Considering how extensively the popular Fallout video game series satirizes American consumerist and media cultures, the fact that its inevitable live-action television adaptation would be produced by retail giant Amazon for distribution on its streaming service seems both fitting and more than a touch ironic. That the first season of the show would actually turn out to be pretty great almost feels like a minor miracle.
Fallout could have gone very badly for a number of reasons – not the least of which is the obvious fact that the series is adapted from a video game, something that has traditionally resulted in failure. Recent years, however, have seen more success translating properties from games to TV, notably Halo on Paramount+ and The Last of Us on HBO. For my money, Fallout works even better than either of those, at least from what we’ve been given so far.
| Title: | Fallout |
| Season: | 1 |
| Number of Episodes: | 8 |
| Release Date: | April 10, 2024 |
| Watched On: | Amazon Prime Video |
The Fallout story takes place in an alternate timeline where the 1950s essentially never ended. In a retro-futuristic version of America, people still drive Chryslers with tail fins and go to sock-hops while wearing poodle skirts, but also have robot servants and other technological advances. Unfortunately, the Cold War has dragged on as well, and in a harrowing yet oddly beautiful moment not long into the show’s premiere episode, full-on nuclear armageddon wipes out most of the planet, except for those fortunate enough to have secured safety in an elaborate network of underground vaults.
A little over two hundred years later, what persists of good old-fashioned Americana try to maintain their upbeat, can-do spirit in the underground society. Over the generations, the residents of Vault 33 have been raised with the firm belief that they’re destined to save America, and that once radiation levels subside enough, their descendants will return to the surface and repopulate the Earth. That optimism is tested when raiders from the world above somehow infiltrate the vault, murder many of its citizens, and kidnap its benevolent leader, Overseer Hank (Kyle MacLachlan).
Desperate to save her father, Hank’s daughter Lucy (Ella Purnell) disobeys orders from the remaining leadership and sneaks out of the vault for her first expedition into the hellish post-apocalyptic wasteland that used to be the United States. On her mission, she’ll cross paths with Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire from a cultish military troop of mech armor-clad knights called the Brotherhood of Steel, on his own quest to capture a fugitive (Michael Emerson from Lost) who’s absconded with valuable technology. Also on this fugitive’s trail is a mostly-undead, half-zombie bounty hunter known as The Ghoul (Walton Goggins). Unsurprisingly, before the season is over, these characters’ storylines will prove to be much more closely intertwined than is apparent at first. As they all converge on their targets, dark secrets will be revealed regarding the true nature of the vault system and the monopolistic mega-corporation that built it.
The TV adaptation of Fallout was developed by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, screenwriter of the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot. It’s also produced by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, best known for HBO’s Westworld (as well as their close relation to new Oscar winner Christopher Nolan, of course). Jonathan Nolan directed the first three episodes of the series. In many ways, the Fallout games fit nicely into the Nolan/Joy wheelhouse, by giving them an epic sci-fi narrative filled with expansive lore, mythology, and world-building – anchored with a conspiracy angle, which they can’t get enough of – to play around with.
At the same time, the inherent humor and satire in the games’ concept greatly helps to offset the Nolans’ inclinations toward somber pretentiousness. Unlike the dreary slog that Westworld became, Fallout almost can’t take itself too seriously. Any time the story seems like it’s becoming too dark or heavy, something completely crazy or outrageous will shake everything up.
As our heroine Lucy, Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children) strikes a perfect balance of wide-eyed naiveté (literally so; the actress has huge eyes) and “Okey dokey” Midwestern affability with a growing grit and steely resolve. She’s a fantastic avatar to carry us through this story. Even better is Walton Goggins as the virtually unkillable Ghoul. He’s loads of fun and has a backstory that ties storylines together all the way before the apocalypse.
Fallout may be the most promising first season of a TV show I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s the type of thing that demands a rapid binge and leaves you wanting more. I expect it will be a big breakout hit for Amazon. I just hope that future seasons (and I’m sure there will be several) can keep up the fun aspects and don’t get too bogged down in narrative drudgery, as previous Nolan/Joy projects have tended to do.
Video Streaming
In a rare move for the streamer, Amazon Prime Video released the entire first season of Fallout for binge viewing at once rather than roll out episodes weekly. The series streams in 4K HDR if your plan supports it. Episodes are primarily photographed in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio. However, the opening scene of episode 6 is presented in pillarboxed 4:3 format that extends in height beyond the normal 2.40:1 area and is not safe for Constant Image Height projection. After the first scene, the remainder of the episode reverts to 2.40:1.
The show’s photography is a little grainy by design, and during the time I watched it, that caused a fair amount of problems with Amazon’s compression, leading to occasional pixelation and other artifacts. Whether that was a bandwidth issue related to high demand viewing during the premiere week, I can’t say. The image also tends to look a little drab and washed-out, especially during exteriors. I suppose that seems appropriate for a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but any sense of HDR is mild. It left me feeling that my projector’s tone-mapping was too hot, but attempts to manually adjust that setting only wound up looking too dim so I just put it back to my normal calibrated default.
The Dolby Atmos soundtrack slams with very powerful, room-shaking bass. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered an audio mix that hits this hard, especially on streaming. Booming gunshots made me hunt down and secure things rattling in my home theater. Height activity doesn’t call too much attention to itself, but the Brotherhood’s aircraft fly directly overhead in a few scenes.
Related
- TV Shows Based on or About Video Games
- Walton Goggins
- Kyle MacLachlan
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