The age of video game adaptation is upon us. Recent years have seen the success of The Sorcerer, Arcana, Grand Tourism, The last of usand now Negative consequencewith one Borderlands film also on the horizon. Games seem to have replaced superhero comics as the go-to source material for studios looking for a hit. Future adaptations should take notes from Amazon Negative consequencewhich strikes a great balance between feeling true to the games while also being accessible to viewers who have never played them.
The show features humor that is as silly as it is dark, along with entertaining action pieces and well-drawn characters.. It's not perfect – some elements become repetitive, some jokes fall flat, and the desert setting feels a bit generic – but overall it's entertaining and impressively economical with its world-building. Fallout clearly resonated with audiences, attracting 65 million viewers in its first 16 days, second only to Amazon for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Fortunately, the rich source material means there are still stories from multiple seasons to tell. Here are the eight episodes of the first season, ranked.
Negative consequence
- Publication date
- April 11, 2024
- Creator(s)
- Graham Wagner, Geneva Robertson-Dworet
- seasons
- 1
This article contains spoilers for the episodes discussed.
8 “The head”
Season 1 Episode 3
“You're going to get sidetracked by nonsense every damn time.” In episode 3, Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) takes Lucy (Ella Purnell) as captive, using it mainly as bait for gulper. Meanwhile, Maximus (Aaron Moten) and the new squire Thaddeus (Johnny Pembertonbetter known as the goofball Bo de superstore) take Wilzig's (Michael Emerson) no. It is essentially a transition episode, moving the characters into position for future plot developments.
As a result, it doesn't shine as much as the others (although the axolotl-inspired gulper is the highlight). The setting is also impressive to say the least in this one. The desert backgrounds, in particular, are a bit boring, looking like soda The road warrior. However, the episode does feature some solid Easter eggs for players. For example, Howard's joke about the golden rule of the desert that you always deviate from is a reference to the games' notoriously complicated side missions.
7 “The past”
Season 1 Episode 5
“Everyone wants to save the world… they just don't agree on how.” After discovering that he is actually Maximus in the power armor, Thaddeus steals the fusion and Wilzig's head. Lucy and Maximus cross paths and team up to find the stolen skull, ending up in the ruins of Shady Sands and stumbling into Vault 4.
Again, this was mostly a setup episode with little payoff. On the bright side, we learn a bit more about Lucy and Maximus, and the tension starts to build around Maximus' deception as he still claims to be the Knight. Also, the scene where Maximus is confronted by banners deserves props for being appropriately gross and disturbing. What really lets the episode down, though, is Howard's absence, who at this point has established himself as the most attractive and visible character in the show. He's complex, brutal but not entirely evil, formidable in combat and always ready with a joke – an instant favourite.
6 “The Goal”
Season 1 Episode 2
“It is a knight's duty to improve this fallen world.” Episode 2 was fast-paced and action-packed, starting with a flashback of Wilzig and the friendly mutt CX404, who later meet Lucy. Then the knight Titus (Michael Rapaport) is attacked by an impressively realized mutant bear, after which Maximus lets him die and claims his armor. To top it off, we love the Western-style shootouts courtesy of Howard.
All in all, it makes for an enjoyable hour of television with a refreshingly light tone. The fight scenes are well executed and there is a lot of humor, like the thirsty man in the desert thanking Lucy for not shooting him and Wilzig wondering aloud why his company's banana-flavored cyanide capsules weren't more popular. Purnell also shows his knack for dry humor with his lighthearted and naive responses to much of Wasteland's brutality. Funniest of all is Rapaport in his guest appearance as a hapless, mean gentleman.
5 “The end”
Season 1 Episode 1
“The outside world can never hurt you.” The first few episodes tend to be a bit confusing and stale compared to the rest since they usually have to introduce so many characters and plot lines. This one, however, does a solid job of introducing the viewer Negative consequence universe while also offering a decently paced story. It starts with Cooper Howard during the first nuclear attack, before showing the basics of life in Vault 32 and finally moving on to Maximus and the other Brotherhood of Steel. It is clear that, in time, the paths of these three characters will cross.
The action is pretty tepid here, though the main actors are at least charismatic and likable. They are a key part of the success of the show. Even the secondary characters are often quirky and memorable, adding value to their scenes. The stellar production design holds the rest together, with the world of the show looking stylized without being too cartoonish.
4 “The Trap”
Season 1 Episode 6
“Flama Mother, we remember, bring back the past as we remember it.” In “The Trap”, Lucy witnesses the rituals of Vault 4 and the cult of Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) as “The Mother of the Flame”. Investigating, he comes across horrific experiments as it were Alien: Resurrection. Through flashbacks, we also see a pre-Armageddon Howard who is suspicious of Vault-Tec. Amazingly, it is implied that the company itself dropped the first bombs.
Aside from some scenes that feel unnecessary, this is a great episode, full of humor and satire. They highlight Maximus' strange misunderstanding of sex and Chris ParnellThe Vault 4 cameo as the one-eyed supervisor. The best scenes belong to Howard, especially the glimpse of his former life. He is the only main character who remembers the world before the nuclear bombs were dropped, which makes him especially intriguing. He has a perspective that others don't have. He is more like the viewer because he really understands the twisted nature of the wasteland compared to the society before it. It's a heavy weight to carry.
3 “The Radio”
Season 1 Episode 7
“That's about all the horse*t I can take.” Lucy and Maximus leave Vault 4, dreaming of a life together in Vault 33. Lucy also proves to be much more decent and good-hearted than the rest of the characters by insisting that Maximus return the Vault Fusion Core 4. Soon after, they track down Thaddeus, now a Ghoul, and retrieve Wilzig's head. Also, flashbacks reveal that Moldaver's cold fusion research was suppressed by Vault-Tec, which may have reduced the likelihood of a resource war.
That sounds sad, though “The Radio” is one of the funniest episodes of the series. Fred Armisen he's deliciously ridiculous in his cameo, aided by well-timed shots of his booby traps and all the fallen intruders. Thaddeus also has several funny lines, including his surprise that he didn't die after an arrow to the neck. Then there's Maximus needlessly mauling the residents of Vault 4, even though they've already agreed to let them go. He looks awkwardly at a man who has just passed out and says sheepishly, “Maybe someone is watching him?”
2 “The Ghouls”
Season 1 Episode 4
“It's you honey, just give it some time.” In “The Ghouls”, Lucy's brother Norm (Moses Arias) breaks into Vault 32, where he finds gruesome scenes of corpses and bloodshed. These scenes are awesome and creepy and wouldn't look out of place in a big budget horror movie. At the same time, Howard trades Lucy to organ harvesters in exchange for replacement chemicals. She fights back, causing chaos by freeing the captive ghouls.
The episode then ends surprisingly poignantly, with Howard watching one of his old westerns on the pickers' TV. The scene clearly shows how radically he has changed. As with “The Radio,” this is pretty heavy, though the episode balances drama with comedy. There's the hilariously low-key robot Snip-Snip, voiced by the wonderful Matt Berry. And of course there's the sex scene between Bert (Diego Borborema) and Steph (Annabel O'Hagan). As she repeats his name, Bert gravely replies, “Yes, I'm Bert.”
1 “The beggining”
Season 1 Episode 8
“Hail, Knight Maximus!” The show concludes on a strong note, wrapping up several plot lines while leaving a lot to be resolved in future seasons. It also drops a lot of bombs *ahem*, like the truth about nuclear war and Hank's (Kyle MacLachlan) dark and macabre past. In the end, Maximus is knighted, and Howard offers to help Lucy look for her family in the east, a trip she reluctantly accepts despite her loyalty to Maximus.
The character development and action sequences are top notch in this one, building on everything that came before. Above all, the chaos is satisfying, and the revelations are worthy of the hours of teasing. Howard also has a few great moments and reveals that he has more humanity left in him than he seemed. He has also delivered one of the central lines of the entire franchise: “War never changes” – referring to Vault-Tec's sinister past as well as the conflicts to come. In other words, the finale leaves a fantastic foundation for Season 2 to expand upon.
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