Introduction

Initially, I meant to post this on the main page. However, as I wrote, I realized just how long it would end up being. Therefore, I give you the Fallout Episode 1 plot summary here. Plus, enjoy some of the music from the episode as well. If you’d rather just watch the episode, head on over to our favorite multinational conglomerate.

Fallout Episode 1 Plot Summary (THE END)

The episode opens with what should be considered a tired old TV trope. And, maybe it is. But, it worked on me. With Nat King Cole’s “Orange Colored Sky” playing in the background, the words “THE END” display on the screen. It then cuts to a cowboy performing rope tricks on a horse at a kid’s birthday party. The lyrics of the song “Flash, bam, alakazam, and goodbye” fit perfectly with what we know is to come. Spoiler alert: The Fallout series deals with life after nuclear war ravages the country.

Through a series of pictures, we get more on the background of the cowboy and a young girl dressed like him. She is his daughter, Janey, and the fact that he’s working a kid’s birthday party should be an indignation for him. “Alimony” is the answer when one guest asks why he’s at the party. When they ask him to do the thumbs up sign, he declines while citing “the current state of things.” Furthermore, they call him a “pinko”, giving the impression that the red scare affected this particular universe as well.

It doesn’t take long for that spoiler alert to become obsolete. On the radio, they discuss the whereabouts of the president. Then, on the television, a weatherman throws a fit at having to give the next week’s weather while not even knowing if there will be a next week. A mention of Anchorage, Alaska and the spectre of nuclear war. Mom works furiously to snuff out all of this bad news and focus the kids on Grognak the barbarian.

His daughter asks about the thumb and a piece of cake. At first he tells her it’s grown up stuff. He then explains that when a bomb drops, you hold up your thumb. If the cloud is smaller, run. And if the cloud is bigger? Don’t even bother running. While he gets the cake, the first bomb drops. Then, a second, a third, and a fourth.

Fallout Episode 1 Plot Summary (LUCY)

Cut to 219 years later. A dweller of Vault 33, Lucy gives her skills that range from plumbing and electrical to teaching history and gymnastics and even riflery. She also mentions that she likes watching movies and reading books. In spite of her excellent health, she can’t find a mate not related to her. The triumvirate accepts her proposal for marriage.

A friend helps Lucy get ready for her wedding. Lucy signs a dress and then puts it on. Her friend, pregnant, tells her not to worry about the tight fit because she probably won’t be wearing it long after the ceremony. They then discuss their kids playing together. Lucy goes into the corn field. A man waves to her and we see the backdrop is a film in a projector.

The man is her father. They embrace and talk about her mother, who she wishes was there. Her father tells her that she looks like her mother. They then walk down a hallway to a door with a “32” on it. The gatekeeper, Chet, pretends that the gate malfunctions. He expresses his love for Lucy. She tells him to stop being silly because cousin stuff is okay for kids, but not a “sustainable sexual practice”. He opens the door.

The overseers, Hank and Moldaver, exchange pleasantries. Moldaver talks about a wheat blight but that the trade will help them. 33 offers seed and parts for machinery in exchange for a breeder. Ruggedly handsome Monty is the lucky lad. After the ceremony and during the reception dinner, the 32ers act uncouth and maybe even a bit savage. Perhaps it’s just the way of the dwellers because Lucy launches right into a discussion of sperm count.

Hank gives a speech about the hope that the union brings to him that the next generation can go to the surface due to the reduction in radiation levels. Sure, things up there might be grim, but we can’t let that mean old world change us. Dancing before Monty asks to go back to their home.

Not All Is As It Seems…

Lucy shows him around and thinks about all of the great things the home will bring them. Monty closes the door and gets naked. Okey dokey. They have sex with Scatman Crothers “Keep the Coffee Hot” playing in the background. Meanwhile, her brother Norm, walks to vault 32. When he sees the grain long dead, he searches further. After, Monty gets out of bed and wipes himself on the curtains. Lucy stays in bed until she hears explosions in the distance. She registers radiation on Monty and realizes he’s a raider.

They fight with Monty getting the upper hand. She punches him in the nuts when he advances after saying, “Just so you know. This was the best day of my life.” They struggle and she gets stabbed. Monty starts to choke her. An alarm sounds, distracting him. She breaks a glass over his head and cuts his pretty face with it.

Lucy fixes herself up with a Stimpak and leaves their home to investigate further. She sees a body knifed to the wall a la Michael Myers. She passes another dead body on the ground as she makes her way to the cornfield. All hell has broken loose. She holds her own against the raiders. The film breaks in the projector and looks like a mushroom cloud in the background. Her pregnant friend mourns her husband before attacking a raider and losing an eye in the attack.

A raider tries to attack Chet, but is tripped and the door cuts him clean in half. Lucy saves Norm and has him hide in a locker. Monty’s back and he starts to choke Lucy again. Her father saves her with a shovel to the head and then drowns Monty in a pickle barrel. He receives a notification and he and Lucy go to investigate.

Moldaver waits with some of her own and some hostages.

Hank: I think I know who you are

Moldaver: Everyone knows who I am. But do they know who they are? They are the product of one of life’s tricky little choices. I’m going to offer you a choice. Them or her?

Hank chooses Lucy. He gets sedated.

Moldaver (to Lucy): You look like your mother

Lucy: Where are you taking him?

Moldaver: To the real world. You should see it sometime. (to hostages): Maybe you should do what you do best. Run and hide. drops a bomb

Fade to black

Fallout Episode 1 Plot Summary (Maximus)

With Johnny Cash’s “So Doggone Lonesome” playing in the background, a black man stands up into the frame. He fights another black man and gets knocked down. Several other men attack him while he is down. They leave him to bleed. The screen identifies him as “MAXIMUS”.

Another soldier comes to help him up. “Flesh is weak. But Steel endures.” The scene shifts. A Brotherhood of Steel flag is raised. Some kids smoke while they look at the base below. In a hanger, the squires attend class. They are to help the knights find prewar technology. Max gets a question wrong and faces the switch.

Rotors in the background and a shadow coming over the hanger grabs everyone’s attention. Outside, several flying craft drops off knights in their T-60 (identified by Max) power armor. Everyone is suitably impressed by the armor. I have to admit. The costume designers did a good job.

They briefly show the reason for the knights’ arrival. A radio worker decodes a target for them. Max is on latrine duty. Dane comes to rescue him and “show him something”. They go to a repair hangar and see some power armor hanging from a jack. Max goes to touch it. A flashback to a young Max being rescued by a knight. They both think they’re in trouble when Dane is summoned.

Some soldiers play basketball with a milk crate and bricks. Then, a shot of barrack life, complete with a soldier jerking off. Commotion outside grabs Max’s attention. Soldiers are celebrating Dane’s promotion. Max looks upset. Later, he still works latrine duty and takes his anger out on the latrine. The next morning, Dane screams. Someone sabotaged their booth and caused them severe injury. Max is the likely suspect and taken in for questioning.

Meanwhile, back in Vault 33…

With “Brighter Side” by Connie Conway playing in the background, the dwellers clean up from the attack the night before. Lucy staples up her wound. She puts forth a proposal to the assembly. She wants to put together a search party for her father. Even with the lesser numbers, they can spare four people. The assembly debates, though as with most of these debates, it goes nowhere. Norm: They don’t want to find Dad. If they did, they couldn’t be in charge anymore.

Norm makes a show of acting naturally and asks a dweller with a body in a wheelbarrow, “How’s your day?” I chuckled. Why so nervous, Norm? He meets Lucy and Chet and they take the elevator to the surface door. Before opening, Chet tries to go with her. She tranqs him and promises to do the same to Norm if he comes. No way, I’m too chicken. They embrace and she opens the door. Two other dwellers come to stop her. “Young lady, come back right away!” as the door opens to reveal blinding light. She steps into that light. “Well, that didn’t work.”

Her eyes adjust and she surveys the wasteland. Skeletons and nuclear frozen bodies all around. Mass devastation to buildings. No other living creature. She hears waves crashing and goes to investigate the suspicious noise. Seeing the ocean shore (a slice of beauty in all the ugly), she gives her “Okey dokey” and sets off on an adventure.

And, What of Max?

They remove his hood and initiate interrogation. First, they lay on the mom guilt in an attempt to get the truth. Why did you join the brotherhood? To hurt the people who hurt me. The flashback again. He climbs out of a refrigerator. Back to the interrogation, he insists that he doesn’t know who injured Dane. Fellow aspirants accused him.

Max: I wouldn’t.

Interrogator: Why not? Dane was promoted and not you. You have ambitions, don’t you?

The knight intimidates him. He insists. But admits that he wanted something like that to happen. Is that wrong?

I: Yes, We use violence as a tool. But, violence against a brother is a sign of weakness. Are you weak?

M: I don’t want to be.

I: Anything else to say in your defense?

M: I just…I just…I-I want to thank you. Max cries. For your guidance and for giving me a home. I-I had no place in the world. So, if I can help the Brotherhood and make it better…Eden or whatever…even if it means giving my own life. I’ll do it. And I’d be grateful to the Brotherhood for giving my life meaning.

I: Good boy. You will be Knight Titus’ new squire.

Everything is coming up Millhouse, baby.

Max goes to visit Dane in the infirmary. Dane accuses the dipshits of sabotaging them and admits that they asked if it was Max. But, Dane vouched for him. Then, cut to Max’s initiation ceremony, including a branding. They all gather to hear that a denizen of the enclave escaped and they have an item that will either save or destroy the world. They knights must search for this person. “May the shape of the future be cut by your sword.” The earlier target and his doggo is identified. The knights and squires bug out to start the search.

Fallout Episode 1 Plot Summary (The Ghoul)

Three buckaroos search a cemetary. “Which grave”, one of them asks? “The freshest one. Dom Pedro digs this guy up once a year, cuts off some pieces, and buries him again.” He worked with your dad? How long’s he been festering here. How do we know he’s not feral? They plan a contingency with a chicken, dig up the grave, and open the coffin. A ghoul stumbles out. He looks familiar?

“What’s this? An Amish production of The Count of Monte Cristo or the weirdest circle jerk I’ve ever been invited to.” That line got a laugh out of me. That’s the only reason I include it here.

They try to entice him with Moldaver and California, as that’s where the ghoul is originally from. He fucks them up in no time flat after questioning their commitment to the job. The screen identifies him at THE GHOUL. “You know us cowpokes. We take it as they come.” Yep, it’s him.

Closing Credit Song: “Crawl Out Through the Fallout” by Sheldon Allman