DISCLAIMER: This recap of Fallout Season 1 Episode 2, “The Target,” contains spoilers. Proceed at your peril.
Episode two of Fallout is upon us, with “The Target,” aka Dr. Wilzig, the talk of the town as folks scramble to collect him for that precious bounty courtesy of Moldaver. Ella Purnell really captures Lucy’s sweet naivete and enduring innocence. Her endearing demeanor translates well onscreen. However, the longer Lucy stays in the Wasteland, the more she adapts to the harsh, brutal, no-holds-barred environment. I can’t wait to see that happen.
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This outing is more lighthearted and humorous than its predecessor. The jokes land and the episode truly captures the video games’ tone. I hope the show fully commits to the silliness.
Additionally, the action in “The Target” is fun, and the performances are solid. Aaron Moten makes for a great ambitious hero, while Walton Goggins always delights as a villain with a Southern drawl.
Episode 2 — Keep the Puppies Alive
We open on tiny puppies in the Enclave near the Boneyards. Dr. Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson) and his associates examine them. If they weigh less than 10 ounces, the doctors toss them into the incinerator. Oh, I don’t like this at all. Wilzig encounters one cute pup that weighs just shy of 10 ounces. He decides to fudge the numbers and keep the puppy for himself, stamping her with the ID “CX404.”
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Over the following months, Wilzig oversees the dog’s development while his fellow researchers intensively train the other canines. While CX404 chills with a stuffed animal in her cozy hole in the wall, Wilzig injects himself with a luminous blue serum. We see it penetrate his skin behind his ear. Suddenly, one researcher enters Wilzig’s space to discover CX404. Uh-oh. Wilzig attempts to persuade homeboy to look the other way. However, CX404 senses Wilzig’s in danger, and she viciously murders the man in front of Wilzig.
Exploring the Wasteland
Wilzig and CX404 barrel off the premises like bats out of hell. Near the exit, a robot emerges with a screen that says, “Please Remain Calm.” Wilzig and CX404 avoid its blasts as they flee the scene. Meanwhile, Lucy (Purnell) traverses the sandy Wasteland. She stumbles upon tumbleweeds, skeletons, out-of-commission robots and more. While exploring one house (I’m assuming she’s still near Santa Monica Beach), she discovers the skeletons of a family at the dining room table. It appears they poisoned themselves courtesy of Vault-Tec.
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Later that evening, Lucy starts a fire and falls asleep. She wakes up to find CX404 slaughtering a massive, irradiated cockroach while Wilzig sits near the fire. Realizing Lucy is a vault dweller, Wilzig warns her about the horrors of the Wasteland. He believes she should go home. Lucy claims she’s looking for her father, whom Moldaver kidnapped. Wilzig urges her to adapt to her new surroundings before he and CX404 depart.
Next, Maximus (Moten) and Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport) fly in a Vertibird toward “Filly,” their next stop in their search for “The Target,” aka Wilzig. Knight Titus orders their pilot to drop them off because he wants to shoot something. He’s bored, the poor thing. After Knight Titus shoves Maximus off the Vertibird, he lands on the ground below. At the same time, Wilzig and CX404 stop to rest near a cave. Wilzig sniffs a suspicious can of CRAM (this universe’s version of SPAM) while CX404 retrieves a human hand from said cave. Aw, it’s a present for her owner!
Knight Titus versus the Bear
Then, Maximus and Knight Titus arrive at the same spot. Maximus sees the CRAM can and realizes that The Target was just there. Knight Titus orders Maximus to search for Wilzig among the hazardous materials inside the cave. Maximus reminds his lord that he doesn’t have a suit. Knight Titus keeps pressuring him until a giant, irradiated bear appears. Knight Titus and the bear square off while Maximus watches in shock. At one point, the bear knocks Knight Titus off his feet and smacks him around. Knight Titus orders Maximus to shoot the bear.
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Maximus does, but it’s too late for Ole KT, who boasts extensive injuries. Knight Titus orders Maximus to grab first-aid supplies while hurling vitriolic remarks in his direction. Maximus tires of KT’s insults and decides the latter isn’t morally fit to wear the power armor. The knights protect the Wasteland. It’s high time a real knight rises to the challenge.
Knight Titus believes the Brotherhood of Steel will kill Maximus for this. However, they won’t lift a finger if Maximus brings them The Target.
Headin’ to Filly
Meanwhile, Lucy meets a strange man in what looks like a cloth diaper. He stands outside his home, bewildered as to why he keeps getting sand after putting, you guessed it, sand in the water filter. She lowers her weapon and asks him if he’s seen a group of people carrying a hostage through this area. He hasn’t. He tells Lucy about the dangers of Filly and how many of his family members died there. The man offers a spot in his home for Lucy. They can be post-apocalyptic roommates. It’ll be fun! Lucy appreciates the offer, but she needs to find her dad.
Then, Maximus takes Knight Titus’s armor (he’s presumably dead at this point). Giddy like a child on Christmas morning, Maximus takes his new suit for a spin. He sees one man trying to kill another and steps in to save the day like the hero he is. However, he learns the potential murderer was angry because the other man was f*cking his chickens. Ew.
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Next, Lucy wanders through an antique car cemetery on her way to Filly. She discovers a street market of sorts as denizens of the Wasteland hawking their wares. Lucy tries to ask everyone she meets if they’ve seen her dad, even showing them his picture. They all ignore her, instead staring at the vault dweller wandering through the real world.
You Can Always Go Downtown
Lucy travels through a tube to Downtown Filly, where she finds a mini city filled with peculiar establishments. She walks by The Ghoul (Goggins), who sits in a rocking chair. She spots a Vault-Tec camera in the window of “Ma June’s Sundries.” While inside, we see a fun Easter egg: a figurine of Vault Boy with his hands on his hips. Lucy approaches the proprietor, Ma June (Dale Dickey). She mentions the assortment of Vault-Tec equipment Ma June has in her establishment. Lucy assumes Ma June acquired them from black market criminals.
Ma June is taken aback by Lucy’s presence, realizing the latter is a vault dweller. She didn’t think vault dwellers were still alive. She calls over her associate to see Lucy. However, Lucy dampens the mood by mentioning Moldaver. Ma June believes it would be best for Lucy to go home. Lucy insists she won’t until she finds her father. The conversation turns to preserving Vault-Tec equipment for humanity’s future. Ma June reminds Lucy that the wealthy one percent hid in their fallout shelters during the nuclear war while the poor suffered above ground. Class warfare is fun.
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Ma June kicks Lucy out of her store. Lucy reunites with Wilzig and CX404. Wilzig reasserts his former point — Lucy should head home. Then, he rattles off facts about Lucy that no one would know unless, well, they knew her. Ma June wanders outside to order Lucy off her storefront entrance before urging Wilzig to go inside.
Fighting Over the Bounty
Suddenly, The Ghoul saunters up to the trio (and dog). Ma June claims his kind isn’t welcome here. The Ghoul reveals he’s there to fulfill a hefty bounty put on Dr. Wilzig. He acknowledges Ma June’s desire to snag the bounty for herself by smuggling Wilzig inside her establishment. The Ghoul knows a bidding war when he sees one. Suddenly, he shoots off Wilzig’s foot. Now in hiding, Ma June announces that she has 1,000 bottle caps for whoever kills The Ghoul. Side note: Dale Dickey elevates every project she’s in, even if it’s for one scene. She’s been a favorite of mine for years.
Then, the crowd descends upon The Ghoul, attempting to murder him for those prized bottle caps. Of course, our Ghoulie is an expert marksman. He takes them all out and has time to feast on grape tomatoes. Lucy heads back inside Ma June’s Sundries to search the records. She finds proof that Ma June is doing business with Moldaver. After The Ghoul fires on Ma June, Lucy ventures outside to confront The Ghoul herself. She tries to defuse the situation.
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However, The Ghoul isn’t interested in talking. As he inches closer to her, Lucy fires a serum at him that’ll knock him unconscious. But drugs don’t work on him. Suddenly, Maximus appears. He knocks Lucy out of the way to save her from The Ghoul. He removes the front of his helmet and smiles at her before urging her to take cover. He’s there for Dr. Wilzig (like everyone else). Maximus literally became Lucy’s knight in shining armor. Considering this series addresses the patriarchy and the facets of a society enmeshed in 1950s ideals…
Escorting the Doctor to Moldaver
While Maximus and The Ghoul square off, Lucy helps Ma June take the injured Wilzig inside the store. Unfortunately, The Ghoul shot CX404, which is not cool. Ma June puts a clunky metal foot on Wilzig’s footless leg. It’s gruesome. Wilzig wants Lucy to escort him to meet Moldaver. Ma June believes this is the only way Lucy will reunite with her dad — if she has someone Moldaver wants for an exchange.
Outside, Maximus loses his fight against The Ghoul. The Ghoul forces Maximus’s power armor to malfunction. Maximus soars out of Downtown, away from all the action, as he fails to control his suit. The Ghoul laughs. Lucy and Wilzig sneak out without The Ghoul spotting them.
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The Ghoul ventures inside Ma June’s Sundries to find it empty, save for a pool of Wilzig’s blood. He notices CX404 is still breathing, so he brings her inside. He injects a substance into the dog that instantly heals her gunshot wound. So, he shoots the dog and decides to keep her? Anyway, CX404 is Team Ghoul now.
A Beheading
Later, Lucy and Wilzig are now 20 miles away from their destination. He collapses, claiming he can’t go on. He took cyanide, so his death is inevitable. Lucy, ever the optimist, urges him to keep going. She’ll get him to Moldaver. Wilzig encourages Lucy, stating she can change the world. Before he passes, he asks Lucy to give Moldaver his head. He even has something to make the decapitation easier.
She still has so many questions for him. For starters, how does he know who she is? Wilzig even says her surname before he dies. After he perishes, Lucy takes a breath and braces herself. She turns on the implement and prepares to cut off the head of Dr. Siggi Wilzig, a man wanted by multiple factions in the Wasteland.
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Can Lucy trade Wilzig’s head for her father? What tech of “profound potential” did Wilzig take? (The dog? The serum he injected into himself?) Will The Ghoul hunt down Lucy? How long before Maximus and Lucy reunite? Only time (and more episodes) will tell.
Fallout Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.
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