Fallout: The Radio

April 21, 2024 4:42 AM - Season 1, Episode 7

Every generation has their own dumbass ideas.

Residents of Vault 4 gather as Lucy is prepped for expulsion from the vault. Maximus leaves with her, after a brief conflict with the vault residents. Thaddeus abandons CX404 and makes contact with the Brotherhood. Lucy and Maximus eventually catch up with Thaddeus; after learning that he is turning into a ghoul, for which the Brotherhood would put him to death, Thaddeus relinquishes the head. Lucy continues her journey alone while Maximus stays behind to distract the Brotherhood. Norm secretly enters Vault 31. Meanwhile, Howard, having determined Moldaver's location, reunites with CX404. In 2077, a younger Moldaver (then named Ms. Williams) reveals that the war-profiting conglomerate behind Vault-Tec shelved her cold fusion research despite its potential to provide unlimited energy and prevent impending war. She persuades Howard that he cannot trust his wife and should record all her conversations with the company board.
(Description copied from IMDB and extended summary copied from Wikipedia.)

posted by Pong74LS (11 comments total)

The business with the sword and the Overseer made me laugh out loud. Also naturally somebody will carry your supplies up to the surface.

I fully expected Dogmeat to break out of the refrigerator/vending machine and then track down that fiddle-loving DJ.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 6:00 PM on April 21 [2 favorites]

I thought most of the random wacky bits (snake oil salesman guy, Thaddeus’ character, the med bot in the grocery store, vault 4 overseer, etc…) were well done and genuinely funny. Props to the writers for getting the world and blending horror with zaniness.
posted by youthenrage at 7:42 PM on April 21

Vault 4 turned out to be one of the more "side questy" departures of the series, but I think it's my favorite. I love Chris Parnell as the genially bigoted vaulter who vibes evil but turns out to be...maybe not particularly evil, actually the descendent of someone tortured by the original vault team. And the part where Lucy gets sentenced to CERTAIN DEATH...via exile to the surface, with only 2 weeks worth of supplies, absolutely delighted me. And Moldaver's orgy cult! What is up with that! Vault 4 is fun.
posted by grandiloquiet at 7:58 AM on April 22 [5 favorites]

This was one of the moment's when Maximus's actor did a wonderful turn. He's sitting in his robe, eating his popcorn, loving his waterfall footage, and living his best life for the first time in his entire life...and then he sees Lucy being hauled away. His big smile just disappears as he makes that decision, and the face he has worn for almost forever, carrying the burdens of an orphan raised in the Brotherhood, returns. Loved that moment.

A moment I thought was just too far was the video of the test subject, of the woman giving birth in the tank. That was just too damn disturbing. Gawd.

I second the sword and the penalty of death and everything else.
posted by Atreides at 10:52 AM on April 22 [3 favorites]

The video of the woman giving birth in the tank was the previous episode.
posted by Pendragon at 1:03 PM on April 22

Welp, see the conversation in yet another episode about whether dropping an entire season at once is good or bad for discussion.
posted by Atreides at 1:25 PM on April 22 [1 favorite]

Yes, the whole Vault 4 'death penalty' etc was great, and seems entirely in spec with that vault's nature. Between that and discovering freaky experiments ... that are the leftovers from what they rebelled against, I think Vault 4's theme is that it's the fake-out vault.

Maximum's shift when he sees Lucy go by was wonderful.

So, I've lost track - is Stephanie (in Vault 33) originally from Vault 31? I'm guessing so if she's going to be the interim overseer in V32. Your democratically elected governing group just isn't quite as democratic as you think, there, vaulties. And Norm? This isn't going to go well for you, I think...
posted by rmd1023 at 6:50 AM on April 23 [2 favorites]

Oh, I'm not clear on the mechanisms of the doctor making someone a ghoul - I thought in the games a person who gets sufficiently irradiated has a random chance of becoming a ghoul (feral or not) or just dying.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:53 AM on April 23

So, I've lost track - is Stephanie (in Vault 33) originally from Vault 31?

Yeah I think there was a bit where Norm asked her what Vault 31 was like and she said something like the mashed potatoes are better in Vault 33 which is the same thing his father had said.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 8:05 AM on April 23 [2 favorites]

In game lore, he was given a mutation via a serum: Healing Factor.

Technically a person with a mutation and not a ghoul, but the Brotherhood is hostile to both and I doubt it was worth it for the writers to split that hair.
posted by absalom at 8:11 AM on April 23 [3 favorites]

For whatever reason it was pretty clear to me that Lucy's punishment would be banishment to the surface, Titus/Maximus would steal the fusion core to save her, and there would be some conflict based on this misunderstanding. I was hoping it wouldn't result in Titus/Maximus killing everyone that got in his way and was glad they returned the fusion core so the whole thing was a pleasant little side quest and not more blood on their hands.

I'm really surprised that Coop even kept the listening device let alone use it. I know he's uncomfortable with Vault-Tec but he seems like more of a straight shooter than someone that would use subterfuge. Hopefully next episode we get some explanation for how Moldaver can still be alive. I wonder how many of the plot lines will be able to get resolved in it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:59 AM on April 23 [1 favorite]