Let’s talk about Fallout season 2

5 hours ago 17

Years often go by between new seasons of big streaming shows — just ask fans of Severance or Stranger Things — but with Fallout the wait hasn’t been so bad. The first season was a welcome surprise when it started streaming last April, managing to capture the series’ distinctly playful take on the end of the world in a live-action show. And now we have season 2 a little over a year later.

One of the big changes this season is that Fallout expands its scope. The story is bigger and more complex; in addition to the fates of the three main characters, the show also explores a number of large-scale conflicts in the wasteland, along with the history of how the world came to be this desolate place to begin with. The complexity means things are a little more serious (and less fun) than season 1, but that also means there’s a lot to talk about this time around.

So, much like with the premiere of Pluribus, we’re kicking off this season with a spoiler-filled, book-club-style conversation for Verge subscribers. And even in just the first episode — which is what we’ll talk about in the comments here — there are a number of theory-generating moments that should make for some good discussion. (Note: While I have seen the first six episodes, I obviously won’t spoil stuff that hasn’t happened yet. That said, I can try to answer future-facing questions as best as I can.)

Just off the top of my head — and to be very clear, spoilers for episode 1 follow here — I’m wondering:

Image: Amazon

What’s going to happen with all of those new vault dwellers?

After being trapped by a brain-powered robot, Norm (Moisés Arias) takes drastic measures and begins the process of thawing a bunch of Vault-Tec managers who, I assume, he hopes can help him escape. But then what? I’m not sure Norm really has an idea at this point. “Plans are hard,” he says. “Chaos is easy.”

What’s the deal with those brain-control chips?

By the end of the episode, it’s pretty clear that Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) intends to hole up in the relative safety of Vault-Tec’s headquarters in order to perfect a technology that allows for near-complete control over a human being. He’s trying to make it smaller and, uh, stop the whole problem of exploding heads. But if he succeeds, what then? Maybe we’ll have another Fallout faction, this time made of mindless zombies.

If you played Fallout: New Vegas, then you’ll know that House is the de facto ruler over what remains of the Vegas Strip. But it seems like the show is going to explore his character even farther, particularly when it comes to his life before the bombs dropped. I’m very curious about what new things we might learn.