When Fallout season 1 ended, there were plenty of questions. There was also a lot of excitement, as the promise of New Vegas was there. The series has not let us down with the Fallout season 2 premiere.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from the Fallout season 2 premiere.
After almost six minutes of recap of the events of season 1 — and I think bringing seasons out faster would really help to limit that need — we head straight back to the past. The people are rebelling against the robots, viewing them as a threat to their work and livelihood. And that’s not surprising. We’re seeing the fears today of AI taking over jobs.
Well, Robert House is on TV defending the robots, which leads to a group of men in a bar saying how they didn’t vote for him. Oh, but they did. At least, that’s what a dapperly-dressed man tells them. This man? Only Justin Theroux’s Robert House. Is it possible that Rob-Co has opted for a face of the company to allow House to wander among the people? It would seem so.
The great thing about this is he doesn’t introduce himself. Instead, he ends up outside with the men, inviting the biggest of them to hit him. Then he offers $31m, and all the guy has to do is allow House to put a device on the back of his head, for “market research.” Well, you can guess the guy doesn’t want this, but House forces him, and it leads to him controlling the guy to kill his friends. That’s when things take a turn, as House fails to be able to control the guy until his head blows off.
Well, that’s that, then! We get a hint of the dangerous mind of Robert House.
The Ghoul has been captured on the Fallout season 2 premiere
Back in the post-apocalyptic world, we find out that the Ghoul has been captured by a faction and is facing execution. He’s not worried, though, as Lucy and Dogmeat are in a dinosaur’s mouth, ready to shoot the rope.
Lucy attempts to talk them down, but it still turns into a shootout. However, Lucy isn’t interested in killing people, so she shoots to injure instead. At least, The Ghoul is saved, and he is able to take all the men out.
There’s some back-and-forth between them about Lucy still not being willing to do what is needed in this world, but she continues with the vision that killing isn’t the right thing to do. They continue their journey to New Vegas, and as they see it in the distance, The Ghoul explains that House prevented some of the bombs from dropping on the city, but he’s a dangerous man.
Along the journey, Lucy sees the type of man her father really is. There’s a man killed by Hank just literally walking through him, and then she learns that Hank abducted a woman’s son — the woman is only bothered because her son owed her money. Well, this all leads to Lucy and The Ghoul getting to a destroyed vault, and in there, they come across the son.
As Lucy and The Ghoul pull back the curtain, he tells her, “I fix everything. Go home, Sugar Bomb.” It’s clearly a message from Hank for Lucy, but she isn’t going to listen to it, especially when the guy’s head blows up. It turns out that Hank placed one of those devices on the guy’s neck, controlling him. There is still a flaw in the technology, though.
Can Lucy really bring her father to justice in the way that she wants, or does she have to kill him? It’s going to be a question for her to answer on Fallout season 2.
What’s going on in Vaults 33 and 32?
Meanwhile, in the Fallout season 2 premiere, we head down to the vaults, starting with Vault 33 and then Vault 32. We learn that the water chip issue in Vault 33 is a priority, as they’re going through far too much water. Betty needs to get a handle on this, but it doesn’t help that Reg is trying to find something to do and just making a mess. Betty suggests that he sets up a support group, and she’ll even give him the budget he needs for snacks.
With him gone, Betty and the others can focus on what is needed to make sure the vault survives. While we know that Betty is somewhat of a villain, as she comes from Vault 31, she is doing the right thing at this point.
In Vault 32, Steph is listening to the problems of one man, who is confused with everything being the opposite way. She wasn’t ready for an Overseer position, but this is where she is. She doesn’t even care that Chet isn’t the father of her baby, deciding that he should be called Chet Jr. Poor, Chet. He just wanted to help at first, and now he’s stuck playing house, and it’s not like he can really say no. Steph is in charge.
As Steph struggles with the computer, she decides to send a message through the terminal, only it doesn’t work. The system has been shut down.
Norm fights to survive in Vault 31
It wasn’t Bud who shut down the system. Instead, Norm has managed to stop the communications through the Vaults. He is struggling to survive. While he’s found some water, there is no food in this vault.
Bud is more than happy to point out all the problems, but it doesn’t take long for Norm to figure something out. He manages to take out the robot and get to the console system again. He’s going to wake everyone up from their pods.
Storylines in the past in the Fallout season 2 premiere
Back in the past, we see Cooper rush into the house to get his daughter, with the plan to run away. However, that’s not so easy when a siren goes off (it’s just a test), and House is there in the little suburban area.
We also learn from the past that Cooper was sent to kill House by Moldaver, but while she’s asking him to do it — although not quite in those explicit words — it’s clear that he doesn’t really want to. Once upon a time, Cooper was just like Lucy. Is there another way?
What is Hank doing in New Vegas?
To end the Fallout season 2 premiere, we head to New Vegas, as Hank makes it to the Vault-Tec offices there. He checks messages, makes coffee, and then dresses in one of the suits there, making him feel human. Now it’s time to get to work, and he even reports for duty to someone he just calls “Sir.”
It’s not clear who this “Sir” is, though. Is it House, or is there someone else he’s reporting to? Considering he’s doing work on the chips that House was working on, it must be him, right? We learn that before the bombs dropped, people were working on the Brain Computer Interface, creating a miniaturized version of it. They managed to do that, but can Hank make sure it works properly? That’s his aim, because he wants a promotion.
Fallout season 2 airs on Wednesdays on Prime Video.