If you’re into the Fallout games by Bethesda Softworks, you probably expect some key stuff in any Fallout story.

Like, you’re on a mission to find someone important who’s gone missing, dealing with the wild world after nuclear chaos, meeting quirky characters, and facing some tough choices at the end.

So, Amazon Prime Video dropped this series called Fallout, and it totally nails all those things. It’s based on the game series and brings out the same vibe.

The story follows Lucy MacLean, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world wrecked by nukes. She has to leave her safe spot in a vault to find her dad, Hank, who’s gone missing.

Along the way, she discovers some heavy truths and meets all sorts of interesting people.

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What Is This Series Is All About?

The “Fallout” series begins in the year 2077, in a world where nuclear energy rules and a birthday bash sets the stage. Cooper Howard, a former movie star, now entertains at small gigs to make ends meet.

During the party, news of a looming war and atomic bombs drops like a bombshell. Cooper, with his daughter in tow, scrambles for safety as chaos erupts.

Fast forward 200 years, life thrives underground in places called Vaults. Lucy MacLean celebrates her wedding day in Vault 33, blissfully unaware of the dangers lurking outside.

But her joy turns to horror when raiders disguised as vault dwellers attack, kidnapping her father and plunging her into a fight for survival.

Meanwhile, Maximus vies for a spot in the Brotherhood of Steel, a group sworn to protect humanity and guard advanced tech.

When his friend is sidelined by foul play, Maximus steps up, landing a role as squire to Knight Titus. Elsewhere, a ghastly figure known as the Ghoul, once a famous actor, roams the wasteland.

As Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul embark on separate quests, their paths converge in a tangled web of danger and intrigue.

With Enclave scientists on the run and vital tech in the mix, their journeys intertwine, leading to unexpected alliances and deadly showdowns.

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The Reason Behind Cooper Howard’s Industry Blacklisting

Before everything went nuclear, the show spends a lot of time showing life before the big fallout. This part is super important because it sets up a bunch of stuff that happens later.

One key character during this time is Cooper Howard. Before he turned into a Ghoul, he was a big deal. Cooper used to be a famous actor, not some washed-up has-been like he is at the start of the series.

He didn’t fall from grace because he messed up personally, though. It was all political stuff that messed him up, and that’s what the show is mostly about.

Back when he was on top, Cooper was known for playing the hero in Western movies. He was also the face of Vault-Tec, the company that made Vaults for when the nukes started dropping. You might’ve seen Vault Boy around. He’s the company mascot.

Well, it turns out that Cooper was the guy behind the Vault Boy character. That thing where Vault Boy gives a thumbs-up? That was Cooper’s idea, and it became super famous later on.

Cooper had a strong connection with Vault-Tec, but he couldn’t ignore the criticism against it. Many of his film partners were secretly against the company. They were part of a sneaky political group the government labeled as communists, siding with Russia.

Cooper thought this was unpatriotic at first. But then a friend brought him to one of their meetings, and he met the woman leading the group.

She talked about how the American government wasn’t taking care of its people. Cooper was skeptical until she mentioned knowing about his wife, Barb.

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There was this lady named Barb Howard, right? She was all high up in Vault-Tec, and she got Cooper hooked up with those ad gigs. But then there’s this shady meeting where some other lady talks about how their organization ain’t communist, but they’re just against the government, you know? And she hints that Barb’s hiding stuff.

She gives Cooper a spy gadget to listen in on Barb’s Pip-boy, basically her work conversations. Cooper’s not too keen on it at first, but he eventually caves.

And guess what? He overhears this crazy meeting between Vault-Tec and other vault makers, and it’s all dark and twisted.

Barb, along with her boss Bud Atkins, is leading it. It’s a big deal because Vault-Tec, this company, is asking all the other vault makers in the USA to gather and figure out how the vaults should be set up.

These vaults are supposed to keep people safe in case of a nuclear disaster.

Barb spills the beans. She tells everyone that Vault-Tec and the government are planning to drop atomic bombs themselves! Crazy, right? Their idea is to wipe out the old world and start fresh. Vault-Tec wants to make sure Americans have an advantage when everything settles down.

Cooper, this guy at the meeting, hears all this and he’s not happy. Barb is his wife, by the way. He probably went ballistic after finding out.

Later on, he gets in trouble. People call him a communist and kick him out of the movie biz. Now he’s stuck doing boring jobs like working at kids’ birthday parties. Tough break!!!

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Secret of Vault 31

Norm MacLean was totally on his own when he started snooping around Vault 31. He couldn’t figure out why nobody else seemed bothered, especially after his dad got snatched and his sister went off looking for him.

Then, during a raider attack, he noticed something super weird. There weren’t any live crops in Vault 32, which was majorly sketchy. Later, he decided to check out Vault 32 again, bringing along his buddy Chet.

Turns out, the original folks in there didn’t get taken out by the raiders; they actually offed themselves in some freaky mass suicide. Digging into the computer stuff, Norm found out the raiders used his mom’s Pip-boy to open the Vault doors, which blew his mind.

When he asked the new Overseer, Betty, about his mom’s Pip-boy, she said it got buried with his mom after she passed away from being sick.

Around the same time, Norm finds out something super weird. He figures out that all the Overseers from Vaults 32 and 33 were actually originally from Vault 31.

And there were some creepy messages written in blood on the walls of Vault 32, hinting at some messed-up stuff going down in Vault 31.

So, Norm realizes that to crack this whole mystery, he’s gotta head to Vault 31. And when he finally does, guess what? There’s no society or community there, just a bunch of cryogenic tubes.

Turns out, before the world went boom, Vault-Tec had this big plan to control everything after the nukes cleared.

This dude named Bud Atkins, a big shot at Vault-Tec, came up with this program called Bud’s Buds.

Basically, important Vault-Tec guys would be frozen solid for centuries, so they’d never kick the bucket. And once the radiation cooled down, they’d be in charge of everything.

Vault 31? It was basically the freezer for these cryo-pods. And the reason why only people from there became Overseers is because they were all Vault-Tec big shots, still following the company’s plan.

So, basically, they made it seem like we had a choice in leaders and all, but really, it was still Vault-Tec pulling all the strings, even after 200 years of the world going kaboom.

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Why Did Moldaver Take Hank MacLean Hostage?

In the later parts of Fallout, we find out something wild like Moldaver, the leader of the raiders, used to be a big deal in an anti-government group before the whole world went nuclear.

Somehow, she managed to stay alive for over two hundred years and still wants to shake things up for the better, or so she says.

Now, there’s this cool device called Cold Fusion, cooked up by Vault-Tec. It’s like a never-ending energy source that could help out big time in the post-apocalyptic world.

But instead of sharing this game-changer, Vault-Tec kept it on the down-low, hiding behind a new group called the Enclave.

One brave scientist named Wilzig swiped the Cold Fusion chip and hid it inside his own head. He wanted to give it to Moldaver so she could use it to help folks in need.

Now, this is where things get crazy. Wilzig’s on the run from the Brotherhood of Steel, trying to reach Moldaver’s hideout.

When he finally gets there, Moldaver spills the beans about the Cold Fusion’s true power. And then she drops another bombshell: why she nabbed Hank MacLean.

Turns out, Hank used to be a big shot at Vault-Tec, rubbing shoulders with some important folks. But when his wife, Rose, started wondering if life outside the vaults was safe, Hank flipped out.

He ditched her and their kids, then straight-up destroyed Rose’s town, Shady Sands. He even lied to his kids, Lucy and Norm, saying their mom was dead when she’s actually barely hanging on after the explosion.

Moldaver survived Hank’s rampage and waited patiently for years to get her hands on that Cold Fusion chip. And since Hank had the right access codes, she snatched him up to make it work.

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What Goes Down with Lucy and the Gang?

Lucy MacLean gets hit with a bombshell of secrets that were kept from her for ages. She faces a tough decision like believe her dad or Moldavar.

When she sees a person suffering, wearing her mom’s necklace, she’s sure the rebel leader told her the truth. She refuses to help her dad, who insists he did everything out of love.

Then, the Brotherhood of Steel barges in after Maximus spills the beans to save his own skin. Maximus still hunts for Lucy, hoping to spend his life with her. He frees Hank, who turns on him and knocks him out cold.

Meanwhile, a Ghoul named Cooper Howard arrives, searching for answers about his family since the world went kaput.

In the end, Hank bolts in power armor, while Lucy teams up with Cooper to uncover more truths. Norm MacLean is forced into cryo-sleep because he knows too much about Vault-Tec’s shadiness.

When Maximus wakes up, Moldavar is badly hurt from fighting the Brotherhood. Moldavar activates the Cold Fusion, bathing the place in light, but dies soon after. The Brotherhood finds Maximus, thinking he’s the hero who activated the Cold Fusion.

They plan to use its power, promoting Maximus for his luck. The final scene sees Hank heading to New Vegas, hinting at a possible sequel.