Chaos Is Easy: Fallout Season 2 Premiere Recap and Review

This article recaps and spoils elements of Fallout season 2’s premiere episode, “The Innovator.” Proceed with caution, wastelander.

Let the end times roll!

After Prime Video decided to scoot up the Fallout season 2 premiere by one night (moving it from Wednesday, December 17 to Tuesday, December 16), fans everywhere rushed to their Radiation King televisions with Nuka-Cola and Sugar Bombs aplenty to catch the release. Contrary to the debut season of the series, season 2 will be releasing its episodes weekly, meaning instead of one big binge, viewers have time to digest each episode (and let the fan theories fester).

Season 2 kicked off with “The Innovator,” which arguably begins with less of a big bang than season 1 (hard to compete with actual nuclear bombs), but sets the stage for digging deeper into some of the wasteland’s biggest mysteries. It’s Cram-packed with Easter eggs, references straight out of the Fallout 4 and Fallout: New Vegas video games, and toe-tapping musical hits.

Grab your Radaway and let’s dive headfirst into recapping the Vault-Tec assisted action.

---

Mr. House Has a Media Double

Talk about a House swap! Fallout quickly addresses the notion of “recasting” Mr. House when we see season 1’s Rafi Silver, who sat on the Vault-Tec board as the head of RobCo Industries, doing media work while season 2’s Justin Theroux sits at a bar watching the television. Tensions with tech are already high pre-war, with scads of citizens protesting RobCo’s robotic creations in Santa Monica, CA. It makes sense, then, that the most powerful and richest man in the world would hide behind a media double.

Whether this was always the plan from the outset or not, this double casting adds a layer of complexity and obscurity to Mr. House and his infamous dealings. Throughout the episode, viewers are told that when the bombs finally drop, he will be the one pressing the button. But before this, we get the introduction of a work-in-progress mind control chip that House field tests on some surly bar patrons. “The world might end, but progress marches on,” Mr. House says ominously as the flashback ends.

Who cares if progress also means exploding a few heads?

---

Lucy, The Ghoul, and Plan C

Returning to the apocalyptic present, most of the Novac motel scene was shown in early season teasers and trailers. But that doesn’t make it any less fun to see Lucy MacLean attempt to talk her way through an encounter with a wasteland gang (putting that CHA stat to use) and use Dinky the T-Rex as a sniper’s nest. (A fun note, the subtitles now refer to canine CX404 as Dogmeat.)

It seems Lucy and the Ghoul’s partnership is still rocky at best, as our Vault dweller’s morality is pushed to its limits in their shared quest to find whatever remains of their families. The bounty hunter is already tired of the Vault dweller’s insistence on only shooting people in “the ass and kneecaps.” Lucy is frequently confronted with undeniable evidence of her father’s cruelty on their trek, but still believes in bringing him to peaceable justice. The Ghoul remains unconvinced, but his motivations are also mired in the mystery of finding out definitively what became of Barb and Janey.

This similar-yet-different circumstance they find themselves in is part of the emotional heart of the show, but when more truths come to light, whose backbone will bow first? Will the Ghoul take pleasure in watching Lucy lose parts of herself? Can Lucy bring the Ghoul back to his humanity? There’s plenty of season yet to unfold, so only time will tell how the wasteland changes our heroes for better or worse.

A few other notable moments in this sequence include the “Big Iron” needle drop (I didn’t expect it so soon) and the V.A.T.S.-style critical hits during combat. Looks like someone took the Bloody Mess perk!

---

Trouble in Paradise — Vaults 31, 32, and 33

Back in the Vaults, which provide a much cleaner contrast to the irradiated surface, things aren’t going so hunky-dory. Expert comedic gravitas is given to the woes of the dwellers of Vaults 32 and 33, who have fully begun their resettling and restructuring. It’s hard to believe the former is the same blight-stricken Vault that Chet and Norm found filled with desiccated bodies last season.

Eyepatch-wearing Steph Harper is now Overseer of the reclaimed Vault 32, dealing with all the fun of blue-and-yellow bureaucracy as a bit of her sinister side starts to slip out with cousin Chet (and baby Chet Jr., whom she refers to as ‘it’). Meanwhile, Betty Pearson is Overseer of 33, embroiled in the issue of the burnt-out water chip, which many fans, including this writer, thought was just an Easter egg for Fallout 1‘s original inciting incident.

She’s also annoyed by poor Reg McPhee (who we learn has a PhD in Event Planning), as he seems to have lost all sense of purpose — she tells him to start a club, and boy, does he. I can’t get over how hilarious and catchy, “It’s not your fault you were born in a Vault,” is. And thanks to teasers for the rest of the season, it’s likely we haven’t seen the last of the horny redheads and the In-Breeding Support Group.

Norm Is Certainly Not One of Bud’s Buds

When we check in with Norm MacLean, we find he’s currently starving, trapped in Vault 31 with the brain of Bud Askins and the cryo-pods that housed Bud’s Buds like Hank, Betty, and Steph. Bud (which the subtitles hilariously call “Brain on a Roomba”) has him trapped, threatening him with death by lethal injection if he doesn’t get into his father Hank’s former cryo-pod and be frozen into stasis. These are his only two “rational” options, but as Norm informs him, there are plenty of irrational choices to make here.

Norm’s character arc thus far has been deeply engaging, and while it’s less action-packed than his sister Lucy’s, his story digs deep into the creepier side of the Vault conspiracies and the veneer of positivity the Vault dwellers shield themselves with. In a bid to make chaos out of Vault-Tec’s careful planning, Norm damages the Bud-bot’s syringe arm and activates the remaining cryo-pods, which explains the shots of Vault 31-suited individuals we see in teasers for the ful season. They’re only supposed to thaw out every 30 years, so things are about to get interesting and wonderfully chaotic for the 31-32-33 triad.

---

Who Will Press the Button?

Despite knowing what will happen as a result of Vault-Tec’s actions in the past, the show’s flashback sequences have some of the highest dramatic tension of the series yet. Cooper Howard is finding himself backed into a corner after discovering just how complicit his wife is in preparing for the end of the world. But that doesn’t mean his hands are entirely clean, as Kate Williams (AKA season 1’s Lee Moldaver) suggests.

The show excels in emphasizing the impacts of political propaganda and capitalistic overreach in just about every aspect of life, especially through these pre-war sequences. While the series’ satire has never been exactly subtle, most games take place after the world has already been destroyed (save for Fallout 4‘s Sanctuary opening). Giving viewers a more fully realized version of the past makes it all the more heartbreaking and dire to watch the events unfold.

The emergency alert system test scene is especially chilling, even as Cooper and the viewers know it’s just a drill. But knowing the reality — that soon, it won’t be just a hypothetical — is as haunting as it is angering. The billboard of Cooper Howard being the Vault-Tec posterboy is another excellent moment of understated commentary on complicity, iconography, and the very elements of society that drove the world to this point. As Mr. House says at the top of the episode, “Every dollar spent is a vote cast.” Good thing we pay in bottle caps now.

There’s also a deliciously dark moment between Barb and Cooper in their lavish kitchen that teases not only her role in betraying the world, but the impending approach of Caesar’s Legion in the wasteland. Did you catch that Revenge of Brutus film poster on the wall behind her?

---

The Secret of Vault 24

Lucy and the Ghoul stumble upon Vault 24, an abandoned bastion located behind Starlight Drive-In (a Commonwealth settlement location in Fallout 4). Hank MacLean’s bloodied Power Armor tracks show him as going both into and out of the Vault for reasons unknown to our heroes. Lucy says she knows about the Vault experiments and how bad they could be, and the Ghoul reminds her that just because her Vault didn’t have scientific malpractice, her father was part of the reason the bombs came down.

Delving into the bowels of this overgrown, abandoned Vault, the duo discovers evidence that make the Ludovico Technique scenes from A Clockwork Orange look like a lighthearted movie marathon. This Vault was a testing ground for Mr. House’s mind control chips, as innocent people were brainwashed into becoming communists, playing into the resurgence of Red Scare seen throughout the Fallout universe. Following a trail of Sugar Bombs (her father’s nickname for her), Lucy finds an unwitting subject who delivers a message before his head explodes. Hank wants his daughter to go home so he can “fix everything.”

Meanwhile, our final sequence of the episode sees Hank MacLean arrive at a somewhat-preserved Vault-Tec corporate office. He doffs the Power Armor and trades it for a crisp new suit, cleaning up before making himself a damn fine cup of coffee and getting to work. At a desk, he sends a greeting transmission to who we can assume is likely Robert House, promising to continue the work that’s been started on the brain-computer interface and miniaturization of this mind-controlling technology.

The true horror, though, might just be that Hank’s work computer has 462,311 unread messages.

---

What Songs Are Featured in Fallout Season 2 Episode 1?

Fallout media is known for its retro radio, and the television series is no stranger to that. Season 2 episode 1 featured some of the franchise’s most iconic hits as well as some subtler choices:

• “Cheek to Cheek” covered by Peggy Lee (Played during the opening sequence with Mr. House)
• “Big Iron” by Marty Robbins (One of the songs most synonymous with Fallout: New Vegas, played during the Ghoul’s duel with the Great Khans)
• “Make the World Go Away” by Eddy Arnold (Played while Coop and Janey are driving to Bakersfield)
• “Come Go With Me” by the Del-Vikings (Played while Reg is wandering through Vault 33)
• “It’s All Over But the Crying” by the Ink Spots (One of Fallout 4’s most iconic tunes, played while Reg contemplates his life during the In-Breeding Support Group)
• “Working for the Man” by Roy Orbison (Played while Hank MacLean suits up at the Vault-Tec offices)

---

What Easter Eggs Are in “The Innovator?”

The Fallout show is full of references to the games, whether as essential worldbuilding or as intentional Easter eggs, but here are a few of the fun winks at the viewer we spotted:

• The introduction screen is no longer a Radiation King television, but a RobCo Securitron.
• The Ghoul uses a damaged fusion core’s radiation to heal his wounds at the motel. Fusion cores are most often found powering industrial generators or Power Armor suits throughout the series.
• The Vault-Tec rep who initiates the events of Fallout 4 can be seen in the pre-war sequence during the alarm tests.
• The Whack a Commie! arcade game seen in the diner originally made its debut in the Nuka World expansion for Fallout 4 (spelled Whac-a-Commie in the game).
• Many famous Fallout brands make their appearance on appliances and foodstuffs on set — a Radiation King van can be seen behind the bar with Mr. House, Norm’s Vault 31 rations include cans of purified water, Mr. House smokes Big Boss cigarettes, and a rocket-shaped Nuka-Cola bottle can be seen in the diner, just to name a few.

---

When Is the Next Episode of Fallout Season 2?

Season 2 continues next week with episode 2, which releases on Wednesday, December 24. Episode releases will continue weekly on Wednesdays until the season finale on February 4. And yes, loyal Vaulties, season 3 has already been confirmed, though the production timeline is unknown. So be prepared to have some questions remain unanswered by the end of this season as the end of the world continues.

A preview for the rest of the season plays after the credits, teasing the Brotherhood of Steel’s endeavors (they were absent this episode, save for shots of an airship and a vertibird in the pre-bomb timeline), as well as deathclaws, mutating Squire Thaddeus, Caesar’s Legion, and even a dance number in Vault 33. We can’t wait!

---

What did you think of “The Innovator”? Join the conversation with other Fallout fans over at Sideshow Social Network or in side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!