Fallout

[Drunk Monk]

Fallout. April 12.

The best card in the trailer is the one that says "From the studio behind The Boys and 2nd Day Shipping"

Another post-apocalypse scenario based on a video game. Three storylines: 1. A young woman lives in an underground community, sheltered from the radioactive outdoors. She’s well trained (including a terrible fencing scene with no sense of proper distance - the swordplay is nearly corps-a-corps and looks horrid). 2 a recruit trains to be a knight in some militaristic unit - knights get super soldier armor. Lots of Finn/ Force Awakens vibes. 3 a Cowboy actor gets resurrected as a zombie with no nose. 

Some been there done that ultravi in gratuitous slo mo set to Johnny Cash songs. Some interesting sets,   Very industrial heavy metal. 

I dunno. It didn’t grab me. I like the female lead but so far, it’s feeling like more of the same. I’ll watch a little more to confirm or give it a chance. Saw some decent reviews so maybe it gets better.

[Drunk Monk]

E2 was better although it started with more dog murder - wtf is up with that in post apocalypse video games? The 3 story arcs came together quickly and now it’s developed a stride of sorts.

I think I’ve just got post-apocalypse burnout, just like I grew tired of zombie & superhero flicks. Not that I don’t watch those anymore. I just need some fresh visions to draw me back.

The slo mo bullet blowing through bodies shots are amusing. 

A lot hinges on the lead actress and the villain for me at this point. 

I’ll watch more.

[Drunk Monk]

E3 This show is growing on me. Back story on the ghoul and I must say Walton Goggins & Ella Purnell are killin it. And now they’re paired up so that fun. More about vault-tec. The gulper was a good cgi monster and I’ve seen a lot of cgi monsters but this one was a finger above the rest…a few fingers, a whole mouthful of fingers. Norm (Lucy’s brother) steps up as a character and now he’s growing on me too. There’s an underlying humor to this show - it’s not laugh out loud funny at all (unless you find gross monsters and exploding heads laughable). It’s more about this absurdity of it all, as if the writers were fully aware that they were working with a gratuitous video game, and did that up for proper fan service, but then also decided to include some stories for the characters. I’m beginning to lean towards a D00M recommendation, but not for the squeamish.

[Greg]

Caught the first two episodes on different nights. Not a fan of the dog deaths. The show feels a lot like a game at points. We need to get the med pack. We need to find weapons. Lots of first person POV. Lots of quests. But I kind of like the story. I really like Walton Goggins. I think he is a really good actor. The Queen keeps asking if Lucy is related to Shannon Doherty. I feel Maximus could be related to John Boyega.

The second episode was a better episode although it did give the Queen nightmares. That is no way to get a new foot. And I like Michael Emerson. I hope we get to see more of him.

I'm not overly invested at this point. I might watch more while the Queen departs for different climes.

[Drunk Monk]

Not a fan of the dog deaths. 

Right? A puppy even. 

I feel Maximus could be related to John Boyega.

2 a recruit trains to be a knight in some militaristic unit - knights get super soldier armor. Lots of Finn/ Force Awakens vibes. 

I pretty much concur with you on all points here. Not commited to it, but not repulsed either. I'll watch more until I stop...

I'll just add that I liked the Gulper in e3.

[thatguy]

Caught the first two episodes on different nights. Not a fan of the dog deaths. The show feels a lot like a game at points. We need to get the med pack. We need to find weapons. Lots of first person POV. Lots of quests.

I get that from Mandelorian and also The Gentleman. Each installment is task related. I find that transactional type of story telling to be less engaging, especially when it's conspicuous...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

No worse than police procedurals where each ep is murder related. Episodic storytelling usually goes that way.

E4 is ghoulishly gross. We learn more about ghouls. Maximus/Finn gets a new squire, who of course is his former bully. Lucy gets fierce and loses her jacket for a more revealing T shirt. And the mystery of the other vault emerges. 

It’s just enough to keep me entertained. I do like its retro futurism atmosphere. 

They make jerky which reminded me of Greg’s jerky making.

[Greg]

The synchronicity! I made jerky yesterday for the Queen to take to San Diego.

[Drunk Monk]

Yep. Whenever you post about making jerky, I will imagine you doing exactly what is depicted in the beginning of ep4, except with noses.

[King Bob]

Saw ep 1 and was entertained. I have a feeling Christina will not want to hang with it due to the violence, and the dog death.

[Drunk Monk]

Does she like jerky? Well, she probably won’t want to watch that part either.

[Drunk Monk]

Binged the last three episodes. A sense of humor emerges. Perhaps it was always there but I just wasn’t getting it, but I did catch myself smirking a few times. 

Some odd cameos - Erik Estrada, Fred Armisen in some very minor roles. There’s good backstory on the ghoul and a bizarre moment of toplessness. 

It comes together quite well in the finale dropping mcguffin after mcguffin, very well played. The finale was worth the price of all the previous eps. Some great payouts. And the door is wide open for a season 2. And I’m there for that. 

Overall, very enjoyable. I liked the world they built - retro futurism, ultravi, capitalist digs, chunky blasters - all good.

D00M recommended.

[Greg]

Bizarre moment of toplessness indeed. I caught Estrada because of your hint.

I am up to episode 7. It does get funnier. I do feel at times the writer's trying to make some sense of aspects of the game but they do seem to be making it work. We've been going slower because the Queen is affected by some of the over the top grossness. The foot healing was troubling.

I am enjoying it. I hope we get a bunch of answers in the last episode because there are a lot of answers still out there.

[thatguy]

speaking of Retro-futurism, I found this channel on youtube that's kinda fun. The look and feel is so close, but the dead-eye AI animations are wonky...

They don't have one for Fallout because it probably wouldn't look much different, but the Star Wars ones are pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/@abandonedfilms

--tg

[Greg]

And done. Left everybody hanging, but a few questions were answered. It was enjoyable. Goggins does a great job. I feel bad for Maximus because he seems in over his head.

I'll watch more. The queen needs a break from all the nightmares induced by the show.