"The Beginning"

"The Beginning" is the eighth and final episode of the first season of the Fallout TV series.

Synopsis[]

Summary[]

Shortly after being rediscovered by the Brotherhood of Steel at the KPSS radio station, Maximus is transported to Filly, now under occupation by the Brotherhood. He is presented before Elder Cleric Quintus, who quickly discovers that the head Maximus brought back does not contain the artifact. Maximus is promptly sentenced to death. He is spared after Dane pleads for his life, admitting that they injured themself (as seen in "The End"). Maximus agrees to lead the Brotherhood to the artifact. Afterward, Quintus privately confides in Maximus about his own displeasure towards the Brotherhood, believing the organization to have lost its way. He sees the artifact as an opportunity to reshape the Brotherhood in his own vision and invites Maximus to personally join him at his side.

Meanwhile, Lucy reaches Griffith Observatory and is brought to Moldaver by her elite guards. Along the way, she finds the observatory courtyard to be filled with NCR civilians and notices one of the ghouls that she rescued from the Super Duper Mart among them. In Moldaver's control room, Hank is imprisoned in a cage as Moldaver awaits Lucy at a dinner table alongside a female feral ghoul. Having finally received the head, Moldaver uses a tool to remove the artifact from it. Lucy demands that her father be released. Moldaver instead reveals the truth about her father's past; Hank is but one of numerous pre-War Vault-Tec junior executives that have been cryogenically frozen in Vault 31, each one periodically unfrozen to oversee and indoctrinate Vault 32 and Vault 33 in a bid to preserve Vault-Tec's authority and eventually recolonize the surface by force.

Simultaneously, Norm ventures deeper into Vault 31 and discovers it is controlled by Bud Askins, who is now little more than a "brain-in-a-Roomba." Norm discovers the cryogenically frozen Vault-Tec executives. Among the pods are Hank's and Betty's, having already been opened. He also finds a list of Vault 31's residents on a nearby monitor, including many other names, including Steph.

Elsewhere, the Ghoul continues toward the observatory. A flashback shows Cooper driving Barb to the Vault-Tec headquarters, having bugged her Pip-Boy with the audio transmitter he received from Moldaver earlier. They meet Bud outside, and Bud and Barb head in for their meeting as Cooper makes an excuse to leave. However, he decides to follow Barb into the headquarters building when he finds that the signal is too faint for him to hear from outside, eavesdropping on his wife in a waiting room while a young Betty Pearson fetches her coworker Henry, a fan of Cooper's. A landmark meeting, led by Bud Askins, occurs between prominent corporate leaders, including RobCo Industries CEO Robert House, West Tek researcher Leon Von Felden, business magnate Frederick Sinclair representing Big MT, and REPCONN Aerospace CFO Julia Masters, in discussion of potential collaboration with Vault-Tec. The meeting descends into bickering over Vault-Tec's methods. Barb mediates by proposing that of the more than 100 vaults across the country, each corporation be given its own vaults for experimentation. She concludes by suggesting that they can stage a nuclear conflict themselves to ensure a return on investments. Shocked by his wife's words, Cooper barely registers meeting a young Henry "Hank" MacLean.

In the present, Moldaver reveals that she had worked closely with Lucy's mother, Rose MacLean. Rose left Vault 33 after growing suspicious of Hank's past and believing that civilization could rebuild itself on the surface, especially after having discovered evidence of Vault 33's water supply being siphoned from somewhere on the surface, suggesting the surface had been inhabited, contrary to Hank's claims. Rose discovered Shady Sands, where she raised her children before Hank returned to her, took Lucy and Norm back, and destroyed Shady Sands using a nuclear warhead. Rose survived, becoming the feral ghoul sitting at the table, while Moldaver continued her research on cold fusion and became fixated on the artifact. With the artifact now in her possession, she only needs the proprietary authorization codes from a Vault-Tec executive. Lucy begs her father to give Moldaver the codes, to which Hank hesitantly obliges. Moldaver uses the now-unlocked artifact to begin priming a makeshift cold fusion reactor.

In Filly, the Brotherhood prepares to move on the observatory. Dane apologizes to Maximus, who wishes to live alongside Lucy in Vault 33 once the artifact is found, although Dane doesn't find his dream feasible. The Brotherhood mounts an all-out aerial offensive against the observatory, overwhelming the NCR defenders and moving towards the observatory building despite suffering some casualties. Maximus and Dane part ways, with Maximus' squad (including Petty Officer Shortsight) heading into the observatory.

The Ghoul reaches the observatory during the battle's climax, ambushing Maximus' squad inside the building. He overwhelms them by exploiting structural weak points in the armor that have been present since he served in the Marines, as well as firing in darkness. Maximus narrowly escapes, reaching Lucy before freeing Hank, who steals a suit of power armor from a fallen Brotherhood soldier. Lucy reveals Hank's destruction of Shady Sands to Maximus. In a fit of rage, Maximus attacks Hank, only to be quickly struck down. He stays unresponsive despite Lucy's desperate attempts to revive him.

Lucy holds Hank at gunpoint before the Ghoul arrives and wounds him, waxing nostalgic about meeting "Young Henry" again. He points a gun at Hank and demands to know where Barb and Janey are, but Hank retreats instead of answering. The Ghoul reflects that "war never changes" and tells Lucy someone is always controlling the wasteland despite the apparent chaos. The Ghoul offers Lucy a choice: stay and be killed by the Brotherhood, or travel with him to "meet [her] makers." She executes the ghoul Rose before hesitantly accepting his invitation, leaving Maximus behind.

Sometime after Lucy's departure, Maximus awakens. A gravely wounded Moldaver returns and activates the reactor, returning power back to the ruins of Los Angeles. Moldaver asks Maximus to think about what the Brotherhood would do with such power, if he could even stop them, before succumbing to her wounds. Dane enters shortly after, believing Maximus to have killed her. Maximus feebly denies it, yet Dane proclaims him a knight to a cheering crowd of Brotherhood soldiers.

The Ghoul reunites with Dogmeat outside a building. The Hollywood Sign is visible in the distance, and under it, the text reads, "Sponsored by Nuka-Cola." Lucy emerges from the building soon after, and the trio begins leaving in pursuit of Hank.

The final scene shows a defeated Hank, walking in his power armor, arriving in the Mojave Wasteland and seeing New Vegas in the distance.

Credits[]

The credits sequence begins on a billboard advertising "The Tops Hotel & Casino Cryo Suites," which are billed as "100% safety guaranteed." The camera pulls back to travel along the New Vegas Strip itself, showing a crashed NCR Vertibird and human skeletons near the skeleton of a large, horned creature resembling a deathclaw. The buildings along the road are ruined, and the street is also filled with rubble and barricades. The camera passes through a destroyed gate along the city wall, with numerous destroyed Securitrons seen nearby and further outside. The Lucky 38 becomes visible at this point, while the shot ends after panning out far enough for the Fabulous New Vegas sign to become visible.

Cast[]

Starring:

Guest starring:

Co-starring:

Stunt performers:

Uncredited:

Soundtrack[]

• Douglas A. Wood - "Oktoberfest"
• Nat King Cole - "I Don't Want to See Tomorrow"
• The Ink Spots - "We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)"

Behind the scenes[]

• The Vault-Tec landmark meeting flashback set and shots draw inspiration from War Room featured in the 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
• The code used to activate the cold fusion device (101097) is the release date of Fallout, October 10, 1997.
• ^ ^(Note) In the episode's credits, the actor who plays Robert House was initially miscredited as Anthony Misiano. On April 21, 2024, the credits were corrected, now showing that House was portrayed by Rafi Silver, who had already been credited in Prime Video X-Ray.
• Actor Kenneth James Yuille is credited as "commanding officer" for the episode, though it is uncertain which of the characters that appear in it he plays.
• Leon Von Felden refers to the super soldiers being created through FEV as "super mutant" soldiers despite the term super mutant coming into use post-war.

Gallery[]

Freed ghoul

References[]