Imagine a world where 219 years have passed since a horrific nuclear explosion and a select group of humans are now living inside safe and luxurious underground vaults – well-cultivated sanctuaries where life can be as dreamy as it gets. It’s like having a guide to living a simple life in the tunnels – except with the weirdness of screening real-world images with a virtual projector.

Outside of these vaults, everything is strange, terrifying, dangerous, radioactive, chaotic, bloody, and unpredictable—in short, the world is now a complete nightmare. You can catch radiation sickness, become a victim of a giant cockroach, become a mutated human or be forced to sell your teeth for money.

Fasten your seat belts, because this is just the beginning! Welcome to the exciting universe of Prime Video’s Fallout, a post-apocalyptic show based on the popular video game series of the same name. Although it is set in the same universe, the show is not based on any particular game in the franchise. Rather, it incorporates major themes and elements from the games and brings in series staples such as Ghoul, Gulper, Pip Boys, etc.

As someone who has never played a single Fallout game and doesn’t enjoy violence much, I was expecting to find myself bored, grossed out, and dragged into the show — but my experience was anything but. was! In fact, the show had me hooked throughout and every time my interest would lose the slightest bit, something unexpected would appear.

Fallout TV Series Review: Not Your Regular Video Game Adaptation

Aaron Moton’s Maximus plays Lucy’s companion on her unlikely journey to the surface.

The Fallout TV series is much more than just an R-rated video game adaptation. It’s full of gory scenes, people gouging out eyes with forks, pulling teeth with bare hands, cauterizing wounds, blowing off heads like birthday candles, and cutting up everything human. . But Fallout also explores human emotion in detail, diving into the complex pool of war, political unrest, existentialism, humanity, and more. It will make you laugh, gasp, chuckle, and roll your eyes.

As the curtains rise, we meet Ella Purnell’s Lucy, a well-mannered lady from vault no. 33 who is now looking for a suitable partner from a different vault – um because she’s tired of the “cousin stuff” that isn’t “good long-term reproductive practice” (her words, not ours!).

One thing leads to another, and Lucy decides to break the rules and go out into the real world on a mission, beginning the adventure of a lifetime, oblivious to what’s in store for her. It’s painfully funny to watch him try to deal politely with criminals, even when his life is at stake. She’ll give you a little speech justifying why she should shoot you, politely comment on how violence is immoral while drowning by violent creatures, and your The side will politely ask for directions while raising the gun.

On the surface, she meets Maximus (Aaron Moten), a trained squire from the Brotherhood of Steel – a military group working to bring order to the wasteland. He will serve Knight Titus someday. For those of you familiar with the games, yes, the soldier knights in the show are decked out in powerful T60 armors. Maximus seems to be the weakling in the herd and is often picked on by his peers. Although he may appear on the surface, he is full of ambition and fueled by jealousy. In short, he is as human as can be.

Another character that Lucy stumbles across – who honestly steals the show for me – is Walton Goggins’ gruff, cowboy-clad ghoul who wears satire on his sleeves. This hideous creature has been around since the atomic bomb dropped, has a missing nose, has a distinct accent, and never stops tormenting anyone. He revolves around a mysterious and interesting aura and has some of the most brutal dialogues. He will make you hate him and yet you will find yourself in awe of him. The way the show’s writers have unfolded her character in layers over eight episodes is impressive. (Sorry, can’t reveal much without giving away spoilers).

Fallout TV Series Review: Subplots make it even more interesting.

The story arcs of the three main characters are equally gripping and intense, and of course intertwining. In addition, Fallout also offers a lot of subplots – none of which make up the script much.

One such subplot involves Lucy’s brother Norm (Moisés Arias). He is a timid man who lacks enthusiasm. But through Norm’s character, the show deftly portrays the innate human instinct for survival. The urge to exist can sink deep into human existence and yet emerge almost immediately when given the right opportunity.

Fallout Review: A Screenplay Taps on the Complexities of Human Emotion

Walton Goggins’ character arc series is quite interesting.

That’s the beauty of Fallout’s screenplay. It taps effortlessly into the trivial complexities of human emotion, which feels completely natural and relatable. Whether it’s the idea of ​​bullied people turning into bullies or repressed emotions surging to the surface for nanoseconds or cannibalistic humans stopping a violent fight to enjoy a piece of cake, the writers make things all possible. What an impressive job at keeping things fairly real, even if they’re set in a stylized post-apocalypse.

The same is true of political instability, class systems, and the potential consequences of unregulated capitalism, which are intelligently presented. For that matter other moments of detail have also been given close attention, such as books being read in the vault or even breakfast being served. The production design for the show is also growing in detail. For example, although the vaults contain high technology, the television sets there are exactly as shown seconds before the mass destruction. The same wedding dress is passed down from generation to generation, with the names of the brides who wore them, along with the year of their weddings, engraved on the inside.

It’s also interesting to see how the vault dwellers, who haven’t set foot in their own lives, have a deep knowledge of Shakespearean literature and modern physics, and hope to someday “re-colonize” and “civilize” the real world. have a desire Exploring one of the possible scenarios of how humanity would hold on to the last vestiges of a civilized age when pushed into a sealed capsule.

The background score in Fallout is also excellent, depicting different aspects of life in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Choosing to use a romantic song in a scene where two almost decaying hanging heads are bumping into each other, or playing a slow and sensual Herb Alpert song. Okra When four very scared people are walking around with their hands raised at gunpoint? The background score also flirts with the most unexpected notes at the most unexpected moments. A special shout out to the show’s composer Ramin Javadi for coming up with a score that underscores the darkly comic world of Fallout.

Fallout TV Series Review: Final Verdict

All eight episodes of Fallout can now be streamed on Prime Video. While each episode is full of thrills and surprises, it’s halfway through the series that your jaw is likely to drop to the floor. It will make you question the nature of wars, the future of humanity, the basic values ​​of existence, and how terrifying the metaphysical world looks. And with a finale that leaves us with more questions than answers, the show has already hinted at a second season. Fallout is a perfect cocktail of adventure, survival, humor, greed and unpredictability and is likely to attract a whole new audience to the fascinating world put together by the video game series.