The new Fallout series on Prime Video is intense and action-packed, but “scary” isn’t the best word to describe it. When teasing a story about a nuclear disaster and a world war, one might expect zombies, mindless killing, and freakishly mutated creatures. The new series doesn’t deliver much on that front and instead offers a complex storyline that’s heavy on worldbuilding and emotions. All said, there’s an utterly terrifying sequence in the third episode.
Produced by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the series takes place in the same fictional world as the popular video games, which debuted in 1997. Over eight episodes, the show follows a group of survivors over 200 years after a nuclear apocalyptic disaster.
Ella Purnell plays Lucy, an optimistic Vault-dweller, Walton Goggins plays The Ghoul, a ruthless bounty hunter, and Aaron Moten plays Maximus, a member of the Brotherhood of Steel.
As the season goes on, Lucy embarks on a search for her father, who was kidnapped from their Vault after her unfortunate wedding day, The Ghoul continues his search for his family, and Maximus is sent on a mission to hunt scientist fugitive Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson).
Siggi dies of suicide and tells Lucy to cut off his head and bring it to Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), the woman who kidnapped her father. But in Episode 3, “The Head,” her plan is thwarted by a sea monster called a Gulper, which appears as a large four-legged amphibian with a flesh-like body.
The Ghoul and Lucy cross paths, and Lucy informs him of the creature’s theft after the bounty hunter holds her at gunpoint. “I lost it, I lost it,” Lucy tells The Ghoul. He steps in a pile of goo and turns to ask her, “A Gulper got it, huh?”
One can only suspect that The Ghoul knows more about this creature than the sheltered young woman. When viewers meet the pair again, The Ghoul has Lucy tied on a pulley which he uses to submerge her in radioactive water for extended periods of time.
“Stop! Torture is wrong,” Lucy yells when she is brought up to catch her breath.
The Ghoul agrees. “I used to do these things called studies — you couldn’t open a newspaper without reading about one study or another,” he says. “Anyway, this one particular study came out and it said that torturing a person don’t do shit.” The Ghoul drops Lucy in the water and brings her back up. “My point is, you ask me, them studies were right. Torturing a person don’t do shit… I ain’t torturing you, sweetheart. I’m using you as bait.”
Uh oh, that could only mean…? Correct! The Ghoul is using Lucy to bait the Gulper. When the sea monster returns, it begins a chase that’s much longer than its first appearance.
Lucy screams as the creature, which has several sets of teeth in its mouth, charges toward her and climbs onto the land. She stares in shock before kicking at the Gulper and inching away. The Ghoul rises to the occasion and stabs at it, but the Gulper slaps him away with his tail. The Ghoul’s dog attacks the beast and bites its hand, causing it to pull back in pain and emerge back into the water.
The scene was a few nightmare-inducing minutes of pure adrenaline and fear. The creature looked like something lifted straight out of a horror movie — unlike the adorable two-headed cattle in Episode 2 — and as the story had just begun, it was unclear whether one of the main players would be maimed.
If you’re looking for horror, Fallout is not the show to turn to. But if you’re open to a long journey through a post-apocalyptic wasteland with a few scares now and then, you’re in the right place.
Fallout Season 1 is streaming on Prime Video.
