Fallout season 2 review: "A hell of a lot of fun despite being overcrowded and convoluted"

After a first season that absolutely exceeded the expectations of every video game purist and skeptic alike, Fallout has returned to our screens with a brand new batch of episodes that take us straight to New Vegas.

We pick up right where we left off. After wandering the Wasteland looking for her kidnapped father (Kyle MacLachlan), Lucy (Ella Purnell) finds him, and it turns out he wasn't kidnapped so much as he was taken to the surface in order to answer for his despicable war crimes (and the Ghoulification of her mother). Rather than face the music, he hijacks a suit of armor from the Brotherhood of Steel and heads towards New Vegas. Lucy and the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) follow suit, though we know our favorite skeletal bounty hunter has other plans.

Of course, their journey isn't exactly a smooth one. As they make their way through what's left of the luckiest city in the world, they encounter everything from Deathclaw and Mirelurks to a strange conflict between two rogue republics and, uh, Macaulay Culkin. Hank, realizing he's most likely being hunted down by Lucy and the Ghoul, decides to set up shop in an unlikely part of Vegas – solidifying his descent into gleeful villainy.

Elsewhere, Maximus (Aaron Moten) has finally earned the respect of the Brotherhood - but he's not sure if it was worth it. After being disrespected by and in front of the high council, he decides to blow off some steam with a member of a different faction of the Brotherhood of Steel. But it's all fun and games until he realizes he may or may not have started a civil war.

Down in Vault 33, water is becoming scarce, and things are getting pretty weird. But no worries, Norm (as evidenced in the trailer) manages to break free from his predicament and gaslight a slew of recently cryogenically frozen Vault dwellers into heading for the surface (for reasons I still don't understand).

Oh, and did I mention there's some evil mustached man named Mr. House (Justin Theroux) running around and making people's heads explode?

Viva New Vegas

If you were to strip away all of the plot lines from Fallout season 2, all you'd have left is a bunch of characters wandering aimlessly around what used to be Las Vegas, Nevada – and it's so visually stunning that I'd probably give it five stars based on recreation of the Strip alone.

After season 1 used a sunken city off the coast of Africa as the backdrop for the Wasteland, the bar was set pretty high in terms of how they plan to recreate the video game franchise's various locations going forward. New Vegas is not only a fan-favorite entry in the series because of the fun storyline, memorable characters and diabolical creatures, but because of its evocative backdrop. Fallout season 2 is well aware of this, and doesn't waver in its dedication to bringing the game to life.

The once dazzling, now dystopian city of lights has been recreated street by street, sign by sign. Despite being a sucker for fan service, I'm not usually one for Easter eggs. However, seeing everything from the Lucky 38 casino in all its glory, to the Sunset Sasparilla factory (I've never been so excited to see bottle caps in my life), and even just a rogue box of Sugar Bomb cereal, made me weirdly emotional. Honestly, seeing New Vegas recreated with such care and precision is on par with the Jim Henson Creature Shop constructing the animatronics from Five Nights at Freddy's – it speaks to the childlike part of us that wishes video games were real, and it's as close to the real thing as it can possibly get.

A new Lucy

"If you touch that gun, I'm gonna have to maim you." This isn't exactly something season 1 Lucy, who actor Ella Purnell likened to a newborn baby, would say – we're all the better for it. Lucy is not only our protagonist, but the lightest, brightest spot in the dark, nasty Wasteland that takes no prisoners and has no mercy. As season 1 goes on, Lucy, who spent her entire life down in the Vault, sees the true horrors of the post-apocalyptic world firsthand, but still manages to remain pure of heart.

I was a little worried that Lucy would stay maybe too pure of heart, and that season 2 would be filled with more "Okey dokey!" and bewildering reactions to even the smallest bits of violence. The first episode of season 2 opens with the Ghoul in peril, and him waiting on Lucy to bust him out. Instead of cheerfully complying like she usually does... she gives it a minute. In fact, she gives it several minutes and watches as the Ghoul is tortured by some group of rogue criminals before eventually deciding to step in and help. This sets the tone for the next five episodes: Goodness is exhausting, and what the hell are we still doing here? It's not that there's less heart in this season, but it's that our main crop of characters are tired of playing nice. Except for a certain half-dead Cowboy-styled bounty hunter, that is.

Well howdy, partner

As it turns out, being angry and alive for 200 years starts to make you soft. The Ghoul joins Lucy on her quest to bring Hank to justice, not because he cares about the cause, but because he believes his wife and daughter are somewhere in a vault in New Vegas. The strength of this season therein lies within his backstory as once-beloved Hollywood actor Cooper Howard, as told to the viewer via various flashbacks.

It could be the whole end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it of it all, but there's something deeply melancholic about each and every scene where Cooper steps into the room. And this isn't a bad thing. If anything, it's indicative of Goggins' commitment to the character and his incredibly strong acting chops. And that stark contrast between Cooper Howard and the Ghoul... isn't so stark anymore. As Cooper learns more and more about his wife Barb (Frances Turner) and her involvement with the end of the world (and that mysterious mustachioed Mr. House), he begins to unravel. When we cut to a handsome, well-dressed Cooper Howard standing in the Lucky 38 casino, or outside against a backdrop of dazzling lights... there's a clear sense of misery. So much so that it makes the Ghoul seem like an optimist in comparison. He knows that Barb and Janey are still alive in a vault somewhere, and he won't rest until he finds them – even if it means mercilessly killing a few dozen more people along the way.

The only issue with the Ghoul/Cooper Howard storyline being the most compelling part of the season, right next to Lucy's journey, of course, is that it makes the other plotlines seem... boring. Even Hank's villain arc seems to fall a little flat, not that it isn't fun watching Kyle MacLachlan putter around in a nice suit while plotting his new life post-Vault. Hank even appears in the Cooper Howard flashbacks, younger and more eager, but he's simply running around in the background while Cooper continues to uncover the mystery behind Vault-Tec's corruption... which truly fascinates me at every turn. Not that we even know the full scope of what's going on, but the idea of the literal mother of your child being at the center of the end of the world is the kind of plot point you just kind of can't forget.

One vault too many

It's the same problem I had with season 1: things are getting weird down there in the vaults... and I just can't seem to care. It's not for a lack of interesting characters - though Eye Patch Lady aka Steph Harper (Annabel O'Hagan) is getting increasingly scary by the day, and it's a joy to watch. When it comes down to it, the story just isn't as exciting as what's happening on the surface.

In season 1, spending time in the vault was crucial to the plot overall as we had to meet Lucy, understand her sheltered (pun intended) upbringing, and see her father Hank get kidnapped and taken up to the Wasteland. In season 2, however, the cuts back to the Vault feel like more of an interruption from the main storyline. While Lucy and the Ghoul are trying to find Hank, and Maximus is desperately trying not to start a civil war, the people of Vault 33 are starting an "Inbreeding Support Group" and end up spending all of the "snack budget," – and that's the biggest conflict down there, besides the whole running out of clean water thing. Things aren't much more exciting over on Norm's end, either. I understand that Norm's impromptu leadership over a group of previously frozen Vault dwellers is meant to play out in a way that connects back to the main storyline... but I also can't really find it in me to care.

All in all, it's good to be back. It's even better to watch Lucy and the Ghoul run from a Deathclaw, all while flashbacks to some 200 years earlier show us that Cooper Howard's life wasn't all sunshine and rainbows either. As someone who genuinely fears a real-life apocalypse (and doesn't think our society would do particularly well in handling it), I'm fascinated by the factors that lead to man-made disasters... and there's something about the tangled web of Vault-Tec and Mr. House (and those head-explode-y devices) that has me hooked. But that might just be because that tangled web also involves Cooper Howard, whose spiraling past begins to pave the way for his tenure as the Ghoul... allowing the two to finally meet in the middle.

Despite being a little overcrowded and at times convoluted, Fallout season 2 is a hell of a lot of fun, and I'm excited to watch Ella Purnell's Lucy MacLean sweetly apologize while killing more people. But if nothing else: come for the scenery, stay for the Ghoul.

Fallout season 2 is airing weekly on Prime Video. Stay up to date with our Fallout season 2 release schedule.