In this Fallout TV Show Review, I’m going to be giving you guys my impressions from the TV show that just came out. I’m a huge Fallout fan, having played all the games, even Fallout Tactics. We’ve had Brian Fargo on the channel before, which was a dream come true for me. I spent the entire day binging this series, so let’s get into it!

My Apprehension

Let me just say, I was apprehensive going into the Fallout TV show. I’ve seen what Amazon has done to The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power. The writing of those shows is nowhere near the quality of the respective authors. The writers of these series seem like they know better than the source material, or they seem to operate that way. Even if they don’t think that, there are many writers that have to consolidate their opinions, which is something that those two franchises do not have a problem with, as they have one writer each for their source materials. Obviously, if you were a fan of those series going into those TV shows, it wouldn’t be shocking if you were disappointed or not. That being said, does Fallout deliver as a fan of the series, or are you going to be disappointed?

Fallout TV Show Review – Setting

Fallout is a little different because it’s based off of a video series, instead of a book series that had one author. There are many writers and stories. However, Fallout is not particularly famous for the stories, but is more widely known for the setting and premise of having this post-apocalyptic 1950s dystopia with a lot of dark humor. I can say that the Fallout TV series, so far, has a lot of references to things that are directly in the video games. A dog companion, computer hacking, even going to Super Duper Mart.

The Fallout TV series really captures the spirit of these games, not only through these references that fans of the franchise really appreciate, but it also does a great job portraying the world of Fallout. It has that post-apocalyptic 1950s feel. Not only from the designs and the creatures of the Wasteland, but also through the survivalist mentality that affects nearly every character in the show. It seems like every character is trying to kill the main protagonist, and it feels like that is a very realistic portrayal of what it would be like.

The show is dark and full of violence. Sometimes, even too much violence if I do say so myself. However, it really brings home the gruesome reality of what life in the Wasteland would be. It’s not toned down or sugarcoated, which will definitely help you in getting immersed. Just like the franchise, this isn’t a feel-good story. It’s dark, despite its many attempts at subtle humor. You almost never laugh while watching this show.

Fallout TV Show Review – Story

Despite nailing the setting and feeling, a fallout where the show really fails to meet expectations in my opinion is the story and characters. Even though I didn’t have a high bar for Fallout story-wise, as I mentioned earlier, it struggled to keep me interested for the first half of the season, which is the first four episodes. Even though it seems to pick up a bit more in the second half, that first half really dragged. I had to make myself watch that first half to get to that second half, which was significantly better.

The story itself is pretty predictable. Without going into spoilers or anything, it’s not really full of twists or turns, or anything that you can’t see coming. It’s a pretty cliche story for Fallout, in my opinion, which would have been fine if it weren’t for the fact that the characters didn’t really add to the experience part of what makes Fallout such a great franchise. The ability to pick and choose what decisions you make, and what factions to side with, granting the player the freedom to write their own story. Do you want to side with the Brotherhood, or go to the Enclave? These things allowed the player to choose the outcome of the story, but it’s much harder to sit back and watch the stories of other characters that are already written out. You’re used to being in the driver’s seat in Fallout, so some of this is not all on the characters themselves. It’s because there is a little bit of change there, and that’s just kind of the way Fallout is. The plot itself is a B-, which isn’t really terrible.

Fallout TV Show Review – Characters

There are three main characters in the story, and I found none of them likeable in any manner. The more you learn about them as the show goes on, the more you actually dislike them. There’s a lot of backstories that happen throughout the show that’s supposed to show another side of these very one-dimensional characters. Generally speaking, it doesn’t make them that much more interesting. They remain very one-dimensional characters throughout the show without any real meaningful progression to their characters.

On top of that, I felt like I was constantly pulled out of the Fallout Universe by subpar acting and strange casting choices. I would recognize an actor from another show, and then notice they were essentially playing the same character as they played in that show. It ruined a lot of tension in their situations, and they’re going to give you some ideas. Some of the actors in this show are from comedies, like Superstore or The IT crowd. They were clearly put into this show to add humor, but when all the characters in the show are there to add humor, it makes it kind of a non-serious show. Even though they were put there for humor, I didn’t find myself laughing at many of the things they were doing. The setting was so dark, so it didn’t really work for me. You might lose interest in the characters even before they achieve their objective, as you don’t feel yourself pulling for the heroes and heroines of the story.

Fallout TV Show Review – VFX, Costumes, and Music

Ultimately, the show relies on spectacular special effects. There’s no denying that the special effects are absolutely amazing. Costume was also done very well for the show. There’s also an overabundance of 50s music during violent scenes in an attempt to camouflage an otherwise extremely forgettable story plagued with poor pacing, and the clumsy delivery. In short, it’s like watching an action movie where they’re constantly throwing action at you, otherwise, you’ll notice that the acting is very bad.

Another thing that kind of annoyed me a little bit is that the TV show doesn’t deliver a completely story, as it is clearly just the beginning of a much larger story. I wonder how many viewers will actually be watching it, when it fails to pull you in. Many shows and games make the mistake of expecting success, so they leave room to continue the story. When your show isn’t going to be enjoyed by many fans of the franchise, it feels like putting the cart before the horse.

Fallout TV Show Review – Final Thoughts

You’ll probably find that the show just makes you want to actually go play Fallout instead. That’s what it did for me. I was sitting there watching the first few episodes of the show, and it reminded me how fantastic the lore, the story, the general premise of Fallout, and it’s all fantastic. Watching the show just made me want to get up, turn off the TV, and boot up my Playstation to play Fallout. I didn’t really want to continue watching the show. The more I watched it, the more I just wanted to play the game. In a way, they have succeeded in creating interest for the Fallout Universe.