FALLOUT [AMAZON PRIME Video]

AMAZON PRIME Video’s new 8-episode series, Fallout, is based on the award-winning 1997 video game of the same name. China and the U.S. have a nuclear exchange that pretty much destroys civilization. Now, 219 years later, events come to a critical point.



The first two episodes of Fallout introduce the characters and the plot. The post-nuclear holocaust world of Los Angles consists of “Vault dwellers,” communities who live underground in planned communities and “Surface dwellers” who live in the Wasteland. After a raid by the Surface dwellers on Vault 33, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) leaves her safe bunker to search for her father who was kidnapped by the raiders. Lucy has never been on the surface before and the experience shocks her with its savagery and bleakness. After a slow start, the series picks up steam in Episode 3.



Another key character is a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, a religious warrior organization. Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire who serves a brutal Knight who lives in a massive metal exoskeleton, finds the quest they are on more complicated than he first thought. The quest is to track down Michael Emerson  as Dr. Siggi Wilzig, an enigmatic scientist who aids Lucy, and his  his experimental dog, CX404. 



The wild card in this mix is Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), an actor who survived the nuclear attack but mutated into something called The Ghoul who has lived over 200 years. The Ghoul, a bounty hunter now, is also hunting Dr. Wilzig down to collect the bottle cap reward (bottle caps are money in the Future).



I really liked Production Designer Howard Cummings’ distinctive sets for the Vaults and the Wasteland. Creators Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner create a compelling mood in these episodes. Executive Producers Lisa Joy and Johnathan Nolan of Westworld bring an antic vibe to the series. High production values! A second season has already been approved. If looking for something very different than the current streaming TV series,   Fallout might be what you’re looking for. GRADE: B+