Episodes watched: 8 out of 8
Westworld meets Mad Max in Prime’s superb sci-fi adventure.
For a long time, the term ‘video game adaptation’ struck fear in both avid gamers and bingers alike. And while the big screen has yet to find its way, the small screen seems to have found a winning formula, as fresh off the success of 2023’s The Last of Us, we have another fantastic take on a popular game franchise.
Those who have any experience playing the (six) games in the series will be plugged in from the off here, but for those of you (like me) who haven’t, here’s the cliff notes rundown.
Nuclear warheads are detonated in Los Angeles, which has led to humans hunkering down underground for around 200 years, with this next chapter of humanity who occupy these bunkers, aptly named ‘Vault Dwellers’. The ‘vaulties’ live a relatively calm existence, operating in their little bubble, following the ‘golden rules’ of human life, only to cross paths with those from another vault when the powers at be allow it, or for a vault trade for marriage/breeding purposes. Those below ground also spend their time learning about the horrors of the surface world, from radiation to bandits, mutants and ghouls.
Still with me? Great. Enter, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell).
A dweller of Vault 33, we meet Lucy at her most plucky and optimistic, a super-positive individual determined to do ‘her bit’ for society by agreeing to marry a dweller from Vault 32 (in part to not have to engage in any more ‘cousin stuff’). Her radiating positivity is tested to no end when the events of episode one send her spilling onto the surface world.
The bright wasteland of the surface world is where we meet the show’s other two protagonists, Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, a cult that collects and preserves technology (they fly around and fight in big metal suits), and Walton Goggins’ ‘The Ghoul’. A severely mutated bounty hunter, who right from his introduction (literally) takes no prisoners, think zombie-fied Clint Eastwood, who also has quite the back-story, but no spoilers here.
Now all of this sci-fi lore and cool-sounding characters are great but interconnecting three very different storylines can be a tough job, however showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet, along with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy (Westworld), do a superb job balancing the different threads, keeping episodes twisty and interesting right from the off. Nolan directs the first three, and the fingerprints of his time on Westworld are clear. It immediately feels like a lived-in world, brought to life with a retro-futurist aesthetic. And despite the reductive comparisons at the top, this does truly feel like unique, original sci-fi, something quite rare on the big or small screen.
One difference however from Nolan & Joy’s previous dive into the apocalypse is the show’s comedic beats, with even the darkest and bloodiest of moments given points of levity, another exceptional feat for a show that has a ridiculous amount going on.
That being said, dense(ish) sci-fi can only work if audiences can enter the world through the characters on screen, and the casting here is spot on. Moten as ‘Maximus’ is great, as of course is Goggins, in a role he could do in his sleep, but this is Ella Purnell’s show. The Yellowjackets alum eats up (if you know, you know) the role of Lucy, imbuing her with a wonderful sense of naivety and glass-half-full energy, as she learns the truth about just what the end of the world can do to a person, especially during her time on screen with Goggins, their interactions being the highlight of this first season.
And make no mistake, Amazon certainly intend to do more here, and it absolutely has that first-season feel to it. A fourth story thread featuring Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias, Hannah Montanna) is the weakest part of the show but one possibly set-up for more fleshing out should the show come back for season 2 (I’m sure it will).
In fact, there’s no reason this show can’t go on to have the success of Prime’s greatest export ‘The Boys’, with both shows sharing a love for the ‘bloody’ spectacular.
Verdict
Game lover, sci-fi lover, drama lover, Westworld lover (RIP), no matter which angle you come at this show from it should offer something. A bingeable, sweeping sci-fi adventure, which begs one big question. What would you do at the end of the world?
All Fallout episodes drop on April 11th on Amazon Prime
