Fallout Season 1 Ending Explained: What Is Hank’s Secret? What Norm Discovered and What Happened To Lucy?
From April 11, 2024, Fallout is available on Prime Video. This is the American TV series created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner and developed by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The show is based on the role-playing video game series created by Interplay Entertainment, now Bethesda Softworks. The series stars Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins. Let’s now see what happens in the first season and what is known about the renewal. Based on the role-playing video game franchise of the same name created by Black Isle Studios, Fallout is an Amazon Prime Video series set primarily in 2296, in a post-apocalyptic future where citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, the mutants, and bandits after nuclear annihilation. The fiction created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner follows Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a vault dweller created by Vault-Tec who rises to the surface to complete a mission. What happened in the last chapter? Below, I tell you the main events of the final episode.
The eight-part series also focuses on the memories and quest of The Ghoul/Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), a gunslinger who survives in the wasteland as a bounty hunter. As well as Maximus (Aaron Moten), a young soldier who hides his tragic past while serving in a militaristic faction called the Brotherhood of Steel. Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury), the leader of a faction of the remnants of the New California Republic, is also part of the central story of Fallout as is Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), Lucy’s father and supervisor of Vault 33 which Moldaver hijacked. To rescue him, Lucy must deliver the head of Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson), which contains a cold fusion reactor. But they are not the only ones looking for them, the Brotherhood is also after the valuable artifact.
Fallout Season 1: Plot Summary
It’s not easy to tell you about Fallout without referring to related video games. In case you have no direct experience with the game, it is important to know that the saga, originally developed as an isometric role-playing game, describes a post-apocalyptic world completely transformed by nuclear war. Cities have been razed, the land is poisoned by radiation, and the surviving inhabitants struggle to survive day after day. The ruins of ancient civilizations mix with the retro-futuristic technology of the 1950s, creating an atmosphere as unique as it is intriguing. The world of Fallout is inhabited by a variety of mutant creatures, androids, and rival factions vying for control of what resources remain. Despite the chaos and desolation, the world of Fallout is also characterized by a very over-the-top sense of black humor. Video game protagonists are often solitary figures who venture into the radioactive wasteland in search of adventure, treasure, and answers about what happened to the world. It is precisely within this context that we learn about the three protagonists of the saga: Lucy, Maximus, and the Ghoul.
Both protagonists appear to be looking for a person in possession of a device that could change the fate of Wasteland. The entire series is a journey enriched by moments that will keep viewers in suspense, especially considering that the narrative, in addition to being set in the present, also includes various interesting flashbacks, capable of providing both viewers and gamers with intriguing insights into the past. Throughout the eight episodes, which will be released simultaneously on April 11th on Amazon’s streaming platform, the showrunners have demonstrated the ability to delve into the background of the protagonists with the right narrative methods, and without making one overpower the other, also offering a series of quotes taken directly from video games.
The main challenge in creating a television transposition on the Fallout universe was certainly understanding how to manage the immense canon of video games to correctly translate it into an audiovisual language very different from the video game one. To overcome this problem, Amazon MGM and Kilter have decided to build an original story, unrelated to that of the interactive incarnations of the brand but deeply rooted in its lore, with continuous references to places, events, and narrative constructs that will delight fans of the first hour. Here’s how the Fallout series relates to video games. It is a story with a slightly more limited scope than that of the games but which, thanks to a methodical worldbuilding operation aimed at capturing the attention of veterans as well as neophytes, manages to restore the typical sense of wonder that permeates any iteration of the franchise.
The wonder we are talking about, however, is anything but positive: the future imagined by Fallout is violent, dirty, and torn apart by a nuclear war on a global scale that has wiped out human civilization, causing the last survivors to regress to a feral state. What on paper would be a dark dystopia with oppressive atmospheres, however, is treated with irreverent humor that lightens the general tones without giving up on outlining particularly gruesome situations or enormous explosions of violence. The result is an extravagant mixture of sci-fi, thriller, and horror elements seen through the irreverent lens of the saga’s traditional dark humor and narrated according to different perspectives that proceed in parallel and then intertwine throughout the eight episodes.
Fallout Season 1 Ending Explained: What Is Hank’s Secret? What Norm Discovered and What Happened To Lucy?
Near the Fallout Season 1 finale, Maximus believes he can recover the real secret. His friend Dane supports him, and the leader of the Brotherhood decides to collaborate, using Siggi’s brain power. Meanwhile, Lucy reaches her father, trapped in a cage by Moldaver. The latter tells her how she met her dad and the truth about her life. Meanwhile, Lucy’s brother Norm is also ready to uncover some secrets by entering the forbidden bunker, Vault 31. It turns out here that Cooper’s wife Barb helped create the apocalypse for Vault Tec years ago. Norm then realizes that the other Vaults are inhabited by people frozen in pods. This seems to be the future of society, with surviving people who don’t care what happens as long as there is a profit.
Through flashbacks, a younger version of Hank, their father, is shown 200 years earlier asking for an autograph from Cooper, who was still a famous actor. Meanwhile, Lucy realizes that everything her father has ever told her is a lie. Moldaver reveals that Mom was once friends with him and had discovered that civilization had returned to the surface. At that moment, his mother realized Hank was hiding something dangerous. Therefore, she fled, taking her children with her to a city on the surface. Hank followed her, took her children away, and burned the town.
What is Hank’s Secret?
Moldaver reveals that Hank has been around since before the nuclear apocalypse. Additionally, he points out that Lucy’s mother escaped from Vault 33 with her two children, and she arrived at Shady Sands, where she finally found the paradise, she was promised. However, Hank found her, took the children from her, and proved to be a staunch employee of Vault-Tec: she dropped a nuclear bomb on Shady Sands, even though her husband was still there. Lucy is greatly affected by the revelations but regains control of her emotions to ask about her mother and understand that she became a Ghoul. While Hank insists, they are lies and tries to regain her daughter’s trust, Lucy stands there processing all the information and figuring out what to do with her father.
What is Siggi’s Secret in Fallout? Hank Runs Away?
Moldaver explains that the secret contained in Siggi’s brain represents the source of unlimited energy with which it would be possible to rebuild civilization. This way, they could have clean water and electricity. That’s only if Hank reveals the secret code to begin the trial. Lucy is more worried about what happened to her mother, who is now the rabid ghoul tied to the table. Hank eventually gives in and reveals the code. The man explains that he had to choose between a violent world and a peaceful one. Meanwhile, Norm realizes that he has been trapped in the Vault: he will have to freeze himself or starve to death. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood arrives at Moldaver’s New California headquarters.
Thus occurs a battle with Miximus who frees Hank from his cage, not knowing the whole truth. Lucy confesses to him that it was her father who destroyed her town when he was a child. In the chaos, Hank tries to take away his daughter, while pointing a gun at Maximus. Hank then manages to escape, and Cooper reveals that he let him go because he hopes he will lead him to the people who started the apocalypse. Meanwhile, Lucy decides to kill her mother to free her, although it is a painful decision. At this point, she leaves to track down her father, while Moldaver begins the fusion process as he sits dying next to Lucy’s already dead mother. Moldaver was hit in the crossfire, but she still managed to complete her mission.
The Real Goal of Vault-Tec?
In one of the flashbacks to Cooper’s life in 2077, the famous Hollywood actor follows his wife Barb Howard (Frances Turner) to work and listens to a meeting of Vault-Tec executives in which they talk about how a possible peace treaty would make its hundreds of nuclear shelters obsolete. To guarantee their success, they decide to launch their own nuclear weapons and thus start the war. Barb Howard also makes secret deals with companies like Westec to give her control of several vaults to allow them to conduct their own experiments. All to determine which of them was best positioned to deal with the post-war period.
What Are Vaults 31 and 32?
For his part, Norm MacLean (Moises Arias) discovers that Vault 33 is part of a trio of interconnected Vaults along with Vault 32 and Vault 31. The latter contains Vault-Tec’s most loyal employees from the year 2077 who were cryopreserved to ensure they could awaken in the future and take control once the war ends. Therefore, Vaults 32 and 33 are “reproduction groups,” which along with loyal Vault-Tec employees will produce company-aligned descendants. After reading the names of Betty Pearson and Stephanie Harper, Norm tries to leave the vault, but Cerebrobot prevents him because he cannot share the information he now has with the rest of the Vault’s inhabitants. When will he be able to leave? When the war is over reproduction can begin. Therefore, he stealthily suggests she use his father’s capsule to stay alive while he waits.
What Happened to Lucy and Her Father?
Moldaver explains that cold fusion is unlimited energy that will allow him to build his own world, but he needs the code that Hank has. Lucy begs her father to hand over her and he does. Moldaver activates the device and prepares to test it, however, an attack from the Brotherhood stops her and forces her to fight. As the war begins again, Hank tries to justify his decision, but Lucy refuses to listen to him. Maximus arrives just in time to help the protagonist of Fallout, which Hank takes advantage of to regain his freedom from him. When Lucy tells him that her father is responsible for the destruction of Shady Sands, Max confronts him, but Hank has the suit on and knocks him unconscious. Hank tries to take his daughter by force, but The Ghoul/Cooper Howard appears and shoots him near the face.
After revealing that Henry was his wife Barb’s assistant, he inquires about the whereabouts of his family, but Hank simply escapes in an unknown direction. At the end of the first season of the Amazon Prime Video series, it is revealed that Hank arrived at what could be a safe haven for Vault-Tec employees, which is none other than New Vegas. Meanwhile, Lucy agrees to accompany The Ghoul as he chases Hank. Maximus watches Moldaver die, who activates the cold fusion reactor. When Dane arrives at the place, he makes everyone believe that Max killed the leader of that place and declares him a warrior. What will the Brotherhood do with unlimited energy? Will Norm follow Robomente’s advice? Will Lucy face her father again? What other secrets does Vault-Tec hide?.
Barb and Bud’s Shocking Project?
We return to the flashbacks of Cooper, who is in the Vault-Tec offices covered with posters of his films: here an employee, who we discover is Betty who will end up supervising Vault 33, tells him that there is an assistant of Barb named Henry, a big fan of his, who would like to meet him. And while he waits, Cooper makes himself comfortable, inserts the spy in his ear, and listens to his wife’s meeting. Around the table, together with Barb and Bud, there are representatives of the large military-scientific companies of the world of Fallout (West-Tek, Big MT, Repconn), including the legendary Robert House, entrepreneur and founding guru of RobCo (a character well-known to those who have played Fallout, but if you want to know more you can read his biography on this fan wiki). Bud and Barb propose to these to join the Vault-Tec project, with the idea of assigning a certain number of Vaults to each company to conduct any experiments in total freedom, while waiting for everyone to die on the surface. “What is the most powerful weapon of mass destruction? Time” repeats Bud, who aims to beat the competition by living longer than them.
“If you lock mice in cages, they will end up eating each other, thus becoming like those on the surface” objects RobCo. Barb spots the shadow of a man behind a glass overlooking the room, and resumes the meeting, with Cooper cheering her on from the other side of the wall. She starts well, talking about her daughter’s future to protect, and the risks to reduce in building this Vault company. We switch again to Norm, who enters Vault 31 followed by the brain-vacuum cleaner to a room where he finds many bodies in as many cryogenic capsules. They are “Bud’s buds”, Bud’s friends that Barb’s colleague told Cooper about earlier. And so that brain belongs to Bud: the first shocking revelation. Bud-vacuum cleaner explains that Vault-Tec has safeguarded itself by selecting a group of managers to freeze and thaw them at the right time so that they can guide the others in the creation and management of a “civil” society with which to regain the world: second shocking revelation.
And since there’s no two without three, here we see a capsule with the name of Hank MacLean. Let’s go back to 2077, where Barb illustrates to those present a project of three Vaults connected (31, 32, and 33 which will be entrusted to him, in fact), and the others respond by coming up with their crazy ideas. And so yes, the inhabitants of 32 and 33 were just subjects to be controlled, unwitting guinea pigs in a Vault-Tec social experiment, Norm understands. “Let’s say that frozen bodies are the reproductive nursery” tries to reformulate Bud-vacuum cleaner, which also reveals that the final goal is to “clean” the surface of all other human beings. Cooper is increasingly shocked to listen to the proposals of the rich men in a meeting with his wife. But he is even more shocked, and we are with him when he hears Barb respond to RobCo’s doubts about the uncertainty of the projects by saying that to resolve the uncertainty “it is enough” to drop the first nuclear bomb and thus start the chaos whose theoretical end brings a definitive end to the war.
The Battle at the Observatory between Moldaver and the Brotherhood (and Cooper)
Between missiles and bullets that hiss, between bodies or armor and splashes of blood that fly, between the flag of the two-headed bear of the NCR and the one with the gears instead of the stars of the Brotherhood waving, in this magnificent fight scene, we see Maximus make himself road together with Dane. But when they are close to the room where the beloved Lucy is, who emerges: our dear Cooper-ghoul. Who, being himself a former combatant who served the country during the conflict in Alaska between the USA and China, knows that the armor has a hole near the chest. He easily kills one knight after another, while Maximus manages to escape him and reach Lucy, still struggling with her father’s speech asking to be freed.
The infamous Hank then takes advantage of the boy’s arrival to get freed. Lucy tries to explain to him that Hank is the culprit of that bomb on Shady Sands that ruined the life of his beloved Maximus, but when he tries to take the revenge he deserves Hank has already taken a decapitated armor that had arrived with the “son-in-law” and knocked him out with a punch. Lucy takes the boy’s gun and points it at her father, but she doesn’t dare to kill him. The one who dares to shoot his old fan is Cooper-Ghoul, who reveals his identity to Hank and how he understood that “the one who collected my wife’s clothes from the dry cleaners” was still alive when he met Lucy. “Where the fuck is my family?” he then asks Hank, pointing a gun at him, but Hank turns and runs away.
The Epilogue of the First Season: What Happens to Lucy, Cooper, Max, and Hank?
Cooper doesn’t chase him because, as he explains to Lucy who tries in vain to wake Max, “it’s easier to track down a wounded pig than ask him where he’s headed.” “The contaminated area is chaos, but there is always someone pulling the strings in the war, and I would like to have a chat” is the declared intent of the ghoul, who is preparing to chase the wounded pig together with Lucy, to which he reveals how he learned of the experiments behind the Vaults. Lucy then convinces herself to leave Max there and follow her father together with the noseless cowboy, but before leaving Lucy promises Max that she will find him again and fires a shot at her mother’s head, to finally put an end to her suffering: “Okey dokey ” says the girl before setting off again. A few moments later Max reopens his eyes while the cold fusion is started a few meters from him and while Moldaver, returning from the battle, also prepares to die after so many years spent trying to change things, with the satisfaction of having still achieved the aim to restore (clean) energy to Shady Sands. “We did it, Rose,” she says to her friend’s corpse while observing, together with her fellow citizen Maximus, the lights that illuminate the city again at night. “What would your Brotherhood do with this infinite power?” Moldaver asks Max.
“Maybe you can stop them or maybe not, maybe you can just try” she adds, before taking her last breath. Dame arrives on the spot, sees the leader of the dead raiders, and without even giving her friend time to explain herself, she proclaims him in front of the other brothers who arrive as a hero who must become a Knight: and the crowd agrees with her. But from her look, we understand that Max instead has more than one doubt. In the penultimate scene, we then see Cooper, Lucy, and the dog Dogmeat walking away on a Hollywood hill sponsored by Nuka Cola. In the last scene, we see a red dawn appear behind Hank in armor who arrives in a place very recognizable by those who have played the various Fallouts, namely… New Vegas. And so this first beautiful (in our opinion) season of Fallout ends.
