Things get unsettling in this episode of Fallout as we venture to a new Vault with Lucy and Maximus, as well as learn more about Cooper Howard’s past in flashbacks, all leading to a concerning finale…
Welcome to Vault 4 | Galaxy News presents Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) in an old newsreel giving viewers a tour of Vault 4, that he promises will “keep out the rads and the reds.” He introduces a family that are demoing the Vault in case of a nuclear attack, along with a group of scientists who will study the effects of radiation on the world outside.
After the director calls cut on the commercial, Cooper is told by his wife, Barb, (Frances Turner) that the crew is hosting a wrap party in their house. At said party, Cooper meets Sebastian Leslie (Matt Berry) and vents about how he lost a job for promoting the Vaults. Sebastian suggests to Cooper that all that matters is selling product, just as we flash forward to The Ghoul (Goggins) waking up on the floor of the market he passed out in and is met by a sheriff who knocks him out.
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In Vault 4, Maximus (Aaron Moten) is being tended to by medics as Lucy (Ella Purnell) talks to a woman from the Vault (Cherian Dabis), who suggests that they stay until Maximus gets on his feet. As they wait, Lucy asks him if he wants to have sex, but he says knights of the Brotherhood aren’t supposed to. As the two of them are having lunch, the woman introduces them to their Overseer (Chris Parnell), who only has one eyeball. After he leaves, Lucy notices that many others around them have similar mutations.
Fiduciary Responsibilities | Back in the past, Cooper and Barb talk about how if they keep working on their commercials, they can get a spot in one of the good vaults. Cooper meets Charles (Dallas Goldtooth), one of his old actor pals, in a bar and Charles floats the idea that Vault-Tec can only make money off Vaults if the world ends. He hands Cooper a card for a funeral home and asks him to go there to find out the truth about Vault-Tec. Cooper and Barb get into an argument about the Vaults and Barb fires back that the only way they can keep their family safe if the bombs go off is to go into the Vaults.
In Vault 4, Lucy asks the Overseer why they can’t go to level 12, but he refuses to answer. Maximus finds his power armor locked up in a storage area, but without a power source. He goes to the power room to steal a fusion core, but gets caught by the woman from earlier who hands him a wrist device and directs him to a room he can stay in. Inside the room, Maximus is fascinated by the amenities there, including a warm shower, which he’s never heard of, and a jar of caviar. Lucy finds a classroom with a memorial for the town of Shady Sands and a timeline on a chalkboard showing the end of the world in 2277. She then sees a bunch of people in the Vault heading to a tradition and joins in.
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Crazy People | On the surface, The Ghoul is taken to Booker (Glenn Fleshler), the so called “president of the government,” by the sheriffs who arrested him. He asks to be freed so he can sew Lucy’s severed finger onto his hand, and Booker asks if he’s “looking for her.” Of course, The Ghoul breaks free and kills the sheriffs, but stops when he sees a wanted poster for Moldaver on the wall. He tells Booke that that’s not how he remembers her, as we flashback to Cooper arriving at the funeral home Charles told him to go to and seeing Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), as Lucy sees the tradition of the Vault Dwellers covering themselves in ash and blood and worshipping a flag with Moldaver’s face on it.
Lucy immediately tries to convince Maximus to leave, but he’s too comfortable in his room, so she heads to level 12, where she finds faces and eyeballs in jars, as well as a video of a pregnant woman in a tank giving birth to fish looking things that eat her alive. She also sees five tanks with more pregnant women frozen inside, right as a doctor arrives and spots her. Lucy gets captured by the woman, as Maximus simply watches TV in his room.
Fallout is now streaming on Prime Video.