Last year’s TV show adaptation of Fallout was a rockin’ success, as it delivered a fun, black-humoured, and gory look at a post-apocalyptic America with its own “survival of the fittest” ordeal while maintaining an art deco style look that made it stand out from other shows and films of its ilk.

Naturally, a second season will follow suit, so how does it fare this time around? Pretty damn good, I must say!

There’s Magic In The Air, And It Ain’t The Gamma Radiation

Fallout Season 2 deals with the aftermath of the first season, with Vault Dweller Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul/Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) heading down to a special part of wasteland America to deal with the former’s father, Overseer Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan). That spot? New Vegas, which is the source of where the world’s end started as evident in Cooper Howard’s flashbacks pre-atom bombs. Meanwhile, the vaults they’re from (Vault 31, 33) are all figuring out how to survive without the Overseer, with Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias) trying to escape from the vault he’s trapped in while figuring out what to do with the cryogenically frozen interns and workers he’s stuck with.

Elsewhere, the Brotherhood of Steel (cult of machine-worshipping power armour-wearing folks) have their own internal squabbles and factions-bickering, with Maximus (Aaron Moten) in the forefront of it all as he is his faction’s favourite lead soldier following his victory in the last season. His previous misadventures also catches up with him, as Maximus struggles to do what’s right and what’s best for his brotherhood. Also, there’s a Commonwealth rep (Kumail Nanjiani) who pops up and complicates things a bit as they want the relic from Maximus’ Brotherhood chapter any means necessary.

Being the show where things that can go wrong WILL go wrong, the violent and humorous payoffs of the situations our “heroes” end up in and trigger are just too good to pass up and witness. Without spoiling much, you’ll get to the heavily-advertised New Vegas early-on and see the Overseer’s reason for heading there. The rocky partnership between Lucy and The Ghoul gets tested, as Lucy is all about bringing her target to justice while doing the right thing while The Ghoul is a survivor through and through. Both of them have conflicting morales and stature, through the consequences of their actions are good payoffs that dictate the harshness of the outside world.

This season features a TON of deep cuts to Fallout lore, moreso than usual. If you thought Season 1 was great with its callbacks and references, Season 2 will blow your mind, especially if you’re an avid follower of Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas (the true Fallout games). Executive producer Todd Howard (of Bethesda and the main guy who owns the Fallout IP) and his team are going all out in integrating the TV show into main Fallout lore, and the show is all the better for it.

We have robots from New Vegas, as well as familiar locales and landmarks. We get to see what remains of the New California Republic post-Shady Sands blowout. We even have Deathclaws (from the trailer) and other Fallout staples we can’t spoil, but are worth seeing integrated into the show beyond just cameos; they are current-season catalysts that might spill over into the show’s future seasons.

That said, I do feel that the Brotherhood of Steel parts of the show gets a much tidier and shorter resolution compared to Lucy and The Ghoul’s arc. There is clearly a bigger focus on the vault dweller and their predicaments. So if you wanted to see more Brotherhood of Steel shenanigans, you’ll be left wanting for more.

The House Always Wins

Long story short: Fallout’s second season is a great follow-up to the previous season while also acting as a de facto “sequel” to the base game series’ best entry: Fallout – New Vegas. With this in tow, there’s really no need for a sequel: this is pretty much a faithful live-action follow-up that respects its inspiration.

Even on its own merit, this is damn fine sci-fi apocalyptic television, hitting all the high notes with fleshing out its characters and backstories further while also delivering on the action, black humour, visuals, and (of course) the body count. True, there’s a bigger focus on certain factions than others (more love for the vault dwellers). But most of the time, they’re all done right and does justice to the source material. Here’s to more Fallout live action, bigger and better and bloodier than ever!

Final Score: 90/100

Early screeners provided by Prime Video.