Fallout (Season 2)
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
What happens in Vegas....is a non-stop barrage of crazy action, kick-ass creatures and wild locals to challenge our favorite folks wondering the wasteland.THIS is the way you deliver a Season Two of a massive hit! FALLOUT SEASON 2 deepens the mystery, ups the intrigue, action & world building into a laugh out loud, powerful second set of eight episodes.
It's a tribute to showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner that they're able to pile on many more levels of storytelling on top of the brilliant base they crafted in Season One. Their goal appears to be to provide more levels of visibility into our beloved characters. Mission accomplished.
Vaulty Lucy Maclean (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) are on the trail of her Father Hank (a perfectly cast Kyle MacLachlan) who escaped at the end of last season. But The Ghoul is also on the same quest to find his family that he's been on for over 200 years. Powerful motivation. Dim, post apocalyptic biker gangs, giant lethal creatures and plenty of wicked, hungry folks stand in their way. Flea Soup anyone?
Our story bounds all over what is left of the USA.
Maximus (Aaron Moten) is now a fighting legend and finds himself in a powerful role as the enforcer and adopted son of Elder Cleric Quintus, who's positioning to rule over plenty of what's left of America. Family may be overrated.
Flashbacks take us deeper into the mysteries of exactly how the world decided to blow itself up in the first place. Cooper Howard (the pre-Ghoul Goggins) is torn apart as he discovers the role his wife Barb (Francis Turner) has in preparing the vaults. What exactly are her priorities?
We meet Robert House (Justin Theroux), a Howard Hughes-like billionaire who also lives in the penthouse of an alt-Vegas casino. He seems to be betting on the end of the world like its just another craps game at the tables below.
Back at the vaults, Hank's son and Lucy's brother Norm (Moises Arias) is trying to position himself as a leader and discovering a lot about himself and the vaults in the process. Who knew starting a club could evolve so quickly?
Over in Vault 32, Steph Harper (Annabel O'Hagan) rules over its citizens with the same firm hand she shows her husband Chet, the hilarious Dave Register. He plays Chet with the perfect mixture of timidity and quest for revenge that had me laughing. Steph is not one to mess with.
The entire series flows fast and furious and fun.
We're immersed into an alternate Las Vegas in both its shiny, bright past and its current post-bomb version with huge creatures looming at the entrance.
There are brand new armies and warring factions that emerge, complicating the politics of the new world. but adding to the action and the fun. I laughed out loud when the lead soldier of one Roman-like army is revealed. Just one of the many, funny surprises in store for you.
There's a surprising and deep level of human emotion mixed in with the action as characters learn more about the truth, their pasts and those around them.
Goggins is fantastic as both Cooper and The Ghoul. As the two begin to merge and become the same character over centuries, Goggins always presents a relentless drive and a solid core of humanity, even as all signs of the Ghoul's humanity fall away from his physical presence. No one else could play the Ghoul like Goggins, conjuring big emotions one minute and blasting the crap out of Zombie Elvis Ghouls the next. He's flawless.
Purnell's able to show more sides of the goody-goody Lucy this season as well, as the new world beats the optimism levels of her sunny personality downward.
FALLOUT is the best series since "The Sopranos" to incorporate real songs into dramatic and action scenes. They demonstrate the same mastery of that talent that David Chase did across the entire run of his HBO mob hit.
I laughed out loud when Pat Boone's "The Wang Dang Taffy-Apple Tango" played over a massive action sequence and Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock" provided perfect music for Hank's mind control experiments. I'm not sure that Elton Britt's 1950's country hit "Uranium Fever" has ever had quite this big of a platform. Throw in "Luck Be A Lady" from the original Broadway cast of "Guys and Dolls" and Rum & Coca-Cola" by the Andrews Sisters and you've got one hell of an eccentric soundtrack. Crazy, eclectic and hilarious perfection all around.
Production credits are stellar, with superb costuming and special effects throughout. The production design by Howard Cummings (Westworld, Contagion) is jaw dropping and brings the game to life while expanding it's scope dramatically.
With over 1 billion viewing minutes in each of its first two weeks, its another monster hit for Prime Video, with Season 3 already renewed. I can't wait!!!
FALLOUT SEASON 2 is an absolute blast of radioactive originality, hilarity and jaw dropping visuals, matching its first season with an A+
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