Welcome Back to the Wasteland: Fallout Season 1 Refresher

It’s almost time to bust out some YumYum Deviled Eggs, and if you’re like me, you’ll wash those down with a refreshing bottle of Nuka-Cola. Fallout season 2 is poised to take Prime Video by storm on December 17. The mega-hit video game adaptation delivered a near-flawless inaugural season, and, like our expectations, the narrative stakes have never been higher. Who knew the end of the world would be so fun?

If you’re scrambling to recall everything from that jam-packed first season, never fear. I’ve got a handy-dandy primer with everything you need to know ahead of season 2.

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Why Lucy Left Vault 33 in the First Place

The year is 2296, 219 years after the world ended. Lucy MacLean is petitioning the council of Vault 33 to let her marry someone from Vault 32. Initially, everything goes according to plan – Lucy meets her betrothed, Monty, who seems charming enough. The nuptials go off without a hitch. However, Lucy quickly discovers that Monty is a Raider, and Moldaver, the supposed head of Vault 32, is his leader.

After the denizens of Vault 33 join forces to overpower the Raiders, who killed everyone in Vault 32, Moldaver takes Hank MacLean, Lucy’s father and the Overseer of Vault 33, hostage. In the aftermath of the attack, Vault 33 imprisons the surviving Raiders. Despite the council’s vehement protestations, Lucy ventures out into the Wasteland, something vault dwellers never do. You never leave your vault. Her objective? Track down Moldaver and save her dad.

Lucy leaves behind her brother, Norm, who embarks on his own journey to unravel the mysteries of the vaults. More on that later.

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The Ghoul’s Past

The Ghoul isn’t just a talented bounty hunter with intense skin damage and an appetite for chickens – he’s formerly known as Cooper Howard, an A-list actor from before the world went down the drain. In season 1, we learn he served in the military prior to transitioning to an acting career. He even tested the prototype for the power armor used by the Brotherhood of Steel. In the flashback scenes, he’s married to Barb Howard, a high-up executive at Vault-Tec. They have a daughter named Janey.

We see how integral Cooper is to the development of the vaults before the bombing starts. He gives video tours of the vaults, including Vault 4, which Lucy and Maximus visit later in the season. He’s even the inspiration for the Vault Boy design. Remember, kids, just put your thumb up to the sky when you see a mushroom cloud. If the cloud is smaller than your thumb, run. If it’s bigger, well, you’re screwed.

Many of the flashbacks find Cooper pulling back the curtain on Vault-Tec and the real reason for the impending apocalypse. He checks out a Communist Party meeting with his friend, curiosity and a growing nagging feeling about the state of the world compelling him to attend.

In the present, the Ghoul bonds with the dog CX404, formerly owned by the late Dr. Wilzig. Back when he was Cooper Howard, he was an animal lover who advocated for the family dog, Roosevelt, to join them in the vaults. (Unfortunately, dogs weren’t allowed in the vaults. Screw that – I’d brave all the radiation on Earth to stay with my pup.)

Cooper’s past also intertwines with key players from the present narrative, including young Hank MacLean and Betty Pearson, also Vault-Tec employees.

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Moldaver the Flame Mother and Dr. Wilzig

One of the figures spearheading Communist efforts in 2077 is Lee Moldaver, whom Cooper meets. As mentioned above, Moldaver raids Vault 32 with her Raiders and kidnaps Hank. However, Moldaver leaves an indelible mark as a bastion of resistance. Fallout season 1 subverts expectations by making us believe that Moldaver is the villain and Hank’s the hero. Well, by the season’s end, we learn that’s just not so.

As Lucy learns, the denizens of Vault 4 worship Moldaver as “The Flame Mother.” In the finale, Moldaver provides some much-needed exposition as she explains to Lucy that she created the fusion core, an infinite source of energy, which Vault-Tec purchased. Her objective is to access the cold fusion tech, believing it can restore humanity to where it was before the bombs. She takes Hank hostage and demands that he hand over his Vault-Tec code to hijack it.

She collaborates with Dr. Wilzig, who defects from the Enclave in season 1. After saving CX404 from incineration, he and his canine buddy make a beeline for the New California Republic, where Moldaver’s headquarters are located (inside Griffith Observatory). He encounters Lucy during his travels, eventually succumbing to self-administered cyanide to prevent the Ghoul and the Brotherhood from tracking him down.

Before he dies, Wilzig urges Lucy to decapitate him and bring Moldaver his head. Behind his ear is microscopic technology that Moldaver needs to jumpstart her cold fusion tech (in addition to the code).

In the season finale, while the Brotherhood attacks her base, Moldaver suffers a fatal wound. Thankfully, her cold fusion tech is in full effect, and we see lights flicker on all over LA. She dies along with the Ghoul in her company, who used to be Lucy’s mother, Rose. Before fleeing the scene, Lucy shoots Rose in the head in an act of mercy.

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How Maximus and Lucy’s Stories Intersect

Maximus is an aspirant in the Brotherhood of Steel who gets promoted to squire in place of his friend, Dane. He learns that Dr. Wilzig is a defector of the Enclave and is on the run with valuable technology. They call him “The Target.” Maximus embarks on his first mission as the squire of Knight Titus.

However, while en route to Filly, an irradiated bear attacks Knight Titus. Instead of saving his superior, Maximus lets KT die and swipes his power armor. He realizes the only way the Brotherhood will allow him to live is if he retrieves The Target.

Maximus and Lucy’s paths first intersect in Downtown Filly when he saves her from the Ghoul’s attack (although the latter is only there for Wilzig, courtesy of Dom Pedro). After the Ghoul causes his armor to malfunction, Maximus pretends to be Knight Titus. The Brotherhood dispatches Thaddeus to be his new squire. Upon discovering Wilzig’s head near Hollywood Boulevard, the men prepare to return to the Brotherhood’s headquarters with their prize. But Thaddeus learns that Maximus isn’t really Knight Titus. After a scuffle between the two (and after Maximus stomps on Thaddeus’s foot), Thaddeus bolts with the head.

Then, Lucy and Maximus reunite. They decide to find Wilzig’s head together and give it to the Brotherhood. In exchange, the Brotherhood will storm Moldaver’s headquarters and help Lucy save her father. Their mission is derailed, though, when Maximus suffers a bullet wound to the arm. They arrive in Shady Sands, the capital of the New California Republic, and spend some time in Vault 4.

Maximus and Lucy develop feelings for each other. Lucy asks Maximus to move in with her in Vault 33 when all this is over. After their stay in Vault 4, they stumble upon Thaddeus. Maximus is shocked to discover that Thaddeus is now a Ghoul (just not feral yet). Lucy retrieves Wilzig’s head, while Maximus brings a different head to the Brotherhood to trick them into thinking it belongs to The Target.

Later, Dane saves Maximus from execution, and the latter finds himself the new right-hand man of Elder Cleric Quintus.

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Hank Is the Secret Baddie

Hank MacLean isn’t as squeaky Ma-clean as he seems (Get it?). A Vault-Tec employee, he’s been around since before the Great War. We learn in the finale that Lucy and Norm’s mom, Rose, discovered that Shady Sands is a real thing. People are living above ground.

An incredulous Hank ordered Rose not to leave; however, she fled Vault 33 with their kids for Shady Sands. There, young Lucy met Moldaver. Hank was hot on their heels, though. He returned to Vault 33 with Lucy and Norm after razing Shady Sands to the ground. Lucy and Norm grew up thinking their mother was dead, but she lived the rest of her life with Moldaver before becoming a Ghoul.

In the finale’s last moments, Hank hijacks power armor and makes his way toward New Vegas, where the big boss, Mr. House, rules the roost. It’s worth noting that he and Betty were aware of Vault-Tec’s true motivations. Let’s dig into those now…

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Vault-Tec’s Real Motivations

War pays. That’s capitalism, baby. Vault-Tec is responsible for fomenting violence among the world powers, and this “inevitable” world-ending apocalypse is lining up all the big suits’ pockets. However, they’re not profiting from humanity’s pain and suffering enough.

That’s when Cooper overhears Barb propose in a meeting that they should drop the bombs. They have the newly constructed vaults now. The fighting won’t stop in the nuclear fallout, either. If anything, the apocalypse will tip the scales toward chaos. Cooper can’t believe his wife would suggest such a thing.

Fallout delivers clever commentary on the military-industrial complex and capitalism. As Moldaver tells Cooper at the Communist Party meeting, the government has the power to stop all the fighting, but there’s no money in peace. And Hank’s reaction to Moldaver’s desire to jumpstart the cold fusion tech should tell you where he stands. If humanity is restored, well, he and Vault-Tec can’t fill their coffers when the world becomes a utopia.

Additionally, Bud Askins believes they should experiment on human longevity so they can eventually repopulate the Earth after the destruction they wreaked. Lucy discovers the heinous experiments her ancestors conducted during her stay in Vault 4, and how the scientists attempted to hybridize humans and radioactive animals to extend their lifespan.

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Vault 31 and Vault 32

As mentioned above, Norm goes into investigative mode while his sister trudges through the Wasteland. He and Chet explore Vault 32, where they find all the people the Raiders killed. Norm also learns that only the inhabitants of Vault 31 have been Overseers in Vault 33. As it turns out, both Hank and Betty are from Vault 31, as are all the surviving Vault-Tec employees. He also discovers that the Raiders used his mom’s Pip-Boy to access Vault 32.

When Betty “wins” the Overseer election in Vault 33 to fill the void Hank left behind, she sends half of the vault over to Vault 32. Among its new residents is Lucy’s BFF Steph, who’s starting her next chapter with Chet and her baby. Steph becomes the interim Overseer of Vault 32.

Norm knows something’s amiss. He meets Overseer 31, which is essentially a Roomba with Bud’s brain. Bud explains that Vault 31 contains Vault-Tec employees in stasis, who are then brought out of cryogenic sleep to procreate with “genetically fit” vault dwellers (oof, eugenics). Bud refuses to let Norm leave the vault and puts the latter in stasis, promising to bring Norm back when it’s time to repopulate the planet.

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The End of the Beginning and New Vegas

The Ghoul believes that Barb and Janey are still alive. For starters, they’re not in Vault 31. Plus Barb spent so much time in 2077 ensuring that her family got into a high-end vault. There’s a good chance they’re in New Vegas. Lucy wants to track down her dad – again – to make him pay for being an a-hole. So, the Ghoul and Lucy are reluctantly joining forces to find what they need in New Vegas. At least Lucy isn’t his prisoner this time.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood descends upon Moldaver’s headquarters as Lucy confronts her father. Hank knocks Maximus unconscious after the latter releases him from his cage. He wakes up to watch Moldaver die beside her already-dead girlfriend, Rose (this is my headcanon – they definitely read like a couple). Dane and the rest of the Brotherhood assume that Maximus killed Moldaver, who was public enemy number one. They chant “Knight Maximus” incessantly. Someone’s getting a promotion.

Norm is now stuck in Vault 31. Steph and Chet are walking into the unknown in Vault 32. Mr. House looms large. Perhaps most importantly, Moldaver’s cold fusion tech is up and running, and it seems to be quite effective.

In short, it’s all going to hit the fan. I can’t wait to see how the story plays out.

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