Review: Fallout, "The Handoff" | Season 2, Episode 7

“I can’t speak for the future. That’s bigger than us.”

In last week’s comments section, one of the complaints brought up about this season of Fallout was that it was falling victim to a lot of the same issues that had dogged Westworld. It caught my eye both because it lined up with some of my own narrative criticism, and reminded me that the show was originally developed in collaboration with Westworld showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. I even made a few mentions of Westworld in my review of the first three episodes, all of which were written by Nolan in his only credits to date for the series. Westworld was a show I enjoyed but checked out of midway through the third season, as despite all of the performances and visuals I could never get past the feeling that the show thought it was both smarter than its audience, and smarter than it actually was.

Fallout has dodged those two central criticisms, both with its embrace of the game’s references endearing it to the fanbase, and its embrace of how stupid and darkly comedic this apocalypse is supposed to be. However, as it’s introduced more and more plot threads, it’s gotten harder to argue that it’s learned all the lessons from its predecessor, managing no fewer than six different plotlines across the wasteland. (And there’s now even a literal mystery box in the contents of Hank’s safe.) And similarly to Westworld, Fallout is clearly saving its biggest revelations for its finale, with penultimate episode “The Handoff” pulling all the threads toward a central conclusion while delaying the full gratification until the end.