Fallout: Season 2 Review

A Star Wars-themed spoiler warning graphic.

Spoiler Warning: Beware of spoilers for Fallout Seasons 1 & 2, as well as multiple games in the Fallout franchise.

I just finished watching the second season of Amazon and Bethesda’s Fallout series. A couple of years ago, you might remember me writing here on the website that Season 1 had been okay, but not exceptional, and I don’t remember Fallout even getting close to being in contention for one of my End-of-Year Awards in 2024. In fact, I was one of the rare dissenters back in Season 1, which seemed to be winning praise almost across the board, from long-time fans of the franchise to new viewers and beyond.

So… was Season 2 more of the same, an improvement, or does it represent a decline in the show’s quality? Let’s get into all of that today.

As always, I like to give a little caveat. Everything we’re going to discuss in this review is the *subjective, not objective* opinion of just one critic. If you adore Fallout and think it’s the best thing you’ve ever seen, if you despise it and think it’s unworthy of its source material, or if you just don’t agree with some or all of the points I raise… that’s totally okay. There ought to be enough room in the fan community for differences of opinion and polite disagreement without resorting to name-calling or (radioactive) toxicity!

Three Fallout S2 promo posters.
A trio of promotional posters for Season 2.

Secondly, I think you should be aware of a couple of things before we get into the meat of this review. I always like to explain my background with a long-running franchise before diving into any kind of critique, simply to explain how experienced or inexperienced I am with what can be complicated and detailed worlds, backstories, and lore. In this case, I have seen Fallout Season 1, I’ve played Fallout 3 and all of its DLC, and I’ve played the main campaign and some of the side-quests in Fallout 4. But I am not familiar with the first two games in the Fallout series, from before Bethesda Softworks’ acquisition of the IP, nor have I played Fallout: New Vegas.

With both Fallout 1 and Fallout: New Vegas having an impact on the story of the TV adaptation’s second season, I thought I should be up-front about that – either so you know where I’m coming from, or in case you decide that my opinion is invalid and you choose not to read any further. No hard feelings, if that’s the case! I’m by no means the world’s biggest Fallout fan, though I would consider it to be a franchise I generally enjoy. I just think it’s important to be clear about such things.

Box art for Fallout: New Vegas.
Large parts of Season 2 overlap with the video game Fallout: New Vegas.

As a final note before we talk about the TV show’s story: I’m generally content to consider adaptations and spin-offs on their own merit. That is to say, despite Bethesda Game Studios’ insistence that the Fallout TV series is “canon” and coexists in the same universe as the games… I’m not really interested in that, as I’m not someone who obsesses over this franchise’s lore and history. If you are, and if the TV series changes or reworks some elements of Fallout canon that you disapprove of… that’s fine, but it’s not really what I’m going to focus on in this piece. I want Fallout to be internally consistent within itself; if it contradicts one of the games, I’m content to give the series room to explore such a story point, and judge it on its own merit at the end. Again, if that’s not something you’re interested in, or you want a review that goes hard on the minutiae and lore of the wider franchise… no hard feelings if you choose to stop reading!

Okay, with all of that out of the way… what’s the headline?

Like Season 1, Fallout Season 2 was fine… but far from great. It held my attention well enough most of the time, and some storylines and characters were stronger than others. But there were some *incredibly* cringeworthy moments that I absolutely detested, some confusing or convoluted story points, totally disconnected sets of characters whose storylines barely intersected at all, and a whole lot of padding, wheel-spinning, and unnecessary diversions for a main storyline that had, at most, three episodes’ worth of actual narrative content.

Photo from the Fallout S2 premiere showing the cast.
Most of the main cast and some of the production team at the Season 2 premiere.

Let’s begin with a big-picture critique of one of the main storylines.

I don’t think that Fallout is well-served by delving deeply into the questions of “who launched the nukes and why?” Often, the point of stories set in a post-war or post-nuclear setting is that the whos and whys don’t matter – because no matter who started it or what their goals may have been, *everyone* lost out when the world as they knew it came to an end. By putting several of its core characters right in the middle of this shadowy, world-ending conspiracy, Fallout is jumping head-first into a question that has simply never needed to be answered.

In my review of Season 1, I said that it was great fun to catch a glimpse of the world of Fallout prior to the bombs dropping, and I stand by that. Seeing what the world looked like, and what was lost when the bombs fell, remains an interesting element for the series to explore – and because of the nature of video games as a medium, these kinds of flashbacks to the pre-war world aren’t usually possible, or at least not to the same extent. But there are ways to explore the world before it became the Wasteland without following the stories of people who were major players in what was to come.

Still frame from Fallout S1 showing three nuclear detonations.
Do we need to discover who pushed the big red button?

Cooper Howard’s character worked well when he was a man willing to do anything to find his family, desperately hoping they were still alive and sealed in a vault somewhere. But when he became a kind of double- and then triple-agent for various pre-war factions who were all squabbling over the show’s magical macguffin… far from elevating his character into a Bethesda Games-style “chosen one,” I felt it actually detracted from who he was in a major way.

Not every character in a story like Fallout can or should be someone incredibly important. And we don’t need to know why the bombs fell – two centuries in the past from the perspectives of most of the residents of this world – to understand that the Wasteland is a dangerous place and that desperate people are willing to do some pretty messed-up things. By putting Cooper so close to the conspiracy, rubbing shoulders with some of the people who schemed and plotted to launch the nukes and end the world… Fallout lost something from its post-apocalyptic setting. And there’s a real risk that, in overexplaining what happened, who did it, and why, Fallout will be unable to come up with a satisfying explanation to a mystery that’s now almost thirty years old. Some things are genuinely better left unexplored, and I fear that the conspiracy surrounding the nuclear exchange that created the Wasteland will turn out to be one of them.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Cooper.
Cooper in one of the pre-war sequences.

We’ll stick with Cooper for now, since he was part of two major storylines in Season 2.

In the show’s present day, Cooper – as the Ghoul – accompanied Lucy to Las Vegas, hoping that Hank would lead him to his family. This story had its moments, but in a season that seemed to spin its wheels in places or get sidetracked with relatively unimportant stuff, the Ghoul’s decision to turn Lucy over to Hank – and his subsequent injury – felt pretty rushed.

It was always obvious that the Ghoul had his own reasons for going with Lucy, and even when they seemed to be getting to know each other and even working well together, his agenda would always lead him to turn on her if it suited his purposes. But that moment has to make sense in-universe, and there was nothing we saw from Hank’s indoctrinated assistant in the scene leading up to the conflict with Lucy that convinced me that the Ghoul was ready to give up or give in. What did Hank say to him? How did he *prove* that his family was in the vault, and under threat – especially in light of revelations in the final episode? I’d rather have spent half an episode on that conversation than on Lucy and the Ghoul fighting scorpion-monsters in an abandoned hospital.

Still frame of Fallout S2 showing the Ghoul.
What led up to this moment?

Despite my feelings on whether a story about the pre-war conspiracy was either necessary or a good idea, Cooper’s moments within that story were quite well done. The idea of someone who’s generally a decent person struggling to do the right thing under tremendous pressure is a common enough story outline, but it was executed well – for the most part. As an actor, Cooper made for an interesting choice of someone to send undercover; celebrity status granted him access to people and places that others wouldn’t be able to reach, and a skillset from being on screen allowed him to both blend in and deceive.

There were moments where Fallout seemed to wander into an almost film noir presentation, in some of these pre-war segments, with smoke-filled rooms, body doubles, and the constant sense that there was more going on than meets the eye. Even while I was questioning the overarching storyline, I couldn’t deny that it was being brought to the screen pretty well, and I found myself getting caught up in Cooper’s undercover adventures and going along for the ride.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing House.
Mr House.

We can’t talk about Cooper without also talking about Barbara. In Season 1, Barb seemed like a villainous schemer who’d fully bought into Vault-Tec’s conspiracy. I’m glad that this presentation didn’t last, and that it was revealed that, far from being a high-ranking villain bent on maximising shareholder value through mass murder, Barb was just as out of her depth as Cooper. This cemented their relationship in a genuinely positive way for the series, adding to our understanding of the Ghoul’s pre- and post-war lives, and his quest to find his family.

But – and you knew a “but” had to be coming – in a season that spent *ages* on meaningless waffle and dead-end side-quests, this revelation was catastrophically rushed. As above with Cooper, Hank, and Lucy, I could’ve happily spent half an episode or more on this revealtion, with Barb explaining through an extended flashback sequence how she gradually became uncomfortable with Vault-Tec’s plans, how she tried to learn more, how she was horrified, and ultimately threatened and scared into silence. This pivotal moment that switched up her characterisation, literally taking her from one of the show’s worst villains to a genuine hero, was communicated very poorly in a sequence that was just too short.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Betty and Barb.
Barb with Betty before the war.

If other storylines in Season 2 had been stronger, I might be lamenting that we didn’t get “just one more episode” to better explore some of these narrative beats and ideas. But when the season wasted time, got sidetracked, and spent entire episodes on what feels like absolutely nothing of consequence? It’s even worse that we didn’t get that time back to spend on these far more important narrative and character moments.

Barb’s story hammers home the deviousness of Vault-Tec’s investors – who, I think it’s safe to say, we all assume will be revealed to be the Enclave, right? What I will say for this pre-war storyline was that I liked its unpredictability. When it seemed like you figured out who Mr House was, it turned out to be a body double. When you thought you knew who was going to press the button and drop the bombs, it changed – then changed again. And when you thought someone was going to do the right thing… that got ripped away from them, too. It made for an intriguing, if imperfect, noir-style conspiracy story. And I generally enjoyed it for what it was, despite its flaws.

Still from Fallout S2 showing Cooper and a car.
Despite my misgivings, the pre-war conspiracy storyline was well executed.

Lucy annoyed me, especially in the first half of Season 2. Her entire arc last time saw her retain her humanity while learning how the Wasteland operates – and what’s necessary to survive in this new environment. But Lucy seemed to undergo the absolute worst kind of character regression this time, taking her back to being the naïve “vaultie” that we first encountered right at the beginning of the story. Lucy made genuinely moronic decisions when fighting the Khan group, at the hospital, and when dealing with the Legion, to name three examples – and she almost got herself and the Ghoul killed on multiple occasions.

Giving a character an arc is great. Fantastic, even. But it’s like Fallout’s writers forgot that they’d already given Lucy that exact same arc the last time around; this was a regression that led to a repetition of what we’d already seen. If some of the storylines that Lucy got caught up in in those early episodes had been particularly strong, I think I’d have still felt this regression was a disappointment – but a solid story could’ve blunted some of that. But the hospital diversion achieved absolutely nothing and wasn’t so much as mentioned thereafter. Nor was the fight against the Khans. And while there is still more to come from the Legion, as we’ll discuss, it wasn’t exactly the season’s highlight for me.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Lucy and a girl.
Lucy seemed to regress as a character, especially at the beginning of the season.

The Fallout franchise is not exactly subtle with the way it portrays many aspects of its post-apocalypse, so the Legion – the way they come across in this series, at any rate – didn’t feel out-of-place. There’s a metaphor in there about war, and how two apparently identical factions can be squabbling over something that seems utterly insignificant or ridiculous from the outside, as depicted through the Legion’s competing encampments and the corpse of their deceased Caesar. And I like the Legion’s style and what it says about how groups cling to elements of the familiar, even when those things have lost all meaning, centuries later. The Legion styles itself on a very uninformed vision of Ancient Rome, complete with Roman-inspired costumes, and again I found that to be both interesting and fun.

This extended to the Legion’s treatment of Lucy – literally trying to crucify her, at one point, before the Ghoul’s intervention. But after the Ghoul set off an explosion at the Legion encampment, the faction seemed to disappear from the story… only to re-emerge right at the end as a threat on a scale not at all comparable to what we saw. By making the Legion out to be so ridiculous (and by making the scale of their encampment seem so small), Fallout left me with the impression that this faction wasn’t going to be important. Yet by the end, Hank is holding them up as a “boogeyman” to frighten Lucy, Lucy herself says the Legion is going to massacre everyone in New Vegas, and the Legion seems to have spawned an entire army out of nowhere, immediately after its own bloody civil war.

Huh?

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Lucy and the Legion.
Lucy meets the Legion.

In the same vein, we have the New California Republic. The NCR, which Lucy and the Ghoul encountered on their journey, seemed to have been decimated after the attack on its capital of Shady Sands, and it was strongly implied that the few soldiers we met were the very final holdouts of a long-dead faction – the Ghoul even said so to their faces. So… where did all of the NCR soldiers come from in the final act of the final episode? Army ex machina is one way to solve New Vegas’ Deathclaw epidemic, I guess… but not a very interesting one, nor one that made sense in the context of the story.

Am I going bonkers? Did I miss something, somewhere, that showed us that both of these factions are bigger (and more alive, in the NCR’s case) than I thought? Because one army showing up out of nowhere is bad enough, but *two*? I know I watched every second of every episode… but maybe it’s my old brain playing tricks on me, or something. I just found it hard to understand how and where both of these factions – who are presumably going to be important in at least the first part of Season 3 – got so many soldiers from.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing the NCR army.
So… where’d all these guys come from, then?

If Fallout’s iconic Supermutants are going to be important in a future season or episode… why not do more with them this time? The Ghoul was injured, dragged away by a Supermutant, healed, and then dragged back to Vegas again for… reasons? It felt like padding; something to do to fill the time on screen because the rest of the story wasn’t quite ready for the Ghoul to arrive at the Vault-Tec facility yet. I get that it was meant to be a tease of something to come – at least, I hope that’s what it was, and not just raw nostalgia bait for fans – but even so, it felt like a total waste. Either commit to having the Supermutant present for more than a single scene, or skip this unnecessary diversion and spend longer on some of the rushed pre-war stuff that we just talked about.

As long as there’s a good narrative reason for their inclusion, I think bringing the Supermutants into Fallout makes a lot of sense – as I said, they’re an iconic part of this world. But this introduction just felt like a complete bag of nothing, and even if it’s meant to be setting up something bigger to come in the future, there’s no getting away from the fact that it felt like a waste of time in the moment.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing a Supermutant.
A Supermutant.

Hank (Lucy’s father) ran an intriguing operation out of the Vault-Tec facility. At first, I thought it was meant to be an above-ground building, and I wrote in my notes that it didn’t make sense that such a building could’ve survived intact for so long. But this was, I belatedly learned, meant to be an underground facility, which makes a lot more sense. Hank used that facility to hone House’s mind-control tech, and this was an interesting angle for his character and certainly gave him a new direction.

I have a bunch of unanswered questions about Hank, though, and I think the success (or otherwise) of this storyline will have to be assessed when we know more. Hank seemed to have perfected the mind control tech… but why did he wait decades after his un-freezing to even try? Why did Hank and Steph (who are revealed to be married) not remain married in the vaults, nor even emerge from cryo-sleep at the same time? Did Hank genuinely wipe his own memory at the end… or is it all a ruse? My money’s on “ruse,” by the way, but you never can tell!

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Hank and Lucy driving.
Learning to drive with dad.

My point is that there’s a lot we still don’t know, and I don’t want to rush to judgement about Hank’s story until we have a more clear picture. I generally found Hank an interesting antagonist – he’s more than just “evil for the sake of it,” even though his exact plans are still unclear. And I kind of like the idea that Vault-Tec and/or the Enclave would be looking to find ways of enforcing peace, even if that peace comes on their very strict terms. It adds depth to what could’ve been a pretty bland villain.

Lucy’s reunion with Hank was intense and emotional, and we went on a bit of a rollercoaster as Lucy seemed to be at least open to the possibility that Hank was doing something for the right reasons. And the scene of Hank teaching Lucy to drive the golf cart was simultaneously haunting and kinda cute. The revelation of the Congresswoman’s severed head is another story point that I felt wasn’t suitably explained, though – if she was the “computer” controlling or pacifying all of the chipped Wastelanders, why didn’t they react when the head was destroyed?

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing the Congresswoman's head.
The Congresswoman’s ultimate fate.

In terms of visuals, Fallout continues to be a pretty well-done and good-looking show. I like the physical props, representing iconic gadgets like the Pip-Boy, and big, room-sized computers with screens reminiscent of old television sets. The TV adaptation has done well, generally speaking, to recapture that “alt history” angle; the ’50s that never ended. Power armour looked a lot better this time around than it had in Season 1, in my opinion, especially the final NCR power armour that Thaddeus used toward the end of the season.

One CGI misfire that I can call to mind involved the Deathclaws. At one point in the final episode, the Deathclaw “steps” onto gravel – and the intersection of real-world set and CGI monster just didn’t look quite right; the Deathclaw felt hollow and weightless, rather than the dinosaur-esque giant lizard it was meant to be. Not the end of the world, though, if that’s really the worst CGI moment I can call to mind.

Still frame (crop) from Fallout S2 showing a Deathclaw foot.
The Deathclaw foot.

Toward the end of the season, several characters spent time in the town of Freeside – part of the broader Vegas area. And there are a couple of points I wanted to bring up, as I felt these kind of detracted from the setting and, to a lesser extent, the story. Firstly, this town was clearly meant to have a “Wild West” feel to it, which is okay – but did that need to extend to costuming, too? The Legion, for instance, clearly have a reason to dress up in Roman costumes, but why do the folks in Freeside all seem to be cosplaying as 19th Century civilians? When most of the rest of the world retains at least some of Fallout’s signature ’50s-inspired aesthetic, this town stood out all the more.

Secondly, given how strong and powerful the Deathclaws are, Freeside’s “barricade,” for want of a better term, hardly seems good enough to keep them out. You have an entire town full of people living next to a pen occupied by giant lizard monsters, and the best they can do to keep themselves safe is a few bits of sheet metal and a chain. When Thaddeus was sent crashing through the barricade, it just made me wonder how it had held out for so long to begin with.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Deathclaws and a barricade.
How did this flimsy barricade last so long?

Sticking with the Deathclaws for a moment, the Ghoul and Lucy’s encounter with them felt *very* jumpy. When the pair arrived at the New Vegas strip, they were fighting feral ghouls in daylight. Then, moments later, they were approaching the Lucky 38 casino after dark. But after almost being killed by the Deathclaws (and kicking off a convoluted story about needing to get back to a place they’d just been), it was daytime again when they stood outside of the Deathclaw enclosure. Did I miss something? Why was this shot/edited in such a jumpy way?

That sequence is the only one in the season (that I can call to mind, anyway) to have had this kind of issue – which just makes it all the more noticeable. And, even if I’m being generous to Fallout, saying that maybe there was meant to be a day or two in between each of the three parts, it still comes back to the same point: this season spent too long elsewhere, spinning its wheels. If this night/day changeup isn’t a total goof and there’s meant to be time passing in between the arrival at Vegas, the escape from the Deathclaws, and the arrival at Freeside… where was any indication of the passage of time? In a better story, this would still stick out, but when Fallout really had the opportunity to cut plenty of extraneous fluff, there’s no excusing it, in my opinion. Having the Deathclaw encounter take place after dark was a stylistic choice, and one that could’ve worked, heightening the tension. But when the very next scene clearly takes place in the daytime, a stone’s throw away… it detracted from it.

Behind-the-scenes photo from Fallout S2 showing a Deathclaw and puppeteer.
A Deathclaw behind-the-scenes.

It can be hard to judge middle seasons of television stories, sometimes. There’s clearly more to come from Fallout, and how we ultimately feel about key storylines may shift depending on how they’re ultimately resolved. So I’m trying to keep that in mind as I say… what the heck was going on in Vaults 31, 32, and 33? It looks like Fallout is pushing towards a Supermutant storyline for at least one of the vaults, which could be entertaining, but after Norm’s discovery in Vault 31 last time… I kind of expected more from that side of the story.

For me, Norm (and later, the Vault-Tec survivors) felt like they were being written out of the main story – pushed aside so as not to tread on the toes of other storylines. Far from the natural-feeling, slow burn of this storyline in Season 1 – which was generally pretty interesting last time around – this story felt concocted and artificial, as if Norm and the Vault-Tec staff were acting at the behest of a room full of TV writers. If it was too soon for Norm to reveal what he’d discovered in Vault 31, why not sideline him this season? Show us a few clips of him trying to get out of the Vault and back home, but keep him trapped there, instead of sending him out on an ultimately fruitless and circular story that seems to be bringing him right back home anyway. It wouldn’t have been great, perhaps… but it might’ve been less bad.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Norm.
Norm’s story seems to be taking him back to the vaults.

That said, I did really enjoy Moisés Arias’ performance as Norm once again. Arias had been one of the absolute highlights of Season 1 for me, and even when I wasn’t wild about some of the narrative choices on his side of the story this time, I felt he did an absolutely exceptional job. Norm’s story kept me on the edge of my seat, and as a character who feels weaker and less capable than Lucy, throwing Norm into the midst of this Vault-Tec conspiracy – and then dragging him to the surface – made for an interesting turn of events in some ways. Arias rose to the challenge wonderfully.

Norm getting a new friend (or possible love interest?) in Claudia was interesting, too, and I generally enjoyed this new character. Claudia wasn’t like the other Vault-Tec executives, as an apparent newcomer to the role, and bonded well with Norm across their adventure together. Unlike Lucy and Maximus or Lucy and the Ghoul, Norm and Claudia were on comparable terms when entering the Wasteland, and explored it together – albeit in different ways. Claudia was the only one of the Vault-Tec employees to express any kind of grief over the war and the loss she was experiencing, which added a lot of depth to her character and went a long way to humanising her.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Claudia's cryo-pod.
Claudia awakens in a new world.

Maximus has a lot of potential to be an interesting character, and I’m still rooting for him. But my god, were his and Thaddeus’ storylines so unbearably cringeworthy – for the second season in a row. Maximus has his “fish out of water” thing with the Brotherhood, which is interesting, and the arrival of an envoy from the Commonwealth could have given him a totally new story arc as the pair worked together to prevent a war. But having gone to the trouble of setting that up, Fallout paired up Maximus with the ghoulified (or proto-Supermutant?) Thaddeus, and the result was more of the worst kind of American cringe humour that I personally just cannot stand.

We got a “Weekend at Bernie’s” story, as Thaddeus tried to impersonate the dead Commonwealth envoy – in full power armour. We got Maximus’ abortive attempt to kill the leader of his Brotherhood chapter. And then the two ran away, on a quest to save the magical macguffin that would ultimately lead them to the Ghoul and Lucy. There were interesting elements in the mix – like what’s going on with Thaddeus, and the Brotherhood’s unwavering indoctrination that only Maximus and a couple of others seem to be able to break. But the way much of this story and both of these characters were presented? It takes so much away from those points of interest to the point where I literally had to fast-forward some of the most cringeworthy parts.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Maximus.
Maximus got another crop of cringe humour storylines this time.

In my review of Season 1, I said that it was beyond ironic that a criticism of the unchecked power of mega-corporations was coming from Amazon and Bethesda – a subsidiary of Microsoft. Fallout seemed to be sticking to its video game origins and highlighting the dangers of corporations being left to their own devices, having too much power, and really acting as a metaphor for the world we live in today. That metaphor, I argued, was at best muddled by who was producing and creating this series, but present nevertheless.

This time… that’s gone. The message of Fallout Season 2, if you boil it down, seems to be “corporations good, government bad,” or at least that corporations are inherently less evil than the United States government is. Think about it: the *real* villains are the ones involved in the conspiracy to launch the nukes, end the world, and run these unethical experiments. And the ultimate responsibility for all of that seems to lie with the Enclave – a.k.a. the American government. Or perhaps it’s better to say that the Enclave is a Trumpian “deep state;” a shadow government pulling the strings from within? Given Amazon and Microsoft’s recent moves to support Trump – the money they’re “donating” to build his ballroom, the Melania movie being funded by Amazon, their extensive investments in A.I., and of course, Bill Gates and Donald Trump apparently having a mutual friend with a private island… maybe that kind of messaging is to be expected? It’s certainly a point of note, at any rate.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing the Amazon MGM logo.
Fallout’s second season seems to have walked back the franchise’s criticism of mega-corporations. For some reason.

So hypocrisy and irony are out… Trumpian conspiracies are in? Is that… an improvement? There’s ample room to criticise the United States government, of course, and I don’t begrudge any artist or creator wanting to make a point about, let’s say, unchecked presidential power. But the way Fallout seems to have shifted, painting the government as worse than the corporations, and even suggesting that people like Robert House are somewhat on the “less bad” side of things? It was a surprise, let’s leave it at that.

What I think we’re learning from Fallout as a TV adaptation of a video game is simply this: some of what works in an interactive format is less enjoyable – or not enjoyable at all – when you change to a new medium. Getting sidetracked on the way to your destination by random in-game events, new factions, and the like might be fun when you’re *playing* an open-world adventure game, but it’s not something that makes for entertaining viewing without that interactive component. If we use Lucy as our stand-in for the player character in this new Fallout adventure, she got into some scrapes, met some wacky characters, and had an adventure that felt, in some ways, like it came right out of the video games. But… it didn’t actually make for a cohesive or enjoyable story much of the time.

Still frame from Fallout S2 showing Lucy (in the mirror).
Lucy.

Fallout is simultaneously an ambitious project and a copycat production that fits the post-Game of Thrones streaming TV mould. Disconnected character groups? Check. Intersecting storylines? Check. A fully serialised story? Check. Cringeworthy humorous side characters? Check. World-ending, existential threat (and a conspiracy to boot)? Check. For all of the money Amazon has spent, and for all of the genuine successes at recreating the look and feel of Fallout’s Wasteland… the actual story the writers are telling in this world feels unoriginal, derivative, and small. And right now, I can’t shake the feeling that, were this not called “Fallout” and based on a game series I have a passing familiarity with… I’d have switched off by now.

So that was Fallout Season 2.

There are interesting ideas and elements in the mix, but they continue to be paired with storylines and characters that feel directionless, fake, or both. And for every genuine success Fallout manages to have with a narrative point, there’s at least one more disappointment to cancel it out.

Three Fallout S2 promo posters.
Three character posters.

That being said, I stuck with Fallout to the end, and I daresay I will watch Season 3 when it’s ready – in 2028, perhaps, or beyond. The successful moments and enjoyable characters are worth sticking around for, even if they’re only one part of a show that can feel like a bit of a mixed bag. Fallout isn’t going to win any awards – at least, not from yours truly – but it’s clearly a successful project for Amazon and Bethesda, bringing new eyes to this pretty unique setting. If only there’d been a new Fallout video game in the last decade that I could actually recommend people play! Still, fingers crossed for that Fallout 3 remake, eh?

I hope this review has been interesting. If you stuck with me to the end, thank you! I had quite a few points that I wanted to hit this time, so I know this has been quite a long read. If you’re new to the world of Fallout and curious about where to go next, I guess the obvious suggestion from fans of the series would be Fallout: New Vegas, though as it’s not a game I’m familiar with it’s not one I can personally recommend. But hey, maybe 2026 will finally be the year I fire up the game and try it out for myself. Never say never, I guess!

At the start of the year, I put together a short list of films, games, and TV shows I’m looking forward to in 2026 – click or tap here to check it out. There will be other TV and movie reviews in the weeks and months ahead, so I hope you’ll stay tuned. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is definitely getting a review in a few weeks’ time, after its first season wraps up, and I have plans to check out a few other programmes, too. I hope you’ll join me for some of that as 2026 rolls along. Until then… stay safe out there in the Wasteland!


Fallout Seasons 1 & 2 are available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video. Season 1 is also available on DVD/Blu-ray. Some images/photos courtesy of Amazon/Amazon MGM Studios. The Fallout TV series is the copyright of Amazon and Bethesda Game Studios; the Fallout license is held by Bethesda Game Studios. This review contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

We’re Halfway Through 2025!

A Shenmue-themed spoiler warning.

Spoiler Warning: Beware minor spoilers for some of the entries on this list.

You’ve made it to the halfway point! That’s right: by my reckoning, the end of June marks the halfway point of the year, which I think makes it a great moment to look ahead and think about some of the entertainment experiences that await us. This piece isn’t for dishing out made-up awards and trophies; that’ll come at the end of December! No, what we’re gonna do today is take a look at five films, five games, and five TV programmes that are scheduled to arrive between now and New Year’s Eve.

Has the first half of this year gone by quickly? I think it’s a bit of a cliché to complain about the passage of time, but it really doesn’t seem like it’s been six months since I was taking down the Christmas tree! And yes, we’ll be thinking about Christmas again before you know it.

Stock photo of Santa Claus' hand holding a cookie in front of Christmas decorations.
I’m already thinking about it…

But until then, we’ve got a summer and an autumn to get through – with plenty of interesting-looking entertainment experiences lying ahead. As I said, I’ve picked five films, five games, and five TV shows that I think could be fun as the second half of 2025 gets underway.

As always, I have a couple of caveats. Firstly, this list is just one person’s subjective opinion, so if I recommend a production you don’t care for or miss something that you think should’ve been obvious… that’s okay! There are plenty of things to be excited for this year, and we won’t always agree on which ones look best! Secondly, all titles below are on the schedule for 2025 at time of writing, but with everything going on in the world, some or even all of them might miss their intended release dates. Finally, I’ve grouped the list into three categories, but the individual productions are listed randomly, not ranked in order of what I’m most keen on!

With all of that out of the way, let’s dive into the list.

Film #1:
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Promo still for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere showing the title character.

Biopics of musicians have been all the rage in recent years. After Bob Dylan, Elton John, Elvis Presley, and other performers have had their lives dramatised… in 2025 it’s the turn of Bruce Springsteen. I’m a pretty big Springsteen fan; his folk album We Shall Overcome (The Seeger Sessions) is one of my absolute favourite albums, though of course he’s better-known for his rock stuff!

Deliver Me From Nowhere is set during the creation of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska – the album that spawned Atlantic City. I think it has the potential to be an interesting re-telling of an important chapter in the singer’s life, as well as an entertaining film to boot. If nothing else, it’s gonna have a great soundtrack!

Film #2:
I Know What You Did Last Summer

Promo photo/behind-the-scenes photo from the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025 version) showing the famous hook and a clapper board.

Do we call this a sequel? A remake? A squemake? Whatever it is, I’m cautiously interested! The original I Know What You Did Last Summer, which was released in 1997, is one of those not-so-great films that had an impact on me because of when I watched it! I went to the cinema with some friends, with no plans for what we were gonna watch, and we picked this horror/slasher film at the last minute, not really sure what to expect. I found I Know What You Did Last Summer to be riveting stuff as a teenager, and even though I don’t think it makes such a good impression these days, it has a place in my heart for that reason.

Whether this adaptation/sequel will recapture the magic remains to be seen – but I think there are some reasons to be hopeful. Returning characters from the original, combined with a new story, could make for an interesting film… but we’ll see.

Film #3:
Brick

Promo still for Brick showing two characters and the titular bricks.

I really don’t know what to expect from this German-language mystery-thriller – but the premise alone has me intrigued. Some people awaken to find their apartment building surrounded by an apparently impermeable wall, with no way in or out. The trailer showed several different characters in various apartments, some of whom may know something about what’s going on and why.

The film definitely feels “Netflixy,” if you get my meaning. But I think there’s enough of an interesting premise to carry the story, and it could end up being something of a sleeper hit. Maybe I’m wrong about that – but I’m eager to find out.

Film #4:
Zootopia 2

Promo still for Zootopia/Zootropolis 2 showing Nick, Judy, and another character.

Disney is still really into its sequels, eh? A follow-up to 2016’s smash hit, Zootopia 2 will see Judy and Nick back in action – this time both as members of Zootopia’s police force. The story will involve a renegade snake… and that’s about all we know so far! The original Zootopia was fun, though I admit I haven’t seen the Disney+ miniseries from a couple of years ago. Still, a return to this world could be entertaining, especially for the little ones.

In 2016, Zootopia and Moana seemed to clash, but this time Disney has managed to keep their sequels a year or so apart – which is good! Whether either of those films really needed sequels, though… well, I guess we’re about to find out.

Film #5:
In Your Dreams

Promo still for In Your Dreams showing two characters (and a teddy) riding on a bed through the clouds.


Another animated film now. In Your Dreams has a creative premise: two kids entering the dream world, looking to find the Sandman. I’m getting kind of a Spellbound vibe here, insofar as both films deal with kids trying to help their parents. The trailer was cute, and Netflix has done well with some of its animated pictures in recent years – so there’s definitely reason to be hopeful!

I just think the film looks great, and with Disney – as mentioned – focused on sequels, spin-offs, and remakes, there’s plenty of room for a studio like Netflix to muscle in and stake a claim in the animated realm. Last year’s Spellbound was one of my favourite films of the year, so In Your Dreams has the potential to build on that success.

Video Game #1:
Donkey Kong Bananza

Promo image for Donkey Kong Bananza showing DK punching the ground.

I don’t have a Switch 2, so chances are I won’t play Donkey Kong Bananza this year! And there are reasons to be sceptical of the game; I’m getting “double-A,” kind of mid-tier vibes from everything I’ve seen so far. However… as a big fan of DK’s last 3D adventure – Donkey Kong 64, which was more than a quarter of a century ago! – I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued. A recent trailer showing off Pauline – who appeared in the original arcade game and has recently become a mainline Super Mario character – has also piqued my curiosity.

As I said when discussing the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2: this isn’t the game you buy an expensive console for. But if I eventually get my hands on a Switch 2, I can absolutely see myself picking up Donkey Kong Bananza if for no other reason than to have another 3D adventure and maybe get some of those nostalgic Donkey Kong 64 feels!

Video Game #2:
Mafia: The Old Country

Promo still for Mafia: The Old Country showing the interior of an Italian villa.

I remember the original Mafia on the Xbox – I expected it to just be a ’30s Grand Theft Auto III clone! The game was a lot of fun in its own right, though, with a strong, engaging story populated by fun characters, not just film noir caricatures. Mafia: The Old Country is going to step back in time and hop across the Atlantic to Sicily, focusing on the growth of the Cosa Nostra at the turn of the last century. I really like this idea; not only the time period but the Sicilian location seem like they could be a ton of fun – and something a bit different.

The Mafia trilogy was remade from the ground up a few years ago, and the remakes are also well worth playing for any fan of third-person action-adventure games. It’s my hope that The Old Country will be in the same vein, and will tell an exciting and compelling crime story. I don’t want to fully board the hype train for any unreleased title… but I have high hopes for this one!

Video Game #3:
Crimson Desert

Promo screenshot of Crimson Desert showing a mounted character overlooking a lake or ocean.

At time of writing, Crimson Desert is still on the schedule for later this year. However, it’s been a while since we heard much about the game, though some journalists got to see it at one of the recent games industry events. In short… I’m not sure if we should expect a delay! But the game looks fantastic; a large fantasy open world that promises plenty to do and different ways to play.

Developers Pearl Abyss are well known for Black Desert Online, which is now over a decade old but still has a dedicated community. I think there are plenty of reasons to look at Crimson Desert with optimism… though, as mentioned, I wouldn’t be shocked if a delay pushes it back into 2026. Of all the games we’ve talked about today, this feels like the most likely one to miss its release window.

Video Game #4:
Terminator 2D: No Fate

Promo screenshot for Terminator 2D: No Fate showing a character being punched.

Playing through the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day in a game that looks like it was made for the SNES? Sign me up, that sounds perfect! Everything I’ve seen of Terminator 2D: No Fate just gives me the nostalgic feels; like I’m a kid again, playing my SNES after school with some licensed side-scrolling game like Alien 3 or Super Star Wars. The graphics look perfect, the gameplay looks like a lot of fun, and it’s an officially licensed game based on a solid film. What could go wrong?

Alright, fine – maybe I’m getting over-excited! But it’s been a while since I saw a project quite like this one, and something about the visuals and the style of gameplay just really struck a nostalgic chord for me, even just from looking at the trailer. I really can’t wait to try it for myself.

Video Game #5:
Copa City

Promo screenshot of Copa City, showing a top-down view of a fan zone.

Copa City fills a niche I didn’t realise existed! It’s a football game where the objective isn’t to score goals as a player or take charge of the team as a manager, but where you set up the infrastructure around the matches. It sounds like a “tycoon game” where you’re managing different aspects of the football event: things like transportation, setting up fan zones, and the like.

I think it’s a really creative concept – and there are already a handful of officially-licensed teams and stadia on board. Whether Copa City can make good on a neat core idea remains to be seen, but I like what’s been shown off so far, and I’m curious to try it for myself. I don’t see it eclipsing the likes of EA FC and Football Manager, but it could easily find its own niche as a football game with a twist.

TV Series #1:
Fallout Season 2

Render from the credits sequence of Fallout Season 1 showing the New Vegas skyline.

The first season of Fallout was creative and fun – even if it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever watched. The cliffhanger ending was compelling enough for me to want to see the next chapter, though, for Lucy, the Ghoul, and… everyone else. You know… those characters whose names I can’t call to mind right now! Bringing the world of the Fallout video game series into live-action was a good idea, and I can see why the series has been generally well-received.

It seems as if Fallout Season 2 is heading to the city of New Vegas – so fans of the game which was set there can expect plenty of callbacks and references to those events. Maybe I should finally and belatedly play New Vegas before the new season arrives in December? Don’t hold me to it, but I might give it a go if I can find the time.

TV Series #2:
King of the Hill

Still frame from the King of the Hill revival trailer, showing an older Peggy, Bobby, and Hank.

King of the Hill was one of those shows that I used to watch occasionally, when it was on. It was never a favourite, but I usually cracked a smile or two at the antics of Hank, Bobby, Peggy, and the rest of the characters. I can’t say I’m surprised to see King of the Hill being revisited; revivals and reboots are all the rage right now, so why not step back to the show and see if it can connect with a new audience?

I’m not sure what to expect, really. As with the recent Phineas and Ferb revival, King of the Hill is stepping forwards in time – by quite a ways, judging by Bobby’s age in the recent teaser! That could open up new storytelling ideas… but it could also take something away from the show and what made it so appealing to fans in the first place. Will it be soulless corporate slop… or was there a genuinely good idea for a revival? Let’s find out!

TV Series #3:
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Promo still for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms showing a character wielding a sword.

Call me overdramatic if you like, but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is basically Westeros’ last chance to win me over! I enjoyed Game of Thrones… until it went off the rails toward the end. But I wasn’t especially keen on House of the Dragon, and I kind of drifted away from that show after a handful of episodes. With a focus on a different group of characters in a new era and setting, though… could A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms be the series that drags me back into the world of Westeros?

Maybe? I mean, why not, right? I’m not sure Game of Thrones really needs all of these spin-offs, but given how popular the original show was in its prime, I can’t exactly blame HBO for trying to recapture some of that magic. Will it work, though? And will this series succeed where Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon didn’t? I guess we’ll find out later in the year.

TV Series #4:
Alien: Earth

Cropped promo poster for Alien: Earth showing a Xenomorph wrapped around planet Earth.

I’m not at all caught up on all of the recent movies in the Alien universe, so I hope this TV series won’t lean too heavily on those for its main narrative arcs! A story like Alien seems well-suited to a big-budget TV show instead of just a film, so I’m certainly interested to see what kind of stories and characters we’ll see in a new format. The series taking place on Earth is an interesting idea, too, as exploring this future version of Earth is something none of the films have done.

I’m not sure I’d have chosen to make Alien: Earth as a prequel, though. My other concern is this: are the Xenomorphs still scary, and will they be scary enough to carry this new television format? Some recent Alien projects have, I would argue, degraded the Xenomorphs’ fear factor somewhat. Still, I’m curious and perhaps even hopeful that Alien: Earth can do something creative and a little different with this sci-fi property.

TV Series #5:
King and Conqueror

Promo still from King and Conqueror showing William the Conqueror, a rowing boat, and the sea.

I thought we were going to see King and Conqueror earlier in the year; filming wrapped ages ago and it seemed primed for a spring broadcast. Never mind! The series, set during the Norman Conquest of England, is set to be broadcast sometime before the end of the year. Starring Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William the Conqueror, the series looks like it has a lot of potential to be a fun, interesting, and entertaining re-telling of an important chapter in history.

Every British schoolkid learns about the Normans in history class – but I can’t remember a big-budget adaptation of these events like this. In that sense, I think it’s going to be really interesting to see the Norman Conquest brought to life. I hope it isn’t over-dramatised, with love interests and soap opera-style personal drama getting in the way of things! But I have confidence in the BBC and American collaborator CBS to bring the story to life in a fun and engaging way.

Bonus: Star Trek!

Promo poster for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 showing the main characters walking across an alien landscape.
Captain Pike and the crew are returning soon!

It wouldn’t be a Trekking with Dennis list without some Star Trek, eh? We have Strange New Worlds’ third season coming up very soon, and I’m really looking forward to another set of adventures with Captain Pike and the crew. Some folks have suggested that Starfleet Academy could also be broadcast before the end of the year; personally, I don’t think that’s especially likely… but you never know, I guess!

For me, Strange New Worlds has been the absolute highlight of modern Star Trek; a largely episodic series focused on exploration and adventure that brought the franchise back to its roots. Starfleet Academy, with its focus on teenage and young adult characters, could be a way into the Star Trek fan community for new, younger viewers – exactly the kinds of people the franchise needs to attract in order to shore things up. With the 60th anniversary next year, I’m hoping Paramount is holding something back to celebrate – but until then, we’ve at least got ten Strange New Worlds episodes to be sinking our teeth into!

So that’s it!

Stock photo of a little girl playing a video game.
Are you excited to play a particular game later this year?

We’ve taken a look at a few of the entertainment experiences that lay ahead of us over the next six months. I think there are plenty of fun ones and things to get excited about – and I’m sure there are others that will seem to come out of nowhere and catch me off-guard! That always seems to happen.

So we’re already at the midpoint of the year… and I’m still catching up on some of the things I missed in 2022, let alone 2023, 2024, and the first half of 2025! I’m getting old… which probably explains why I have my own website instead of a TikTok page, or something! In any case, I hope this has been a bit of fun and an interesting look ahead to some of the things we might enjoy between now and New Year’s Eve. Speaking of which… I’d better make sure I’ve got all of my Halloween, Christmas, and New Year’s decorations ready. If the first half of the year is any indication, the holidays are going to sneak up on me with lightning speed!

Have fun out there!


All titles mentioned above are the copyright of their respective studio, publisher, distributor, broadcaster, etc. Some photos and promotional art courtesy of IMDB. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.