Happy Saturday, Geekly Gang! Kyra Kyle here. We made it to the weekend. Woo hoo! Today, I’ll share my reaction to the latest Fallout Season Two episode. “The Other Player” confirms who pulled the strings behind the scenes before the bombs fell.

“The Other Player” doesn’t harbor too many spoilers besides our first glimpse at a super mutant, portrayed by none other than Ron Perlman. It’s about time Perlman got screen time in Fallout. He’s been the narrator for most of the Fallout games. Nope. He doesn’t deliver his iconic line of “War, war never changes,” but it was great seeing him as a super mutant, and the small screen time Perlman received carried a ton of world-building.

I wondered why we hadn’t seen a super mutant before the seventh episode of Fallout season two. You can’t sneeze in a Fallout game without encountering at least one super mutant. According to Perlman’s character, humans have hunted them to near extinction. And no, we don’t know who Perlman is supposed to be. Is he The Master from Fallout: New Vegas? Marcus? Or someone else entirely. One thing’s for certain, Perlman’s super mutant isn’t a nightkin.

Too bad. Perlman could pull off Lily Bowen. “Oh, pumpkin, Grandma’s sorry about that. Sometimes she gets mad and listens to Leo when she really shouldn’t.”

We get even more of The Ghoul’s backstory in “The Other Player.” Fallout season two tiptoes toward too many flashbacks, especially in the past two episodes, but I liked Barb’s scenes. And the idea that The Enclave could predate the bombs dropping is a nice touch. The impression I got from the games made it look like The Enclave became active after the bombs dropped. Michael Emerson’s Dr. Wilzig also shares a good scene with Barb. And I like how Season 2 calls back to how Cold Fusion was transported. All of this is good, but a second flashback-heavy episode made “The Other Player” feel like it marked time in moments.

And what was up with The Ghoul waiting until sundown before trying to pull himself off the pole? He may have made it to the top if he didn’t wait for at least four hours. The Ghoul spending time on the pole gave Fallout an excuse for more flashbacks. That’s the only reason he wouldn’t try and free himself.

“The Other Player” made me care about what happens in Vaults 32 and 33. That’s no small feat. Honestly, Norm’s storyline–we need more Norm–set up potential stakes in the Vaults. According to the records we saw last week, Vault-Tec still intends to use the Forced Evolutionary Virus on the Vaults. That’s the same virus that created super mutants. What happens when Vault 33 runs out of water? Will they consume unfiltered water that could transform them? We’ll have to wait and see.

And I’m loving Hank MacLean’s villain arc. His worldview suggests that order without autonomy is preferable to conflict. Interesting. Hank and Lucy’s dynamic is great. I can’t wait to see where Fallout takes their relationship.

Overall, “The Other Player” is a good episode. It just misses the great label because it spends too much time in the past. Granted, everything we discover in the past intrigues me. But I didn’t care for two consecutive episodes, spending half their runtime in flashbacks. It’s excessive.

What are your thoughts on Fallout “The Other Player?” Let us know in the comments. Thank you for reading, and wherever you are, I hope you’re having a great day.