Fallout: The Head
April 14, 2024 7:33 PM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
The Wasteland's got its own Golden Rule.
The target head is on the move and multiple parties are tracking it or trying to eat it. (as always, on Amazon Prime)
Fan Service Moments:
- Yum Yums
- The Water Chip!
- Gulpers are nasty (different take than the games, so extra deliciousy ugh)
- Vault Boy Revealed
- "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time" - spoken like a true player character!
The target head is on the move and multiple parties are tracking it or trying to eat it. (as always, on Amazon Prime)
Fan Service Moments:
- Yum Yums
- The Water Chip!
- Gulpers are nasty (different take than the games, so extra deliciousy ugh)
- Vault Boy Revealed
- "Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time" - spoken like a true player character!
I appreciate that I get none of the Easter Eggs, but still greatly enjoyed the episode (as someone who has zero knowledge of the game other than it exists).
posted by Atreides at 7:12 AM on April 15
posted by Atreides at 7:12 AM on April 15
Yeah, I noticed that during Moldaver's attack on the vault -- there were certain scenes that you could just tell were recreated scenes from the game, but of course I didn't have the reference so they just sort of slid off my brain. Kind of an odd experience!
I'm enjoying the show a lot, for all the characters, but I think they figured out something special with Walton Goggins. I have such deep affection for this total stranger that I was actually struck when I realized that he almost always plays villains. There are character actors that I love to watch playing villains, but I don't normally find myself liking them so damn much. The flashbacks of Goggins as the apparently rather decent cowboy movie star and the unrepentantly nasty ghoul of the present-day story really works with the actor's strengths and the odd parasocial feelings I've got for the guy. (Also, when I hype the show to people, I keep referring to Goggins-the-ghoul as an "antihero," even though he's just an asshole antagonist. But I cannot stop. There's a heart of gold in there, right? Deep, deep down.)
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:13 AM on April 15 [4 favorites]
I'm enjoying the show a lot, for all the characters, but I think they figured out something special with Walton Goggins. I have such deep affection for this total stranger that I was actually struck when I realized that he almost always plays villains. There are character actors that I love to watch playing villains, but I don't normally find myself liking them so damn much. The flashbacks of Goggins as the apparently rather decent cowboy movie star and the unrepentantly nasty ghoul of the present-day story really works with the actor's strengths and the odd parasocial feelings I've got for the guy. (Also, when I hype the show to people, I keep referring to Goggins-the-ghoul as an "antihero," even though he's just an asshole antagonist. But I cannot stop. There's a heart of gold in there, right? Deep, deep down.)
posted by grandiloquiet at 8:13 AM on April 15 [4 favorites]
I don't recall anything from the games that would be a direct one to one with Moldaver's raid on the vault - at least that you witness. Some of the action definitely felt like recreated combat, but afaik no one was ever drowned in a pickle barrel!
A lot of the FO experience with vaults is coming onto dead vaults, long since turned into horror shows with computer logs and holotapes providing you the backstory (if you find/read/listen to them). There are a few "live" vaults, but almost none of them as "heremetically sealed" as the one that the protagonists come out of in 1,3 and 4.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:21 AM on April 15
A lot of the FO experience with vaults is coming onto dead vaults, long since turned into horror shows with computer logs and holotapes providing you the backstory (if you find/read/listen to them). There are a few "live" vaults, but almost none of them as "heremetically sealed" as the one that the protagonists come out of in 1,3 and 4.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:21 AM on April 15
Goggins' completely wordless "holy shit, she actually did it" on finding the Enclave scientist's headless body was some masterful acting.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:40 AM on April 15 [4 favorites]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 9:40 AM on April 15 [4 favorites]
The Brotherhood of Steel (chapters) comes in a lot of varieties. Some more highminded than others. I think that this incarnation is hilarious and well within bounds established by canon.
Not quite an easteregg but "fly farms" are actually a thing, though mostly as livestock feed (aquaculture, chickens).
Oh! That's where I recall Moises Arias (Norm MacLean) from! JCVD is hilarious and Arias is awesome in it in a low key way. The characters are rather similar.
posted by porpoise at 1:03 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]
Not quite an easteregg but "fly farms" are actually a thing, though mostly as livestock feed (aquaculture, chickens).
Oh! That's where I recall Moises Arias (Norm MacLean) from! JCVD is hilarious and Arias is awesome in it in a low key way. The characters are rather similar.
posted by porpoise at 1:03 PM on April 15 [1 favorite]
I don't recall anything from the games that would be a direct one to one with Moldaver's raid on the vault - at least that you witness.
Vault 3 in New Vegas naively opened their door thinking they could trade with raiders but, as you said, that happened well before the start of the game.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:09 PM on April 15
Vault 3 in New Vegas naively opened their door thinking they could trade with raiders but, as you said, that happened well before the start of the game.
posted by nathan_teske at 1:09 PM on April 15
There have been a few of the naive vaults -3 is a perfect example, 94 in FO76 is another. It never goes well except when it does like Vault City and Vault 81 in FO4 (but that has a whole story, don't it)
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:23 PM on April 15
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:23 PM on April 15
Goggins' completely wordless "holy shit, she actually did it" on finding the Enclave scientist's headless body was some masterful acting.I've been a big fan of his character work, but he's really killing it as one of the leads here. He knows just how to and when to dial it up to 11 when it's called for, but he's also pulling off some pretty amazing work (all through god knows how many layers of CGI and makeup). I love the forwards/backwards-in-time look at his character, it's all really working for me, and his performance is the key to tying the whole thing together. He understood the assignment and knocked it out of the park.
posted by ssmith at 2:29 PM on April 15 [9 favorites]
when I hype the show to people, I keep referring to Goggins-the-ghoul as an "antihero," even though he's just an asshole antagonist. But I cannot stop. There's a heart of gold in there, right? Deep, deep down
I mean, I think there's some meta there as well - like, he's a Fallout player who's been playing the game for a really, really long time. And I think we are going to find out some stuff about what happened to his little girl that really broke him, it's hard to keep going after that.
posted by corb at 3:41 PM on April 15 [4 favorites]
I mean, I think there's some meta there as well - like, he's a Fallout player who's been playing the game for a really, really long time. And I think we are going to find out some stuff about what happened to his little girl that really broke him, it's hard to keep going after that.
posted by corb at 3:41 PM on April 15 [4 favorites]
It's a small point, but I LOL'd when 'In the mood' kicked in during the big action scene. I was expecting the crooners with the on-the-noise lyrics, but not that.
posted by Prof. Danger at 7:46 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
posted by Prof. Danger at 7:46 AM on April 18 [1 favorite]
"I can teach them Shakespeare. And when they're ready, Marlowe." Something only a true-blue Renaissance Drama nerd would say that warmed my heart and gave me a hearty laugh.
(Also, if you're trying to rehabilitate violent anarchists, Marlowe may not be the best choice for teaching moral conformity.)
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:50 AM on April 20 [4 favorites]
(Also, if you're trying to rehabilitate violent anarchists, Marlowe may not be the best choice for teaching moral conformity.)
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:50 AM on April 20 [4 favorites]
How is Maximus so bad at combat? Like, I get not having power armor training yet, so hand-to-hand combat isn't going to be great, but he acts like he's never fired a gun before and has no idea what to do when it's empty.
posted by hanov3r at 10:29 AM on April 21 [1 favorite]
posted by hanov3r at 10:29 AM on April 21 [1 favorite]
Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time
The way my husband and I, both gamers, cracked up at this line. It was perfect.
posted by eekernohan at 9:58 AM on April 24 [5 favorites]
The way my husband and I, both gamers, cracked up at this line. It was perfect.
posted by eekernohan at 9:58 AM on April 24 [5 favorites]
JCVD is hilarious and
So sorry, the link was correct but it should read John Claude Van Johnson
posted by porpoise at 8:42 PM on April 24
So sorry, the link was correct but it should read John Claude Van Johnson
posted by porpoise at 8:42 PM on April 24
I'm starting to worry that the writers want me to feel a particular way about restorative justice that I'm not going to agree with.
posted by schmod at 5:21 PM on April 27
posted by schmod at 5:21 PM on April 27
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posted by ellieBOA at 6:15 AM on April 15