This review contains spoilers for Fallout Season 2, Episode 7, “The Handoff,” which is available to stream now on Prime Video.
When the easily flustered but incredibly principled Diane Welch (Martha Kelly) turned up for the second time back in Episode 5, I should have realised she was a vital part of the puzzle. By the conclusion of its first season, Fallout had made it clear that everything is connected, and so if a character turns up twice for seemingly no reason, there’s a reveal waiting in the wings. Even if I had put the pieces together, though, I don’t think I’d have foreseen that Welch would be Cooper’s direct line to the President of the United States (a fun small cameo for Clancy Brown). But the fact that Diane was able to help Cooper deliver Cold Fusion into (presumably very temporary) safe hands and save his marriage isn’t this week’s big surprise. No, even given 200 years to theorise, I’d never have guessed Diane’s severed head would turn up two centuries later, apparently functioning as the central processor for Hank’s brainwashing tech.
Lucy’s discovery in the heart of Vault-Tec’s Mojave vault poses multiple questions, not least of all why a gently spoken, staunchly anti-corporation congresswoman was considered the right candidate for this bizarre experiment. My other question, though, is why has Fallout become so reliant on bringing people from the past into its present-day wasteland? In Season 1, the reveal that Hank MacLean and Moldaver were survivors from before the bombs was a shocking twist. But in Season 2, that same twist keeps happening. Last week, we learned that Michael Emerson’s Dr. Wilzig was also from the beforetimes, and now this episode not only reveals that Diane’s head has been (somewhat) preserved for the entire duration of the apocalypse, but also reminds us (and reveals to her fellow vaulties) that Vault 32’s Overseer, Steph, is another member of the 200 Club. I do think Fallout has been incredibly strong at forming meaningful connections between the past and present, ensuring that each flashback feels genuinely essential rather than background reading. But this frequent return to the same concept – basically half the cast having been cryogenically frozen – does erode the uniqueness of The Ghoul’s position as the link between the old world and the new.
While I’m yet to be convinced we need another 200 year-old spanner in the works, Steph is at least an unusual case that allows this week’s cold open to dig into a darker corner of the lore. While we knew that she hailed from Vault 31 and was one of Bud's Buds, her story goes deeper than Vault-Tec conspiracy. As Chet discovered a couple of episodes ago, Steph is a citizen of Canada, which in Fallout’s alternate timeline was brutally annexed by the United States in an effort to build a tactical corridor to the frontlines in Alaska. Seeing this era from Steph’s desperate perspective provides a stark contrast against the Californian and Vegas “glamour” of Cooper’s sequences – this is the first time a soldier wearing power armour has been a genuinely terrifying sight. The scene effectively captures the eerie horror of the original Fallout game’s introduction, which depicted US troops as thugs that eagerly executed resisting Canadians.
That sort of oppression will understandably shape a person, and we now know that Steph has a centuries-spanning thirst for revenge. But how that fits into Fallout’s big picture is still unclear. Her escape from Canada and journey through the US does a great job of threading her needle through a number of established storylines, connecting her to Cooper, Hank, Bud, and potentially even Robert House. Everything is connected. We just don’t know why yet.
There’s also now the sense that all the other Vault storylines are about to spark into long overdue life. Now that Steph has coerced Betty into giving her Hank’s keepsake box, she’ll repay the “favour” by sharing her water supply – that’s the whole water chip storyline solved. But why was all this included? My money is on it all tying into Norm’s discovery of the Forced Evolutionary Virus. When that water starts flowing, I’m almost positive that really bad things will happen when folks start drinking.
There’s also now the sense that all the other Vault storylines are about to spark into long overdue life. “
(Side note: Norm has been in Barb’s old Vault-Tec office since Episode 4, and had the “luxury” of spending most of this episode unconscious. Moisés Arias really got the short end of the stick this year.)
Beneath New Vegas, Hank and Lucy attempt to make interesting points about factionalism. This has, of course, been an important part of the season, and is drawn directly from the video game. But Hank’s assertion that The Legion is just as bad as the “vaguely problematic” NCR feels like it’s from another version of the show; one in which the conflict between these two groups was front and centre, akin to The Brotherhood of Steel’s civil war, rather than the focus for a single episode. We really don’t know these groups very well, and neither does Lucy, which lessens the impact of deciding whether or not to brainwash them all. Still, I appreciate this being another space to explore Lucy’s personal ethics and question her own need to find non-violent solutions – just because there’s no bullets involved doesn’t mean you’ve found a peaceful solution.
Above ground, Maximus, Thaddeus, and The Ghoul team up to break into New Vegas. The New California Republic’s old gear store provides a great turning point for our nervous knight, as Maximus takes control of the NCR power armor. Designed especially for the show, this suit is admittedly a little goofy – like a salvaged T-45 with an enlarged Ranger helmet welded on top. But I love what it represents for Maximus: it lends him the strength he always wanted from being an armored Brotherhood of Steel knight, but its double-headed bear insignia represents the good fight of the NCR, his original people, rather than the prejudiced cruelty he was forced to carry out with the Brotherhood. Finally, Maximus has become the good man his father said he would, and he’s got the uniform to prove it.
While the armour represents Maximus’ personal growth, it sadly doesn’t guarantee a great punch-up with New Vegas’ resident deathclaws. The epic battle you’ve waited all season for is pretty clunky, and while the choreography would have sufficed for a regular brawl, it doesn’t stand up to the expectations set by the game’s challenging deathclaw standoffs.
Thankfully something more exciting awaits on the other side of the strip: The Ghoul activating Mr. House’s terminal and seeing the screen light up with his green-hued face. His existence in virtual form comes as no surprise – fans know he survived the bombings via unconventional means – but his survival into the here and now is a huge reveal. House’s fate was determined by players at the end of Fallout: New Vegas, so what is the show about to say about any kind of canon ending, especially since it's been so careful to avoid that so far? I think there’s more to this than cementing the “The House Always Wins” ending into Fallout lore, but regardless of what happens, interesting answers surely lie in next week’s big finale.
