Fallout season 1, episode 4 recap "The Ghouls"

Lucy has been kidnapped by the Ghoul, leaving Wilzig's head and 4 behind. In Fallout season 1 episode 4, she finds herself placed in several positions that may threaten her values and morals.

Will the apocalypse and the Ghoul corrupt her? Let's find out!

The trade

Each step Lucy takes she becomes increasingly more dehydrated, whilst the Ghoul tries to withhold several coughs and wheezing fits. The first stop the two make is to visit one of the Ghoul's friends, Roger, who is on the verge of turning.

It appears that if the Ghouls do not drink enough of the vials, they turn into zombie-like creatures, who forget who they are and become killing machines. As the two reflect on being human, including reminiscing the taste of actual good food, the Ghoul kills Roger.

Devastated and distraught Lucy scolds the Ghoul for not only killing his friend but for beginning to eat him. Fed up with her positive morals, the Ghoul orders Lucy to cut pieces off his dead friend for him to eat.

Afterward, they continue their journey into the desert where Lucy finds radioactive water. Desperate she drinks it, receiving more condescending words from her captor.

Lucy uses another violent coughing fit as her chance to escape. But she doesn't get far before the Ghoul recaptures her.

She bites off one of his fingers, and he cuts off one of hers in retaliation. The two arrive at an abandoned supermarket, where Lucy is forced to enter alone in exchange for vials.

As she enters, the Ghoul passes out. If only she called his bluff and waited...

Inside she is greeted by a very friendly robot who offers to help her. He gives her a new finger from a collection of several dismembered ones and listens to her concerns about being captured.

He reassures her that she is not being sex trafficked and will instead be harvested for her organs. After passing out from an injection, the friendly robot wheels her past two men watching TV and several captured Ghouls in glass containers.

Lucy's escape

Lucy awakens and finds herself wheeled into the operating room. She manages to fight off the robot and escape.

She threatens the two men to release the Ghouls. They do, however, some of the Ghouls have turned.

The Ghouls and the two men are killed, but it is the last Ghoul who turns that affects Lucy the most. A Ghoul named Martha tried and failed to save herself from turning.

Lucy has no choice but to kill her. For such a quick blip in a larger episode and story overall, this moment was impactful in so many ways.

Fixing herself up, Lucy exits the supermarket and finds the Ghoul still laid out on the ground. Even though he put her through hell, she still gives him some vials and allows him to live.

Lucy still refuses to allow the world to change her. After her departure, the Ghoul enters the supermarket and goes ham!

He drinks, does drugs, and finds the entire supply of vials. As he enjoys himself, he notices the TV and a copy of one of his films.

The Ghoul decides to watch it, where the audience learns Cooper's character does, in fact, kill the bad guy in the film.

Do people change?

Although Lucy's ordeal was something to behold, it does not compare to what happens at Vault 32. Obviously planning something, Steph decides to visit Chet, offering him her husband Bert's belongings.

Funnily enough, Chet is extremely tall and all of Bert's items do not fit properly. Even still, Steph mistakes Chet for Bert, and the two begin to get intimate.

Thankfully this awkward and hilarious scene comes to a halt when Steph's water breaks. Meanwhile, Norm is still trying to process his father being kidnapped and the slaughter.

He feels guilty for hiding while everyone around him fought back or died. What we can assume is Norm making his own moves, he brings food to the imprisoned raiders which includes delicious Jello.

The guard is surprised and a little upset to see the prisoners receive something so good to eat. Norm is able to convince her to take it.

After she leaves Norm finishes his job only to be greeted by a raider on the other side. Norm learns that Vault 33 was far from innocent.

Conflicted about what to do, Norm seeks Chet's help, and the two wander to Vault 33. After squeezing through the blockade, they find that everyone at Vault 33 was killed two years before the raiders arrived.

What's worse is that it appears as though the Vault 33 dwellers killed each other. What's worse than that is Norm and Chet learn that Vault 33 was opened from the outside.

What's even worse than that is it was Norm's mother who opened the vault...

Fallout season 1 episode 4 review

This was quite a whirlwind of an episode. Thankfully Lucy survives yet another deadly situation and she does so, so incredibly well.

Lucy can be so innocent and perhaps blind to common sense but she's also incredibly smart and quick-thinking. Her rescue of the Ghouls was so heartwarming to witness and Martha's death, as swift as it was, was so effective.

It will easily be one of the saddest moments of the season. Although it appears as though the Ghoul may make changes to be a better person, is he capable of coming back and becoming his old self again?

He's been a Ghoul for so long and even when he was Cooper, he still took the paycheck for his film, when he was against his character killing the bad guy. Maximus was absent from the episode but that probably means he'll be back in episode 5.

We're halfway through season 1 and I find myself equally, if not more, invested in each episode I watch. I do believe Fallout is going to be another successful video game adaptation, which means more opportunities for more video game expansions.

What did you think of Fallout season 1, episode 4? Let us know in the comments below!

Watch Fallout season 1 on Amazon Prime Video.