Alex [0:15 - 1:32]: In the case of nuclear or radiological fallout, people living around potential targets, you shouldn't leave your shelter until officials say so. This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a test. Repeat, this is not a test. Citizens are advised to take the following steps. Stay alert to news media events or local emergency alert notifications. Well, welcome back, everybody, to the Big Red Button podcast. You've got Alex and Dallas this go round because we are doing a spinoff, not a full spin off spinoff, but a segment we are calling pressing the button, which is where Dallas and I are going to give you our unfiltered, unfettered thoughts on the new Amazon prime tv show, episode by episode.
Dallas [1:32 - 1:34]: I'm digging it. I'm ready.
Alex [1:34 - 1:45]: I mean, it's kind of like we plan Big Red button, so far out, and then this know nothing guy named checking my notes, Jonathan Nolan. I don't know. Never heard of this guy.
Dallas [1:45 - 1:46]: No.
Alex [1:46 - 2:42]: Decides he went and worked with some package delivery company. No. But we are. We're very excited that the show is out. Also, in case you're curious, this is not replacing any of the regular big Red button episodes. This is in addition, too. So if this is your first time here, this is going to be completely different than our regular show. I mean, maybe we'll do some silly voices, but not in the same way. But Dallas and I are just going to be reviewing the episodes one at a time, giving your thoughts what we're going to do. Also, just for the sake of structure, we are not going to spoil the episodes until later. And we will give you full warning. That way, if you have not seen through the episode and you're just curious on what we think. Cool. We'll give you a heads up. So, Dallas, what'd you think of episode one of Fallout?
Dallas [2:42 - 3:04]: I. I loved it. I was nervous. I was nervous because it's a video game that they are turning into a show. There's not a solid storyline, per se, so. Which I think played in its favor, to be honest, because they can kind.
Alex [3:04 - 3:20]: Of do whatever, which actually, that may be the right place to take the conversation to start for the show overall, is how do you tell a story from a game that is very much an open world in so many ways? What do you do with that?
Dallas [3:20 - 3:40]: Right? And I think they did. They did what every game does. What I think every player likes to do is you just plop down and start just trying to figure things out in this world. Like, there's rules that you gotta follow in the background of lore and history and what's going on, but the rest.
Alex [3:40 - 3:42]: Of it, just tell a story with.
Dallas [3:42 - 3:43]: All of these moving pieces.
Alex [3:43 - 4:35]: It's so different than something like the last of us where, and I was talking to ally about that because the Last of us as a game is super linear. Like, it's, it's just a, you're playing the game in service of a story. Like, the story is the end goal and it doesn't matter. Like, I, we like to talk about games that are on rails. Like old Call of Duty is on rails and. Okay, so with an open world game, the story can kind of be whatever you want it to be. So when you're making a tv adaptation of a game that's linear, then there's only so much creative liberty that you can really take with that. And so even though the Last of us is one of the greatest tv adaptations of a game, it's got a much easier task than what Fallout had, in my opinion.
Dallas [4:35 - 5:02]: Oh, yeah. And you have, like, we have two, this is a third show, I guess, witcher, you could count it as well. But like, you have the last of us where they tried to follow the game story very closely and you also have halo where they tried to tell a completely different story, kind of doing the opposite and people did not. You know, it's very polarizing with that one.
Alex [5:02 - 5:03]: Yeah.
Dallas [5:03 - 5:14]: And so with this one, it's fresh because you can tell whatever story you want to because they just kind of make a giant playground for you to tell your own story, you. To create your own character.
Alex [5:14 - 5:32]: Yeah. So, but then you're also talking about what is. Let's see here. You got fallout one, two factions, brotherhood, or like you, you've got three, four. New Vegas. It's like 776. Is it seven games total? Eight games total.
Dallas [5:32 - 5:33]: Something like that, yeah.
Alex [5:33 - 5:37]: Oh, somebody's gonna be so mad at me on the comments. I can't wait. Twelve.
Dallas [5:37 - 5:38]: You forget just.
Alex [5:39 - 5:50]: I know. Wildly off. I know, but somebody will correct me. I know it. It's the only way to get engagement is if you do something wildly wrong or have a typo.
Dallas [5:50 - 5:50]: There you go.
Alex [5:50 - 6:39]: But with eight games ish of lore now you're having to like, really uphold a lot of fandom. Yeah. And then, and then you really get people who are on both sides of the Bethesda fence. So when you have a game franchise that had its own life before a big game publisher picks it up and then tries to tell a new story with it, then you get all kinds of funky fandom and you've got the, so you've got the interplay loyalists, you've got the obsidian loyalists, you've got the Bethesda loyalists. And I don't. I do not envy anyone who had to make this show. Oh, yeah. But at the same time, I am so jealous that Jonathan Nolan got to go play around with power armor.
Dallas [6:39 - 6:40]: Right.
Alex [6:40 - 6:43]: But this is not fair. Just not fair.
Dallas [6:43 - 6:51]: It seems like they were having a good time with it, which is, like, promising before it even came out. Like they were enjoying themselves.
Alex [6:51 - 6:52]: Yes.
Dallas [6:52 - 6:53]: Which is a good sign.
Alex [6:54 - 8:11]: A perfect example of that is a post I sent you earlier from the fallout on Prime Instagram, where they're talking about certain scenes that they're like, hey, if you liked that scene, that's actually the showrunners. You have to think. And the writers, Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson Dworetto, and they are both big gamers. And so there are these moments that come up in the episodes and you go, oh, my gosh, that is just the game encapsulated in a nutshell. That is exactly how it feels to play the game where it's this heavy, intense thing, and then you're like, oh, that's super goofy and super silly. It works. It somehow works. But it's really because the people love it. Another great example is the last of us where Craig Mazen went and said, I want to make this. I love this story. I want to make this story. Jonathan Nolan talks about playing fallout three with his wife and just having a blast in that world. And now he can go to Todd Howard, who's the head of Bethesda, and say, I really love this franchise. Here's my vision. Yeah. You don't see that all the time. Oh, yeah.
Dallas [8:11 - 8:12]: And that's what.
Alex [8:14 - 8:15]: Yeah, the new Witcher.
Dallas [8:15 - 8:31]: Yeah. I think it's a difference in. I know this franchise and loved it. I would like to tell that story and not people like this. Let's try to capitalize on this and make money off of a name people know.
Alex [8:31 - 8:31]: Right.
Dallas [8:31 - 8:35]: And you can really tell the difference.
Alex [8:36 - 8:38]: Oh, my goodness. It's night and day.
Dallas [8:38 - 8:39]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [8:39 - 8:59]: So that's the overarching feeling going into episode one. I would like your numerical out of 1010 being the best one, being the absolute worst show you've ever seen. What is your numerical rating for episode one specifically?
Dallas [8:59 - 9:05]: Okay, so episode one specifically, maybe 7.5.
Alex [9:06 - 9:47]: You know what? I was going to give it something super similar. And it's funny because, like, people were talking about how episode one is one of the best introductions to fallout. And I was like, man, they're having to lay so much of the foundation here. And it. It feels a little clunky at first. Not. Not like it's the worst thing I've seen, but I was a little, like, concerned in episode one. I was like, okay, it's a lot of fun, but are we. Is it all going to just be, haha. Knee slappers the whole time? Is it only going to go back and forth between. Between horrific violence and then just bright sun?
Dallas [9:47 - 9:50]: So a little wary.
Alex [9:50 - 9:51]: Yeah, little wary.
Dallas [9:51 - 10:15]: And I. I think especially after watching more than episode one now, it lifts that one up. But by itself, yes. I could tell, like, you guys are trying to get to the person standing in front of the open vault scene. Like, you gotta get there. Yeah, we gotta get a lot of exposition in between that. So everybody's on board before we get.
Alex [10:15 - 10:43]: Right. Right. Otherwise it's like, how do we. How do you tell a show, like, you can't? The best thing that I could relate it to is episode one felt like a bottle episode mixed with the, like, coming of age story at the same time. And I was just like, all right, you've got a lot to of lay the groundwork here. And I. Again, it's going to be a tall order right there.
Dallas [10:43 - 10:51]: So giving it room because my scale is ten is perfection. Almost unattainable.
Alex [10:51 - 10:58]: And you are so well known for just giving out tens. Willy. Willy, you're just like, this is a perfect.
Dallas [10:58 - 11:03]: No, it's hard to have 1010 out of ten. So.
Alex [11:03 - 11:06]: Yeah, season four of community. Ten out of ten.
Dallas [11:06 - 11:28]: Yeah, just throwing them out there. I think if my druthers, like, I'm not gonna knock it forever, but I think if I had my druthers, like, a whole episode of just in the vault, nothing else, like, they're just living their best life and then kind of hit it with the second one.
Alex [11:28 - 12:20]: But they did it. And that's where I kind of, like. I like an interweaving story, which, if you know anything about the Nolan brothers, they also love a good interweaving narrative. So having an introduction to all three of our main characters, Lucy in the vault, Maximus in the brotherhood as an initiate, and having the ghoul, you only get little vignettes of everybody. So you've got a lot to really, you know, and none of that is spoilers yet, but you got a lot of. A lot of ground to cover in a very short time because they had a very big story in mind, which, as you watch more episodes, it's very clear that they needed that first episode to take a little slower. Pace and build the momentum. Yeah.
Dallas [12:20 - 12:35]: And so after watching more, it makes this one better, because you're, like, every. Everything was left with a. What in the world's going on? And then the hooks and twists and, like. Like, you really get that later on. So.
Alex [12:36 - 12:39]: So I think a seven, five, and an eight.
Dallas [12:39 - 12:39]: Yeah.
Alex [12:39 - 12:44]: For both of us is. I think it's a. It's a safe. I mean, it's a good episode.
Dallas [12:44 - 12:45]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [12:45 - 12:50]: It's not a perfect episode of tv, but also, it doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Dallas [12:50 - 12:51]: Exactly.
Alex [12:51 - 13:06]: So it's not like a. It's not a perfect way to. Like, it may be the only episode that drives the total score down from a ten. Like. Like, oh, man. It's not a ten. But wait a second. That first episode's having to do a lot of heavy lifting.
Dallas [13:06 - 13:17]: So the things that. That weighed it down, I think, will, in the end, in Nolan style, be the, like, catapult that launches it higher outside of its vacuum by itself, because.
Alex [13:17 - 13:31]: There'S a ton of little Easter eggs. Everything is just so meticulously crafted that just watching. I mean, if you watched one singular episode of Westworld, you're like, oh, that's a fun episode, but there's a lot more here to unpack.
Dallas [13:31 - 13:32]: Yeah.
Alex [13:32 - 16:19]: And if you go back on another rewatch of Westworld, then going back to that first pilot episode, you're like, oh, oh, I get it now. And I'm. I mean, that's the case for most of the projects that he has worked on. It's like trying to say, is the first 30 minutes of inception an easy watch? Is the first 30 minutes of interstellar the most fun out of the 2 hours? No, but you gotta, like, lay the foundation. I don't know. Good deal. We're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we will come back with full spoilers. So now is the chance to jump out of here. We're giving it a 7.75 between the two of us, and go watch the episode if you haven't already, and then when you do watch the episode, come back, listen to the second half of this episode, and we'll give you our spoiler thoughts. This episode is brought to you by our friends at Truvault escapades. You got a name, miss Bunny? Detective. You can call me Bunny. When a wasteland detective and a vault girl cross paths, no criminal is safe. They're both under arrest. Don't move a muscle if you know what's good for you. Based in Bethesda's fallout series, follow Walter and Bunny as they traverse the Texas commonwealth and new Vegas, busting big crime rings. Put that sucker in the ground. We'll need all we can to expand into Vegas territory. Education is key, detectives, and surviving anything the wasteland can throw at them. Race for impacts. Fire. It's him. It's the Mothman. Featuring a series of nail biting narratives and guest stars from across the fallout community. What brings you here to the tower this early? I've got a murder to solve. Murder. Hey, thanks for springing me out of that booth, Bonnie. I'd much rather be doing this. Glad to hear it, Dusty. I was being sarcastic. You know, it's anybody's guess what thrilling case is up next. War never changes. Thus, it's funny. No, it certainly does not. Truvault escapades, a fallout audio drama available anywhere you get podcasts.
Dallas [16:41 - 16:55]: Welcome back. Hopefully you have gone back and watched episode one of the new fallout show, or you've just buckled in because you've already seen it, where you just love having spoiled.
Alex [16:55 - 16:59]: Because we get this. Yeah, a masochist.
Dallas [16:59 - 16:59]: Yeah.
Alex [16:59 - 17:04]: One of the two. And I hope you took advantage of that quick break to go pee.
Dallas [17:04 - 17:04]: Yeah.
Alex [17:04 - 17:12]: Refill your dune popcorn bucket. All of the bit, man. You know, all the basics. So.
Dallas [17:13 - 17:16]: All right, so let's get into some spoilers.
Alex [17:17 - 17:29]: All right. Episode one, because it's doing so much. First of all, let's start with the very beginning of the episode, starting with our ghoul.
Dallas [17:29 - 17:30]: Yeah.
Alex [17:30 - 17:38]: To be. I did not think that they were going to start on such an emotional, like, oh, boy.
Dallas [17:38 - 17:50]: Yeah. Like, they roller coastered it right off the rip. Like, oh, dad and his daughter having such a good time. But also, there's other birthday party people don't like it.
Alex [17:50 - 18:38]: But also, he's. But somehow he's, like, fallen from grace in the public eye, which, again, there's going to be deeper spoilers that I won't get into. But why is he now, like, doing birthday parties when he used to be a tv star and movie star? If you've played the games, you know, like, what it's like to run for your life, for a vault and watch the world disintegrate around you. But I don't think. And this is where, like, movies and tv have historically shied away from violence towards children. And I think for a very good reason. Like, it's just not. It's not appropriate. But the idea of the innocence of a birthday party and having someone be blissfully just like.
Dallas [18:38 - 18:39]: Or.
Alex [18:39 - 18:40]: Or purposefully ignorant.
Dallas [18:41 - 18:41]: Right. Yeah.
Alex [18:41 - 18:54]: Willfully ignorant to turn off the tv as news broadcasts are coming. That's a little freaky, having neighbors fight over who gets into the personal family vault.
Dallas [18:54 - 19:07]: It was bonkers. And with the children thing in fallout three especially, they intentionally made it to where you could not. That was a line you could not cross. They did in this one.
Alex [19:09 - 19:11]: Off camera. Off camera.
Dallas [19:11 - 19:27]: They did make for sure that it was off camera, but they hit you there. That everyone is involved in this, not just people who maybe kind of deserve it, you know, like the worst of the adults know. Everyone gets this one.
Alex [19:27 - 19:48]: It's taking that red scare, that cold war fear, and just going, well, what if it had all gone to crap? And that's wacky as a viewer to sit there and be like, oh, it's a little different when you're watching a cartoon version in a video game. Or you can dissociate a little bit.
Dallas [19:48 - 19:57]: Yeah. And you always safely get in the vault, or you were in the vault, you were never outside. When this happens, it feels a lot.
Alex [19:57 - 20:10]: Like the scene from Terminator where Sarah Connor's having that vision of the future and there's the kids on the playground and she's holding the chain link fence, and then you just. Everything's gone.
Dallas [20:10 - 20:10]: Yeah.
Alex [20:10 - 20:17]: And that was far more intense than what fallout did. There's an old discussion about the difference between horror and terror.
Dallas [20:17 - 20:18]: Yeah.
Alex [20:18 - 20:27]: The idea that all of this took place off camera adds that level of just like, okay, that's a. What happened?
Dallas [20:27 - 20:43]: Yeah, yeah. And I. There was discussions for a long time about the vault boy thumb. Like, is that really the whole. Does it cover the. The mushroom cloud thing? Yeah, and they just solidified it.
Alex [20:44 - 21:33]: Back when I was in the marines, they taught us that if they ever drop a really big bomb, they told us to hold up your thumb just like this. And if the cloud is smaller than your thumb now you run for the hills. And if it's bigger than your thumb, they told us not to bother running. Well, and not only that, but as you get later into the series, you understand a little more of why he doesn't want to give the thumbs up. And it's just like, oh, there's layers here. Yeah. And again, when we were talking before, the, the pre spoiler, non spoiler section, where it's like, there's layers to this onion, and those layers are getting paid off in dividends later on. So I just. I appreciate that because you don't realize it until you look back with hindsight.
Dallas [21:33 - 21:33]: Right.
Alex [21:34 - 21:34]: And it.
Dallas [21:34 - 21:46]: And I like that. Like, you're like, is he going to make it. Is he going to make it? And they just pull the rug out from under you because it's like, well, there's not just the one bomb. There's another one. And there's another one. And there's another one.
Alex [21:46 - 22:08]: Right. And also, while we're talking about that, I. I'm a big fan of corridor digital, the YouTube channel that does a bunch of CGI breakdowns, and they are sticklers for bad explosions on movies and tv. I now can't unsee bad explosions. And I sat there and went, that was a great explosion. And that makes it even scarier.
Dallas [22:08 - 22:21]: Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, they weren't flat. Like, they didn't try to do the trick where it's, like, super far away and, you know, there's lots of layers of foreground so they can make it flat. They made it very.
Alex [22:22 - 23:53]: And again, it's not a spoiler. When you've seen any amount of the marketing at all, you know that he's going to be ghoulified, but you only see in the. In the trailer, him riding off on a horse. Now what happens to his daughter? Yeah. That has added a whole new. So we know he's alive. What happens to his kid? Yeah, it adds that mystery. And unlike a JJ Abrams, like, JJ Abrams talks about, he likes mystery boxes, and he would plant these mysteries and they would never get solved. And I would just get ticked off. Jonathan Nolan likes starting a mystery and then paying it off later, even if it's a season later or two seats, like, because we already know. Not. Not a spoiler. Season two is already in production as far as we're aware. We're probably gonna get a lot more answers. Yeah. So. Oh, yeah, I'm okay with that. As opposed to the JJ Abrams. Like, oh, the mystery is the journey. No, answer my questions. Like, and he does. He does. Oh, yeah. So that's. That's our introduction. Introduction to pre war vignette of Cooper, you know, the movie star. What makes him so jaded and cynical as the ghoul later on. Then we've got Lucy. What did you think of the. The vault section? Because I don't think I've laughed that hard. Oh, yeah. Like, at one offline, they.
Dallas [23:53 - 24:11]: They really yucked it up and made them, like, they are very weak and dainty, like they are the flower in the wasteland that, you know, they. They are somehow weaker than before the bombs dropped. Like, they are just.
Alex [24:11 - 24:12]: Yeah.
Dallas [24:12 - 24:23]: You know, everything is icky. Not in here. And we are just. It reminded me a lot of severance. The way that they handle things when things are good.
Alex [24:24 - 25:40]: Right? Like, oh, let's have a Jello cake party. And it's really funny that you mentioned severance because Zack Cherry, who, who's one of the three overseers to be, that they're all, like, jockeying for their position. He is hilarious in everything. And so having him come in as Woody, I mean, it was just so great. Like, him just. They're all middle management. The vaults have always had that, like, epcot, world of tomorrow. Like, oh, it's a utopia. Or so we're told. It was really fun to, like, see a little bit of the. Okay, what was like, I sat there and I asked Ally, I was like, was this one of the control vaults? Because everything does seem like hunky dory. Everything's good. But then the second they said, okay, we're connected to another vault, I was like, oh, yeah, no, there's no way. All of them are supposed to be isolated if you're connected to another vault. No.
Dallas [25:40 - 25:49]: And I'd seen that people were like, wagging their finger about that. They're like, that's not a thing. Vaults can't be connected. I was like, every single vault is wildly different.
Alex [25:50 - 26:16]: So, yeah, like, who are you to say what's going on in one vault, not in the other? Like, again, that's explored later in the show, which this is also, as a side tangent that directly relates to this, I think Amazon made the right call in releasing all of the episodes at once because it's like if. If they were waiting every week to get answers, the fan base would have gone ballistic.
Dallas [26:16 - 26:17]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [26:17 - 27:19]: Like, our lore, our continuity is screwed up. Like, guys, just watch the next episode. Watch the end of the credits. Watch through the credits sometimes because there's Easter eggs in the credits. Even so. Oh, it's just so, like, it reminds me of when we talked about toxic fandoms on a doctor and a lawyer, which shameless plug for our sister show. We talked about that a while back, where these fandoms just get so they have this sense of entitlement and ownership over a franchise that they can't relinquish storytelling ability to somebody else. Like, if it's not perfectly canon. Well, hey, guys, fun fact, if you watch all of the episodes, everything is canon that you were whining about. Everything's canon. So. And when the original creator of Fallout and the current, you know, head of Fallout are both saying, we love the show, you can, you can enjoy. Oh, yeah, quit being problematic.
Dallas [27:19 - 27:32]: Put the clipboard down. Like, stop looking just let it go because it'll work. And the great thing, and I think the game does this and the show does this. Like, when in doubt, make it vague.
Alex [27:32 - 27:32]: Yes.
Dallas [27:32 - 27:43]: Because then you can just say who's to say who dropped the bombs first or who's to say what this is. I just. Nobody knows. Because if you leave it vague, you can tell whatever story you want to. We can.
Alex [27:43 - 27:55]: We can make some implications. Oh, yeah. Also, let's talk casting for just a second, because I talked about Zack Cherry. Yeah. I had never seen anything that Ella Purnell had been in.
Dallas [27:55 - 27:55]: I haven't either.
Alex [27:55 - 28:37]: It's funny, when you look at her in the vault, she has that. She's got such big eyes. She has that just happy go lucky. The world is great. She just looks like almost a Disney princess plopped down in like, ah, yes, the vault. And my daddy loves me so. And nothing can go wrong. And then you cut to moises Arias, who, if you are a child of the nineties or eighties and you've seen Hannah Montana, and it's like, wait, wasn't that the twerp from Hannah Montana on Disney channel as her brother Norm? And yet the casting was superb.
Dallas [28:37 - 28:45]: Oh, yeah. Like, they picked the right people for, like, this is innocence embodied in the vault.
Alex [28:45 - 28:45]: Yeah.
Dallas [28:45 - 28:59]: And then this is like, even with cynicism. Yeah. Like, they picked the only person that you could have picked and, like, they could have been alive for 200 years and, like, just don't give a crap anymore. Like, they picked the right people for.
Alex [28:59 - 29:48]: The right spots, which, as you and I are both community fans, I was so waiting for Walton Goggins at one point to be like, and here's your canister of sperm. Abedna, dear, did you know that you were insane? And nothing that you said ever made any sense to me. Yep. Here's your sperm. So the vault. Having the idea of, like, okay, we need to make sure that we're not banging our cousins. The first time that line came around and you and I are messaging back and forth is, oh, it's so much better than cousin stuff. And I was like, and Ally and I looked at each other and went, did we hear that right? Did she say cousin stuff? And then they like, I'm in love with you. Like, right, yeah, you're my cousin. That's not a good idea. Chat.
Dallas [29:48 - 29:56]: Like, did they ever address that in the games? Like, this is 200 years of the same people in the same vaults?
Alex [29:56 - 30:00]: I don't think so. Not in. I mean, not that I'm aware of.
Dallas [30:00 - 30:09]: Which four you're frozen. So like, they bypass it that way. Like nobody's doing anything because you're frozen. But like 200 years.
Alex [30:09 - 30:17]: Yeah, it's just one of those, like, oh, yeah, this would be one of those. How did Adam and Eve repopulate the world? Kind of moment.
Dallas [30:17 - 30:20]: Like a sharing issue with having.
Alex [30:20 - 30:55]: Yeah, we. We should probably introduce some fresh genetics into the gene pool. So I loved the idea that it's like, hey, we have two vaults and now every couple of years we do a transfer or we have a marriage. That way, you know, everybody's in their own little society. We're all protected. We're all serving our purpose, but we gotta keep things fresh for understandable reasons. We've got mutants above ground. We don't want mutants below ground too. So of our own doing, no less.
Dallas [30:55 - 30:57]: No radiation, but we've got mutants.
Alex [30:58 - 30:59]: So that was fun.
Dallas [31:00 - 31:08]: The twist, they did a great job of dropping hints without making it obvious until the turn.
Alex [31:08 - 31:34]: Right. And so when they all. When the vault 32, and I'm using air quotes here, the vault 32 dwellers come in and you see they're, they're dirty and they're a little beat up. Part of me thought, oh, no, this is how we're going to find out about an experiment in the other vault. Like, they're not living their best life and we're going to find out what was going on in 32. Now, 33 may have been a control, but 32 is the messed up one.
Dallas [31:34 - 31:38]: Oh, no, not at all.
Alex [31:38 - 32:17]: Which I saw somebody, I think it may have been variety or Forbes's review of fallout. And they said, look, it's got sex and violence and partial nudity, right? Not, not anything. Not westworld nudity, but, but, and it, but it serves a purpose. And it's like this idyllic girl on her wedding day. Like, let's have sex or intercourse or whatever they. Oh, yeah, she would have. No, not a thought in the world that there's a threat. And now this neanderthal is a little too obsessed with the clean running water.
Dallas [32:17 - 32:27]: Yeah. And he's drinking out of a vase, not a cup. Like for him, there's not a difference. Like, he wasn't like, where are your cups? It was, this holds water. And it was right here.
Alex [32:27 - 32:56]: But then the idea that the pip boy, the utilization of the pip boy throughout the franchise or throughout the show has been very, very fun as a fan of the games, because that's your, your pause screen. That is your source of truth for all of what you need. And to see them do that in a show how do you. How do you actually contextualize a screen, a pause screen to check your inventory?
Dallas [32:56 - 33:04]: Yeah, they do it in an interesting way, and they all. They all look different, which is kind of cool. Like, if you like people.
Alex [33:04 - 33:04]: Older models.
Dallas [33:04 - 33:15]: Yeah, people from different models look different. So that's super cool. I do think it was weird that they go, raiders.
Alex [33:15 - 33:18]: Like, like, would they have known that.
Dallas [33:18 - 33:32]: Word, like, in the vault by yourselves, isolated. That was whenever, like, they're really throwing out all the cards. Like, zoom in on a stimpak. Use a stimpak, no questions asked. Which was cool.
Alex [33:32 - 33:33]: Which. I liked it.
Dallas [33:33 - 33:40]: It was that in, paired with, like, the raiders, and I was like, you all are trying to check a lot of boxes on the way down here.
Alex [33:40 - 34:17]: And in a later episode, they have a similar kind of, like, hey, that's game logic for you. Like, they have a couple lines or a couple scenes where you're like, yep, that's. That's game logic. And that's the way this world works, too. And I I appreciate it. It's like, no, I'm gonna shoot myself with this stim pack, this needle, and I'm gonna be good enough to go. Even though I just got run through with, like, that. That healed me up enough, and I appreciated that. That's just the. The game logic transferred to the world, so I was fine with it as.
Dallas [34:17 - 34:21]: It got on, where I'm like, oh, they're not taking themselves serious in this at all.
Alex [34:21 - 34:39]: At least in that episode, I'll say. So that was fun. And then we kind of get to see a little more of the world with Maximus. So I guess that's where I. Maximus and the brotherhood.
Dallas [34:39 - 34:39]: Yeah.
Alex [34:39 - 34:40]: Thoughts there?
Dallas [34:40 - 34:49]: So, Maximus, is that also the name of the originator of the brotherhood, or is that just a name that lots of them have?
Alex [34:50 - 35:11]: I think it's a lot like catholic names, where everyone is like a. You've got your. Your original name, but then you. Once you go through your catechism, now you. Oh, yes, you get a catholic name. Right? So now you've become an initiate of the brotherhood, and here's your brotherhood now.
Dallas [35:11 - 35:28]: So I am interested, and they may address this in a later episode, and I haven't watched them all. Yeah, the brotherhood was very exclusive about, like, they didn't let people in. You were born into the brotherhood from the brotherhood, and he is kind of a foundling. He is not.
Alex [35:28 - 35:54]: Well, it. I don't want to spoil it for you, but, yes, it is addressed, so. Oh, and for our listeners, I have the added benefit of, I've seen all the episodes. Uh, Dallas is a few behind me. So it's, I also, I can't spoil things for you all or for Dallas. Uh, so, yeah. In the same way that I was saying like, just watch. Like, yeah, it answers that. So. And that made me happy and I.
Dallas [35:54 - 36:07]: Figured they did because they have paid a lot of attention and like, it's just like with everything else in fallout, like the brotherhood is disconnected all over. Like there's different sects even in the game.
Alex [36:07 - 36:08]: Right.
Dallas [36:08 - 36:21]: So like this 1 may do things different than this one. Fallout three, brotherhood on purpose was way different because they chose a different path kind of than original brotherhood. So.
Alex [36:21 - 36:56]: Right. So it's, it's one of those like how do you, how do you take all of the lore. Yeah. And, and what direction do you want to take it? I think they did a really good job. It doesn't get to the full fan servicey level that I was afraid it might. But there is something that just the first time you discover power armor in the game, you're like, what is this? And Maximus and the other initiates walking out of their, uh, you know, top gun esque class room in the hangar and then just see power armor.
Dallas [36:56 - 37:05]: And that's the goal. Like that's the dream of all of, yeah. Oh, someday maybe, which is fantastic. I love that.
Alex [37:05 - 37:09]: So that was, I, I really enjoyed that.
Dallas [37:09 - 37:40]: They really lean into the religious side of the brotherhood of steel in this, which I, I'm actually kind of refreshed that they did because sometimes the games get a little utilitarian with it. Like big guys in power armor, they're doing shooting gun things. This one, they really lean into the, there is a way to do things and it's very religious and secretive and, you know, the squire knight kind of deal, which was really cool.
Alex [37:40 - 37:47]: Right. Calling back to that middle ages of knighthood and paladins and what do they call it?
Dallas [37:47 - 37:50]: They don't call it knighthood. They call anointing. He's getting his anointing.
Alex [37:50 - 38:03]: Yeah. I didn't really have any issues with that. Again, when we were talking, going back to the actual rating for this episode as a standalone episode, it's just a lot.
Dallas [38:03 - 38:03]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [38:03 - 38:04]: Take in.
Dallas [38:05 - 38:27]: So once they left, I didn't really feel invested, but I was intrigued at that world that they had built. I wasn't like, ooh, tell me more about those characters. But I did want to see what, like, they just cracked it open enough to be like, what is going on over there? Like they're, you know, where they go, you know, everybody's kind of starting to go in the same direction, but they don't give you any details at all.
Alex [38:27 - 38:33]: So, I mean, it's hard because, like, part of it feels like a MacGuffin.
Dallas [38:33 - 38:34]: Right. Yeah.
Alex [38:34 - 39:07]: Where you're like, okay, we're looking for a person who can do a thing that can transform the wasteland. And now one group is looking for it, and then another group is looking for him, and another girl is stumbling into the mix, and then a bounty hunter is involved, and you're just like, okay, what's the purpose? But when it actually all comes together, you're like, oh.
Dallas [39:07 - 39:08]: Like.
Alex [39:08 - 39:13]: And again, it's one of those, like, if you watch it as a. In a vacuum, you don't get the full effect.
Dallas [39:13 - 39:13]: Right?
Alex [39:13 - 39:14]: Yeah, yeah.
Dallas [39:14 - 39:33]: I do feel like it was very much a. Like, just so happens. Just so happens. And even in episode two, there's a part that we'll talk about then it's a very much like a, yeah, just so happens that this happened. Really very fortuitous that all this happened at the same time, but.
Alex [39:33 - 39:48]: Right, right. But I mean, that's. That's how life works a thousand percent in general. Like, I think about, like, how cinemasins on YouTube used to, like, complain that, oh, that's such a plot contrivance. And it's like, yeah, that's how stories work.
Dallas [39:48 - 39:57]: Yeah. Even in real life, you don't tell stories that fall apart in the middle and nothing ever materializes again. It's always there. That's everything happens.
Alex [39:57 - 40:07]: Cause and effect. Yeah. I didn't have a huge issue. No, it was a good episode. Just a lot to take in, and you gotta lay that groundwork.
Dallas [40:07 - 40:07]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [40:07 - 40:11]: Oh, and how can we forget, you know, the introduction to the ghoul?
Dallas [40:11 - 40:12]: Yeah.
Alex [40:12 - 40:17]: Is there an endgame logic to the chicken?
Dallas [40:18 - 40:20]: What is up? No.
Alex [40:22 - 40:31]: So, you know, the people who are looking for the ghoul to dig him up, they're like, oh, they're scared of chickens. Is that from something?
Dallas [40:31 - 40:36]: Is it that he was scared of the chicken or he would go after the chicken, like food?
Alex [40:36 - 40:37]: I don't know.
Dallas [40:37 - 40:43]: Like, do I need to go back and play and carry a chicken around every time I run across ghouls?
Alex [40:43 - 40:55]: I don't know. Like, is it. Is it like a vampire or a zombie? Like, do zombies go crazy about chickens? Or was it. Is it vampires that are scared of a rooster crow or something? Or.
Dallas [40:55 - 40:56]: I. I don't know.
Alex [40:56 - 40:58]: Are werewolves and chickens a things?
Dallas [40:58 - 40:59]: I don't think so.
Alex [40:59 - 41:17]: Some mythological creature is scared of chickens. I don't know. But it was just. It cracked me up that they were like, oh, yeah, that's. That's the way, you know. And I'm like, I love how the. The actual wasteland has developed its own mythology. They're like, yeah, yeah, this is how ferals work.
Dallas [41:17 - 41:23]: They nailed that. Like, in 200 years, people, like, what would they make up on their own kind of thing.
Alex [41:24 - 41:24]: Yes.
Dallas [41:25 - 41:27]: Also, it was another one of those.
Alex [41:27 - 41:29]: Like, you really have to work for.
Dallas [41:29 - 41:36]: It in the game. And they just have one when the dude shoots the guy with the junk jet. Like, with the baby doll foot or whatever.
Alex [41:36 - 41:37]: Yep.
Dallas [41:37 - 41:42]: Because first I was like, what just happened? Was that leg there already? I was like, oh, he's got a junk jet.
Alex [41:42 - 41:43]: Like, I really had to work for.
Dallas [41:43 - 41:46]: That in the game. And he's just toting one around.
Alex [41:47 - 42:05]: Allie looked over at me, went, that was a junk jet. And I was like, it was. The thing is, like, she hates the junk jets because she's collecting junk so that she can build herself. So it was like, how dare you shoot all of that junk away? That would be useful for scrap.
Dallas [42:06 - 42:09]: So the plastic in that, you could be making all kinds of things.
Alex [42:09 - 42:31]: Well, all in all, episode one, it felt fresh. It felt like it had all the touches of a video game, but also the sensibilities of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. And you're like, okay, that little touch of Westworld mystery, that high end cinematography and writing, it comes through.
Dallas [42:31 - 42:32]: It's good.
Alex [42:32 - 42:36]: I don't have any major gripes with it. I don't either, especially in context.
Dallas [42:36 - 42:40]: Yeah, yeah. Out of the vacuum, the number would be higher.
Alex [42:40 - 42:43]: But if we're gonna vacuum it up, we're gonna vacuum.
Dallas [42:43 - 42:44]: If we're putting it in a vault.
Alex [42:44 - 42:51]: Sorry. That's just the way it works. Yeah. In a vault. Yeah. Well, all in all, I think we're both content with episode one.
Dallas [42:51 - 42:52]: Yeah.
Alex [42:52 - 43:00]: It has to set the stage for a broad, broad, big, gigantic story. That's not an easy task.
Dallas [43:00 - 43:00]: No.
Alex [43:00 - 43:13]: Like we said before, I'm pleased. And I'm looking forward to dissecting to these episodes with you going forward in between our usual big red button shenanigans. So I think this is fun.
Dallas [43:13 - 43:15]: Me too. Loving it.
Alex [43:15 - 43:58]: If you like what you've heard, we will have seven more of these episodes for now, talking about the episodes of the fallout tv show. But if you want more fallout content, and this is your first time here, then absolutely subscribe and listen to the rest of our nonsense that we do. It's called the Big Red Button. And we are playing an actual play of a tabletop role playing game and turning it into an audio drama. So if you're coming here for the fallout tv show, stick around for more lunacy. We've got plenty in store. If you liked what you saw on tv, you will give us, I'll give us a 90% chance that you like what we do.
Dallas [43:58 - 43:59]: Oh, yeah, I think so.
Alex [44:01 - 44:05]: There were a couple moments in the show that I went, hey, wait a second, we did that first.
Dallas [44:05 - 44:05]: Yeah.
Alex [44:06 - 44:17]: But then I went, hey, oh, yeah, never mind. No, we're definitely taking all of our tone from the games as well. So, you know, thanks, Tim Kaine. Thanks. Thanks, Todd Howard. That's you guys.
Dallas [44:17 - 44:18]: Oh, yeah.
Alex [44:18 - 44:38]: If you like what you heard and you want to hear more, please subscribe or check us us out at Bigredbutton show out. And we are a production of the Grapefruit network, so we have two other sister shows. You can check out those shows@thegrapefruitnetwork.com. So from all of us here at the Grapefruit network and Big Red button.
Dallas [44:38 - 44:41]: I have been Alex and I have been Dallas.
Alex [44:41 - 44:46]: And we will see you all next week with a full installment of the big red button.