Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsHope Rises in the Wasteland of Streaming. Respects the Games, the Genre, and the Audience.
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2024
This is what Prestige Sci-Fi on streaming should look like.
I've never played a Fallout game, but in the decades leading up to the first, I spent countless hours roaming post-apocalyptic worlds on my home computer, around tables with pen & paper rpgs, and watching all kinds of movies set in the rad-blasted, mutant infested, might makes right wastelands left in the wake of cataclysmic war. I remember the arrival of the first Fallout game, reading it was the spiritual successor to the older game, Wasteland, and appreciating the retro 50's look of the new addition to the genre. What I didn't expect was that over the decades to follow Fallout would become an entire franchise of its own, with visuals and merchandise recognizable to people who didn't play the games. Over the years, I read about the world building, talked to people who loved most of the releases, and wondered if it would be worth the time to invest in playing them myself. But that never happened.
What I did pay attention to was the announcement that Amazon was bringing a live-action Fallout story to the screen, and that the showrunners behind the scenes were the team that brought us the powerhouse HBO program, Westworld. This, I thought, would be a great opportunity to finally visit the ruined world of Fallout, and if handled as deftly as Westworld's dystopia, it might just be something special.
After binging all 8 episodes in 2 days, I can say it absolutely was.
I'm not the best qualified to comment on how well it represents the games, but as a viewer coming in with only a passing knowledge of the factions and mythology, but a great love for the genre, I enjoyed this series immensely. I found it easy to understand the world-building and set-up, with enough questions and slow revelation to keep things interesting. Unlike Westworld, Fallout keeps the character's motivations clear and primary, with over-arching mysteries taking a slow-building back seat. The main plotlines are all rewarded and adequately addressed, with just enough teases and loose ends for the already greenlit season 2 to keep the story moving forward.
There are a few things I noticed that some might find difficult to appreciate. The first is the very strange, sometimes disturbing humor on display. While much of the show is deadly serious, there are more than a few moments of absurd, quirky, anachronistic, and sometimes uncomfortable humor. I wasn't expecting this and could see some viewers finding it difficult to enjoy. Once I realized it was going to be part of the tone, I found it acceptable, though very divergent from the equally heavy, serious elements on display. This is a show that understands some of the absurdities of the genre, but also respects and honors them. At times it felt a bit like "A Boy and His Dog," which I suspect was a very intentional choice - along with other homages both subtle and blatant. If you like your post-apocalypse dead serious, you might not appreciate them.
Extreme violence and gore are explicitly shown; Some intentionally over-the-top and disturbing, some played for uncomfortable laughs. Some of the violence is clearly meant to show the dangerous stakes and consequences in this hostile world and does so effectively. The more elaborate and humorous instances reminded me of the gore in another masterful post-apocalyptic movie I reviewed, "Turbo Kid." I suspect Turbo Kid owed some of it's tone and concepts to the Fallout games as well as the many 80s films it pays obvious respect to, and now this Fallout series takes some inspiration from Turbo Kid in turn. They certainly make good companion pieces to watch - if you enjoyed one and want more of the same, you should give the other a try.
The last concern is with story and characters. While violent and filled with action, there are real stories being told and character development on display. Some of the characters are unlikeable or difficult to relate with in the beginning and are intentionally given depth and change over the course of the season. Some are left ambiguous. While the primary plot concerns are straightforward and understandable, some characters' growth starts off slow and may be off-putting until events in the story provide more context and development. If you're looking for a show that is all action, with purely heroic characters who have all the answers and never make mistakes, this isn't the show for you.
While not nearly as complex and obscure as Westworld, the show runners bring many of the same sensibilities to Fallout, and those looking for pure action or an apolitical story with no social commentary will be very frustrated. Fallout is filled with conflicting world-views and complex ideas that may be upsetting to viewers with agendas. You may see reviews pushing those agendas and judging the show from those preconceived notions. This is a mistake, as the viewpoints in the show are explored much more depthfully than it may initially seem, drawing on both real world history and contemporary values. Some components you'd expect to see, like segregation in the 50s, are conveniently glossed over, depicting a pre-war society that is both more progressive and more conservative than what we actually experienced. Even before the bombs go off and the world moves on, it creates a recognizable, but off-kilter alternate reality. It's relatable enough to pick up on themes, but different enough to be useful for storytelling. There are many insightful comments from characters about power and control that transcend political and cultural stereotypes - past or present. Whatever you think about the surface depictions you're watching, those insights are the things worth paying attention to, and provide a window into what the story may really be about.
My expectations for this series were low to mediocre and it exceeded them in every way. Fans of the games may find issues to argue over, and those with preconceived socio-political agendas may foolishly raise a fuss, but discerning viewers willing to put in the time will find a lot to enjoy visually and narratively.
Fallout represents one of the best sci-fi efforts from a streaming company yet, and deserves all the success it appears to be enjoying. I hope the creators are able to carry the quality forward and deliver on the foundations of plot, character, and world established in these first 8 episodes. I certainly look forward to what comes next, and can't wait to see what else the end of the world has in store.