Season 2 of Fallout is in full swing and MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes wants to love it. But he just can’t, even though a character is among the best in the series landscape.
The series adaptation of Fallout was a big surprise for me in 2024. I only caught up with it after its release, and although I haven’t fully played any of the games in the series, the show convinced me.
The world was captivating, beautifully designed, and felt authentic. Much of that can also be said about Season 2, but even after 6 episodes, I am regularly annoyed. This is due to a problem that also plagued the finale of Stranger Things.
Some supporting characters should remain supporting characters
The wasteland of Fallout has many interesting facets. The monsters, the various factions, and of course the vaults. What was great about the series already in Season 1: We see the apocalyptic world from the perspective of 3 characters with different backgrounds. Season 2 adds an additional layer. There is more screen time for more characters. But that annoys me in each of the episodes released so far.
Season 2 has many exciting ideas and mysteries: Mr. House, Vault-Tec, the bombs, the past of the ghoul. That’s a lot for a season, but certainly narratable. Unfortunately, the series also focuses on other supporting characters and tells really boring stories in the process.
Generally, that would be okay if the narrative structure of an episode were more consistent. Instead of giving one episode solely to Mr. House or just to Vault-Tec, various story points are told in each episode. This leads to cutting to other plot points during exciting scenes, resulting in a cliffhanger in the episode.
This can work, but if it happens constantly in every episode, it is simply frustrating. It goes so far for me that I want to skip or fast-forward various vault stories because I want to know how it continues for the main characters.
Season 5 of Stranger Things had a similar problem. To give all main and supporting characters something to do, there were multiple storylines, but instead of putting the characters in a good light, it made me annoyed because I wanted to know how the main plot continues.
It is important to have strong and interesting supporting characters, but series should also allow them to be supporting characters and respect the viewer’s time. A good example is provided by Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.
In addition, there is another problem
: Fallout has created one of the coolest characters in series history.
A star who steals the show from everyone
Few fans will disagree with me when I say: The ghoul is the best thing the series has produced. The concept alone is fantastic: A ghoul outlaw who seems to handle every problem as a bounty hunter and has a tragic backstory with the big corporations and his family.
It had to work, and with Walton Goggins, the perfect actor was found. He gives the ghoul the strong presence that makes me forget every other character while watching. Prime Video likely knows this too, as he becomes even more entwined with the larger narrative in Season 2.
That all sounds pretty good, but combined with the fact that he also has the best story in Season 2 so far, I feel frustrated every time the series cuts away to something else, especially when the other stories are not even half as exciting.
The subplots do not enhance the main storyline; they disturb it and consequently disrupt the flow of the narrative.
In general, I feel that series nowadays approach a season less focused. Instead of deliberately developing stories over multiple episodes, everything is presented fragmented, so that as much as possible can be shown in one episode.
Just because a supporting character is popular doesn’t mean they have to become a main character. They need to function as a whole, not as an individual part.
In the past, series also had subplots. Some of the best episodes in my favorite series The Sopranos don’t even feature the main character, but they stand as strong stories on their own within a single episode.
Also, individual episodes need a beginning, an end, and a narrative thread. I missed that in Season 5 of Stranger Things, and I miss it now in Fallout. More about Sopranos can be read here: The most important series on HBO Max ended over 18 years ago, but every fan of Breaking Bad should have seen it
