Fallout Season 1 Review - 10 Ups & 2 Downs
6. Up: The Effective Time Jumps
What did anyone expect from Fallout? A direct adaptation of an epic gaming franchise? Something new set in the same world yet removed from what we know?
It was always difficult to call what the series would do, and it was always a worry that it wouldn't be able to capture the highs of its inspiration. But thanks to its brilliant new characters and impressive worldbuilding, it left all worries behind, and much of what makes it tick along so nicely is its time-jumping narrative.
Moving between before and after the nuclear apocalypse of 2077, the season tells a non-linear story with excellent care and poise, revealing the backstory to the world's end and its key players - some of whom, two centuries later, still walk amongst the rubble - almost without fault.
The way Fallout links its characters is astonishing, creating a world as intimate as it is epic, and it's from the flashbacks to the life of The Ghoul (once acclaimed actor Cooper Howard) that makes its stakes so high, and its drama so poignant. It's a delicate juggling act of time and place, performed brilliantly.