Fallout Episode 1 Recap Welcome to the End

Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Fallout Episode 1.

The Big Picture

• Fallout 's TV adaptation introduces an intriguing world post-nuclear fallout in a captivating first episode.
• Characters embark on personal journeys within a wasteland full of unique iconography and possibilities.
• The narrative captures the essence of the game by effectively blending terror, humor, unpredictability, and bleakness.

For decades, Fallout has been one of the most fascinating game series around, showing a destroyed United States over a century after it was ravaged by nuclear war. Created by Bethesda, Fallout starts players off in a vault that has been protected from the bombs, as inhabitants make their way to the surface world for the first time. What they find is a wasteland that has managed to survive post-nuclear fallout, and a world that the player is free to roam at their leisure. Fallout lets the player tell their own story: do they want to be a hero to those who live in the decimated world, or do they want to become the worst thing that’s happened to this world since the bombs? That’s for the player to decide, as they discover the people and events that have happened in the years since the bombs.

It's sort of a perfect world for a TV show, one full of possibilities and iconography that can tell a unique story. Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the minds behind HBO’s Westworld, the first episode of Fallout has an entire history, world, and group of characters to introduce audiences to, all within an hour. In this premiere, Fallout manages to do this quite well, putting its own spin on the stories we’ve seen in the games and finding original ways to expand and explore this world, all in an episode that makes the viewer want to stay tuned to where this wild story could be headed next. In this first episode, Nolan and Joy don’t want to set the world on fire, but they do manage to kindle a flame.

Fallout

In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.

'Fallout' Episode 1 Takes Us Back to the Beginning

The seriesmakes its first big change from the games in that we start on the surface before the eponymous fallout even occurs. There, we meet the actor Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), who is working at a birthday party as a cowboy, alongside his daughter Janey (Teagan Meredith). The parents at the party seem surprised that Cooper is doing this, as they call him a “pinko” and mention that he probably has to make alimony payments. As we move around the party, we see what Los Angeles in 2077 looks like, where the world is still in a 1950s-era haze but with futuristic buildings littering the city, while robots help out in the home. We hear on the TV that people are curious about the president’s whereabouts, and a weatherman says they shouldn’t bother, since who knows if next week will exist, given the rumors of bombs dropping soon.

While Cooper takes photos at the party, one father asks if he’ll do his famous thumbs-up, but Cooper refuses. As the rest of the party goes inside for cake and to watch Grognak the Barbarian (a blink-and-you-miss-it games reference), Cooper and his daughter clean up outside, where she asks why he didn’t do the thumbs-up gesture. Cooper explains that when he was in the Marines, they were told if a bomb was ever dropped, they should hold up their thumb to measure it against the cloud. If it’s smaller than your thumb, run for the hills. If it’s bigger, don’t bother. As Cooper goes inside to get his daughter some cake, she sees the flash of something going off in the distance. When Cooper returns, he tells his daughter it’s just a fire, but the explosion grows and grows as the first of many bombs are dropped on L.A., raining down devastation on the city. As the parents and kids run to shelters or their cars, Cooper and Janey get on their horse, riding away from the explosions.

219 Years Later, in 'Fallout' Episode 1...

We then head to Vault 33 in the year 2296, as Lucy (Ella Purnell) basically runs down her stats to the vault’s board. Despite her talents and interests — like working for the Young Pipefitters Association, spending time gardening, and having a book club with her father, Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), the Vault’s overseer (basically their leader) — Lucy has not been able to find a suitable marriage partner. Lucy submits her application to find a husband as a part of a trade with the neighboring Vault 32. The board agrees, and Lucy gets ready for her upcoming nuptials.

Vault 33 prepares for the wedding, having the service next to their indoor cornfields, with 3D cameras projecting a farmstead background to offer the illusion of being outside, as Hank remarks that he wishes Lucy’s mother could be there to see her get married. The members of Vault 33 wait at the door to Vault 32 to meet their neighbors, who are introduced by their leader (Sarita Choudhury). Lucy is visibly pleased when she meets Monty (Cameron Cowperthwaite), her handsome new husband, and the two are soon married. After the service, Lucy’s brother, Norm (Moisés Arias) notices something is off about the people from Vault 32, as they seem suspiciously hungry, a little unusual, and are scarred in odd places. Meanwhile, Hank gives a speech where he says that with the way the radiation levels are lowering, the next generation could likely finally recolonize the surface.

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The World of 'Fallout,' Explained

War never changes, but the world of 'Fallout' sure does.

Soon after, Monty asks Lucy to show him their new home, and it doesn’t take long before they start… working on creating the next generation. While this is happening, Norm wanders over to Vault 32, where he finds a sea of dead crops and a disturbing number of dismembered bodies. Once Monty and Lucy are done, her Pip-Boy (a device worn on the wrist that gives all sorts of information to the wearer) notes that his radiation levels are off the charts — and she realizes, to her horror, that he’s actually a raider from the surface. The pair fight, with Monty stabbing Lucy in the side with a knife, though Lucy retaliates by using a glass to slit his face into ribbons. Lucy takes an injection to help heal her wound, then stumbles out of the room to find the occupants of Vault 33 being massacred. Lucy takes to the looted armory and grabs a tranquilizer gun to help her fellow dwellers fight back. When Monty returns for vengeance, Hank hits him with a shovel and drowns him in a pickle barrel. But even though the Vault 33 dwellers put up a fight, Vault 32 still ends up victorious.

The raiders' leader has captured several of Vault 33’s inhabitants, including Lucy’s pregnant friend Steph (Annabel O’Hagan)—whose husband died in the fight and has had her own eye stabbed out by a fork—and Lucy’s cousin Chet (Dave Register), who is clearly in love with Lucy (hey, options are limited at the end of the world). Vault 32’s leader has set up a bomb next to the captives and tells Hank he has to choose either his daughter or the others. Hank professes that he knows who Vault 32's leader really is, to which she replies, “Everyone knows who I am.” Hank grabs Lucy and puts her in a closet against her protests, telling her, "You are my world.” The Vault 32 team/raiders tranquilize Hank and mention they’re taking him to the real world. The leader of the raiders states that Lucy looks like her mother before arming the bomb and departing, as the rest of Vault 33 runs to safety while the bomb explodes.

'Fallout' Episode 1 Introduces the Brotherhood of Steel

After this explosion, we head back to the surface, where we’re introduced to Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of a military group known as the Brotherhood of Steel. Their mission is to secure the Wasteland and find pre-war technology in order to preserve it. Maximus is low in the ranks, as we meet him getting beat up, and soon see him criticized by a teacher for not knowing his pre-war relics at a glance. But class is interrupted by an airship, which several members of the Brotherhood disembark from wearing impressive T-60 power armor that basically makes them look like metallic warriors. Maximus is put on latrine duty but is interrupted by his friend Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones) so that they can go check out the unworn armor. While looking at the gear, Maximus flashes back to seeing the power armor when he was a kid, and the impression it left on him. Soon after, Dane gets the news that they’re being “anointed” to join the ranks of the Brotherhood as a squire. Getting left behind clearly upsets Maximus, as he screams to himself later that night. But the next day, Dane wakes up to a razor in their boot, cutting their leg up horribly, and high-ranking members of the Brotherhood drag Maximus away with a bag over his head.

Back in Vault 33, the remaining dwellers attempt to fix up their home, complete with putting up a clearly false poster that states “The Outside World Can Never Hurt You.” Lucy suggests at a vault meeting that they should send a search party to the surface to find her father — which is quickly brushed off, as no one has willingly left the fault in 219 years. Norm says the reason the leaders don’t want to find their dad is because then they wouldn’t be in charge anymore. But with the help of Norm and Chet, Lucy gets to the vault door and is able to leave, laying eyes on the outside world for the first time. After she looks out over the wasteland with the Santa Monica Pier (or what’s left of it) in the distance, she sets off on her quest to find her father.

We then cut back to Maximus, who is being questioned by Brotherhood Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Cristofer). When Maximus is asked why he joined the Brotherhood, he replies, “To hurt the people who hurt me.” Maximus claims to not know who injured Dane, but Quintus clearly thinks Maximus is the perpetrator of this attack due to Dane getting promoted above him. Quintus tells Maximus that violence among the Brotherhood is a sign of weakness, to which Maximus says he doesn’t want to be weak. Maximus then thanks him, saying the Brotherhood gave him a home when he had no place to go, and that he’s willing to give his own life in thanks for giving him meaning. Before Quintus leaves their meeting, he reveals that Maximus will be taking Dane’s promotion, since they’re currently out of commission. Maximus visits Dane, who says that there’s still a place for them when they heal, and admits that they told others that Maximus couldn’t have injured them, as he couldn’t hurt a fly.

The Hunt for the Enclave Runaway Begins in 'Fallout' Episode 1

With his promotion, Maximus goes through a ceremony that leaves him branded on the back of the neck with a "T". Soon after, he's sent on a mission along with other Knights and their squires to find a denizen who has escaped from a group known as The Enclave. This person has an item with profound potential, and each team will be searching a section of the Wilds for them. Before takeoff, Maximus is shown a reconstructed image of a man they're looking for (who just happens to look a lot like Michael Emerson) as well as his companion: a dog.

The episode’s final scene follows a trio of bounty hunters, led by Honcho (Mykelti Williamson). This group is going to dig up a mutant — a feral ghoul — buried in a grave with IVs hanging off the cross and leading down into the ground. As they dig up the grave, we find the person inside bears a rather significant resemblance to Cooper Howard. Honcho tells “The Ghoul” that he has a proposition, “one last job” to go hunting for a bounty that has come up. They’re also looking for the runaway from The Enclave, who is running to California—which they hear is where The Ghoul is originally from. The Ghoul retorts that he got into bounty hunting for the love of the game, killing Honcho’s two men before telling Honcho this was his last job and tossing him in his old grave. After that, The Ghoul sets off to search for this runaway on his own.

In just an hour, Fallout’s first episode does an excellent job of seeding important information through the story while still leaving plenty to the imagination, as well as introducing these three characters, each with their own unique perception of the world. Director Jonathan Nolan and writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner succeed at matching the tone of the game — one that is terrifying, unpredictable, often funny, and inherently bleak. From the remarkable opening, showing the first signs of destruction, to the absurd fight between Vault 33 and the raiders, Episode 1 captures the spirit of what has made Fallout such an intriguing world for decades and presents the huge possibilities to come within this wasteland.

Fallout

Bloody, funny, and strange, Fallout's premiere episode captures the spirit of the games through it's three leads, and explores a fascinating world through multiple perspectives.

• Fallout does justice to the spirit of the games while expanding this world even further.
• Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Moten show this massive world through wildly different viewpoints.

• Some of the terminology and tech might be a bit confusing for those unfamiliar with the games.

Fallout's first season is now available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.

Watch on Prime Video

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