Fallout Episode Eight | Review

Full Spoilers

Jesse 'Doncabesa' Norris 3 weeks agoLast Updated: April 10, 2024

0 576 6 minutes read

It’s Fallout Episode Eight, the finale of season one and it’s fantastic. When we last left off Lucy was heading to Muldaver with Dr. Wilzig’s head. The Ghoul was hot on her trail, and Maximus was about to meet with the Brotherhood of Steel once again, holding a fake head of his own.

We start with Max in the Vertibird as they head back to the Brotherhood’s base. Max’s fake head ruse is quickly sussed out and they’re about to kill him before Max’s old friend Dane, they of the injured foot, admits they injured themself! Between that and Max admitting that he knows where the real head is they allow spare his life. Max discusses with the head of the Brotherhood, who seemingly admires that Max understands one has to take power in this world. He sees the Brotherhood as weak, filled with spite after learning at Knight Titus’ cowardice. Will Max take the deal!?!

We don’t know yet, but I’d assume yes as we cut to Lucy walking through the gates of Muldaver’s base. It’s the Griffith Observatory, only really beat to shit. There is a thriving community of settlers and ghouls working together as they try to grow the land around them. Cutting back to Ghoulgins for a moment we end up back in his memories as Coop drives Barb to work after “accidentally” messing up the oil change on her car.

He attempts to use the listening device but is interrupted by dipshit Bud. Barb notices her Pip-Boy’s transmitter is acting strange, as it’s always on. Bud cuts Coop off as he tries to take off and attempts to sell him on “Bud’s Buds”, a special group who will last long into the future after things have gone to shit. Coop tries using the listening device but it’s too far away to hear anything properly so he heads inside of Vault-tec to properly snoop on his Mrs.

Lucy finally meets Muldaver and sees her Dad, caged up like a zoo animal. Lucy and Muldaver have a back-and-forth after Lucy notices a zombie-looking Ghoul that’s chained to a chair aside the main table. Muldaver says she knew Lucy’s Mom, and she wants to tell her exactly how and why she kidnapped her Dad. Hank starts begging her not to and pleads for Lucy to just leave with him, intriguing.

Cutting back to Vault 33 we finally get to see what Norm is up to. There’s a brain in a little Roomba-style robot and it has Bud’s voice, uh oh. The Bud-bot wants to tranq norm but he has to very slowly roll forward and initiate protocol 53. He misses terribly and Norm just walks away as Bud yells “The secret must be guarded!”. He’s a really shitty little robot. Back with Coop, he’s brought into Barb’s office by a secretary. He’s now close enough to use the listening device so that he can finally learn just what his wife and Vault-tec are up to.

We get to see a meeting between Vault-Tec, Rob-Co, Big MT, RepConn, and more. It’s the corporations that run the country, oh joy. Those companies think the vaults are a bad idea. Bud starts selling them on how time is going to be the weapon with which these companies will win in the end. They don’t have to “win” directly, they can just outlive anyone left on the surface. A lot of corporate harumphing ensues until Barb speaks up. Coop is hoping she’ll talk some sense to the rest and we head back to Vault 33 and Norm.

It turns out Vault 31 is one single room, full of cryotubes. Dozens of them, a select staff of junior executives thawed out whenever they’re needed to work as the overseers of Vaults 32 and 33. Heading back to the past we hear Barb start talking about the plans Vault-tec’s over 100 vaults spread out around the country. They’re all giant labs for these companies to experiment with however they want, these f*ckers! Norm then asks Bud what Vault 32 and 33’s experiment was, and Bud explains how it was designed to create a class of “super managers” who can run the Earth after “we wipe the surface clean”.

Each company gives its god-awful experiment ideas, like creating a bunch of super-mutants because why the hell not? When asked what happens if the end of the world doesn’t start we get the big reveal, Barb states that Vault-tec is going to drop the bomb themselves. A shocked Cooper is interrupted by Betty the secretary and introduced to Hank, one of his biggest fans. A de-aged Kyle McLachlan walks in looking surprisingly good in my low-bitrate screener copy and he’s so excited to meet his Hollywood hero.

SMASH CUT from young Hank to the present version locked inside that cage. Muldaver is slowly explaining all of this to Lucy, who looks horrified. We rapid-fire cut between the past and present as Coop and Lucy both look shaken. Barb then utters the line “War Never Changes” and the show feels complete. Muldaver starts explaining how she knows Lucy’s mother, Rose, and then damnit we cut to the Brotherhood of Steel.

Max and Dane are prepping for their assault, which one can only assume is on Muldaver’s base because that makes for a nice big finale. Max tries to tell Dane how great vaults can be, but they remind him there’s no leaving the Brotherhood. They’re called off and the Vertibirds head out to war (which never changes). Back with Lucy and Hank, Muldaver starts to explain everything and Hank is begging Lucy to leave immediately with him.

Muldaver explains that Rose McLane left Vault 32 with her children and found Sandy Pines. Hank gave chase and finds them, and after Rose refuses to leave he destroys Shady Sands with a Nuke after stealing Lucy and Norm back. What a prick! Muldaver explains to Lucy what was in Dr. Wilzig’s head, Cold Fusion. She just needs Hank to give her the code that unlocks it, as Vault-tec made it proprietary tech that only works with proper authorization.

Lucy just wants to know what happened to her mother. Muldaver says “I think you know” and we realize the zombie-like ghoul at the table is poor Rose. She’s wearing her necklace, and Lucy breaks down in tears before telling her dad to just give Muldaver the code. His daughter’s tearful plea gets shitbag Hank to relent and he gives Muldaver the access code.

We get a short scene of Norm trying to leave Vault 31 but having Bud lock him in. Looks like he’s going to be stuck inside his dad’s cryotube for a while. Back at Muldaver’s compound, the process for activating Cold Fusion begins but right before she can turn the power on the alarm goes off. The Brotherhood is incoming, sheeeit. War continues to never change as Muldaver’s people and the Brotherhood start to fight. Missile launchers, chain guns, propeller blades, and more start tearing up metal and human flesh alike.

It’s all-out war, with slow-mo, classic tunes, and lots and lots of blood. Max and Dane are working their way through the compound alongside the Knights in their Power Suits as Hank tries to convince Lucy that his, well Vault-tec’s way is right. After pushing into the compound the Brotherhood runs into Ghoulgins, who knows that armor inside and out after wearing it himself 200+ years earlier. It’s got a weak spot in the chest and he gets to work taking out Knights with pinpoint accuracy.

Max is able to find Lucy and frees Hank, before telling her they all need to go. Lucy explains what a piece of crap old Hank is while the latter gets into a Power Suit that had stumbled in headless at the start of the scene. Hank knocks the ever-loving shit out of Max before Lucy pulls her gun on him. Before she can shoot Ghoulgins wings Hank in the face and scares him off. After a discussion and a long pause Lucy blows her ghoul mother’s brains out, giving her peace, and thinking that Max is dead she leaves with Ghoulgins to pursue Hank. Old Coop the Ghoul believes Hank will lead the two of them to his bosses, whoever that may be, pretty S M R T, smrt.

Max wakes up and does what he does best, not get noticed by people better. Muldaver stumbles severely injured back into the room and starts up the Cold Fusion device, bringing power back to Los Angeles. She dies in a chair from her injuries as Max stands next to her, Dane and the rest finally catch up and declare Max a hero thinking he killed her. Our final scenes see Ghoulgins, Dog Meat, and Lucy heading after Hank McLane. As the camera pans passed the skull of a Deathclaw we see Hank has reached his bosses, and this destination will be where Season 2 must be heading.

Wrapping the Season Up

Fallout Episode Eight, what a freaking finale. We got satisfying answers, intriguing new questions, and some serious closure. Lucy and the Ghoul, Knight Maximus, shitbag Hank, and Popsicle Norm. Thanks to some news we know that season 2 is greenlit and will move filming to California. After these eight episodes, I couldn’t be more excited as this show was on fire. Perhaps the most faithful adaption of its video game source material ever, Fallout season one ruled.

Fallout Season One Reviews