Dr. Siggi Wilzig escapes the Enclave, and the various factions of the wasteland are hunting him for the secret he carries.
Tropes:
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Lucy tries to shoot The Ghoul with her needler pistol, which is capable of dropping ordinary human adversaries in a matter of seconds. The Ghoul, having a natural resistance to chems, bolstered by tolerance built over centuries of drug use, regards her attempts to tranq him with mild bemusement.The Ghoul: (plucks the syringe out of his chest) Well now, that was a very small drop...in a very, very large bucket of drugs.
- Age Cut: We cut from CX404 on the treadmill as a puppy to her as a young adult dog.
- An Arm and a Leg: The Ghoul shoots Wilzig's foot clean off, with chunks of meat below his knee until Ma June attaches a prosthetic one to give him a bit more mobility in his escape.
- Attack Its Weak Point: The Ghoul manages to defeat a power-armored Maximus with only a knife by targeting the rubber hose attached to his armor's limb servos.
- Bears Are Bad News: A Yao Guai (a mutated bear) attacks Knight Titus while the Knight is in full power armor, showing that even the imposing technology can be overcome by the larger abominations in the wastes.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: The guy Maximus saves from getting beaten up turns out to be a chicken fucker.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as The Ghoul is about to shoot Lucy, Maximus arrives to intervene, though he states that he is after Dr. Wilzig as well.
- Black Comedy:
- The Enclave turret has a screen reading "Please Remain Calm" as it (rather poorly) sprays bullets at its targets.
- Dr. Wilzig sings praises of the Vault-Tec banana-flavored cyanide pill, saying it's the most humane thing they've ever created and wonders why it wasn't more popular.
- The aforementioned incident where Maximus unwittingly saves a chicken fucker.
- Blatant Lies: When Titus and Maximus examine a Yao Guai cave, Titus orders the squire to check further inside to see if there's any dangers, claiming that it's an "act of bravery" that will help Maximus to become a knight. It quickly becomes obvious that he is just being a coward and is sending Maximus ahead of him so that he doesn't have to put himself in any danger - but the tactic fails, leading to Titus' death.
- Blood from the Mouth: Although Titus' injuries aren't visible underneath his power armor, they're implied to be severe with the blood dripping from his mouth.
- Broken Pedestal: Maximus is pretty disappointed to learn that Knight Titus is a Dirty Coward who complains about every mission he is sent on and blames the boy for not saving him sooner from the Yao Guai. He decides to let the man die from his injuries before commandeering the power armor for himself and continuing the mission, claiming that Titus doesn't deserve to wear it.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Ghoul stabs CX404 in self-defence. After realizing Wilzig has escaped while he fought Maximus, he decides to heal the dog with a stimpak so she can track him, and possibly because he has a fondness for dogs due to his canine companion in his pre-nuke life.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Titus lets one loose after the Yao Guai crushes his gun and he turns to run, with another one ensuing after Maximus kills it and starts undressing him.
- Cockroaches Will Rule the Earth: Lampshaded and exaggerated. Dr. Wilzig references the old myth about cockroaches surviving a nuclear blast and the evolutionary adaptations they underwent to actually evolve into Big Creepy-Crawlies while CX404 is killing a radroach.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- Lucy, who is wandering more or less randomly, happens to run into Dr. Wilzig in the middle of the night, and again at Filly. Then again, considering he is familiar with her Vault and knows her name without being told, it may be less of a coincidence than it first appears.
- Lucy asks around about Moldaver until Ma June tells her to turn back since this is the last person the Vault Dweller wants to piss off. When the situation calls for someone to take Dr. Wilzig to a place called the "Shithole", June tells her that Moldaver resides there and just happens to be the client who is after the man. This fact convinces Lucy to help so she can get close enough to find her father.
- Knight Titus orders the Vertibird to set down because he's bored and wants to shoot something, happening to land near the same Yao Guai cave Dr. Wilzig stopped at.
- Convenient Misfire: The Ghoul's firearm jams up during his fight with Maximus, allowing the latter to briefly introduce himself to Lucy after he saves her by Taking the Bullet.
- Cool Versus Awesome: The fight ensuing between a Yao Guai and a T-60. Subverted when Titus pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
- Cyanide Pill: Dr. Wilzig takes a Vault-Tec suicide pill when it's clear to him he won't survive much longer, reasoning that Lucy would have less trouble cutting off his head at that point.
- Disney Death: We are made to believe that the Ghoul killed CX404 after the latter attacked him. But later it turns out the dog was just injured and was revived with a stimpak.
- The Dog Bites Back: After being continuously humiliated and demeaned by Knight Titus, Maximus isn't about to do any more favours for the guy when Titus is put into a bad spot, ultimately letting him die.
- Driven to Suicide: Lucy enters an abandoned house and finds the pre-war occupants dead around the table, having killed themselves with suicide pills before the bombs fell.
- Flipping the Bird: The shopkeeper shows Lucy the middle finger to express her contempt for the Vault Dwellers.
- Ghost Town: Lucy crosses an abandoned town by the beach, a relic of the apocalypse.
- Go Out with a Smile: Dr. Wilzig expires from ingesting his cyanide pill with a smile on his face, placing trust in Lucy to take his head and succeed on her journey.
- Gory Discretion Shot:
- When another Enclave scientist catches Wilzig sheltering CX404, implying that he wasn't supposed to, he knocks him down and sounds the alarm. CX404 races to kill the scientist offscreen, though some blood is shown.
- While the Ghoul shooting other human fighters in Filly is shown in explicitly gory detail, his stabbing of canine CX404 is cut for a moment.
- Hand Cannon: The Ghoul's sidearm fires bullets that wouldn't be out of place in an elephant gun, blasting holes in and through his foes. One foe is blasted backwards several feet by the bullet's impact. The model for the pistol is a cut-down shotgun.
- Immune to Bullets:
- The Ghoul is hit several times during the gunfight, but barely notices due to a combination of ghoul toughness and drug use.
- Unsurprisingly, Maximus' T-60 power armor proves impervious to small arms fire, even from The Ghoul's Hand Cannon.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Dr. Wilzig's escape from the Enclave is almost cut short by an automated turret, but fortunately for him, its aim is dreadful.
- Instant Expert: Maximus is able to control his T-60 armor instantly without even needing a Training Montage. ("Expert" is pushing the description a little, since, as the Ghoul says, he "drives it like a shopping cart.")
- I Will Only Slow You Down: With one foot missing and replaced with a hasty prosthesis, Dr. Wilzig decides to take a Cyanide Pill and instructs Lucy to take his head, which contains something Moldaver wants in exchange for Lucy's father, after he dies: she can cover ground more quickly without having to worry about him hobbling behind her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: You'd think that being a member of the Brotherhood of Steel would mean that Titus has a nobler side behind his Jerkassery. But then he sends an unarmored Maximus to scout for dangers, even though Maximus points out it should technically be his responsibility to do so, particularly since Titus is in power armor. Then when he and Maximus are in danger from a Yao Guai, he desperately tries to flee for his life. And finally, when Maximus saves Titus' life, he's not at all grateful for the squire, continues insulting him, and demands/orders to be treated for his injuries. It's no wonder Maximus ultimately leaves him to die for his troubles.
- Kick the Dog:
- The Enclave breeds dogs and has a standing order to incinerate those born under ten ounces. Dr. Wilzig saves one by marking it as just on the line.
- Knight Titus is an abrasive Jerkass for his entire runtime, but he is particularly awful for telling Maximus (who just saved his life) that he's going to have him executed for not helping faster. Maximus is understandably significantly less willing to offer him medical aid after that little insight.
- Live-Action Escort Mission: Subverted. It looks like Lucy's quest for the season is to get the heavily injured Dr. Wilzig safely to the Shithole. However, he kills himself a few hours into the journey and leaves her to carry his head to the destination point.
- Living MacGuffin: Whatever the glowing chip is that Dr. Wilzig inserts into his neck, everyone wants it, and he advises her to cut his head off so she can take it to Moldaver.
- Made of Iron: The Ghoul manages to shrug off a tremendous amount of damage in the Filly gunfight and subsequent duel with someone in a set of T-60c Power Armor. He briefly alludes to the fact that he's already got a lot of drugs circulating through him, after Lucy's attempt to tranquilize him, likely to supplement his general Ghoul hardiness and healing factor.
- Meatgrinder Surgery: Ma June fits Dr. Wilzig with one of "Jim's Limbs", which is more or less just a grinder that grinds onto a stump to secure itself so an appropriate limb can be screwed on to the other end. From the description on the box, it's evidently a temporary measure to help wounded soldiers off the battlefield to proper treatment, which makes it no surprise that Dr. Wilzig is on the verge of bleeding to death by the time he takes a suicide pill.
- Mighty Glacier: The T-60c power armor gives Maximus amazing strength and near-invulnerability, but agile it is not. The Ghoul is able to sidestep most of his blows and targets the vulnerable pipes on the armor to cause it to malfunction. The Ghoul also dismissively comments that Maximus drives it "like a shopping cart", suggesting that a lack of experience is as much to blame for his troubles as the armor's lack of mobility.
- Miles Gloriosus: Titus constantly tries to appear tough, particularly since he's in power armor. However, the moment he and Maximus are in potential danger, he has him check it out, even though Maximus is unarmored. When a Yao Guai bites through his machine gun and doesn't go down after a few punches, he desperately tries to flee. Even Maximus sees him as a poor representation of the Brotherhood's ideals.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Maximus withholds the medication his injured and immobilized knight demands because the latter treated him like crap.
- Motivation on a Stick: Wilzig makes CX404 exercise on the treadmill by having the dog's teddy bear dangling at the top of the moving belt.
- Murder by Inaction: Maximus sits back and lets Titus bleed out, despite having a first aid kit in hand, having decided that Titus is unworthy of his armor and title.
- Mythology Gag:
- The episode's credits play under "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", the opening song for Fallout 3.
- When Maximus dons Titus's power armor for the first time the internal display icons match the HUD from Fallout 4. Although, in a small Plot Hole, they show the suit as being undamaged despite Titus just being mauled to death in it.
- Off with His Head!: Invoked by Wilzig himself, as he tells Lucy that his head is more important to take to Moldaver than the rest of his body.
- One-Hit Kill: Maximus kills the Yao Guai with a single shot from his pistol.
- One-Hit Polykill: The Ghoul shoots a man through the chest and the bullet keeps going through the head of the guy behind him.
- Precision F-Strike: "Gosh damn it!" This is the first time Lucy uses any language stronger than "Darn", and we can see the effort it takes for her to use even such a mild swear as "Damn". By her standards, after a lifetime of politeness, this is as serious as the F-word.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Lucy asks a bit too insistently for help, Ma June makes it clear that, to the Wastelanders, Vault Dwellers are, at best, naive fools who will get themselves killed for no reason, and at worst are despised as the descendants of the "rich fucks" who hid from the apocalypse and lived in luxury while letting everyone else die.
- Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: After seeing how much of an arrogant, cowardly asshole Titus really is, particularly with how he insults and threatens him, Maximus decides to simply let Titus succumb to his wounds rather than help by giving him a stimpack.
- Rousing Speech: Subverted. Lucy makes a heartfelt promise to Wilzig that she will get him to destination, trying to encourage him to go further after he said he was not going to make it, only for Wilzig to answer that he just took a cyanide pill.
- Saharan Shipwreck: Lucy comes across a shipwreck in the dunes.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Titus takes for the hills when he realizes that he's up against a Yao Guai.
- Secret Room: Wilzig keeps CX404 hidden in a room behind his lab.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Titus's tendency to add "fuck" to nearly every sentence he speaks, especially when he's helmetless and wounded, helps to emphasize how much of an uncouth, cowardly asshole he truly is under the armor.
- Snake Oil Salesman: There is one at the human settlement, trying to sell Wilzig a serum that will heal his foot. The latter doesn't fall for it.
- Taking the Bullet: Maximus dives between Lucy and the Ghoul when the latter ignores his demands and tries to shoot Lucy. Since he's in bulletproof power armor, he is unharmed by the first shot and the several that follow as he talks to Lucy.
- This Way to Certain Death: The entrance to the bear cave is lined with body parts. It leaves no doubt to Maximus that he and his knight are in for a dangerous mission.
- Threat Backfire: When he's horrifically injured, Titus threatens to have Maximus executed for incompetence when they get back to base. Since Maximus is the only one who's around to heal Titus, he opts to let Titus die instead.
- Too Dumb to Live: Knight Titus, bleeding out from his fight with the Yao Guai, insults Maximus and threatens to have him executed. Maximus responds to that by letting him die.
- Wham Line: Wilzig refers to Lucy by her last name, "MacLean", as he begs her to take his head to Moldaver. Lucy is shocked as she never properly introduced herself, but he dies via cyanide pill as she asks how he knew.
- With This Herring: Titus tasks Maximus to explore the cave without any armor or weapon, and when Maximus tries to turn on his flashlight to see better in the dark, it's broken as well. So, he ventures forward in the most vulnerable state imaginable - thankfully, the Yao Guai goes for the jerk in the power armor first.
- Worst Aid: The artificial leg Ma June gives Dr. Wilzig to replace the one The Ghoul shot off works as a crutch, but it doesn't stop the bleeding as he and Lucy leave Filly. Wilzig knows he won't make it much further, so, after swallowing a Cyanide Pill, he asks Lucy to decapitate him and carry his head to Moldaver.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Said by the Ghoul when Maximus, wearing Titus' armor, demands him to surrender.
