Fallout - Season 2

Its starts with "THE END", which is probably advice I should have heeded and walked away then but well, silly me.... In short, cringe-worthy, woke, overdoses on schmaltz to the point of nausea....a lame story doesn't help, either, nor does the strange, contextually confusing, casting choices.... Special effects are reasonable, sets decent and the music is appropriate but beyond that....??? I managed to watch the first episode and that was more than enough.....

Genuinely great video game adaption that manages to walk the narrow path of capturing the feel of the games (the dark humor), while telling a brand new story that works as a television show and expanding that existing universe. Walton Goggins is perfectly cast as the worldly ghoul, he is really the star of the show. The other two protagonists are well cast as naives sent out in to the wild, untamed wasteland with the best of intentions balancing out the anti-hero ghoul. There's the over-the-top violence of the games, and the weirdness is here too. It captures the heart that the later games tried to bring (it lands better here), with the characters who have complex, interesting (and often secret) motivations. The key themes include the power and greed of corporations (thanks Amazon!), the inevitability of conflict and the dangers of living in a ideological bubble. (The later point obviously lost on the other reviewer here.) That said this isn't aiming to be Oppenheimer. Most of all this show is simply great fun, highly recommended if you are a fan of the game or never played it.

Having played New Vegas and Fallout 4, I'm a huge fan of the Fallout world, so the best thing I could say about this show is that it is Fallout in appearance, tone, and lore. The story is dark, quirky and humorous, taking many twists and turns appropriate to it's source material...basically everything you'd want in any video game adaptation. I loved this season from beginning to the end, and will watch again and continue to watch future seasons (which is guaranteed at this point due to its critical success and that they've just secured 25 million from the California government to make the next season in the state) just as I've played the games over and over again (and will do so until Bethesda releases a new Fallout game).