The Fallout Television Series is Giving Me A Hard Time

Fans of the Fallout series, help me. I just recently got some time to tuck into it, and I’m having a hard time staying invested and immersed. I feel like the creators of the series really missed out on giving us a badass story, and instead gave us something that I find very difficult to digest.

Time and time again, I’m having to suspend my disbelief and try my hardest not to go off on a rant mid-episode, so that my wife can at least watch it in peace. So I really want to know from you, is it even worth continuing?

I’ll explain (minor spoilers ahead).

‘Movie Magic’ Will Drive Me Insane

Right, so we have our protagonist, Lucy, an innocent, pampered girl who has never had to do any fighting, shooting, or surviving all her life. She goes out into the incredibly dangerous wasteland, and somehow doesn’t immediately get offed? Why are we even following someone who, in a real scenario, would not stand a chance?

It would have been so much more digestible if she were a trained soldier for the vault, at the very least. But somehow, she is able to pick up just about any weapon and hit targets seemingly without thinking. It drives me crazy.

If you’ve ever shot a gun before, you’ll know that being able to achieve that level of skill with a pistol literally takes years of dedicated training. Even your casual weekend shooter will have a hard time pulling off any of the shots we see when the raiders first attack Vault 33.

Speaking of the attack, how come the raiders are so good at fighting, taking down countless vault-dwellers, but as soon as Lucy comes around, they suddenly forget how to fight, or even aim straight?

It drives me nuts!

The most prime (no pun) example I have, however, is when Maximus gets his suit turned off, and Lucy finds him. Lucy manages to survive for what I presume to be a couple of days at least, all on her own in the wasteland. She even tells Maximus about all the people who have tried to kill her.

So, there she goes with Maximus, and the VERY FIRST ENCOUNTER with others would have seen Lucy killed had it not been for Maximus and his trained soldier instincts. How the hell am I supposed to look at that situation and think “hmm, prime storytelling” – who is it that’s writing this story? Did they even bother to put some critical thought into the script? Or did they assume a bunch of preschoolers would be watching their gory adaptation and wouldn’t question anything at all?

You can probably tell I’ve been holding this in for just a moment too long. Feels good to get it off the chest. Phew.

Give Lucy Time to Grow, for Goodness’ Sake

So, am I completely against having Lucy as a protagonist? I can’t say I’d choose her type for a story set in the Fallout universe, but no, I’m not completely opposed to it. The thing you have to realize with a story like this is that she will need time to grow and learn from her mistakes. She isn’t going to survive an hour on her own, so give her those mentor characters and stop making me believe that by some movie science magic she manages to survive on her own for days at a time.

Now that she has Maximus, even though he is a bit of a coward, she might actually stand a chance. Don’t get me wrong, cowardice can be a useful tool in the wasteland. Trying to be a badass and fight and kill everything will get you killed super fast. No difficulty settings in the real world!

So here I am, at the end of episode 5 (I think, Prime remembers for me), and I’m not so sure I want to keep watching. Does it get better? Does Lucy grow and come into her own? Or does she stay a soft target that’s reliant on those around her, and only actually survives when it’s convenient for the plot?

I hope you can help me, dear Prima reader. I really want to like this show, so did you experience the same frustration I did, and then the series got good enough to justify everything? Or am I going to do a whole lot more belief suspension? Because if that’s the case, I’m out.

Happy holidays!