The future of Fallout isn't necessarily looking bright, but after the end of the Prime Video series' second season there's a lot of adventure and potentially some hope on the horizon. Let's untangle the intertwining storylines and reveals in the Fallout season 2 finale.
Fallout stars Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan, and so many more as survivors of a nuclear event in an alternate history scenario. Like a lot of shows with large ensemble casts and post-apocalyptic landscapes, the finale did a lot of table-setting for what character dynamics and epic odysseys our heroes will go on in the next season–which is confirmed, BTW. The war on the surface between varying paramilitary factions has a new direction. The characters still trying to reunite with their family members have a new goal. We also learned a tiny bit more about Enclave, the shadow government behind Vault-Tec's underground experiments and the *gulp* state of things.
What's going on with Macauley Culkin's dudes?
In season 2, we met Caesar's Legion, a tribal army made up of men who let the intrusive Roman Empire thoughts win. Culkin's character, a member of this particular group named Lacerta Legate, decides to lead his army to conquer the more-or-less good people of New Vegas in the finale. Season 3 villain alert??
Does Lucy side with her father?
Lucy finally found Hank (or rather he found her) about halfway through season 2. But the daddy and daughter reunion did not, surprising nobody, go as our plucky heroine planned or hoped. He's working with Enclave/Justin Theroux's character "House" to turn humans into machines and erase their memories to make them compilable. He miniaturized House's technology so that it can be implanted directly into people. That also, as he explains, would make it difficult to easily discern who is and is not under the tech's control. Not unless you can get close enough to a person's neck to identify a tiny scar.
The Ghoul swoops in to save Lucy from getting implanted with a chip–which would, in Hank's words, effectively turn her into her father's idealized daughter. (Gross!!!!) After disarming Lucy's captors, the Ghoul slides his gun to her. (Hot!!!!) Hank's fate is now in Lucy's hands. He asks her to join him one more time and stop the surface war. But then, when she refuses, dear old dad activates a chip in his own neck and erase his memories. Does this mean there was still some good in him, Star Wars-style? We must hope so.
Hank also told Lucy, just before this, that the surface is the real experiment Enclave is running instead of what's going on in the vaults. He claims that the armies are following orders "written centuries ago" thanks to him. Food for thought when the show returns for season 3. All things considered, Lucy remains as disillusioned and distant from her family as ever. At least she gets to see her pal and ally, Maximus, at the end of the episode. Thank goodness, truly, because it felt like he was barely in season 2. At least he got to wear a cool suit of armor and fight a lot of monsters called Deathclaws in the finale! More Max, please.
Yeah, wait, what's the deal with Steph and Hank?
Speaking of the Enclave, we learn in the finale that Lucy's former vault BFF Steph is secretly her dad's first wife. In a flashback to 2077, we see them get engaged and married before the world ended. The reveal earlier in the season that she's from Canada wasn't enough of a shock, apparently. There are family members betraying Lucy that she didn't even know were family members! In the present timeline, Steph contacts Enclave and ominously initiates "Phase 2" of... something. Another season 3 villain alert?
Maclean family members really are doing the most in the finale. We didn't even talk about how Norm and Claudia survived a mutant bug attack and escaped Vault-Tec HQ.
What happened to the Ghoul's family?
Goggins' character, much like his former companion Lucy, also has a less than ideal family reunion. With some help from Justin Theroux's voice, he finds the cryo-pods marked with his wife and daughter's name in a facility belonging to Vault-Tec's investors. But when he asks that Barb's pod be opened up, there's nobody inside. Instead, he finds a note on a postcard that reads "Colorado was a good idea" in handwriting. We also learned, via flashback, that the Ghoul/Cooper took the fall(out) for his wife back in the day.
Presumably, his quest to find his wife begins anew and towards Colorado. Let's hope that their daughter Janey is with her, wherever she is, because he did not check that pod...
Does Fallout season 2 have a post-credits scene?
Yes, my friends, it fudging does. Midway through the credits, we see Dane and Quintus of the Brotherhood. The latter unveils plans for a "Liberty Prime" (not to be confused with Amazon Prime) suit. Gamers will recognize this as a combat robot/villain from Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and other parts of this fictional universe such as board games, etc.
