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I loved the first season of Amazon Prime’s new Fallout series. I never thought I wouldn’t love it, but experiencing it cemented the feeling. From the moment Lucy Maclean stepped out of the vault and gave us a view of the world through her perspective, I knew things were going to move forward in a way that was unique to the show and still very much a Fallout experience. Apart from the stellar story, the star-studded cast each dives into their roles so faithfully to who would genuinely be characters you would come across in the games. Realistically, I can talk about it all day, so I will.
Fallout Captures the Very Essence of the Source Material
The Fallout series follows the aforementioned Lucy Maclean outside of Vault 33. She’s on a mission to find her father (this sounds familiar), who was taken by a raider named Moldaver. Along the way, we are introduced to a vengeful Ghoul and a young Brotherhood of Steel Squire; that’s the incredibly stripped-down plot. From the moment the show opens up, you’re given a no-context introduction to the world. I find this particularly important because the prop placement, dialogue, and acting fill in the gaps of what’s happening and why from the perspective of viewers who’ve never played the games.
The games expect a lot from players when it comes to world-building. Although you can follow the primary story, a wealth of content is still looming in hidden bookshelves, secret cabins, and dangerous caves. Players can spend hundreds of hours searching through lore and finding new things. In about nine hours of the show’s runtime (as each episode is about an hour long), those hundreds of gameplay hours are beautifully compressed to give you exactly what’s important, thanks to the show’s exposition. Regardless of whether or not you’re a seasoned Fallout fan, every moment feels like you’re experiencing some kind of quest.
Amazon Definitely Got The Message
The production value paired with the costume design was one of my favorite aspects of the show. I’ve always said that video game adaptations should be high-budget cosplay fan films with talented actors. Don’t read this and tell me you haven’t seen someone’s headcanon on YouTube or TikTok and knew they put their whole heart and soul into it. Some of them can be so good that maybe Bethesda should be looking toward these creators for advice. They probably secretly did. The clothing and armor worn by everyone in the show are genuine to real-world people while also being hardcore references to the games.
It’s also not afraid to be gory and violent while also being deep, touching, and funny. Amidst all of the limb-ripping that goes on throughout the season, there are well-timed moments that remind you that the Fallout universe is also a pretty silly place in the grand scheme of things. Yes, a war happened that wiped out humanity, but people still need to cope, even if it means they’re eating iguanas on a stick and making narcotics out of the irradiated kitchens of the citizens from yesteryear.
This season should be a lesson to all producers looking to make a series based on a video game franchise. There’s going to be a lot of pressure for whoever is behind the next video game-related television series if they’re following behind Amazon Prime’s Fallout and Max’s The Last of Us.
