idea of memory vs. identity. Who we are, in some ways, is who we were. In other ways, we can change who we are. However, do we ever truly escape the memories of who we were. I know that’s convoluted, but hopefully it also makes sense. Your parents determine who you are when you’re young. As you age, you can choose to stay on that path or choose another one. However, those voices and actions are still in there somewhere and seemingly can resurface at any point. So, in that vein, are we ever truly free to be who we want to be? Or, are we all doomed to fall into the trap of being what society wants us to be? Too often, that’s shallow or downright evil. Damn, that’s depressing.
Narrative Structure, Pacing, and Soundtrack
When they do these types of episodes, the music is less overt. Mostly, they add mood music to set the scene. As a result, there’s only four songs in the episode. One introduces the episode, one backs the office drone scene and drives the point home, one plays in the background mostly as a distraction, and the last closes the episode to prepare us for the madness sure to come next episode.
The episode leans heavily into the past this time around. That allows them to set the table for the rotten seeds that produced the foul fruit of the after the bomb wasteland. Shady Sands proved that even after the end of the world, good people can survive and even thrive together. “I remember good people.” But the awful “people in charge” from before the bombs dropped (namely Hank) guaranteed that the good people we remember don’t have the chance to spread their goodness and light. Because it’s not competitive or profitable or both. So, only the worst of us find “success” in the Wasteland and everyone wonders why everything still sucks.
Well, fuck that. There are still good people (even if they occasionally lose their way due to drugs or manipulation) and good super mutants who can rise to the occasion and ensure that things start sucking less. I once said to a student who said, “This town sucks.” “Well, work to make it suck less then.” And that’s been my response ever since.
The Verdict
Fallout Episode 14 can’t help but keep us positive in the face of all of the negative. Perhaps it’s just my way as an optimistic pessimist, but I always see the good in the bad. Moreover, I want to work to keep that good and keep the fire lit to those who maybe lose it. I root for Lucy, Max, and the NCR because they’re the ones who keep us from descending into complete barbarism.