This review contains spoilers for Fallout Season 2, Episode 3, “The Spendthrift,” which is available to stream now on Prime Video.
“I feel like I just started a war.” Yes, Maximus, I think you did it.
Killing off Harkness Paladin Kumail Nanjiani just one episode after he was introduced is a bold move, but a shocker that caps off a great episode in a thrilling way, full of snarling factions, welcome fan service, and some big decisions that not only have major consequences for the Mojave Wasteland, but also provide deep, gripping insight into the hearts of our two main characters: Maximus and the Ghoul.
Let's start with our noseless gunslinger, who, after marking time for a couple of hours, suddenly heads to some really interesting places. Left by Lucy last week to sweat with a leg full of radscorpion venom, Ghoul finds himself in an extremely vulnerable moment with the ever-loyal Hound. His musings about how many planks need to be removed from a boat before it's no longer a boat, he mutters as he rips oozing chunks out of his own thigh, is something of a metaphor for the Ship of Theseus for his own life. His soul has lost too many boards, and it's a new milestone for what's left of Cooper Howard to admit it, even if he only says it to a dog. Lucy's “A Christmas Carol” sermon from last week has clearly been running through his head – he's dedicated two centuries to finding his family, but will it be worth it when he finally does?
However, perhaps the Ghoul may actually change, if his saving of Lucy is anything to go by. Her decision to help the woman in the tunic last week led her straight into the lair of Caesar's Legion, who naturally did what any bloodthirsty Roman would do: hang her up for crucifixion. Gul does everything possible (and uncharacteristically) to save his traveling companion from such a fate, betraying his former uneasy allies in the NKR. As much as she annoyed him, the Ghoul seemed to develop a genuine (low-level) affection for Lucy.
While Walton Goggins is undoubtedly the headliner of this week's Lucy and Ghoul double act, Ella Purnell is still given her lone shining moment in the spotlight before she takes on The Life of Brian. Her argument with the Legion leaders is truly a lot of fun, especially her quick, nicely educated rebuttals to their prima nocta clause (though, to be fair, the line “I'm not even a virgin, and that's not even counting all the cousin stuff” is the real winning line). Lucy has clearly grown into a person who has no intention of destroying the wasteland, even when her opponent is much bigger and scarier than her.
And they are scary! Horrible thugs who stabbed the woman Lucy saved seconds after they entered the camp. But this is a wonderful contradiction of the incredibly cruel and impossibly stupid. We have a group of Roman cosplayers wearing sunglasses and carrying machine guns who have dedicated themselves to the man posing as Julius Caesar. Second-in-command is Macaulay Culkin, who is a riot in this role. His detached, classically theatrical tone, perfectly shaved head, and devotion to Legion rules make him a deadly serious joke. I really hope this isn't the last time we see him.
As I've mentioned in previous reviews, I'm thrilled that showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet have made the faction interactions that define the video game Fallout: New Vegas such a key part of the fabric of this season. This continues here with the introduction of the NCR Rangers, although unfortunately they are given much less screen time than the Legion. Now just a handful of soldiers, their desperate struggle for survival is interesting but still little explored.
There's a chance that die-hard fans might find the introduction of NCR and the Legion a little disappointing due to how thinly drawn their direct connections to the game are. Since the show takes place a decade and a half after the events of Fallout: New Vegas, many were hoping or even expecting it to set a “canonical ending” for the game. But those answers don't seem to come – while they're undoubtedly factions we've encountered in the digital world, brought to life through exceptional insight into the material, the Legion's double-Caesar-style civil war and the NCR's ongoing rivalry with them don't directly relate to any of the game's many endings. Both factions brawl in the dirt a few miles off the Las Vegas Strip, suggesting that if there is a canonical ending to the game, it's the one where you fought for an independent Vegas (or, less likely, led Mr. House to victory). But Wagner and Robertson-Dworet wisely decided to leave the key events of the New Vegas finale shrouded in mystery. However, it is interesting to wonder what happened to the real Caesar, whose death split the Legion into rival gangs: was he killed by a courier or died of a brain tumor?
While the Legion wages a war the size of a playground, the real thing is brewing at Area 51. This week, Maximus embarks on a fantastically twisted journey, once again crushed and changed by the bullies who rule his life. Maximus, humiliated by Quint for proposing to start the very war his master was planning, discovers an unexpected ego boost in the man he was about to kill. Paladin Harkness flatters him with stories about how he will become the leader of the Commonwealth – a smooth-talking lie told by Kumail Nanjiani, who is having the time of his life. But you can understand why Maximus fell in love with them; He may be made of matches, but it will take an iron will to resist the Paladin's individual charm. It's a shame Nanjiani and his Han Solo thing couldn't stick around longer.
It's funny to see how easily influenced Maximus is in this episode. First he wants to kill Harkness, then he goes into his arms after Quintus scolds him. He sees right through Harkness when it becomes clear that all Paladin wants is to take the Cold Fusion relic for the Commonwealth, but falls under his smooth-talking spell again just as the pair start messing around and playing croquet with the help of the Super Sledgehammer and the Securitron robot. He has an incredibly weak character and is so easily manipulated by outside forces, which is what makes the final, fatal hammer blow in this episode so exciting. Finally, we see Maximus make a decision that is his own, based on his own sense of justice. And by killing Paladin Harkness to save the ghoul children, we can see that the good, moral man his father always hoped to become is somewhere inside him.
Of course, I can't move on from the Maximus story without mentioning the great walk-on joke that is Johnny Pemberton's Thaddeus. His new life as a ghoul has turned him into a kind of Dickensian slave driver whose army of children rips the caps off soda bottles in an attempt to fill his coffers. This kindergarten factory is the best joke in the episode, with two dozen eight-year-olds shouting, “Most kids are dead by that age!”
Finally, this week's trip to antebellum America was surprisingly uneventful, given both the killer stakes set up in the premiere and its absence last week. House's appearance seems a little skinny and unsharp, but it's enough to demonstrate that he's already figured out Cooper and Moldaver's plans. After all, he is the Man Who Knew. Cooper, however, is very much a man who doesn't know, has no idea who this mustachioed man who looks almost identical to the famous Robert House. This certainly makes it clear that Justin Theroux's identity must remain a mystery, and only further demonstrates what a bad idea his previous casting announcement was.
While there are still good things in the past, it's all about the character and not the plot. Veteran Charlie Whiteknife's acceptance speech portrayed Cooper as a soldier who cared deeply about the people around him, highlighting a stark contrast to the man he would become 200 years later in a nuclear-scorched future. Charlie later explains that he received the reward for saving people, not for the killing that this heroic act required. The implication, of course, is that Cooper must kill Robert House to save humanity from destruction.
But there's more to this memory than just Cooper's torn conscience. In Charlie's words we see a reflection of the Ghoul's choice. He will do anything to protect the people he loves, even something bad. Which, of course, didn't send NCR to its death to save Lucy. No, this is not the man Cooper Howard is becoming. Despite all his personal admissions that he has lost too many boards, he is still content to be a pile of wood. Lucy will undoubtedly be the price he pays to save his family. And he hasn’t found his family yet, so Lucy will have to live. Wherever this selfish decision takes him is sure to be an exciting direction.
