Fallout season 2 episode 5 explained: Who dropped the bombs?

Fallout season 2 is here, and the series has done a dang good job at incorporating the impossibly dense lore from the video game franchise.

The question in both the video game franchise and TV show remains: who dropped the bombs? Well, after the events of episode 5... we think we have a pretty good idea of who launched the first nuke. This is all thanks, of course, to a one Mr. Robert House and some reluctant snooping done by our boy Cooper Howard. Below, we've summarized one of the most pivotal moments in the new episode and answered Fallout's most burning question.

It goes without saying that there are spoilers for Fallout season 2 episode 5 below, so proceed at your own risk!

Who dropped the bombs in Fallout season 2?

Though it hasn't been directly confirmed in the TV series, we've got enough speculation and some details from Fallout: New Vegas to give a pretty educated answer.

In Fallout season 2 episode 5, Cooper Howard heads to Las Vegas with his wife Barb, with the intention of stopping her from selling cold fusion to Robert House. When he arrives, House's body double approaches Cooper and tells him that the real Robert House would like to see him. After being brought to the control room (and being greeted by good ol' Victor, the Securitron we meet in episode 3), House tells Cooper that he knows Moldaver sent Cooper to Vegas with the initial intention of killing him.

House then explains that he was "there" in Alaska, when Cooper was fighting off Deathclaws while wearing that Brotherhood of Steel suit (though the Brotherhood of Steel did not exist before the Great War). He wasn't physically there, but he did license the armor that Cooper was wearing and could see the battle take place virtually. Here comes the important part: House says that he believes the Deathclaws are "connected to the future of this great nation... and to your wife."

Up until this point, it's been heavily implied that Barb is the one who urges Vault-Tec to drop the nuclear bombs and bring about the end of the world (for either greed or power or both). House tells Cooper that this is (shockingly enough) not the case, and that he believes there is "another player at the table" aka the "unknown entity" responsible for the creation of the Deathclaw. After Cooper (rightfully) calls him a lunatic, House flies into a rage and accuses him of bringing about the end of the world.

So... who dropped the bombs?

In the Fallout video game franchise, it's never outright stated who dropped the first bomb. In the games, it's heavily implied that China dropped most or some of the bombs... but the first bombs remain unclear. In the TV show, House theorizes that it was the creators of the Deathclaws who fired them... and the United States is indeed fighting the Chinese in Alaska Q in Fallout season 2 episode 4. In the video games, however, Deathclaws were created as a result of experiments conducted by the United States government with the goal of creating superior battlefield soldiers. In the games, the Deathclaws were meant to fight alongside the American soldiers in Alaska... not injure them as we see in episode 4. Stay with me here.

In the Fallout video games, there is a secretive military faction known as the Enclave that serves as one of the overarching antagonists. It's thought that the Enclave created and deployed the Deathclaws... and it's possible that this is who Robert House is referring to when he says "another player at the table." The Enclave has not yet been introduced in the Fallout TV series, but if it's not Barb, Vault-Tec, or House that drops the bombs, and the Chinese did not create the Deathclaws... then who else does it leave? It's worth noting that the Enclave is a group of racist, genocidal freaks who possess a level of power that we still don't even quite know the scope of... but only time will tell.

It's also worth noting that House accuses Cooper of being involved with the end of the world, mainly because the data that predicts the exact date the bombs are dropped changed on the very date and time that Cooper's daughter Janey was born. Kind of a weird coincidence, no? That poses another question: Did Cooper Howard accidentally get mixed up with the Enclave? We've got three more episodes to go before we get our answers.

Fallout season 2 is streaming now on Prime Video. Never miss an episode with our Fallout season 2 release schedule, and if you're still confused, check out our Fallout season 2 timeline.