Fallout: Episode Two Review – The Target
Episode Two – The Wasteland Is Dangerous
Episode two opens on some tiny newborn puppies, which do look fairly realistic to me. I’ve seen my fair share of newborn puppies. I cringed when one gets put in the incinerator, then we see the sign stating all newborns weighing under 10 ounces must be incinerated. We get no explanation. So where in the wasteland are we? It’s an Enclave facility, although this isn’t stated outright.
We see Dr Siggi Wilzig push the scales so it goes over the 10oz mark, then the puppy is branded CX404. Wilzig has clearly become fond of this particular dog. The door says “Behavioral Engineering,” which is something we know the Enclave do. There’s a glimpse of a gurney with a large green hand sticking out from under the sheet. Fallout gamers will know this is probably a supermutant.
A montage of CX404 growing up shows she is a dogwith a mind of her own, rather like all the iterations of Dogmeat in the games. He keeps a space for the dog hidden in the broken wall. She clearly cares for Wilzig as she defends him readily.
Wilzig injects something into his head, and it’s clearly painful. We have no idea what it is at this point in time.. Note the use of whiskey as an anaesthetic. When they discover he’s keeping CX404 hidden, he defects from the Enclave. I’m not sure where this is in the world because there is snow on the ground, so it can’t be that close to where our main characters are.
Vault-Tec Plan D for Death
Lucy is exploring and she goes into a ruined house to find a family of skeletons seated around the dining table, including a little one in a high-chair. A reminder for the viewers, that millions of people died. She finds a bottle on the table, with a skull and crossbones on it, the international symbol of ‘poison’. The label says “Vault-Tec Plan D, Econo Savings Pack.”
‘The most humane product Vault-Tec ever created.’
What is Plan D, you might wonder. Well, the D clearly stands for ‘Death’. They are cyanide pills and they are banana flavoured, apparently. Honestly, I’d hate banana to be the last thing I taste before I go out. This is an economy pack, so presumably plenty for the whole family. Places in the Vaults were insanely expensive. There were some exceptions to this. Most people paid huge amounts of money for the privilege of being experimented on.
But this is Vault-Tecs solution for people who couldn’t afford a place in a Vault. Here’s a cheaper option, just kill yourself quickly and painlessly. It may not seem like it to those who haven’t played the games, but this is very on-brand for Vault-Tec.
Giant Roaches…?
When Lucy first meets Wilzig, he doubts she is willing to do what she must do to survive. This meeting at her camp gives us a lot of insight. Wilzig mentions the radroaches and how they have changed from the pre-War cockroaches, showing us how dangerous wildlife has become in this world. Wilzig urges Lucy to go home, and tells her she will need to adapt to life on the surface if she plans to stay up here.
“Question is, will you still want the same things… when you have become a different animal altogether?”
This quote really carries a lot of weight. It really highlights the story of pretty much every Fallout protagonist. Venturing into the wasteland changes a person, in so many ways. Those who cannot adapt will succumb to the dangers of the wasteland, and the wasteland does not care.
Wasteland Wildlife
We cut back to Maximus who is now on the Vertibird with Knight Titus. Maximus tries to make conversation with Titus, who replies by telling Max to clean his codpiece. This tells us a lot about the attitude of many members of the Brotherhood, and the hazing and bullying. It’s so disrespectful and shows a complete lack of care.
Wilzig and CX404 are in a forest near what looks like a toxic waste dump site. He stops to rest, but becomes concerned when the dog brings a disembodied human hand to him. We hear a growl and then it cuts away. This episode teaches us about the dangers of the wasteland.
The next scene is in the same location, but with Titus and Maximus, where they find evidence of Wilzig. Then they see all the bones and realise something is up. Titus sends Max to look further in, to ‘test his bravery’. We get a nice “it’s behind you” moment with what looks like a mangy bear. This is a Yao Guai. They are ghoulified and mutated black bears and can be very dangerous.
I’d like to note that this bear shows real intelligence. It goes for Titus’ assault rifle first and destroys it. This tells me that this Yao Guai has fought with people before and probably won. It also highlights the animal’s intelligence. If they are ghoulified, it’s likely that the bear has been around for a long time, possibly since pre-War. It also seems to know how to use brute force to remove the power armor.
A Real Turning Point
Maximus manages to kill it, which is quite impressive that a 10mm can take one down with a couple of headshots. But this is an important turning point for Maximus. Titus is badly injured and is clearly bitter about how bad the wasteland is. He demands a stimpak, which is a healing item that isn’t really explained in this or in game. He throws out plenty of abusive language, telling Maximus the Brotherhood will hang him.
Maximus points out that the Knights are supposed to make the world better, and that he believes Titus is not worthy of the power armor. Max makes a decision at this point, and sits down to watch Titus die. He could help Titus, but he chooses not to.
There’s a Two-legged Animal…
Max is trying out the power armor for the first time. The armor is basically a walking tank. It takes some getting used to, indeed in Fallout 3 and New Vegas you must be trained to use the power armor. Also the use of music is absolutely spot on. This scene has “It’s A Man” by Betty Hutton over it, and it’s perfect. The vast majority of songs used in the show are also in one of the games, and are perfectly thematic. The use of music in the show is absolutely perfect every time.
Maximus collapses a wall and realises the extra strength the armor gives him. He intervenes in a fight between two men. We can see Max is enjoying this extra power. The man with the fedora is a bit odd, but we’ll get back to him later. The other man is scared but tells us the reason for the fight was the weird guy was doing things to his chickens. I don’t know if this was intentionally a reference to South Park. There’s an old episode from 1998 titled Chickenlover. Certainly that’s what came to my mind, and Fallout is full of easter eggs and cheeky nods to other pop culture.
Filly – Wasteland Civilisation
Lucy finds her way to Filly, and it’s her first look at wasteland “civilisation”. The market place is built from old vehicles and planes. We see people wearing some interesting outfits and selling things like ‘dog meat’ and roasted iguana on a stick. It looks like a proper Fallout town. It’s reminiscent of Megaton, Diamond City and even Junktown. It’s all cobbled together from what is there, rusty vehicles, old neon signs and other scrap.
We see The Ghoul sitting in a chair, like he’s waiting for something. Inside ‘Ma’s Rarities’ Lucy learns what wastelanders really think about the Vault Dwellers. Again Lucy is urged to go back home to her vault. Keep the comment about “all ten fingers” in mind for later. Lucy is struggling to understand the attitude of the shop owner. She is clearly upset and disheartened by what she learned.
Wilzig arrives in Filly with the dog, and surprises Lucy with how much he knows about her Vault. Ma June interrupts Lucy’s questioning. Then The Ghoul makes his move. Everyone is looking for this man that escaped the Enclave, there’s a bounty from six agencies. The Brotherhood are also looking for him.
The fight begins, and it is more of the brutal and over the top violence we know and love. This scene serves to highlight how skilled The Ghoul is, and how conflicts work in the wasteland. Lucy’s intervention is hilarious, it clearly comes straight out of the Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide.
Wasteland Medicine
Luckily Maximus turns up just in time to intervene and save Lucy from being shot. He distracts The Ghoul and allows Ma June and Lucy to sort Wilzig out with a prosthetic leg. This is absolutely brutal, but this is wasteland medicine. Jim’s Limbs is a great pun though. It’s agreed that Lucy will help Wilzig get to Moldaver, after some debate. Ma June knows her way around the Pip Boy and gives Lucy the location.
The scene where The Ghoul gives CX404 a stimpack and heals her is adorable. It shows a very different side to him, and this care for a dog will make more sense later. It’s a sweet little moment though, maybe he feels a little guilty for injuring her.
Just My Head
Lucy and Wilzig stop near what looks like a crashed satellite which is red and bears the hammer and sickle symbol. The initials CCCP suggest this could be a Chinese satellite, so presumably it came down after the bombs fell.
It’s obvious Wilzig won’t survive. He tells Lucy to take only his head to Moldaver and reveals he’s taken one of Vault-Tec’s Plan D cyanide pills. Banana flavoured, apparently. So Lucy is set on her main quest, beginning with decapitating this man. He hands her a Ripper, which is basically a mini chainsaw. He took the cyanide so she could wait until he was dead.
Wilzig reveals that he knows who Lucy is but he dies before she can get an explanation. Lucy is clearly disturbed and upset, but she braces herself and gets on with it. The Inkspots come in just in time, another classic Fallout song.
Final Thoughts
Episode two was great, it really set up the main plotline with everyone looking for Dr Wilzig. It’s also the first time our three main characters encounter each other. There’s some foreshadowing of things to come. There are important events for both Maximus and Lucy. Lucy realises that she is naïve about the surface and will have to learn quickly to make it.
Maximus makes the choice to let Knight Titus die, proving he is out for himself first and foremost. Also given the actor who plays Titus is known to be racist and misogynistic, it’s good to see the bear doing what’s right. I found that quite satisfying. As I mentioned, I like how the yao guai went straight for Titus’ gun, really highlighting the bears intelligence. They are called yao guai after a creature from Chinese mythology. Descendants of people held in Chinese internment camps gave them this name. I will be covering them in more detail in my Science of Fallout series on YouTube so look out for that. Otherwise, have fun exploring the wasteland.
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