Hey, hey, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. I’m late to the action, mostly because I didn’t know if we would retain Amazon Prime Video long enough for me to watch the end of Fallout Season 2 (scheduled for the beginning of February 2026). But hey, turns out we will keep Prime Video just long enough to watch Fallout Season 2, so I have some catching up to do. Let’s begin with my reaction (or review) of the first episode, “The Innovator.”

Fallout Season 2, “The Innovator”

Thank you, Todd Howard, for making an announcement everyone knew before Fallout Season 2 dropped: the Fallout series is canon and will affect future games in the franchise. Did the sarcasm come across? I don’t much care for Todd Howard. Why does he still helm Bethesda? Anyway, I love it when the Fallout series builds on the video game’s lore, and episode one, “The Innovator,” does just that. It opens with a bang. A bar airs a news report with Mr. House, but there’s another Mr. House (who doesn’t quite look like the television Mr. House) in the bar. Could there be more than one?

Before I answer that, I need to address one amazing line, “Every dollar spent is a vote cast.” Chef’s kiss, fantastic. Canonically, there is more than one Mr. House. Robert House has a brother, Anthony, who ran H&H Tools Company, which gets a shout-out in this opening scene. There is a chance Anthony is somehow involved, and what we see in this opening scene, where “Mr. House” injects a construction worker with a mind-control device, could play into a missable storyline (via journal entries one can read) in Fallout: New Vegas. In the game New Vegas, Anthony appears to have schizophrenia or paranoia. He’s worried his brother intends to use mind control on him and constantly wears foil hats. The device used in this scene would make me paranoid, too.

The Novac scene with the Khans serves as a great callback to Fallout: New Vegas. It’s a testament to how much has changed since the video game. The Khans were nowhere near Novac. Yikes! And the Fallout series does a great job of reestablishing two of its main characters, Lucy and The Ghoul, during this scene. The Ghoul devised a plan to kill all the Khans, while Lucy breaks away from the plan and attempts to persuade the Khans to let them go. Perfect! I almost wouldn’t need to watch the recap to gain my bearings. And again, I love how Fallout incorporates the game’s lore into the show. The Ghoul makes a comment about a store that used to exist in Novac about 25 years back. Evidently, The Ghoul bought a soda pop from the Dino Bite gift shop. I wonder what Cliff Briscoe is doing. Wait. He’s probably dead.

The Ghoul also mentions a woman named Darla behind the counter. There is a Darla in Fallout 4. She’s a gun lover and gun moll of Triggerman boss Skinny Malone. It’s possible she could’ve been in New Vegas at the same time as The Ghoul. And I smiled when Marty Robbins’s “Big Iron” played. Oh, and how The Ghoul healed his rope burn (by hanging) with radiation. Nice nods.

I don’t want to go into too much detail with each scene. We have three other episodes to get through, so I’ll pick up the pace.

“The Innovator” continues to do a great job of weaving in threads from last season’s flashbacks and recontextualizing them. Seriously, I’m unsure if a recap was necessary. We get a lot of the same information sprinkled through the narrative of this first episode. I like the mind control device throughline and Lucy’s quest to find her father, which is a very Bethesda-flavored Fallout storyline to showcase. How many people are searching for a family member in Bethesda Fallout games? Lol.

Anyway, I am concerned with the number of storylines Fallout attempts to juggle at once. Brotherhood of Steel Knight Maximus doesn’t even make an appearance during the first episode. I can’t imagine Fallout sporting too many episodes where every character gets time to shine. It’s not a problem yet. Since most characters reside in vastly different locations (similar to Game of Thrones), it is easier to keep track of who’s doing what. But some characters could become lost in the shuffle. Ultimately, “The Innovator” is a solid opening episode for Fallout season two. I can’t wait to see what Hank MacLean does with Mr. House’s experiments.

Fallout Season 2, “The Golden Rule”

Aw! I’ve always loved Jo Stafford’s “You Belong to Me.” The Fallout series (television and video games) features amazing music. And I love the glimpse we get of Maximus’s life before the bombs fell.

Not going to lie. Maximus falls short of his parents’ example in “The Golden Rule’s” opening scene. I don’t have an issue with Maximus joining the Brotherhood and following Elder Cleric Quintus. This season’s Brotherhood doesn’t land the same in this episode. They’re less like a military operation and more like a gussied-up raider gang. The showrunners/screenwriters threw in too many jokes. I chuckled the first time or two I saw the Brotherhood make a goof, but there were so many included (especially when the Brotherhood discovers Area 51) that it undermined the organization’s stature. The pelvic thrusts were a step too far.

The scene from Maximus’s past is fantastic and heartbreaking. I don’t want to spoil it here, but it’s well worth the watch, and the way Hank MacLean’s backstory ties into Maximus’s past is amazing. Fallout Season Two’s first two episodes have some banger cold opens. As far as the Brotherhood of Steel is concerned, I have hope their interpretation improves deeper into the season. I like the idea of a potential Brotherhood of Steel civil war. That can drive Maximus’s story and should affect the Mojave Wasteland.

We get our first glimpse of radscorpions in the Fallout TV show. Yay! Note: I watched with subtitles on and found they called bark scorpions “baby radscorpions.” Ah. No. We see two different species of radscorpions. Bark scorpions and radscorpions seldom play nice together in Fallout: New Vegas. It was a fun nod when the radscorpion eats the bark scorpion. Nice!

Overall, “The Golden Rule” makes for another strong entry. Hank MacLean furthers his “scientific” research, we catch our first glimpse of Caesar’s Legion, and I like where Norm’s storyline is headed. And “The Golden Rule” does a great job of juggling its various plotlines. It balances heart-wrenching storylines with lighthearted ones. The pacing is on point. And while I may not care for the current portrayal of the Brotherhood of Steel, there’s time for improvement.

Fallout Season 2, “The Profligate”

Thaddeus (pictured above) is a nice guy, but he’s running a sweatshop. Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang” fits for “The Profligate’s” opening. I love the one kid asking Thaddeus for water, and Thaddeus replying with just drink the soda. And I squeed when I saw Sunset Sarsaparilla.

I’ll briefly mention the number of POV characters. Again, this could become a problem. It’s not one yet. Some major characters won’t feature for an episode or two, but if a major character disappears for five or more episodes, that could become a problem. And at the risk of small spoilers, I did like how Thaddeus and Maximus’s stories merged.

I also like the use of “The Profligate” as a title. The word occurred in the previous episode, and Macauley Culkin’s Legate drops the episode’s title after we meet him. Profligate is a perfect antiquated term Caesar’s Legion would use. I love how New Vegas is a mess. The Legion has splintered. That makes sense, especially in the manner the Fallout series suggests. The New California Republic (NCR) is all but gone. Even Victor (Mr. House’s pet Mr. House’s pet Securitron) has gathered dust. Throw in some Brotherhood of Steel shenanigans, and you’ve got yourself a party.

Overall, I like how most factions are depicted. I still think the Brotherhood isn’t the same one we got from the previous season. Lucy and The Ghoul taking jabs at The Legion made me guffaw more than once: Lucy with her knowledge of history books (Caesar’s Legion doesn’t adhere to the Ancient Romans), and The Ghoul’s line that the Legion dislikes soft Cs. And I love The Ghoul’s backstory and how it interplays with what occurs in the present day. Fallout has done a great job fleshing out most of its characters.

Fallout Season 2: “The Demon in the Snow”

I don’t believe I mentioned this in the previous episode’s write-up, but Maximus has redeemed himself. I had few doubts. But the past two episodes are a return to form, and the Brotherhood of Steel thread within “The Demon in the Snow” drives this episode. Minor spoiler: I worried that the scene of the Brotherhood airship crashing into the Mojave Desert wouldn’t be earned; “The Demon in the Snow” assuaged my worries. While I’ll miss Scribe Dane (they really grounded Maximus), they get a great send-off, and I love the scene they share with Maximus.

I’m glad we lost Knights Bevis and Butthead. Seriously. The two unnamed Brotherhood Knights playing with grenades made little sense. Like I said above (for episode two), they were funny the first time or two, but it got old. Conversely, Lucy makes for better comedic relief. We’re going into spoiler territory again. You’ve been warned. Lucy gets addicted to Buffout, and she’s equal parts PSA and junkie. Hilarious. This works because Lucy has no experience with any wasteland drug. I wonder how The Kings (a gang of Elvis impersonators in Fallout: New Vegas) transformed into ghouls (pictured above). But the Fallout series does take place twenty years into the future. A lot can happen in twenty years. Watching Lucy headshot each of The Kings was fun.

The Ghoul does little to help her. I loved how he laughed at her handiwork and how that contrasts with the pair running across their first living Deathclaw by the episode’s end. Lucy doesn’t think much of whatever is making the growling from within a casino (Buffout brain), and The Ghoul (who experienced a Deathclaw before the bombs fell) knew to fear the beast. Lucy even sobered up a little after the Deathclaw emerged. What is it with Fallout sticking Deathclaws inside buildings? This issue persists within the video games. I didn’t buy the Salem museum still standing in Fallout 4, and I don’t buy this building remaining intact during “The Demon in the Snow.” Deathclaw don’t turn doorknobs.

Finally, we see some progression with the vaults. Norm will find out more about Vault-Tec’s pre-war plans. He won’t discover anything pleasant. Vaults 32 and 33 are about to go to war. Yes! Bring on the chaos. “The Demon in the Snow” has a knack for ending each story thread on a good to phenomenal cliffhanger.

That’s all I have for the first four episodes of Fallout Season Two. From this week forward, we should be keeping up with the series weekly, but these reviews/reactions should be released on Saturdays instead of Fridays. I need to get back to my writing and game design diaries on Fridays. Our next Fallout episode review should occur on January 17, 2026. See you there. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.