Fallout, the best-selling role-playing video game, comes to life in Prime Video’s large-scale live-action adaptation. Helmed by Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan and writers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, the series explores a future United States ravaged by nuclear war from three very different perspectives. These individuals’ worlds collide as they all attempt to not lose their heads.
Episode two, entitled “The Target,” introduces a wave of new characters as our three protagonists’ narratives violently intersect. We meet a scientist named Wilzig (Michael Emerson) who deals in biomedical engineering; specifically breeding and training German Shepherds for specific purposes. After the involuntary murder of a colleague, Wilzig escapes the lab along with a specimen named CCX40. This is where he and Lucy first cross paths.
Lucy, meandering through the random remnants of the Wasteland, makes camp at nightfall. She’s awakened by growling as CCX40, in attack mode, kills an enlarged cockroach. It was fixated on killing Lucy as she slept. Here she meets Wilzig, who warns her she will have to adapt if she wants to survive.
Viewers then follow Maximus on his first mission with Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport). They’re on their way to Filly to procure a target, but the knight decides to land prematurely. As his squire, Maximus must do the knight’s bidding: carrying his equipment and assisting in his patrols. The duo descends upon an empty field, littered with human remains, next to a cave. Suspecting their target is close, Knight Titus orders Maximus to explore the cave. To their shock, it’s home to a rabid grizzly bear. Unable to defend himself from the bear’s attack, the knight orders Maximus to kill the bear. The scene portrays the fault behind the Brotherhood’s mystique of control.
Later, Lucy makes her way through a wooded area full of abandoned vehicles. Surface Dwellers pass her by ignoring her presence. Soon, she comes upon a makeshift market. Dwellers are bargaining for various goods, from food to equipment. She’s arrived in the city of Filly. Amazed at the scene in front of her, she notices Vault-Tec items hanging in a store window. She enters the shop labeled Ma Junes’s Sundries.
Lucy’s exchange with Ma June (Dale Dickey) about her father’s whereabouts gets to a rough start. Not phased by Lucy’s optimism, Ma June expresses how the vaults were nothing but “A hole in the ground for rich folks to hide in while the rest of the world burned.” She tells Lucy to fuck off when she reveals who took her father: Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury). The name holds weight with Ma June as another patron approaches the storefront. It’s Wilzig with CCX40, who again warns Lucy she is not safe. And he is right.
Suddenly, The Ghoul appears, announcing he’s there to collect a bounty. He explains how all six agencies have been informed to capture or kill the scientist. Ma June – in his defense – says she’s being paid heavily to safely escort Wilzig to her client. Before anyone can move, The Ghoul fires his sawed-off shotgun, obliterating Wilzig’s foot. A shootout commences, leaving Ma June injured, CCX40 stabbed, and Lucy fending for herself. Just as The Ghoul aims his weapon at Lucy, a knight appears to fight him off. The pair battle as Ma June screws a temporary foot onto Wilzig’s leg. She tells Lucy if she wants to see her father again, deliver Wilzig to Moldaver as collateral.
The knight, who is revealed to be Maximus, holds his own against The Ghoul. That is until he goofily lodges his foot between some wooden planks, allowing The Ghoul to cut a valve on his suit, sending him spiraling through the air. The Ghoul reminds him, “Rule #1: Read the manual.” With his target gone, The Ghoul happens upon a whimpering CCX40. Showing he isn’t a complete monster, The Ghoul revives the dog.
The episode closes with Lucy and Wilzig 20 miles from their destination. As they stop to rest, Wilzig informs Lucy he’s digested a cyanide pill – another Vault-Tec product. He isn’t able to finish the journey but tells Lucy she can help change the future by delivering what he knows to Moldaver. Lucy pushes for more answers just as Wilzig slumps over and dies.
A great follow-up to the pilot, “The Target” expands the universe, connecting our three major players’ narratives. Many elements felt pulled directly from the video game, including the firecracker violence and encountering random characters; NPCs if you will. Guest stars Emerson and Dickey are always great on screen, and they deliver as Wilzig and Ma June. The standout in this episode is Moten’s Maximus, who proves that merely wearing the knight’s armor does not make one a hero.
Rating: 8/10