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I have a serious problem with the Fallout TV show. Not that it is bad; quite the opposite, actually. It is such a good representation of the heart of one of my favorite game series. With the mix of action, dark comedy, and burning satire of the evils of capitalism, every episode has something that reminds me of how much I adore Fallout.

This phenomenon isn’t unique to me, of course. Both times that a new Fallout season has dropped, fans have collectively had an “Oh yeah. Those games are rad,” moment and gone back to them in droves. While the Prime Video series doesn’t always get the gameplay quite right – I’ve never seen a Deathclaw go down to one shot from a sniper rifle, for example – it does manage to capture the spirit of the Fallout world.

A great example is in the final episode of Fallout Season 2. Maximus has chosen to make a stand against the approaching Deathclaws that have taken over the New Vegas Strip, protecting the citizens from a swarming nest of the most dangerous creature in the Wasteland. A group of people has hidden themselves away in a nearby shop and is watching the action unfold. Rather than cower in fear or arm themselves to help Maximus, they take bets on how long until he is horribly killed.

It is a silly idea that presents Wastelanders as lacking any real survival instincts, but it is the perfect distillation of the tongue-in-cheek humor that makes Fallout such a fun world to explore. Survival is nice and all, but no self-respecting Wastelander would pass up the chance to earn a few extra caps. For the 30 seconds between Maximus’ death and when the Deathclaws tear the remaining citizens apart, a couple of people will be very rich and, therefore, very happy.

That in itself is a distillation of what Fallout has always been about, which is the lengths greedy people will go to earn money. Vault-Tec actively brings about the nuclear apocalypse simply because it will protect their business model. Never mind that money is no good to them or anyone else after the end of the world – just like the Wastelanders placing bets on their own impending demise, for a very brief amount of time, they will be slightly richer, and that is all that matters.

One part of the show that initially frustrated me was in Season Two, Episode 6, when Ron “War Never Changes” Perlman had a short but memorable cameo as a Super Mutant. His appearance doesn’t really add much to the show and I had written it off as the writers shoehorning an inevitable cameo into the series. However, I got over that as I remembered why it goes nowhere; because The Ghoul is so fixated on his main objective (finding his family) that he doesn’t have time for whatever side quest this Super Mutant is offering. The man is just roleplaying and I respect that.

In fact, you could see the three protagonists of Fallout as three different playstyles in the Fallout games. Lucy is trying a pacifist run and has dumped all of her SPECIAL points into social skills, with mixed results. The Ghoul is roleplaying as someone focused on the main objective, doing just as many side quests as necessary to make that happen. And poor Maximus got super invested in his Brotherhood of Steel plotline, only to make a crucial mistake near the end of it and predictably resort to killing everyone before finally returning to the main objective.

As a TV show, I think Fallout has some pacing issues, especially with some of the plotlines in Season 2 that don’t have any real payoff (yet). But as a taste of the Fallout world, with its weird foibles and near limitless potential for both silly and serious stories, it excels. Both seasons have moments that had me itching to return to Fallout. Like Lucy and her short-lived Buffout addiction, I am finding that the best cure for the Fallout craving the show has induced is to consume more Fallout.

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