Recap / Fallout (2024) S1E1 "The End"

219 years after the bombs dropped, Vault Dweller Lucy MacLean ventures into the wasteland to find her father after raiders attack Vault 33 and kidnap him. Meanwhile, an escaped scientist from the Enclave is hunted by the Brotherhood of Steel and bounty hunters looking for a score.

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Tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: A Junk Jet is used to kill a man with a baby doll's leg.
• Agony of the Feet: Maximus's friend Dane ends up with a gnarly wound on their ankle when they stick their foot into a boot that has a razor blade stuck to the inside of it. They end up out of commission as a result.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Was Maximus' interrogation a Secret Test of Character to gauge his loyalty to Brotherhood of Steel, or was he really next in line to be Squire when Dane was injured? Despite the other Aspirants pointing the finger at him, he slowly states his assurance that he wishes to prove his usefulness despite the verdict. With this, he becomes Squire to Knight Titus.
  • It's also ambiguous in this episode if he was the one responsible. Some of the things the Elder says imply they think he was, and that's why they gave him the job. His conversation with Dane also has some subtext that could imply that both of them know Maximus did it, but Dane forgives him and points the blame elsewhere.
• Anti-Interference Lock Up: Lucy's father locks her into a storage room to prevent her from getting harmed while the raiders take him away.
• Artificial Outdoors Display: Vault 33 has a projector that displays a sunny day over the cold metal walls.
• Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Getting stabbed in the gut by Monty on her wedding night results in a splatter of blood across Lucy's white dress.
• Boom, Headshot!: Several times. One of the most prominent examples is during the raid on Vault 33, when one of the raiders blows a hole through a Vault Dweller's head, sticks their gun through the hole they made, and shoots at other Dwellers through it.
• Bulletproof Human Shield: The Ghoul uses one of the bounty hunters to protect himself from gunfire.
• Bullying a Dragon: The bounty hunter trio rescues the Ghoul because their leader feels he is a "supreme badass" and therefore would be their ace-in-the-hole in order to capture Wilzig. The Ghoul shows little interest in the team-up and becomes belligerent when the lead hunter implies that he knows a bit about the Ghoul's past. When the lead hunter threatens to shove him back in the coffin, the threat quickly leads to the trio's death.
• Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage: To prevent inbreeding, interconnected Vaults 31, 32 and 33 will arrange to send one of their own to another vault to be married. Cross-Vault marriage is something that Vault Dwellers apply for with videos similar to job interviews. The marriage is arranged by the Overseers and the newlyweds don't meet until the day of the wedding.
• Buried Alive: The Ghoul is being kept in a shallow grave with a drug cocktail IV to keep him barely alive, and his captor digs him up periodically to torture him.
• Continuity Nod: This isn't the first time a ghoul's been buried alive in the series and lived to tell the tale.
• Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: As each vault is kept separate from others and only communicates by telegram, no one in Vault 33 knows any of the Vault 32 residents by sight, so the raiders can impersonate them, using the story of blighted crops to arrange an "alliance" that's really a trap.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When the bounty hunter trio's leader threatens to shove The Ghoul back in the coffin, he kills the three of them with humiliating ease.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The order to find Wilzig came from "the highest clerics in the Commonwealth", indicating the East Coast Brotherhood survived the events of Fallout 4 and that either the Minutemen or Brotherhood endings were canon.
• Day Hurts Dark-Adjusted Eyes: Since she is not used to it, Lucy squints at the bright sunlight flooding at her when the gate to the outside world opens up.
• Downer Beginning:
  • The episode opens just before the bombs fall, with Cooper Howard performing tricks during a birthday party for some rich folks.
  • Lucy's journey begins when her Vault is raided, killing many of its denizens, and her father is kidnapped and taken to God-knows-where on the surface.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The episode opens on a flashback to October 23, 2077, in Los Angeles, moments before the Great War begins as the city is destroyed by the nukes, with no time to sound the air-raid sirens, catching everyone in a Mass "Oh, Crap!" situation.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Lucy is introduced happily listing her qualities to the Vault managers, showing that she's confident, intelligent, and dedicated to her Vault's success. When Chet tries to sabotage her wedding out of love for her, she gently fixes the situation by reasoning with him without hurting his feelings, showing that she's very empathetic and prefers solving conflicts with communication. And lastly, she shows herself to be a competent fighter during the raider attack, establishing that she could defend herself in the Wasteland.
  • The Ghoul, once freed, calls out the bounty hunter trio for lacking the grit to handle the score they're seeking, then proves it by defeating all three of them at once.
• Excessive Steam Syndrome: For added effect, there is excessive steam coming from the airship in the scene where the Knights in T-60c armor are introduced walking across the airfield of the Brotherhood base.
• Eye Scream: Lucy tranqs a raider in the eye, and mere moments before, Steph, one of her friends, is stabbed through the eye with a fork. The latter survives, and subsequently has an eye patch covering her wound.
• Failed a Spot Check: It's easy to grow complacent in the safety of a Vault, but it's still odd that the Vault 33 denizens didn't notice that their visitors from Vault 32 had suspicious features like raider neck tattoos, facial scars, filthy hair and savage table manners.
• Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Cooper Howard, once a movie star, is stuck doing birthday parties to make ends meet. The dads comment on this, with one blaming "alimony" for his troubles.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • In the prologue, Cooper tells his daughter, Janey, that the danger of a nuclear attack is measured by comparing one's thumb to the smoke that follows an explosion. A moment later, an explosion is seen in the city off in the distance. Seeing it, Janey uses her own thumb to measure the smoke, then, frightened by the size of the cloud, asks Cooper which one of their thumbs should be used. Cooper then realizes that a bomb just dropped, followed by many more as they try to escape.
  • The "Vault-Dwellers" from Vault 32 have an awful lot of scars and tattoos for people who lived in a sheltered Vault their entire lives.
  • As awkward as the question was, the fact that Lucy's husband didn't know his sperm count off the top of his head was another red flag. As Lucy notes, the Vault doctor would have tested that regularly.
  • Lucy's husband wiping himself off on the curtains right after they have sex is her first clue that something is seriously off.
• Fleeing for the Fallout Shelter: The family hosting the birthday party flees into their private fallout shelter when the bombs hit. The father even attacks his friend who was asking for his family to join.
• Forced to Watch: Lucy has to watch from the window of a locked storeroom as the raiders kidnap her father.
• Groin Attack: Lucy fends off her attacking husband by punching him in the nuts.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: A raider gets chopped in half by a closing door. Chet gets splattered with his Ludicrous Gibs.
• Hereditary Wedding Dress: Vault 33 only has one wedding dress, so it's been used by several brides. As a tradition, each bride signs her name on the inside.
• Improvised Weapon: Several times during the Vault raid, and most satisfyingly when Lucy's dad clobbers Monty with a shovel.
• In Case of X, Break Glass: Vault 33 has a tranq gun behind a glass case for emergencies. Lucy finds it in the armory, the one weapon left behind after everything else was looted.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: When the first bomb hits, Cooper (having not seen the impact) tries to assure Janey that it's just a fire. Then the trademark mushroom cloud appears, and he realizes they need to run like hell.
• Instant Sedation: The tranq darts take immediate effect on the target.
• Ironic Echo: "You look just like your mother." Especially ironic when it's later revealed that Moldaver was actually a friend of Lucy's mother and it was her dad who killed her.
• Jabba Table Manners: The Vault 32 guests, having dealt with a recent blight on their crops, have less than stellar table manners when they get access to decent food. It's the first piece of foreshadowing that they're actually raiders, because Vault dwellers would act better, hungry or not.
• Just Before the End: The prologue takes place on the day of the Great War, with Los Angeles nuked several times. Cooper Howard and his daughter attempt to flee on horseback right as the bombs hit. Then there is a Time Skip 219 years ahead to Vault 33.
• Kind Restraints: When Chet helps Lucy leave Vault 33, he tries to come with her to help find her father. But Lucy doesn't want him to get hurt because of her decision, so she sedates him with a tranquilizer. She even lowers him gently to the ground, so he doesn't hurt his head.
• Kissing Cousins: Marriage between relatives is forbidden for the usual reasons, but there are so few people in the Vault that "cousin stuff" is considered normal for young people and openly talked about.
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Lucy and her husband have sex on the kitchen table.
• Melting-Film Effect: The Artificial Outdoors Display takes damage during the fight, leading to the melted film being projected on the walls like a firestorm.
• Mr. Fanservice: The second he gets time alone with Lucy, Monty strips down to nothing, and as a result, we get treated to a show of his figure. Lucy, for her part, enthusiastically comments "Okey dokey!" and jumps him.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The prologue takes place in Los Angeles, and it gets bombed multiple times. It's no wonder it was renamed as the Boneyard by the time of Fallout.
  • At the birthday party where Cooper was putting on a show, the TV can be seen playing Grognak & the Ruby Ruins, a show that shares its name with a Game Within a Game from Fallout 4.
  • Norm can be seen playing Atomic Command on his Pip-Boy: another Game Within a Game from Fallout 4.
  • When submitting her marriage application, Lucy lists off a handful of skills that she believes make her qualified for marriage, based on actual skills players can learn in Fallout games: specifically, Repair (from maintaining the Vault's pipes), Science (taught by her father), and Speech (picked up from teaching American history to the Vault's children). Melee Weapons, Unarmed, and Small Guns are also implied through her hobbies in fencing, Phys-Ed, and riflery.
  • During the Raider attack on 33, the 3D projector goes offline and, instead of the "outdoors" images on the walls, it shows the "Please Stand By" logo of the game's loading screen.
• Nightmare Face: True to the original games, the Ghoul's face clearly marks him as inhuman.
• No OSHA Compliance: The gates between the vaults close shut on command no matter if a human is in the way. This leads to one raider getting bisected and dying.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Janey's expression when the first bomb goes off turns from confusion as she tries to use her thumb to gauge the distance of the growing mushroom cloud, to one of mortal terror. Cooper follows suit when he realizes his worst fears have come to pass. The partygoers follow suit once the shockwave from the bomb shatters the windows.
  • Lucy realizes that she is in deep trouble after she realizes her new "husband", as indicated by the Geiger counter on her Pip-Boy going ballistic, is actually a raider.
  • After Dane gets their foot maimed by a razor hidden in their boot, Maximus nearly soils himself when he sees Brotherhood knights coming for him to interrogate him, and possibly summarily execute him.
• One Last Job: Honcho, the leader of the group that exhumes the Ghoul, tries to tempt him with a share of the bounty which is big enough to make it a last job for anyone who collects it. It really was the last job for Honcho; the Ghoul kills him shortly after meeting him.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Lucy is able to shrug off the stab wound to her stomach and goes on to combat the raiders like nothing happened - having a stim-pack shot available was convenient.
• Onscreen Chapter Titles: Lucy, Maximus, and The Ghoul all get titles for their segments.
• Papa Wolf:
  • Lucy's father drowns Monty (who's trying to kill Lucy) in a pickle barrel after he's beaten the shit out of him with a shovel.
  • What does Cooper do when he sees a bomb exploding near LA? Wastes no time in getting his daughter out of danger.
• Passed-Over Promotion: Maximus is ignored for promotion to squire while several of his friends (including his best friend Dane) are promoted instead. An injury involving a razor blade concealed in one of Dane's boots gets him promoted to Titus' squire as a replacement.
• Pietà Plagiarism: How Steph holds her husband after he is killed by the invading raiders. She then goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, despite being visibly pregnant and having an impaled eye.
• Rank Up: After Dane's injury, Maximus is promoted from Aspirant to take their place as Squire to Knight Titus following interrogation.
• Red Scare: In the prologue, when the dads are discussing why Cooper Howard is performing at children's birthday party, one of the men derisively calls Cooper a "pinko", with the father of the birthday child commenting "he still took my money".
• Retirony: One of the bounty hunters that frees the Ghoul intends to retire once the job is complete. This is one reason that the Ghoul rejects their prospective alliance, believing that he'll lack passion for the job and be useless as a partner, and this bounty hunter (as well as his two partners) dies at the Ghoul's hands moments later.
• Rule of Symbolism: During the fight against the raiders, the Artificial Outdoors Display is damaged, with the damage to the reel making the "outdoors" look like it has been engulfed in flames, or even a mushroom cloud, showing how apocalyptic the event is for the Vault Dwellers.
• Run or Die: Played with. Cooper Howard tells his daughter Janey that his trademark thumbs-up is meant to be compared to an atomic blast. If the blast is smaller than your thumb, then run. If it's bigger, you're going to die even if you run.
• Sadistic Choice: A classic one for Lucy's dad as he's openly told "Them or her," meaning Lucy or the surviving Vault 33 inhabitants. He chooses to lock Lucy into a storeroom and allow himself to be captured.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Lucy leaves Vault 33 to find her father, ignoring her fellow dwellers who believe it's too dangerous.
• Sealed Badass in a Can: Our intro to The Ghoul is him being disinterred by a trio of bounty hunters. At some point a warlord or gang leader named Dom Pedro had him buried alive, only to periodically dig him up to torture him. Once he's let out of his casket, he quickly proves to be exceptionally dangerous.
• Self-Surgery: Lucy staples the knife wound in her gut shut after the battle with a staple gun that appeared to be in the medkit, so presumably that was its intended use.
• Shovel Strike: Lucy's father saves her by going after her husband with a shovel.
• Slashed Throat: Lucy breaks a glass blender carafe over her would-be husband's head, then uses the jagged piece she's still holding to go for his throat. Unfortunately, she misses and just slashes his cheek and jaw, so he isn't killed. Other people get their throats slashed apart throughout the attack, as well.
• Slave Brand: Maximus gets branded on his back during the initiation ceremony.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: An upbeat jukebox song underscores the gruesome fight between the vault factions.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Another reminder that this is the Fallout universe: the prologue concludes with the Los Angeles skyline being obliterated by the nuclear devastation of the Great War.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The battle between the Vault 33 dwellers and the raiders. The latter have the element of surprise and more experience with violence, but the former are healthier, have the home-ground advantage, and (as Lucy's introduction revealed) haven't completely forgotten about combat skills. The Vault 33 dwellers end up repelling the raiders but with heavy losses on both sides.
• Tempting Fate: After the Vault 32 guests (including Monty) have been outed as raiders, Monty smugly remarks to Lucy "This is the best day of my life!" He indeed dies soon thereafter... but not before being gruesomely slashed across the face, beaten senseless with a shovel, and drowned in a pickle barrel.
• Time Skip: The episode opens with Cooper Howard performing at a birthday party just before the bombs fall. As the nuclear war begins, cut 219 years to Vault 33.
• Too Dumb to Live: Two Vault 33 workers are busy bringing dessert to the wedding, seemingly unaware the entire place is under attack.
• Wham Line:
  • The birthday party in the prologue goes south when a bomb drops in LA, far from the hill the house resides on. Seeing it, Cooper's daughter Janey takes his advice about measuring the smoke from a bomb's blast and what to do next. Remembering that it's hopeless if the smoke is bigger than one's thumb, she worries and asks:
    Janey: Is it your thumb... or mine?
  • The raider commander Moldaver knew Lucy's mother.
    Moldaver: You look just like your mother.
• Wham Shot:
  • Norman, Lucy's brother, ventures over to Vault 32. Beyond the blighted crops, he finds the place ransacked and the body of a Vault Dweller in a wheelchair missing a leg. It doesn't appear as if anyone has been alive there recently, raising the question of who their guests really are.
  • Shortly after, Lucy hears gunfire and hears the Geiger counter going off on her PipBoy, revealing her husband is a raider from the surface.
• Within Arm's Reach: When her husband stabs her with a knife, Lucy manages to counter-attack him with a glass shard lying next to her.
• Worst Aid: Lucy pulls a knife from her abdomen after being stabbed, and though she does inject herself with a stimpack, she doesn't actually do anything about the wound until after the raider attack is over. Admittedly, stimpacks in the Fallout series have always been treated as a cure-all that didn't require any further treatment, so Lucy stapling up her wound may indeed be all that she needed after the action was over.
• Your Head Asplode: The Ghoul blows one of the bounty hunters' heads into a bloody red mess with a shotgun.

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