Do unto others as you would have done unto you

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2024

#16 : Fallout 

The Last of Us took a big step forward in rehabilitating the maligned video game adaptation genre, and this year’s Fallout represented another. Set in a hellish, heightened post-apocalyptic world, this was a story of mutants and zombies and lost innocence that managed to be cheekily knowing and genuinely gripping in equal measure. Some of this was down to the performances – Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell were particularly good – but a lot of it was down to plain old self-belief. More than anything, this was a show with absolute faith in its source material.

I'd heard this was good, watched the first episode, enjoyed it - and then never watched any more of it. I think this was because the first episode was very much a scene setter, which looked particularly impressive but didn't really give you any clues where it was going, so I didn't feel massively invested. 

And, to some extent, that comment/criticism remains valid throughout the entirety of the first season. As The Guardian says, this really has does have faith in its source material and, in good video game style, it drip feeds hints as to what's going on throughout missions that get undertaken by various (generally pretty engaging) characters, with multiple flashbacks also providing further information. And, by the end, I certainly had more idea as to what's going on but I'd struggle to say it's really EXPLAINED anything - it's been an enjoyable and intriguing enough trip with some interesting characters, but it's not entirely clear it's been the best use of my time. Annoyingly though, it has an interesting ending which means I feel I'll probably have to watch season 2. 

I also have to agree that Walton Goggins (our first visit with the man, but he's very good in The Shield if you've not seen that) and Ella Purnell (who we've seen in Yellowjackets and heard in Arcane) are particularly good - Ella Purnell has a somewhat clichéd "innocent having to grow up fast in a hostile landscape" journey but Walton (sans nose) has a much more interesting trip - I didn't see his route through the season coming at all. The other actor I'd call out is Moisés Arias (apparently he was in Hannah Montana) - he doesn't really have a journey at all, but he does a good job of looking at everyone very suspiciously. 

For me, this has much more of a video game feel than The Last Of Us and it's well done - it's bright, cartoonish (Matt Berry voices a robot!) and over the top. It's also well shot (in some impressive locations) and well written, even if I didn't particularly enjoy how much information they chose to give me - apparently it's an original standalone story set within the Fallout canon, but I've never played the games so I've no idea whether they would help. 

As I previously said, I enjoyed this without being sure I really learned anything. If you like a sci-fi video game kinda thing but don't want to have to play it yourself, then this feels worth exploring - otherwise you can probably give it a miss (it is a load of old nonsense, after all).

#15 - Very watchable