DANNYJ WATCHES: AMAZON FALLOUT EPISODES 1-4

So Bethesda and Amazon released a new Fallout TV show. As a long time fan of games, who has written more than my fair share of Fallout fanfiction, this was relevant to my interests.

I did not like it.

I was contemplating writing up a full DannyJ Reviews series for it, but honestly, this show pissed me off more than anything has in years, and I already feel like I've spent far too much time and energy being negative about it. I don't want to hold onto that for as long as it takes to write a full review, like I did with my MLP season reviews. I just want to say my piece quickly and move on so it can stop occupying my headspace, so here are my viewing notes I wrote while watching along with the show.

This isn't exactly my live reaction, like what I did for Snyder League. These notes are a little more composed, since they were taken for a possible full review, and I've also gone back and edited them both for better sentence flow and clarity, and also to add retrospective observations after completing the series. But at the same time, these are still more or less my raw first impressions, and actual reactions and feelings at the time of first watching the show, so don't expect it to be as fair or composed as a full review. And if you care, be warned that my notes will contain full spoilers for the entire season.

So with that out of the way, let's begin.

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Episode 1: The End
Opening scene:

• Opens on "Orange Coloured Sky" and a cowboy doing tricks. Baiting New Vegas fans?
• Cooper Howard. Ghoul-man from the trailer?
• Cooper called a pinko for not approving of war. Is this Fallout-esque commentary on McCarthyism persecuting the innocent, or is he actually meant to be a sympathetic communist? EDIT: Cooper is not himself a communist, but he works with them. The show later reveals that the world was deliberately destroyed by evil capitalists for no good reason, and that the communists Cooper worked with were the good guys trying to stop them, while Red China is not directly mentioned even once. So yes, the show is communist apologia.
• Weather man thinks the world will end soon. Why? How? Does everyone know now? This is not accurate to the games. Most ordinary people in the games were oblivious to the danger and going about their normal days until it happened. EDIT: I should clarify, just for any readers who weren't aware, that this show is not just an adaptation. It is meant to be a canon entry in the actual Fallout universe, as in literally in-continuity with the video games. According to Bethesda and Amazon, this show is for all intents and purposes Fallout 5. So just be aware that when I criticise something for not being game-accurate, it isn't just me fanboy nitpicking an adaptation change, like if Harry Potter looked different between the books and films; it's me criticising an actual continuity error. And conversely, remember that when this show does terrible, awful things to Fallout lore, it's not just the adaptation going in its own direction in its own isolated universe, and it cannot just be ignored by fans who didn't like it. It is directly affecting the universe of the games. Retcons it makes to older games are considered canon, and future Bethesda games will acknowledge and follow what the show establishes (which IMO is extremely fucking unfortunate).
• It's October 23rd. Shouldn't there be more Halloween decorations around like in Fallout 4?
• Thumb and mushroom cloud story. Reference to common misinformation about it inspiring Vault Boy?
• Nuke goes off. Kid sees it. Somehow not blind. Party doesn't see it at first.
• Actually an okay scene about the end of the world. Actors' reactions realistic. EDIT: Hold the fuck up. The nukes dropped at 6AM on the west coast. This is midday.

219 years later:

• 2296. Fifteen years after New Vegas.
• Smash cut to Vault 33. Lucy MacLaine.
• Specialises: American history and ethics. Fencing team. Phys-ed. Riflery. Skills set up? EDIT: All of this turned out to be irrelevant.
• Vault life fairly well realised. Bigger than the games. Lots of references to game items, sound effects, aesthetics, etc. Vault door looks exactly like Fallout 4.
• Lucy applies for triennial trade with Vault 32 for marriage purposes. Father (Hank) is from Vault 31, and is the overseer. Mother is dead. Brother (Norman) is presented as kind of a jackass.
• Lucy implied to have fucked her cousin (Chet). Weird.
• Inbreeding risk explicitly mentioned as reason for needing outside blood, as with Fallout 3. Why have these people not already left after 220 years, then? A vault staying isolated for 200 years in Fallout 3 was already a stretch. EDIT: Actually, even Vault 101 didn't stay isolated that long. They had outside contact and lied about it.
• What is their vault experiment? EDIT: The tri-vaults.

Exchange:

• Vault 32 overseer is Moldaver.
• Previous overseer, Jackson, supposedly died as a result of a wheat blight. EDIT: Foreshadowing of raider reveal. 

Wedding:

• Lucy's husband is Monty. I misheard as Monzie.
• Lucy asks him about sperm count. He finds it weird.
• "After two hundred years, we don't know much about what's up there." - How? How do the vaults exchange? EDIT: Tri-vaults are connected. No need to go outside.
• Why do they still think radiation is so high? Should have cleared up long ago by now. Surface has been livable for everyone else for ages. EDIT: Possibly because of the Shady Sands nuke? Or just a lie by Vault 31 management?
• "Some Enchanted Evening" dance. Fallout sound is on-point.

Wedding night:

• Lucy shows Monty her room and talks about their future together. Is excited. He ignores her and immediately gets naked.
• Was expecting Lucy to feel more skeeved or disappointed by the guy's behaviour. Instead she's fine with it, and they have sex immediately. Lucy intentionally characterised as promiscuous?
• Meanwhile, Norman travels to a part of the vault in ruins, with a dead farm and dead vault dwellers.
• Is this Vault 32? Are the three vaults physically connected? Why? EDIT: Yes they are. It's part of their vault experiment.

Lucy vs. Monty:

• Lucy notices Monty's scars, and checks him for radiation. Realises he's from the surface. Immediately calls him a raider. How does she know what a raider is? EDIT: This is never explained. In fact, this is even stranger after learning that the three vaults don't actually have to travel topside to visit each other, and normally never open to the outside.
• Is Lucy pregnant now? What effect will the radiation have on her if so? EDIT: No, she isn't. At least as far as we know.
• Monty kicks her ass and chases her around. She gets stabbed.
• Lucy manges to kill Monty with broken glass, and uses a stimpak to heal herself. Good intro to violence and introduction of game elements. EDIT: He's not dead.

Fighting back:

• Raiders have started killing vault dwellers. It's a massacre. EDIT: Does Vault 33 not have a security team? Most vaults do, but I don't see much evidence of one here.
• Armoury has been raided, but Lucy still finds a weapon. A dart gun.
• Lucy's friend (Steph) gets a fork in the eye but keeps fighting, despite being pregnant. Kind of badass, but also very reckless.
• Chet kills a raider by accident with a powered door.
• Norman hides under a table and gets dragged out. Lucy saves him.
• Monty returns, and tries to kill Lucy, but her father saves her. Whole scene is gory as fuck. Good effects here.
• Hank drowns Monty in a barrel of pickles. Surprisingly competent at fighting. Is this foreshadowing something? EDIT: Hank and Steph are the two most competent fighters in this sequence, and both are from Vault 31. But Vault 31 are supposedly all cryo-frozen Vault-Tec executives and middle managers. Why are the white collar office workers the most capable ones in a fight?
• Lucy grabs guns as they leave. Will she use them? EDIT: No.

Hostage situation:

• Moldaver is someone notorious on the outside. Knows Hank personally. Says Lucy looks like her mother. EDIT: This whole plan makes very little sense with full context.
• Hank given a choice. Locks Lucy in a cupboard and basically surrenders. Raiders kidnap Hank and leave.
• Raiders blow up the vault door for some reason, but let the hostages go. Why? EDIT: This was the door to Vault 32, and stopped them from following the raiders in. Letting the hostages go is also fine, considering who these guys are, but now it's them killing vault dwellers in the first place that makes no sense.

Brotherhood introduction:

• Sudden cut to Maximus, an aspirant. Too sudden to reveal the surface world this way. Destroys any sense of mystery or build-up. Should have waited until Lucy left the vault.
• Johnny Cash song playing. Good addition to soundtrack.
• Maximus getting beaten the shit out of by other aspirants. "Steel endures." EDIT: One of his bullies was Thaddeus, I guess. Didn't get much of a look at any of their faces, so didn't remember him when he reappears later.
• Looks like an army base. Is this meant to be Maxson/Lost Hills? EDIT: Never stated.
• Raising a Brotherhood flag. Official who dresses similarly to Arthur Maxson. Everything visually consistent with Fallout 4.
• Aspirants in class. Dogmatic teaching by a scribe(?). Interesting new side of the Brotherhood, not often seen.
• Prydwen-type airship lands nearby. T-60 power armour walking out. Is this the east coast Brotherhood? Chicago chapter? Definitely not Mojave chapter. Since when did the western Brotherhood have all of this? EDIT: Word of God is that this isn't the Prydwen, so probably not Maxson's Brotherhood. The western Brotherhood just... has this now.
• Will they acknowledge the NCR-Brotherhood war? Will they acknowledge the events in the Mojave? EDIT: Not really. I guess the Brotherhood just won by default when the entire NCR blew up. Not sure why they weren't also targeted by Vault-Tec, though.

Dane's promotion:

• Maximus on latrine duty. Friend is a girl with a shaved head. Aspirant Dane.
• Maximus was saved by a knight/paladin as a child? Brief flashback while looking at power armour in workshop.
• Bunk scene. Someone apparently masturbating in public. EDIT: Weird inclusion to begin with, but even weirder with the later context of the Brotherhood's view on sex.
• Aspirants all celebrating outside. Dane got promoted to squire. Maximus gets assmad about it in private.
• Dane gets randomly mutilated by razors in her boots. Maximus gets blamed. Bag over his head. Taken for judgement. EDIT: The final episode tries to claim Dane did this to herself to get out of being a squire. Couldn't she have just turned down the promotion? This is stupid.

Vault dwellers recover:

• Survivors repainting the walls. Bodies going to compost.
• Lucy stapling her wounds. Stimpaks not a cure-all. Good.
• Survivors have an assembly. Lucy proposes going out with a four-person search party.
• Betty taking leadership. Prioritising security. Lucy probably going to go out anyway.
• They never open the outer vault door. How did the raiders get in, then? EDIT: Later revealed that the door was opened from outside with Rose's Pip-Boy. Makes sense.

Escape!:

• Norman is socially awkward.
• Fallout 4 Nuka Cola machines. Visually, series is good so far.
• Massive elevator shaft at vault door. Implies more levels to the vaults than typically seen in-game?
• Lucy, Norman, and Chet conspiring to help Lucy escape. Chet wants to follow. Lucy knocks him out. Why? Norman won't follow. Probably should. Bad decision by Lucy. Leaves her vulnerable outside.
• A three-person party with these three would be cool. Also close to Lucy's original proposal for four people. EDIT: In retrospect, Norman's storyline in the vault is better and more interesting than anything that happens outside.
• People chasing Lucy. Bright light outside. Echoes iconic openings from Bethesda's games.
• Skeletons and Pompeii ash corpses immediately outside vault door. Looks like a construction site? Near a beach and pier. Where is Vault 33 located? EDIT: Still no fucking idea.

Maximus interrogation:

• Maximus joined the Brotherhood to hurt the people who hurt him. Flashbacks to hiding in a fridge. Who are those people? EDIT: Maximus is later revealed as a survivor of Shady Sands, and nobody knows who was responsible for destroying it, so this line makes no sense. It also makes no sense why a Brotherhood knight was there.
• Questioning about Dane's injury. Maximus accused. Power armour guy used to intimidate him. Maximus answers with unusual hesitation.
• "I wanted it to happen."
• Interrogator says violence against a brother is weakness. Maximus doesn't want to be weak. Sounds like he did it. EDIT: Final episode casts some doubt on this, but Maximus acts extremely suspicious here for someone who's supposedly innocent.
• Interrogating elder/scribe/whatever seems wise. Has gravitas. EDIT: Apparently he's the "Elder Cleric."
• Maximus thanks the Elder. Wants to serve the Brotherhood in gratitude, even if it costs his life. Promoted to squire for Knight Titus.

Maximus promoted:

• Dane too injured to be squire now? How? Why? A stimpak could fix her injury easily. EDIT: This is never explained.
• Dane apparently doesn't believe Maximus did it? Maximus acts as if he didn't. Did he? EDIT: Honestly, still not sure.
• Squire swearing in ceremony. Looks religious. Power armour heated and burns his skin. Squires serve a "lord." Way more elaborate and religiously coded than what's seen in the games.

Brotherhood mission:

• Brotherhood have "clerics" in "the commonwealth?" Commonwealth as in Fallout 4's Commonwealth? Unclear. EDIT: No answer either way, so presumably yes. The Elder Cleric is the highest ranking official we see in the show. Presumably Arthur Maxson is the High Elder now.
• West coast Brotherhood's techno-religious angle is different and interesting. Is Arthur Maxson responsible for this new religious theming, or did the western Brotherhood become like this on their own?
• A denizen of the Enclave has escaped, and has an artefact. Is this a Raven Rock or Adams Air Force Base survivor? EDIT: Apparently not. The hell, then? Where did they even hear about this guy?
• Squire asks, "the Enclave is real?" Do the Brotherhood not teach their own history?
• Vertibirds taking off. Looks just like the games. This is pretty cool.

"The Ghoul":

• Wasteland town at night. Guy killed with a Junk Jet, as people sneak in, planning to dig up a fresh grave. EDIT: Bounty hunters. Leader is Huncho.
• "Don Pedro" digs up this grave once a year, cuts pieces off the occupant, and buries him again. Has to be a ghoul. Ridiculous, but technically lore accurate to Fallout 2.
• Buried and hooked up to IV drips. Supposedly a badass who worked with Huncho's father.
• "Feral ghoul can't abide a chicken."
• Reintroduction to Cooper. Fallout 4 style handsome ghoul (ick), but presented as creepily as possible.
• Huncho wants help with a bounty. Someone on the run from the Enclave. Same guy the Brotherhood are after?
• Enclave guy (Wilzig) is running to Moldaver in California. Cooper said to be originally from there. EDIT: Hold on. Cooper is implied to have been buried in this grave for around thirty years or so. The NCR in this show is established to have been destroyed at most fifteen years ago. Cooper throughout the show is portrayed as right at home in the wasteland, unphased by any of it, as if it's nothing out of the ordinary. But when he was buried, California would have been a thriving pre-war level civilization with laws, taxes, and democracy. Why does he not show any kind of surprise or emotional reaction to later finding it all suddenly gone?
• Huncho threatens him. Cooper kills all the bounty hunters.
• "Crawl Out Through the Fallout" for end credits. Good visuals.

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Episode 2: The Target
Opening:

• "Into Each Life" opening. Lots of songs from the games in this.
• Possible Enclave scientists doing experiments with animals, especially dogs.
• Where is this? When? Raven Rock? Adams Air Force Base? EDIT: Wilzig is a defector from an active Enclave, not a survivor of its fall, but his escape from the Enclave seems to be occuring in the present day, 2296, as he and his dog do not visibly age between scenes. This cannot be any Enclave base we've seen in the games, as they were all destroyed. How the fuck is the Enclave still around, and where is this new base of theirs located? We are never told.
• POV scientist (Wilzig) has a hiding place in his lab for a dog. Presumably not allowed to keep it for himself.
• Wilzig develops a glowing blue chip. Seemingly implants into self. What is this? EDIT: It's the key to the cold fusion technology Moldaver developed before the war. Why does Wilzig have it then? Did the Enclave re-invent cold fusion independently? But it's compatible with Moldaver's technology. Did they just develop something to unlock it? Why couldn't Moldaver do that? How are why are the Enclave involved in this plot? I have no fucking clue what's going on.
• Wilzig discovered. Other scientist tries to sound alarm. Fights him. Dog kills the other guy, and Wilzig escapes.
• Wilzig and dog found during escape by a turret. Shoots at them a billion times, but somehow does not hit slow-moving targets. This looks dumb.

Lucy in the wasteland:

• Walking the beach. Passing pre-war ruins and ships.
• Startled by a tumbleweed. Cute character moment. Wish there were more like this.
• Buried assaultron. Definite Fallout 4 influence.
• Exploring a sand-buried building. Disturbed by pre-war skeletons. Woman seemingly poisoned herself and children? Good moment, but short. EDIT: Foreshadowing for Vault-Tec Plan D.

Lucy's camp:

• Lucy starts a campfire at night. Takes off her Pip-Boy. Pip-Boy usually never seen coming off in the games, but realistically should.
• Found by a dog. Eviscerates a radroach in front of her. Wilzig is there.
• Wilzig explains radroaches. Tries to warn Lucy. Talks about the wasteland being wild. EDIT: First inkling about the fate of the NCR.
• Lucy asks about Moldaver, but Wilzig leaves.
• "Will you still want the same things when you become a different animal?" - This feels thematic.

Vertibird flight:

• Maximus asks Titus about his tempered lining. Ignored and told to clean armour's crotch plate. Does Titus dislike Maximus? EDIT: Yes, though it's unclear why.
• Titus stops them early to shoot something because he's bored.
• Titus descends by a winch rather than jumping off, or the vertibird landing. Maximus has to cling on. Why do it this way? Seems impractical.

Wilzig's camp:

• Wilzig stops to make camp. Dog makes Dogmeat sound effects.
• Dog finds human hand. Implied danger in the cave. Deathclaw? Wilzig leaves.
• How did everyone hear about Wilzig defecting again? Do the Enclave generally make their business known to the wasteland at large? EDIT: Never explained.

Yao guai cave:

• Titus and Maximus find Wilzig's camp after he left. How? Why? Did Titus know? How did he know? EDIT: Never explained. Can only assume it's a huge coincidence.
• Awful Fallout 4 assault rifle. Thanks, Todd Howard.
• Titus sends Maximus into the cave first to check, despite Maximus lacking power armour. Calls it an "act of bravery." Trying to kill him? Titus really doesn't seem to like him. Does Titus resent Maximus for what happened to Dane? Suspect him of being behind it? EDIT: Seems like Titus just did it because he's a coward.
• Titus ambushed by a yao guai, somehow loses despite being in power armour, and runs away swearing and screaming. Is Titus meant to be this much of a dipshit? EDIT: Yes.
• Maximus easily kills the yao guai and saves Titus.
• Titus is alive, but obviously fucked up. Shows himself weak and cowardly. Has an emotional breakdown. Starts abusing Maximus and blaming him for his state. EDIT: How did Titus become a knight in the first place if he's this much of a worthless coward even in a suit of invincible armour?
• Maximus tells Titus he doesn't deserve his armour, and decides to let him die and bring back the target himself. This is only his first mission, and he's already deliberately getting his own superior officer killed. Probably did sabotage Dane. Seems amoral and motivated by personal ambition more than anything. EDIT: Later scenes reveal that Titus had a working radio in the suit while this was happening. Why didn't he call the Brotherhood for help, and tell them that his treacherous squire was leaving him for dead?

Wasteland homestead:

• Lucy comes across a ruin, and casually threatens a guy fixing his water filter with her dart gun. Why? Seems out of character for her.
• Lucy offers the guy a sip of purified water, but he drinks it all.
• Filly is a town over the hill where the Brotherhood were heading. People get killed there all the time, including the guy's entire family. Played as a joke.
• Man asks Lucy to stay and be his family. Says he's sick and dying and she could inherit everything he has. Still played as a joke.
• Kinda feel bad for this guy. Not sure I like the humour here.

Knight Maximus:

• Where is Titus? Maximus presumably let him die. Did he bury him? EDIT: Never said.
• Stepping into the suit. Opens Fallout 4 style. Consistent. Good.
• Interior helmet view. Iron Man style. Preferable for showing character reactions over the faceplate in the helmet from the trailers.
• "It's a Man" plays over Maximus running around in his power armour.
• Did Maximus have power armour training as an aspirant? Or does the show operate on Fallout 4 logic, where anyone can use power armour straight away? Unclear, but Maximus seems way too excited here for someone who's used and trained with power armour before. Acts like it's his first time. EDIT: Nobody in the show without theoretical access to power armour training is shown using power armour, so jury's still out. 
• Maximus throws a brick a mile and accidentally smashes an entire building. Power armour is really strong here.
• Maximus saves a very flamboyant man being assaulted by a farmer. Turns out the guy was fucking the farmer's chickens. Lots of comic relief lately. Writing feels like a Marvel movie.
• Maximus discovers the stupid Iron Man hand jets. Now it's even more Marvel-esque. I hate this.

Filly:

• Lucy approaching Filly. Scrap shantytown in the forest. People pass by and ignore her.
• Merchants trying to sell Lucy stuff. Wasteland meat. Looks pretty gross.
• Place looks like a scrapyard. Wreckage of planes seen. Lucy passes through an interior inside a pipe into the main town.
• Mad Max aesthetic to the town. Vague Megaton/Diamond City vibes, but smaller.
• Cooper is present.
• Lucy laughed at by a trader (Ma June) for being an actual vault dweller.
• Moldaver is well known. Name silences everyone.
• Lucy explains mission of the vaults is to save America. Becomes disillusioned as June shows that wastelanders don't care about the vaults and consider vault dwellers privileged dipshits. Interesting and natural perspective for wastelanders to have, not often seen in the games. EDIT: Especially makes sense considering the timeframe. Everyone else came out of their vaults a hundred or more years ago now, and already built whole civilizations which rose and fell in the interim. The vaults by all rights should be relics by now. Why the hell are they not just still occupied, but still sealed off from the outside world?

Encounter:

• Lucy finds Wilzig again. He is well informed about her life in Vault 33. How? Enclave connections? EDIT: Possibly was informed by Moldaver? Maybe? Don't know. Wilzig and the Enclave's relation to the plot is so fucking vague and confusing.
• Cooper steps in to take Wilzig. Wilzig has a bounty through "all six agencies." Are we going to learn more about these agencies? EDIT: No.
• Ghoul racism from Ma June. She was hired to keep Wilzig safe.
• Cooper shoots out Wilzig's foot. Seems like a bad guy.
• June puts a bounty on Cooper. Cooper blasts everyone in the town.
• Cooper casually shrugs off bullets? How? Is he meant to be some kind of super ghoul? Is he highy irradiated and immediately healing? EDIT: Cooper just has plot armour.
• Cooper sits down next to dying man and banters. Maximum Marvel.
• Lucy takes advantage of the chaos to check Ma June's ledger for details on Moldaver. Most practical thing she's done so far.
• Cap prices in June's shop much more reasonable than in the games.
• Cooper shoots the dog. Lucy steal a gun and confronts Cooper. 
• Lucy tries to de-escalate. Shoots Cooper with tranquiliser. Doesn't work.

Maximus vs. Cooper:

• Maximus arrives. Does the Iron Man jets thing. I fucking hate it.
• Maximus tackles Lucy to save her from Cooper. Lucky he didn't crush her to death under the weight of his armour.
• Helmet has a faceplate that opens. What's the point from a design perspective? The helmet can be taken off. What's the point from a narrative/cinematic perspective? They can just do interior shots of the helmet like earlier. I want to punch something. EDIT: This does set up a minor plot point for later, but it easily could've been written around. 
• Power armour is shown as properly bulletproof. More lore accurate than the games. Embarassing that Titus managed to die to a bear with an advantage like this. EDIT: In the final episode, it's revealed that power armour has an extremely stupid weakness allowing Cooper to take it out in one shot to the chest. Why doesn't he do that here? Is Maximus's plot armour cancelling out Cooper's?
• Cooper gets punched hard enough to fly through the air into stairs and breaks the wood. Power armour established as super strong earlier. Should've caved his chest in. Why is he immune to damage? EDIT: Cooper just has plot armour.
• Wilzig's foot replaced with a mechanical prosthetic device. Never seen in games before, but plausible. Treatment is quick, dirty, and gruesome.
• June's client is Lee Moldaver. Lucy agrees to escort Wilzig to get her father back.
• Cooper is still surviving ridiculous amounts of damage. Maximus somehow can't defeat one unarmoured ghoul even with bulletproof power armour.
• Maximus casually flying around like Iron Man, including zooming off by accident and crashing. Fucking why? POWER ARMOUR DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY.
• Twice now have wastelanders not reacted to massive crashes happening nearby them. Too much comic relief. Straining disbelief.

Cooper still hunting:

• Cooper searches June's and finds nothing.
• Dog still alive. Cooper heals it with a stimpak, despite being the one who shot it in the first place. EDIT: Humanising moment which is odd in retrospect considering his later cruelties. Was he just doing this to track Wilzig?
• Dog accompanies Cooper now. Is Cooper not worried about the dog attacking him again whenever they catch up with his old master? EDIT: Dog doesn't seem to have any sense of loyalties later on, but how did Cooper know it wouldn't?

Lucy and Wilzig:

• Lucy and Wilzig travelling through the desert, leaving obvious tracks. Not smart.
• They stop at a crashed satellite.
• Wilzig is not going to make it. Lucy earnestly tries to help him. Encouraging. Actually a likeable character overall.
• Wilzig took a Vault-Tec Plan D cynaide pill, and asks Lucy to cut off his head with a ripper after he's dead and deliver it to Moldaver. Played as a joke.
• Wilzig dies without explaining who or what he is, or how he knows everything.
• Episode ends with Lucy cutting off Wilzig's head. Shows no strong human reaction. Feels out of character for someone so naive and idealistic. Played for comedy again. Marvelisation is getting worse.

---

Episode 3: The Head
The Beginning:

• Pre-war flashback to Cooper's days as an actor.
• Cooper doesn't want to execute a defeated bad guy as the sheriff in his movie. Probably meant to show a contrast between himself before and now.
• Cooper wants to speak to the writer. Learns that previous writer was fired for being a communist. McCarthyism commentary? New writer calls this a new western for the individual. Individualism means shooting helpless people in the head. EDIT: Communist apologia again.
• Cooper flirts with his wife (Barb). They eat lavender taffy.

Cooper's hunt:

• Cooper finds Wilzig's corpse at the satellite. Dog does not noticeably react to finding his old master dead.
• Cooper takes chems. Similar to jet, but not. EDIT: Delivery method for the ghoul vials.
• Lucy carrying Wilzig's head through the desert. Stops to make camp.
• Finds the chip in Wilzig's head. Doesn't remove it, but puts a tracker in his nose. Flippant and not visibly upset by Wilzig's death, or having to carry around a human head. Humour is undercutting my ability to empathise with this character.

Maximus speaks with the Brotherhood:

• Maximus dragging up power armour with chains for maintenance, similar to power armour stations in Fallout 4.
• Power armour suit has a radio. New addition, but makes sense.
• Petty Officer Shortsight makes contact. Titus missed his check-in. Makes sense this would happen. But then why did Titus not use this radio after Maximus betrayed him?
• Maximus impersonates Titus and pretends to have died himself. Why do this? This would just make him look more guilty later. Is Maximus stupid? EDIT: Yes. 

Maximus in Filly:

• Maximus heads back into Filly for repairs.
• Girl with a synthesised voice wants 5 caps to repair something. Maximus sells a tooth for a cap. WHAT? How is an irreplaceable body part worth that little? EDIT: Maximus is stupid, so he may have just gotten scammed.
• Why does this town still trade in caps? California uses NCR money. EDIT: Possibly abandoned after NCR fell?
• Scavengers trying to steal the power armour. Maximus gets in a fight with them and loses.
• Power armour opens, but scavengers don't try to get inside for some reason. Evidence against anybody being able to use it?
• Johnny Cash song plays over fight scene as Maximus grabs weapons and attacks. Scavengers win again, and shove Maximus against armour. He doesn't get in, but is able to control the arm and crush one of their heads with it anyway. What the fuck?
• Noticing that scavengers beat Maximus, but didn't kill him, while Maximus had no problem with killing them. Maximus becoming less and less sympathetic with every scene.
• Brotherhood arrive looking for Titus. Maximus runs back to the suit to continue impersonation.
• Since when does power armour do this voice disguise thing, anyway? Power armour in the game just produces an electronically filtered version of one's normal voice.
• Squire Thaddeus arrives, one of Maximus's bullies from his first scene. Begs for mercy. Maximus enjoying lording over him.
• Thaddeus mentions the "Elder Cleric." What exactly are the clerics, anyway? When did this new rank come about? EDIT: Never explained.
• New orders: Kill whoever stands in our way. How is that any different than previous orders?
• Whoever gets the relic controls the wasteland. How? Why? What about the other factions? This sounds extremely dumb. EDIT: Was expecting a dumb sci-fi superweapon. Macguffin is actually the key to cold fusion. Slightly less dumb, but still overly convenient.

Lucy in the swamp:

• Sunset Sarsaparilla. New Vegas reference. West coast lore has been underused so far.
• Hollywood Boulevard. Flooded ruins. Looks more like The Last Of Us than Fallout.
• Lucy tries to feed an animal. Attacked by something. Possibly a mirelurk. Head taken. EDIT: A gulper, an enemy from Far Harbor. Have not yet played that DLC.
• Lucy still using the dartgun. Has she not found a better weapon yet? There were plenty back in Filly. Ma June must have had some.
• Cooper shows up to rob Lucy for the head.

Vault:

• Vault council formed in the absence of the overseer.
• Chet being punished by the council for helping Lucy escape. No longer the gate-keeper for the vault.
• The three vaults are connected and in communication with each other in a closed circuit. Explains how they had contact without knowing anything about the surface. But how did the other vaults not know about the raiders taking over Vault 32? EDIT: The raiders walked into an already dead Vault 32. They didn't take it over. But still, how did the other vaults not know about 32's situation?
• Norman lacks enthusiasm for all jobs. How do they demote him? Norman reassigned to bringing food to prisoners.
• Vault has a prison? Where did they all come from? Why is prison not an option for him? EDIT: The prisoners are raiders. This only raises more questions.

Apples:

• Maximus sends Thaddeus climbing trees for apples. Thaddeus falls and hurts himself, and Maximus laughs. I do not like Maximus.
• Thaddeus has a device to track wastelanders' radiation trails? Does this make sense? Sounds bullshit, but I don't know enough about radiation to say for sure.
• Wilzig's headless corpse found. Still tracking. Both assume Cooper decapitated him. More ghoul racism. EDIT: This is foreshadowing/irony for Thaddeus becoming a ghoul later. 
• Thaddeus is an overtly comic relief character. More likeable than Maximus so far, but really does not help with the Marvel feeling.

Fishing:

• Cooper ties up Lucy and uses her as bait while she begs for her life. Cooper is overtly a villain at this point, and I now actively dislike him too.
• Gulper looks like a dragon. CGI is hit or miss in this show.
• Cooper gets knocked down, and gulper tries to eat Lucy. Gulper gets away while Cooper is fucking around on the floor.
• Cooper mad at Lucy for using his bag to save herself. Something glass in them was destroyed. Cannisters for his unexplained jet-like drug. Something he needs? EDIT: Ghoul vials.
• "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every time." Meta-commentary?
• Lucy tries to appeal to Cooper's humanity. He leaves the dog behind with the gulper. Why bother saving it if he doesn't care about its fate? EDIT: Possibly was just using the dog as a tracker. Even more reasons to dislike him.

Maximus and Thaddeus:

• Thaddeus tries to do squire duties and make conversation with "Titus."
• Thaddeus was a shitter on a fly farm before joining the Brotherhood. This is really Marvel-tier.
• Thaddeus opens up about Maximus and why he bullied him. Was bullied himself. Regrets doing it, and feels bad for Maximus "dying." Thaddeus definitely more sympathetic than Maximus at this point.

Vault jail:

• Vault deciding what to do with the sixteen prisoners. The raiders?
• How were there any raiders captured when the raiders were winning every fight, and took vault dwellers hostage in the attack? Why wouldn't they trade prisoners before leaving?
• Council want to rehabilitate the raiders and integrate them into the population. Norm is skeptical. Wants to execute them.
• Vault population is scandalised. Why are they still so civil? The rest were also exposed to violence. The rest also lost friends and family. Vault dwellers are human too. Fallout as a series is about the flaws in human nature. This is unrealistic.
• Norm doesn't feel free to seriously question the council. Is this meant to indicate his cowardice, or their authoritarianism? EDIT: Possibly both? Norm is a self-admitted coward, but later episodes show him being right to be wary of these people.
• Council seem undecided on who's the new overseer.
• Guy arrives with water chip news. Council demand it be said publicly. Want to involve the collective. Are they actual communists? EDIT: Probably not, considering the Vault 31 residents were all corpos, but this just makes their demand all the stranger. They more than anyone should understand the value of discretion.
• Water chip was destroyed. Vault is in danger. Fallout 1 callback. What happens now? EDIT: This plot point is never resolved. Possibly being saved for season two? 
• Lucy's friend (Steph) is on Norm's side. Encourages him to do the "right thing."
• What is the grander purpose of Norm's scenes? Building up to a vault civil war like in Fallout 1 or 3? EDIT: Not a vault civil war per se, but unravelling a conspiracy within the vault related to its experiment. Vault civil war may still happen in season two. Either way, Norm's vault scenes are by far the best parts of the season.

Maximus at the swamp:

• Maximus and Thaddeus track the head to the Last of Us swamp. Gulper attacks.
• Maximus sends Thaddeus back to shore and attacks the gulper himself. Arguably first actual altruistic thing he's done all season? EDIT: Actually, no. He did jump in front of Cooper's shot at Lucy earlier. Neither that nor this mean much when he's wearing bulletproof armour anyway, but it still counts. Maximus isn't 100% asshole all the time.
• Gulper passes by Maximus. Thaddeus shoots it, and it goes after him.
• Thaddeus nearly eaten. Played for comic relief.
• "Victoriam!" Definite east coast communication/influence. Any references to Arthur Maxson this season? EDIT: No. Show fucks with the west coast lore a lot, but is surprisingly scant on details about the outcome of Fallout 4. Commonwealth Brotherhood was presumably not destroyed, but even that is only a guess. Implies either a Minutemen or Brotherhood canon ending to Fallout 4, but not certain of that.
• Gulper has human fingers growing inside it. Is sick after Maximus pulls him out.
• Wilzig's head found. Dog sniffing it. Doesn't seem upset or mournful at all. Would undercut the comic tone? Feels like Wilzig has been extremely disrespected and dehumanised.

Cooper and Lucy:

• Walking through the desert again. Why did they give up on the head? Where are they going? EDIT: Cooper needs more ghoul vials to stay sane, but it still doesn't make sense to give up on the head. Head and the technology inside it will likely be digested if left long enough. Does Cooper really need to replace his lost vials immediately? He did fine without them all the decades he was buried alive.
• Cooper drinks water in front of Lucy and pours some out while she's thirsty. No good reason to do this other than sadism. Is Cooper meant to be the antagonist of this show? EDIT: No, he's definitely a protagonist. Just not a very heroic one. I think they're relying on Walton Goggins's charisma and the context of Cooper's pre-war scenes to make the audience like him in spite of how much of an asshole he is, or at least want to see him go through a redemption arc, but for whatever reason, it just isn't working on me. I think Cooper is an asshole, and if Lucy had executed him after the Super Duper Mart, I would not have been sad to see him go.
• Lucy's rads building.
• Cooper shoots out Vault Boy's face on a billboard.

Cooper flashback:

• Cooper doing Vault-Tec commercials. Thanks them for helping people.
• Cooper does a thumbs up. Did he inspire Vault Boy? EDIT: Unclear, but he at the very least was conflated with the character to some degree. 
• Ruins of Hollywood appear over credits. Is this just because of the flashback, or has the show until now been taking place in and/or around LA? Nobody has mentioned the Boneyard by name so far.

---

Episode 4: The Ghouls
Cooper the cannibal:

• "Let's Go Sunning." Large amount of game music recurring in this series. EDIT: But mostly just from Fallout 3 & 4. Appearances from the New Vegas soundtrack are sparse. No "Big Iron." No Rat Pack. No "Johnny Guitar." Can only assume they are being saved for season two, when they actually go to Vegas itself.
• Radroach crawling through window.
• Westside Medical Clinic. Cooper seemingly came to see a ghoul called Roger. Knows him. A fellow bounty hunter. 
• Roger in the middle of going feral, and aware of it. Interesting situation. Ghouls rarely ever seen midway through going feral in the games.
• Roger possibly a post-war ghoul? Only a few decades since he "started showing." EDIT: "Started showing" may refer to signs of going feral, not signs of becoming a ghoul. Food talk implies he may actually be a pre-war ghoul as well.
• "Smoothie." Alternative form of "smoothskin."
• Roger wants a vial. Vials stop ghouls turning? EDIT: Yes. Never seen in games, but an interesting lore addition that could plausibly exist. Probably not used by all ghouls, but just those already starting to go feral, trying to stave off the effects.
• Cooper kills Roger while reminding him of good food. Implies pre-war life. Lenny and George moment. Mercy kill? Pragmatic? EDIT: Apparently not.
• Cooper recognises the name MacLean.
• Cooper eats Roger while Lucy questions his morals. He makes her help him prepare the meat. Claims it's necessary, but it really isn't. Why didn't Cooper just butcher and eat the gulper or the dog back in the swamp if food was so scarce? This whole scene feels gratuitous.
• "You know, my vault has endured hardship, too. In the Great Plague of '77, everyone had to quarantine, they couldn't work the farms together. People starved. My mother included." How does an enclosed environment like a vault get a plague? EDIT: Given later revelations, most likely an engineered crisis by Vault 31, possibly to get Hank or someone else elected overseer, or possibly done specifically to fake Rose MacLean's death after Hank nuked Shady Sands. Notably coincidences with "The Fall of Shady Sands" listed in 2277.
• Lucy says they never resorted to cannibalism. Cooper insinuates they secretly did. EDIT: Not as far as we know. Cooper is probably projecting here.
• "How do you live like this? Why keep going?" Cooper gives no answer. EDIT: Final episode implies his family could be alive, and that he's still looking for them. Still not a good answer, IMO. Unlikely his family would even want to see him again after he's turned into such a monster, both figuratively and literally. Even Walter White didn't pour water on the ground in front of innocent people dying of thrist.

Vault elections:

• Council members running for election.
• Woody and Reg interrogating raiders and getting nowhere.
• Norman approached by Betty. She talks to him about what he said.
• Weird dialogue in this scene. Show's dialogue in general can be weird at times.
• "Clever boys get angry..." "Tread lightly." What is Betty afraid of? EDIT: Possibly a tacit threat to not step out of line. 

Cooper is a colossal asshole:

• Walking through town with ghoul jerky.
• Cooper collects dirty water. Lucy drinks some from a puddle. Geiger counter ticking. Character development moment. But why? They were at a lake last episode. Feels equally as unnecessary as the cannibalism. How long has it been since they were in the Last of Us swamp? This show is terrible at portraying time passing and distance travelled.
• Is this whole sequence an attempt to portray in-show representations of game perks? Is this how Bethesda imagines Cannibal and Lead Belly being used? If so, an accurate portrayal; both perks are unnecessary in the games, and both were unnecessary here.
• Cooper has a Joker moment. "I'M YOU AFTER ONE. BAD. DAY."
• Cooper has a coughing fit and Lucy runs for it, but gets lassoed at the crater.
• Lucy bites off Cooper's finger. More character development? Showing her increasing capacity for violence?
• Cooper cuts off hers with a knife, making them even. I really don't like Cooper.

Chet scene:

• Steph visits Chet. He complains. Asks about her dead husband (Bert), but it's turned into a joke. Marvel vibes again.
• Steph gives Chet Bert's shoes. Chet struggles to compliment him. Are any of them actually sad for his death, or just being sarcastic? It's hard to tell with the tone. EDIT: Considering Steph is from Vault 31, and was thus probably complicit in the plan to end the world, I guess it makes sense that she's kind of a sociopath.
• Steph dresses Chet up as her dead husband and fucks him. Is this supposed to be funny? It feels like it's supposed to be funny. It's actually kinda sick.
• Steph's water breaks.

Super Duper Mart slavers:

• Where is all this even taking place? The geography is so inconsistent. Is this actually LA? The Boneyard? How close are they to Adytum, or the ruins of the Cathedral? Where are the Followers, or the Gun Runners, or the NCR? EDIT: Little did I know...
• Cooper trying to sell Lucy into slavery in exchange for vials. Diverting course now makes sense, but not abandoning the head.
• Lucy has been realistically mistreated for a lone woman in the wasteland so far. Really should've taken Norman and Chet with her when she left.
• Lucy is sent in by herself. Cooper suddenly collapses outside. What's wrong with him? EDIT: Can only assume this a ghoul vial withdrawal symptom, and that Cooper is partway through the process of going feral. But if that's the case, how did he stay sane for so many years buried alive in that graveyard? Were the IV bags hooked up to his grave full of ghoul vial serum? Aren't they supposed to be expensive or difficult to obtain? Nothing about Cooper makes any sense.
• Mr. Handy (Snip Snip) escorts Lucy inside. Reprogrammed to work for the slavers?
• Prosthetic finger grafted on immediately. Similar to the leg earlier. Is this common technology in the Fallout universe now? Definitely a new addition. Feels out of place.
• Not actually slavers. Organ harvesters. Medical clinic? Why fix her finger then? EDIT: Never explained. 

Norman steals cake:

• Norman bringing cake to the prisoners. Bribes the guard with some.
• Norman claims his father would be merciful. Possibly lying? EDIT: Very definitely wouldn't, but not clear whether Norman knows that or not.
• Prisoner claims Vault 32 wasn't innocent. Norm checks Vault 32 communication logs, but they're restricted.

Vault 32:

• Norman goes to find Chet, while Steph gives birth. Norman and Chet visit Vault 32.
• Vault 32 is ruined, but has been for a long time. At least two years. Accurately captures the feeling of exploring creepy ruined vaults in the games.
• TV program notes mice eating each other to survive. EDIT: Call-forward to House's line in the Vault-Tec meeting later.
• "We know the truth." About what? EDIT: Vault 31's purpose, I assume?
• Vault residents apparently killed themselves or each other? Why? Vault experiment? EDIT: I guess they all killed themselves because they somehow found out about Vault 31 being full of frozen executives and were really upset about it? Seems like a fucking stupid reason for mass suicide, but it's the only reason we're given. Also makes it even more implausible that the other vaults wouldn't have already known about what happened.

Lucy and the slavers:

• People in glass containers, a ghoul lady (Martha) included.
• Snip Snip brings Lucy to human slavers/organ harvesters.
• Price for Lucy is sixty vials.
• Lucy to be prepared immediately for some reason. Why her, and not the others? EDIT: Never explained. 
• Lucy manages to escape and short circuit Snip Snip. Tries to hold him hostage, but the junkie slavers don't care about a robot.
• Lucy filled Snip Snip with Abraxo. Threatens the junkies to let everyone go. They agree without a fight. One hostage thanks her as she goes.
• Lucy demands ghouls be released, too, and they are, including ferals. Junkies don't explain or significantly protest.
• Junkies have guns and shoot the charging ferals, but are overwhelmed. Why didn't they just shoot Lucy before?
• Martha midway through going feral, like Roger. Cool the first time, but feels cheap to see this twice.
• Martha attacks Lucy, and forces her to kill her with the default 10mm pistol from Fallout 4.
• Feels weird for Lucy to have not had a real gun or taken a life until this late in. Should've happened back in the vault with the raider attack. First kill should've been Monty, not this random ghoul lady.

Vault 32 overseer:

• Exploring a ruined Vault is very Fallout.
• Hanging vault dwellers.
• "Death to management." EDIT: Clear reference to Vault 31's secret. Still not clear how Vault 32 found out, however.
• Vault 32 was opened by the raiders from the outside with Rose MacLean's Pip-Boy. Interesting mystery and twist. EDIT: Makes sense given Rose's association with Moldaver.

Lucy turns the tables:

• Lucy escapes the Super Duper Mart. Looks bloody and badass now.
• Cooper still laid out. Cooper confirms vials help with going feral.
• Lucy leaves vials for Cooper. Says she'll never be like him. Her golden rule.
• Lucy strikes out on her own again. Honestly a really good moment.
• Cooper takes the vials and recovers. Discovers the junkies dead. Takes a load of drugs and drinks, and gathers extra vials from their stash.
• Cooper discovers one of his old movies and watches it. Same movie he was filming in the flashback. His sheriff character executed the guy in the final cut. The guy was a commie. Implied start of his moral degradation?

---

Continued in part two.

Comments

[Delta-118]

Been watching the show with a buddy of mine (he's a more experienced sailor than me, if you get my meaning) and we finished episode 3 today. Again you've kinda hit my issues on the head, although I do disagree with your point in Episode 2 regarding the wastelanders' opinions of vault dwellers. This is the California wasteland. Sure, it's been a hundred years or more since Fallout 1, but a Vault Dweller saved the whole wasteland! Viewing them as "privileged dipshits" seems like a gross misnomer, since the people who come out of vaults (control vaults, at least) tend to mostly do alright. Shady Sands, Vault City, the Boomers. The various Dweller protags change the wasteland dramatically. Honestly I think it'd be more likely that the sight of a blue jumpsuit is an omen in the wasteland. Wherever vault dwellers show up, especially lone ones on missions, things happen, and the whole world can shift.

I'm trying to avoid some spoilers (stuff related to Shady I've obviously already learned but I'd like to see how it goes) so I didn't read the episode 4 section, but I'll probably come back with another comment once I've seen it.
New Vegas playthrough is going alright. Made it to Novac, finally. Sidetracked for a few IRL days by work and a new Lego set. Really have to stop looking at the Nexus, I keep seeing new, interesting mods that I'll have to restart the game for.

Edit: One major issue i didn't see brought up is how very little shooting there is. There are the big gunfights, sure, but outside of those everyone seems to go lightly armed. I know that the main characters get plot armor, but those scavs absolutely should have just shot MinimumINT and took his power armor for themselves. Other than the Ghoul, our main characters don't seem to see the value in carrying a method of self defense that's better than a fucking tranq gun. And why did Max leave the assault rifle in the bag when he knew he might have to fight the Ghoul again? Maybe he also just hates looking at it. Can't really blame him for that.
The way the power armor behaves also frustrates me. Other than the Iron man jets and being bulletproof, it seems to be more trouble than its worth. A Yao Guai can put dents in it, and sure it increases your strength, but it seems to make moving around a slog, like all the powered mechanisms aren't helping Maxiumus move it at all. Maybe if he wasn't power armor trained I could believe it, but Titus seemed similarly hindered in melee by it. Is that even accurate to Fallout 4? Certainly isn't accurate to 3 or New Vegas.

[DannyJ]

5777486

Sure, it's been a hundred years or more since Fallout 1, but a Vault Dweller saved the whole wasteland! Viewing them as "privileged dipshits" seems like a gross misnomer, since the people who come out of vaults (control vaults, at least) tend to mostly do alright.

Yes, but we need to remember a few key points.

First, that we're talking about dirty wastelanders still living in piles of garbage and killing each other, and what their opinion is of the clean-cut and well-fed people born into a life of relative luxury in fancy pre-war shelters. It's human nature for the have-nots to envy the haves, and it's very easy for that envy to breed resentment.

And second, this is a hundred years after the NCR was founded, so all the vault dwellers who actually emerged from their shelters and did good things to rebuild civilization are a long distant memory now. This is probably generations after the last time vault dwellers did anything good or significant for California (aside from arguably Vault 4?), and all the vault dwellers currently living in vaults at this time are the ones that have not contributed shit to the wasteland. They're the ones who were hiding away, talking a big game and yet doing nothing, while the rest of the wasteland has been struggling and suffering for the past two hundred years.

Frankly, it would be weird if wastelanders didn't resent the likes of Vault 33 under those kinds of circumstances.

I'm trying to avoid some spoilers (stuff related to Shady I've obviously already learned but I'd like to see how it goes) so I didn't read the episode 4 section, but I'll probably come back with another comment once I've seen it.

This review has full spoilers for the entire series in every episode section, so if spoilers are a thing you care about, I'd recommend waiting until finishing the series before you continue reading.

New Vegas playthrough is going alright. Made it to Novac, finally. Sidetracked for a few IRL days by work and a new Lego set. Really have to stop looking at the Nexus, I keep seeing new, interesting mods that I'll have to restart the game for.

Good luck. Hope you enjoy your playthrough.

Edit: One major issue i didn't see brought up is how very little shooting there is.

I think that's mainly just a problem with Lucy. She takes way too long to find and use an actual gun. But I kind of see that as a character flaw more than anything.

those scavs absolutely should have just shot MinimumINT and took his power armor for themselves.

Ehhh... I disagree. Sure, if a lone raider wanted to rob Maximus, then splattering his brains over the wall makes sense, but when you're with a whole gang of thugs and your victim isn't even armed, it's not really necessary. I know this is the wasteland and all, but most criminals still usually don't escalate a robbery to a murder for no reason (unless they're just the types to kill for fun).

And why did Max leave the assault rifle in the bag when he knew he might have to fight the Ghoul again?

I'm pretty sure the terrible F4 assault rifle was destroyed by the yao guai, but I may be misremembering.

The way the power armor behaves also frustrates me.

Is that even accurate to Fallout 4? Certainly isn't accurate to 3 or New Vegas.

Power armour in later Bethesda games is indeed more bulky and cumbersome in moment to moment gameplay, but that is lore accurate to what it's supposed to be (and even Fallout 3 and Vegas give you Agility penalties for wearing it to represent that). That's the trade-off of power armour. It's like a tank. It makes the occupants practically invincible at the cost of being big, slow, and awkward. It's "powered" because the suit needs its own hydraulics to even move all the weight. So in that regard, it's accurate.

That said, Titus and Maximus are both dipshits who fuck up fights that they should have easily won, and power armour in this series, despite being bulletproof, is still occasionally damaged by things which IMO it really shouldn't be. I don't know how powerful a bear's jaw strength is, so maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that yao guai shouldn't have had a chance.

[Delta-118]

5777498
All good points. As for the rifle, I was mostly talking about the part with the Gulper in episode 3, since Thaddeus brings a new rifle with him. Maximus only carries the pistol and uses that to try and kill the gulper, for some reason.

[DannyJ]

5777509

Oh, yeah. That's pretty dumb.

But any excuse to not have to see the Fallout 4 assault rifle any more than we have to, I guess.