This review is based on episodes 1-4 of Fallout.<\/em><\/p>\n Compared to Fallout<\/a>, The Last of Us<\/a>, the (deserved) winner of RadioTimes.com<\/a>\u2018s best series of 2023<\/a> award, had it pretty easy.<\/span><\/p>\n After all, the latter was built from perhaps the single greatest narrative in gaming history. The former, however, had to be crafted from a series of open-world titles<\/a> where players could become pretty much anyone, from a friendly neighbourhood bug-killer to a cold-blooded bounty hunter, and take on pretty much anything, from bandits to bloatflies.<\/span><\/p>\n Thankfully, by following not one narrative strand, but three \u2013 representing, in the words of star Ella Purnell<\/a>, \u201cthree different levels of play\u201d \u2013 the show\u2019s team leaned into the freakiness of the Fallout franchise to create a truly enjoyable romp through the post-apocalyptic wasteland.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Those three narrative strands follow Purnell\u2019s Lucy MacLean<\/a>, a \u2018vault dweller\u2019 who has lived a life of post-nuclear-warfare luxury in the safety of a secure bunker;<\/span> Aaron Moten\u2019s Maximus, a squire in the Brotherhood of Steel who has dreams of bringing order to the chaos of the former United States of America<\/span>; and Walton Goggins\u2019s The Ghoul, an actor and spokesperson for the Vault-Tec company in a past life, whose exposure to radiation leaves him\u2026 slightly worse for wear (and on a blood-thirsty quest for caps and scalps).\u00a0<\/span><\/p> As Purnell mentioned, each of these three characters represent different levels of skill and experience, akin to different levels of player in the Fallout games \u2013 MacLean the \u2018noob\u2019 who is threatened by level three radroaches; The Ghoul a seasoned veteran who could speed-run the main campaign with ease.<\/span><\/p>\n And it\u2019s an approach that largely works, helping to bring variance to the viewing, all while building the storytelling around a singular (if slightly uninteresting) objective.<\/span><\/p>\n Through each of these characters, the audience gets to see a range of experiences within this mad post-apocalyptic setting, witnessing how a physically untrained, mentally sheltered aristocrat might try to talk their way out of trouble, and how a trained killer with nothing to lose might simply blast their<\/em> way out of trouble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Without a doubt, though, it\u2019s the former strand<\/span> that is most enjoyable to dive into. Purnell\u2019s MacLean is instantly likeable, bringing a charming naivet\u00e9 but underpinning it with a surprising steel that becomes increasingly prominent<\/span> the more she has to face up to the challenges of the outside world.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether she\u2019s chatting to her fellow vault dwellers with unbridled optimism or taking on the deranged creatures of the wasteland, Purnell is a joy to spend time with \u2013 one interaction with a moody shopkeeper proves particularly memorable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As the episodes progress, however, she develops from a form of comic relief to a pretty formidable<\/span> protagonist, following the \u2018ordinary person on an extraordinary adventure\u2019 arc but adding a freshness to ensure it avoids feeling tired.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a lot to enjoy about Moten\u2019s Maximus, too, a frustrated soldier who feels he\u2019s being wasted within the confines of the hierarchical Brotherhood of Steel \u2013 not least because he gets to dig into a number of sequences centred around the franchise\u2019s trademark power armour, which is sure to delight fans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, at least within the first half of the season, the show\u2019s weakest plotline undoubtedly comes from Goggins\u2019s The Ghoul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While there are attempts to dive into the backstory of this fallen character early on, there isn\u2019t anything here that we haven\u2019t seen before, and\u2013 much like in Ant-Man and the Wasp<\/a> \u2013 Goggins is saddled (to borrow a cowboy term) with a largely monotonous antagonist, who feels distinctly like the evil, faceless brother of The Mandalorian<\/a>\u2018s Cobb Vanth, or any of the other \u2018Man with No Name\u2019<\/span>\u00a0archetypes we\u2019ve seen before.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Whether this improves in the second half of the season, we\u2019ll have to wait and see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [squirrel-affiliate-playlist squirrel_playlist_id=\u201d609\u2033 \/]<\/p>\n All of these storylines play out in an intricately crafted, delightfully weird post-apocalyptic world. Director and executive producer Jonathan Nolan and creators Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner have talked about how they themselves are fans of the game<\/a>, and that certainly comes through.<\/span><\/p>\n The set design is gorgeous \u2013 whether it be in the iconic vaults adorned in the trademark blue and yellow of the franchise\u2019s Vault Boy mascot, the desolate expanse of the irradiated deserts, or the run-down towns built from scraps of metal, it\u2019s clear that every inch<\/span> has been meticulously planned to remain authentic to the games. <\/span><\/p>\n Some shoddy green screen work aside, it\u2019s the type of visual feast you\u2019d expect from a storyteller with the surname \u201cNolan\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n The same, too, goes for the soundtrack, which is filled with the types of jaunty \u201950s and early \u201960s tunes you\u2019d expect to hear, enhancing the visuals playing out on screen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And the bizarre characters, threatening monsters and strange scenarios you\u2019re witnessing on said screen are distinctly <\/span>Fallout<\/span>, blending menace and threat with the leftfield humour and eccentricity that has made the Bethesda series so adored over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n By leaning into its R rating, the writing team is able to properly lean into the absurdity you\u2019d hope for.<\/span><\/p>\n Unfortunately, though, that writing does sometimes fall short, particularly in the more emotional moments. As is the case in a number of Jonathan Nolan\u2019s big-screen productions, certain lines come off as unnatural, lacking humanity, which threatens to derail the stakes at times.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, this isn\u2019t necessarily here to bring the most emotionally gut-wrenching series of the year. It\u2019s here to have fun, and in that regard, it\u2019s a resounding success. We\u2019re glad this one made it out of the vault \u2013 it\u2019s been well worth the wait.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Walton](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/The-Ghoul-Fallout-3c88568.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Walton")
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