Fallout Season 2 Finale Review (Spoiler): "The Srip" hits its Jackpot
By Iain McLean
By Joseph Okpako via GettyImages
After the extraordinary success and fan feedback resulting in Prime Video releasing the final two episodes of “Fallout” early, it did not fail to deliver.
The finale, titled “The Strip”, released yesterday, was met with immediate praise from the fans.
There were a lot of loose threads that needed to be tied by the end of these episodes, and many were concerned that they weren’t going to be able to pull it off successfully. Luckily, this was not the case.
The episode opened with The Legion’s civil war, ignited by The Ghoul upon rescuing Lucy from their camp, with Macauley Culkin’s character finally being revealed as the next “Caesar”, putting an end to the short-lived conflict.
With The Legion finally united and Caesar’s golden wreath placed upon his head, he declared they were marching on New Vegas and The Strip immediately.
There had been rumours about what role Culkin was being teed up for, as there was no press information, nor background for his character released. He was just present during The Ghoul and Lucy’s time at the camp.
This reveal was one of the best in the show as a fully functioning Caesar’s Legion with another ruthless Caesar sitting on the throne, with their eyes fixed on once again moving on New Vegas, only spells trouble for our protagonist’s next season.
We then jump to The Ghoul meeting Robert House again for the first time in over 200 years.
They go back and forth, verbally sparring before Mr House tells The Ghoul his family is closer than he thinks, and he can lead him to them, but only if he wears a special Pip-Boy, so Mr House can communicate with him.
This scene and dialogue should deliver “Fallout”, a nomination for “Best Supporting Actor”, in the next award cycle, as Walton Goggins and Justin Theroux’s performances were stellar.
Maximus’s fight to secure a free side and defend its inhabitants from the roaming Deathclaws came to an incredibly well executed surprise return after he was forced out of his Power Armour and was prepared to face down the remaining two creatures with only a roulette table as a shield and a pool cue as a weapon.
Then a gunshot was heard off-screen, and the closest Deathclaw fell. Who was the shooter? A New California Republic (NCR) Ranger – a now iconic staple of the “Fallout” games - who was perched on the balcony of the “Silver Rush”, the energy weapon shop.
This was followed by an entire Battalion of NCR troopers rounding a corner and taking over, dealing with the few Deathclaws left on the other side of The Strip.
This moment was done incredibly well; the writers showed once again that they were very aware of the source material and just how fans would react to such a pivotal key moment and return in the series.
Their arrival was also accompanied by the instantly recognisable “Fallout: New Vegas” game theme, which only helped reignite the nostalgia that game fans would have felt upon hearing the iconic score again.
Thaddeus, who has been mutating all season since ingesting suspected Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) from the “Snake Salesman”, saw no further progress after losing an arm in the penultimate episode.
We only saw him struggling to aid Maximus while wielding a rifle, one-armed from a nearby rooftop.
The decision not to reveal what Thaddeus was mutating into was disappointing for many, as we were expecting to find out just what he was becoming.
The most popular of these theories is a Centaur, a horribly mutated creature that appeared in the very first game back in 1997.
On the other side of the fence from this conflict, The Ghoul, formally known as Coop Howard, had finally delivered the cold fusion to The Lucky 38 – Robert Houses casino and base of operations - and was one step closer to finding his wife and daughter, his one goal since the bombs dropped.
This is where his story ties in with Lucy, who ends up cornered by her father, Hank, and one of his drones, intending to install one of the mind control chips in her neck so he can have his daughter again.
While Lucy tries to fight back, The Ghoul appears, almost identical to how the “Mysterious Stranger” - a character that appears during combat and usually kills enemies you are fighting with one shot - would in the games and shoots Hank in the leg before sliding a gun over to Lucy, tipping his hat and walking away to continue the search for his family.
Unfortunately for The Ghoul, when he finds the cryogenic pods his wife and daughter should be in, they’re empty with only a letter suggesting he heads to Colorado.
The decision not have The Ghoul reunite with his family after two seasons of build-up could be seen as a let-down by some, but to keep our favourite irradiated cowboy.
The better option was made here. If he had found his family, there would be no reason to keep him in the show anymore, so as controversial as it was, the right choice was made here.
Meanwhile, Norms’ sentencing by Vault 31’s “Bud’s buds” was cut short when they accidentally opened the doors to the Radroach farm, resulting in a satisfying, lucky escape as his captors ended up all locking themselves in one room, unluckily for the “buds”.
However, the roaches also made it inside before the door was locked.
This was a key moment for Norm, as it was the first time he had experienced the true horrors that lie on the surface, which will only harden him as we move into Season 3.
Though one question remains unanswered: will he venture out further to find Lucy and his father or return to Vault 33?
Back at the Vault, we finally discover what Steph was so desperate for in Hank’s safe box. After being cornered by the vault residents upon Chip’s outing her at the wedding.
The only option she has left is to open it, and it’s there that we discover that Hank and Steph had been working for “The Enclave” the entire time, as the case contained a special Enclave-branded Pip-Boy.
The Enclave, the remnants of the American Government, had been slowly revealed to be pulling the strings in the pre-war flashbacks and now Steph brings them into the current timeline, with her eerily statingto “initiate phase 2”.
This was also a massive payoff for fans, as in the recent games, The Enclave had been reduced to remnant cells scattered across the Wasteland and thought defeated.
This appears not be the case, however, as when Steph makes her transmission, we jump to a snow-covered Enclave base that comes to life with activity as “Initiate phase 2” is repeated over the base’s broadcast system.
The final scene of the season is Lucy and Max in the Lucky 38, looking down at the approaching Legion army as they expect to face their end.
This may not be the case, however, as a slow zoom out reveals Mr House reappearing on his screen again beside the pair before the cut to black.
Overall, this finale was the cherry on top of an already amazing season, full of nostalgic comebacks that had fans cheering, twists and turns and the reuniting of Max and Lucy since they were forced to split at the end of season 1.
The name-dropping of the NCR being out of reach the entire season and the payoff of seeing them fully reformed within tv show was a beautiful sight as a New Vegas player, who sided with them in-game.
The only thing that felt flat was the fate of Hank, who was just left sitting on the steps of The Lucky 38, left behind by Lucy as she and Max made their way up to the penthouse.
This season delivered everything the fans were looking for when we heard New Vegas would be the setting.
We got the NCR in its full glory after thinking they were disregarded by the writers; we got a fully functioning Caesars Legion now approaching the city with a revived Robert House inside, who seemingly willteam with Max and Lucy to defend his beloved “Strip”.
On top of that, we now have a revived Enclave about to make waves through the Wasteland because of Steph.
All of this together makes the stakes going into season 3 higher than it’s ever been in the show. We can only hope the writers manage to translate this momentum into even more success in the future.