Like with the first season, the Fallout season 2 finale brought us some answers. At the same time, it left us with questions for the next season to answer. In some good news, there is a third season happening, but the bad news is we’ll have to wait for it.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from the Fallout season 2 finale.
There’s a lot happening throughout the episode, with various characters in different spots of New Vegas. However, storylines have to start converging, as people can’t win on their own.
Maximus takes a stand to protect the people of New Vegas on the Fallout season 2 finale
While the episode starts with the Legion getting a new leader — in the form of Macauley Culkin’s character after getting rid of the paper that said there would be no other Caesar (or Kaisar, as that character really wants to call himself) — we head back to New Vegas. Maximus is trying to take on the Deathclaws, finding new weapons in his suit.
However, one man is not enough as the Deathclaws just keep on coming. The people of the town decide to bet on when he’ll die rather than help out, and it leads to Thaddeus heading to the rooftop to offer a helping hand — well, foot.
As Maximus’s suit starts to fail, he has no choice but to get out of it. That’s when the people realize that it’s just a boy in that suit, and some of them decide that maybe they should help out after all. They don’t need to, though, as the NCR turns up. This was where the woman from the base went, despite her partner being taken by Hank, and it turns out that the NCR is still alive and kicking.
It’s just in time because the Legion are getting closer to New Vegas to take it over. We’ll have to wait until Fallout season 3 to see how that ends.
Lucy has to make a difficult decision — and one she’s fed up of making
At the end of Fallout season 2 episode 7, Lucy found out that the brain-computer interface was being run by the Congresswoman’s head. It turns out that the Congresswoman is still alive, but she doesn’t want to be, asking for Lucy to kill her. Poor Lucy! She is fed up of people asking her to kill them, because it’s not the person that she is. In the end, she does it, and this should be viewed as a moment of sacrifice.
Hank isn’t happy with Lucy, though. He shares that the interface was created by Dr. House but that he developed something more human. The Congresswoman was the perfect person to run off, as she is an ISFP personality on the Myers-Briggs system, which is the ideal personality for peace. That’s what he wants to bring to people: making sure they still have a personality (as Dr. House was creating robots) and bringing hope to the Wasteland.
He's even managed to develop the micro version of the chip, which will mean just a small scar on the neck. The first person to test it on is Lucy, as Hank needs to get his little girl back. Just as it looks like he’s going to succeed, The Ghoul shoots him in the leg before walking off to find his family.
Lucy can now do what she needs to do, which is to place the chip in her father’s neck. She doesn’t get the chance to push the button, though. Hank was one step ahead, sharing that the chip has already been distributed. As he pushes the button, we’re left wondering where in the Wasteland has the chip! What we do find is that he has completely forgotten about Lucy, creating a heartbreaking moment as she loses her father while he is still alive in front of her.
Just as it looks like Lucy is going to be left alone, Maximus finds her. Finally, we get the reunion we have waited all season for. However, there is the threat of the Legion coming to town, something that Lucy feels like she could have prevented had she gone along with her father’s plan.
The Ghoul gets his first sense of hope in 200 years
Throughout all of this, The Ghoul listens to Dr. House about where his family is. After promising to work with House once he gets his family back, The Ghoul gets to go through the various parts of the New Vegas vault. It turns out, though, that this vault wasn’t owned by Vault-Tec. It was owned by their investors: The Enclave!
After shooting Hank, The Ghoul continues his search for his family, finally getting to the vaults that have Barb and Janey’s names on them. However, when he opens them, they’re empty. Is it possible that they never got to the vaults?
Well, a postcard of Colorado makes him smile. We get a flashback to before the bombs dropped, where we find out that Cooper was arrested for his actions in passing on the cold fusion to the president. While Barb was also involved, he made it clear that he had to take the fall, which is presumably how they end up splitting up — a way to protect Barb. There are still plenty of questions, but we’re slowly seeing how Barb became disillusioned with Vault-Tec’s plan.
A previous conversation about Colorado connects all the way to the postcard that The Ghoul sees in the vault. For the first time in 200 years, he knows that his family is alive. Now, he’s on a new adventure to Colorado. I’m assuming there are other vaults for management there? Or did they become ghouls as well to survive? So many questions for Fallout season 3!
Roaches save Norm’s life on the Fallout season 2 finale
As all this is going on, we get to see what’s going on with Norm. Just as it looks like the Vault 31 Buds are going to kill him, one of them pushes Claudia into the elevator button. Well, we all remember what was in there, right? It was a roach farm!
Sure enough, these are killer roaches, and they take out the various Buds. As they run to an office, Norm is prevented from getting in. Well, maybe the Buds should have let him in, because with this delay, the roaches get in and the door slams shut. Norm is the only one protected from the killer creatures.
It looks like Claudia survives, and once the roaches seem to have killed themselves as well as the Buds, Norm goes in and gets her out. They’re on their own adventure to get Claudia the medical help she needs.
Steph sends a message to the Investors
We finally get to see where all the messages were going. As Steph continues to struggle with the mob that is rallying outside her door — and they want to kill her! — she opens Hank’s briefcase. Inside is an old arm device, and she puts it on to send a message to the Enclave.
While she didn’t know all the plans, she shares via the arm device that she is Hank’s wife, and it’s time for Phase 2. Sure enough, in the past, we learn that Hank and Steph married while in Vegas. While this certainly brings up a few questions about her feelings inside the vault, there are a few questions answered. She has always known what the bigger plan is.
As we get to the building of scientists that Dogmeat had been saved from back in Fallout season 1, we learn that the Enclave have been listening to all the messages. They got the message from Hank, and they heard Norm’s plea for help. More importantly, they get the message to initiate Phase 2, and it looks like that will take place during Fallout season 3.
Fallout is available to stream on Prime Video.