Ali Reviews

Fallout Season 2, Episode 1

There is something uniquely dystopian about watching Fallout 2 describe the inevitability of obsequiousness in the face of modernity and the “marching on” of technology on Amazon Prime, where each pause of the program is equipped with an advertisement for booze or fragrance that can be bought (via Amazon) from the comfort of your TV. 

How would I review Episode 1 of Season 2 so far? I think they were cheap not to get the Ella Fitzgerald version of “Cheek to Cheek” for the intro scenes. I am suspicious that the German Shepherd may be secretly AI generated, and I feel there is an ironic resonance in that statement given the show is trying to paint a technology-obsessed billionaire as the bad guy (Hey Jeff Bezos! Hope you read this and are currently constipated). 

I feel like a bad feminist for wondering what fancy plastic surgery the female protagonist has had, but now it seems everyone and their mother has had a buccal fat removal or cheeky botox or shaved down the bone of their goddamn jaw. Ouch! 

Fallout, as a concept, confuses me because there is no clear reason why the world is stuck in the 1950s with regard to music and cars but not clothing. I mean, the little girl is wearing wide legged jeans and a fuzzy jumper I swear I just saw at H&M last week. 

Even as I type this, full of snarky commentary, the sound of the nuclear alarms has bristled me. I digress.

I met Moises Arias once as a kid. He was very nice. His scenes in this episode were limited and marred by the presence of a creepy crawly that made me look away and a slow descent into…doing exactly what we all expected him to do the moment he walked into that room.

Fallout Season 2 appears to be aiming for the old-style weekly release of episodes. It’s an interesting choice to do so over the holiday season, but I suppose that people will be wanting an escape from family eventually. What better escape than an apocalyptic fantasy?

Overall, this episode struggled to maintain momentum. The pacing didn’t manage to snag my attention, and the gore felt superfluous and a bit silly. I think the show leans into silliness at times, but it doesn’t always land. At the end of the episode, I’m just not sure what we are meant to care about (besides Kyle MacLachlan’s performance).

I will watch episode 2 for Kyle MacLachlan alone, I think.