The Fallout series’ most authentic performances happen in the Wasteland

The first episode of Fallout, the new streaming series on Amazon, felt a lot like the beginning of Fallout 3 for me — and not in the good way. Swapping out Liam Neeson for Kyle MacLachlan felt like a downgrade going in, but that’s probably because I’m just not a fan of his “subtle dread and kind smile” schtick. Just as in Bethesda’s 2008 sequel, life inside the Vault felt pretty bland, but things really started to open up for me in episode 2, when we finally arrived in the Wasteland.

Fallout starts to feel like Fallout once it hits the irradiated desert and introduces the poor souls who inhabit it. Time after time the series shows these people at their very worst — that is to say, their native state during the post-apocalypse — and those actors absolutely understood the assignment.

One of my favorite performances in the series comes mere moments into Lucy’s first walkabout in the countryside. That’s where she meets the Farmer, portrayed spectacularly by Michael Abbott Jr. (Killers of the Flower Moon). If you’ve enjoyed any of the modern Fallout video games, you’ve likely met a non-player character that looked a lot like this sad sack of shit before.

And these, to me, are the characters who make Fallout what it is. Maybe you gunned the Farmer down in a rush to get from point A to point B, hardly noticing their makeshift diaper flapping in the wind. Perhaps you let the NPC toddle over to start some inane bit of dialogue, thereby revealing a curious quest line not far over the next hill. Either way, these kinds of dipshits are the bread and butter of Fallout’s open world — characters locked to a seemingly random point on the map, walking endlessly in circles, just waiting for the player character to wander over so they can deliver some deeply troubled morsel of dialogue.

Abbott brings the Farmer to life in ways that are achingly human, despite the character’s roots as a disposable mook in a video game. He wears his desperation on what’s left of his sleeve, and his interaction with Lucy feels authentic to the world of the streaming show even as Abbott seems to mimic the stilted, wooden animations of a now 16-year-old video game. The scene is, in a word, perfect.

Image: Amazon Prime

Another excellent vignette comes just a few hours later, in episode 4, “The Ghouls.” That’s where we meet Huey and Squirrel, a pair of organ harvesters camped out in an abandoned grocery store. They look like they’ve dressed themselves with the wardrobe left over from A Christmas Story 2.

Chuds like these are exactly the kind of morons I expect to meet while gallivanting around the Wasteland. Played by Matty Cardarople (Stranger Things, Reservation Dogs) and Elvis Valentino Lopez (21 Bridges, Severance), these are the right and correct forms of reprobate to post up next to an ammo can full of high-powered drugs indoors on a sunny afternoon. Their entire purpose in the scene is to be just high enough to barely be able to speak aloud the simplest instructions to a robot — a robot that appears to be far more competent than they are. That, and get annihilated by a pack of feral ghouls, leaving behind a few elegant corpses ripe for environmental storytelling. I have no notes.

Image: Prime Video

Perhaps the best performance from the Wasteland comes courtesy of Jon Daly (Masterminds, Zoolander 2), who plays the opportunistic Snake Oil Salesman. He makes a quick mark of Brotherhood of Steel squire Thaddeus, and then zooms in for the score. Even with a gun to his head, he ends up cutting a sweet deal. Then he slips out of the frame faster than a ragdolling corpse can despawn.

Brief as it was, Daly’s performance had real depth to it that goes beyond the initial Jack Sparrow-style mincing. In just a few moments on screen he left me with more questions than answers, in a way that felt like he existed beyond just his interactions in the show. Why was he trying to kill himself outside that old granary? How long had he been trying to get that rifle to fire, anyway? Why is his face covered in white dust? And just where is he headed with that scavenged fusion core? It’s the same set of questions I’d have if I met him in a video game, and I can’t wait to find out more about his story in season 2.