I loved the Fallout TV show, but I did it in spite of Bethesda's stifling take on the wasteland

Movies & TVFalloutI loved the Fallout TV show, but I did it in spite of Bethesda’s stifling take on the wastelandWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Prime TV)

Three survivors in a post-apocalypse

I really like Amazon’s Fallout. A lot. Ella Purnell is brilliant, Aaron Moten expertly veers between selfish idiocy and selfless idiocy, and I got to look at Walton Goggins for like eight consecutive hours. It has everything I look for in a TV show.

But does it have everything I look for in aFallout?

No. Look, as much as I loved the show, I couldn’t help but come away from its final episode feeling like it also exemplified all my least favourite aspects of Bethesda’s stewardship of the series. Namely a fanatical determination to trap the setting in amber, turning what is—in some games—a shifting, evolving wasteland into a static collection of very recognisable icons and slogans.

(Image credit: Prime TV)

Fallout characters

For Bethesda, Fallout has been a theme park and a cast of characters ever since Fallout 3. It’s the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, an apocalypse that feels like it happened 10 minutes ago, and the iconic blue-yellow of the vault suits. Mix all that together, stick a few skeletons around a table and bang, you’ve got a Fallout.

In Vegas' wasteland, factions like the Enclave and Brotherhood had been surpassed in importance by the NCR and Caesar’s Legion.

The show hits reset on all of it. The Enclave is back, the wasteland is a mess of coked-up, violent leather daddies and tin shacks, the NCR is a hole in the ground, and somehow, the Brotherhood returned (although I do really like the “brainrot theory” that they’re a mixture of Caesar’s Legion and west coast Brotherhood remnants, which would be a clever way to advance the series). Why? Because this is Bethesda’s Fallout, and Bethesda’s Fallout is a collection of things, not themes.

Now wait, I know what you’re thinking: I’m clearly one of those bitter irredentists frothing at the mouth aboutimaginary retcons of Fallout: New Vegas. If I had my way, Jonathan Nolan would be forced at the point of a sword to slavishly adhere to every crumb of loreJohn Gonzalezwrote down.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

… this is Bethesda’s Fallout, and Bethesda’s Fallout is a collection of things, not themes

(Image credit: Amazon)

The Ghoul looks over his shoulder

A world that moves forward is a much better place for Fallout’s central theme: War, and its propensity for not changing. In the Black Isle and Obsidian games, “war never changes” felt like a statement about something dark and immutable about human nature. No matter how much progress we attain, we keep killing each other.

In the Bethesda stuff, TV show included? War never changes only because the same three or four factions insist on continuing to do war and no one can get rid of them. I won’t spoil it, but one plot point the show raises that sheds some light on who dropped the first bombespeciallydrives this home. War never changes, but neither does Bethesda’s take on the wasteland.

It just doesn’t quite hit as hard. The company’s resolve to keep everything as-is ends up cutting into its ability to convey its themes. That applies to the show, too. It’s just good fortune that the show’s writers were talented enough tostilltell a quality story within Bethesda’s awkward aesthetic and narrative confines.

(Image credit: Amazon MGM Studios)

Lucy sat next to a fire at dusk

Does Fallout have to kill its darlings? Does it have to leave behind the Brotherhood, the Enclave? All the slogans and signifiers that make it so recognisably Fallout? No, of course not. Bethesda, or any future steward, would be well within its rights to keep it all in perfect stasis. A Saturday morning cartoon where the Enclave is always the thwarted villain and the Brotherhood always the morally questionable sidekick. It’s entirely possible to tell good stories in that framework. The show proves that.

But is that the best Fallout can be? I say no. The wasteland is at its best when it’s an evolving space. When the hundreds of years that pass between games actually mean something, yielding new factions, new conflicts, new wars in their interim. War never changes, but I think Fallout should.

More about movies tvFallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA firesMythic Quest Season 4 trailer wrestles with Roblox, AI, and the US CongressLatestThe Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilSee more latest►

More about movies tvFallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA firesMythic Quest Season 4 trailer wrestles with Roblox, AI, and the US Congress

More about movies tv

Fallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA firesMythic Quest Season 4 trailer wrestles with Roblox, AI, and the US Congress

Firefighters and a fire truck in front of burning houses during Palisades Fire 2025

Fallout season 2 filming delayed due to massive LA fires

Rob McElhenney and Charlotte Nicdao from the show Mythic Quest

Mythic Quest Season 4 trailer wrestles with Roblox, AI, and the US Congress

LatestThe Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in AprilSee more latest►

Latest

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

the last of us season 2 trailer

The Last of Us season 2 trailer is a brief look at a story you should probably just play yourself in April

See more latest►

Most Popular

The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

I’ve seen enough: No more forcing singleplayer studios to make mediocre live service games

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals