Unlike the tighter focus of episode 3, “The Demon in the Snow” broadens its scope, giving more attention to Norm’s crew and the Vault Dwellers, while also continuing the main stories of Maximus and Lucy. The episode begins with a glimpse into Cooper’s past on The Alaskan Front, establishing a horrifying monster. The rest of the episode follows Maximus as he schemes with Thaddeus in the wake of Xander’s death. Maximus has Thaddeus disguise himself as Xander as he tries to kill Quintus. Their revolt goes awry, of course, leading to an escape as Area 51 descends into chaos. In Vault 33, the residents deal with support groups, a dwindling water supply, and an increasing distrust in the authority figures. This plotline is parallel with Norm on the surface, as he assumes both the positive and negative expectations of a leader, giving his group food but also being expected to share his predecessor’s ulterior motives. Finally, Lucy and The Ghoul make it to Las Vegas, with Lucy developing an addiction to the drugs that saved her life in the previous episode. 

“The Demon in the Snow” solidifies the major concern that this season of Fallout is dealing with: an over-abundance of separate storylines. The mismatched proportion of storylines on an episode-to-episode basis is not too glaring of an issue, it is the root of the problem for certain character dynamics and plot points being sidelined. Lucy and The Ghoul suffer the most from this, as their dynamic was given a much-needed jolt of unique flavor. Lucy’s drug addiction and The Ghoul’s eventual fear were vital in spicing up their relationship, and allowed for the actors to play around with emotions not frequently seen in the show. Unfortunately, this storyline does not have many scenes dedicated to it, needing to be as efficient as possible. Plot efficiency is generally a positive thing, but this episode could have benefited from giving Lucy and The Ghoul’s dynamic more breathing room and dedicating time for them to interact. Norm’s plotline is an extremely similar case, where what the episode presents is extremely compelling, but not enough time is spent with it. 

Maximus’ plotline from beginning to end was easily the most engaging portion of the episode. The cause-and-effect of Maximus’ choices coming to a head as soon as the fourth episode was a pleasant surprise, placing him in a very tense position for the remainder of the season. However, the recurring bit of Thaddeus pretending to be Xander overstayed its welcome and broached the realm of absurd disbelief. Finally, the Vault Dweller storyline is interesting, especially with more screen time dedicated to the mysterious Steph. That said, with so much mystery having already been revealed by other storylines, it is unclear if this episode’s interesting setup will pay off in any unique or exciting way. Overall, this was by no means a bad episode, having an incredible cold opening, furthering Maximus’ story in a great way, and adding an unexpected, charming element to Lucy’s journey with The Ghoul. “The Demon in the Snow” is more so an indicative sample of the show being forced to deprioritize interesting character dynamics in favor of giving ample time to its surplus, hit-or-miss subplots. 

Rating: 6/10