Fallout Season 1 Review - 10 Ups & 2 Downs
4. Up: A Trio Of Compelling Leads
Within Fallout's impossibly stacked cast, three actors dominate: There's Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean, a Vault Dweller who sets out a mission to save a loved one from the surface world; Aaron Moten as Maximus, a Brotherhood squire caught in a whirlwind of violence and uncertainty; and Walton Goggins as the destructive Ghoul.
As The Ghoul/Cooper Howard, Goggins consistently threatens to run away with the show. No stranger to portraying enigmatic question marks with undefined motivations (see Justified), Goggins dials the badassery to eleven, portraying The Ghoul as a twisted killer, and Howard as a loving but conflicted family man.
Moten, as mentioned, is a comedic dynamo, his resigned facial expressions and stunning innocence - despite moments of real darkness - a constant source of hilarity. Under the humour, though, there's a real character in Maximus, a lost soul as endearing as he is tragic in his search for meaning.
The true star of Fallout, though, has to be Yellowjackets' Ella Purnell. As Lucy, she's delightfully light on her feet, full of brilliant one-liners and impressive optimism, which is what makes her heroic journey into the dark heart of the new world so thrilling and, ultimately, very heartbreaking to witness.