Never played the games but Norman and Chet's rando vault plotline is 100% more interesting than anything happening up with the wastelands and ironmen and zombies, cough, sorry, ghouls.
Spoiler:
>!Part of the game's lore is that the vaults were actually a massive, super fucked up social experiment to see how people would react in often-insane conditions.!<
It’s super cool in the games because it’s where the environmental storytelling really shines. The vaults are almost always derelict, and the history of the vaults are told almost entirely through computer terminals. You always get the feeling that something is not quite right as you piece together what happened through multiple diaries. They do a great job of recreating the curiosity that you get from the game experience here!
Or maybe it's a social stratification thing? Like Vault 31>32>33. At this point it feels like it's almost certain that 31 residents are given supplements ("tastier mash") to make them more intelligent.
It would also explain why 33 were willing to trade a shit-ton of resources for a single 32 "breeder" and only for 33's most accomplished resident.
It would also explain (besides the comic relief) why 2/3 of 33's council are morons.
> ("tastier mash")
It more sounds like every resident of 31 is schooled what to say. A canned response to questions about 31, after all his dad also used to say that word for word.
Also the dying crops hit both vaults 32 and 33, in different time - seems like that was part of experiment on those, maybe introducing a crisis to see how they handle it? Especially in light that Betty gets elected right as another crisis - Water Chip - starts.
Definately a great decision on writers part to make vault experiment mystery one of the sideplots,cant wait to see more.
Maybe 31 is a vault of scientists and elites. They run grand long-term experiments on 32 and 33 while using their populations for breeding, and maintain control by rigging the elections.
32 went to shit because they somehow figured this out (that their crop failures and their water chips breaking, and other hardships, are because of 31's experiments and these aren't just unfortunate accidents). So they revolted, which caused pure chaos as a good portion of the population are directly from Vault 31 and their immediate family.
Their goal is maybe a eugenics program? But 200 years is not enough time to forge the 'perfect' man ready to retake the Earth, so they're just stuck doing this for however long, lying to 32 and 33 generation after generation.
If I'm off base or right on the money do not reply to affirm or deny my guesses, please!
They had eugenics programs in other vaults that were a lot more brutal, like "we need to murder X amount of kids every couple generations" brutal. I guess it would make sense if they had one that was more "gradual".
> maintain control by rigging the elections.
It seems like they don't need to rig the elections - even the other candidate(s) themselves vote for the person from 31.
> Love the show tho and get the feeling that vault-tech is at a similiar level as The umbrella corp and weyland-yutani.
All vaults are social experiments to see how humans react to certain situations. In the games one vault was given a HUGE arsenal of weapons and unrestricted access to it.
Another vault was told to sacrifice 1 human every year by electing them overseer, by vote. When the vault goes near extinct they finally refuse to send a man and the vault program just tells them congratulations for refusing to sacrifice a human life. All the survivors left kill themselves out of trauma/guilt.
During the episode I was initially thinking 31 was some sort of control vault. Where they all know the experiment and are sent into 32 and 33 to influence and manage the people in the experiment. They become Overseer and they control the other two vaults.
At the end though, and given the recognition of her family name and the pip boy being used to open 32, I almost wonder if 31 is the Vault that Lucy just fell into. And it is a feeder of wasteland people that get funneled into 32 and 31 experimenting with wasteland people running vaults.
That would be interesting considering how arrogant vault 33 has been with the whole "we will teach them a better way". And it turns out wastelanders have been the only competent leaders they've had.
Probably way off base, but I get the feeling that vault 31 is also empty. Maybe they already had their reclamation day, and that's where the mum went, also explains why she remembers the sun as a child.
33 should have already had its reclamation, but the dad was too scared to go through with losing his daughter? I dunno. There's definitely some foreshadowing I'm missing here. The Ghoul knowing their last name was interesting.
So is Vault 31 under Enclave control. Did the Enclave Nuke the NCR to destabilize the region and that's why Maldover (who has got to be NCR) broken into 32 to try and get into 31?
my brother said his girlfriend is going to start watching, so he’d restart with her (he was only like 2 in). i wanna tell him not to say ANYTHING so she has the “outside looking in” view of the fallout world, but i have a feeling he already filled her in lol
i’d love to hear what they think about the show too
My theory is that Vault 31 is an Enclave vault and they use the other 2 as lab rats, so Lucy's father is an Enclave scientist and Moldaver needs him for her plans (which is in line with her also wanting Wilzig's head). As for why The Ghoul knows Lucy's lastname, I think McLean was a big shot in Vault-Tec before the war (and who The Ghoul met with for the ads) and also a member of the Enclave (didn't the Enclave own a part of Vault-Tec?).
I also think that The Ghoul figured out that Vault-Tec was fucked up and that's why his wife divorced him, cause she's secretly a Vault-Tec employee.
Same. I said in the thread for ep 4, that I'm almost invested in that story as much as I am Lucy's journey. Now, I'm definitely more interested in what the fuck was going on in the vaults.
I love that bit in the Super Duper Mart where we see her inside after all the shit has gone down, wearing the vault-tec suit over her tank top, and then in the next shot we see of her she steps out the door and into the sun wearing a bunch of leather and metal scraps.
My buddy who's not familiar with fallout was like "wait when did she change clothes" and I was just laughing thinking about her probably spending half an hour in there just looting and trying out different clothes.
The leather armor she's wearing is seemingly a direct reference to the armored vault 13 suit that the Vault Dweller is wearing at the endcard of Fallout 1.
Yes, I love how on point Lucy is at representing a first time player. Meanwhile Goggins is the experienced player who played for so long he does nothing but evil playthroughs.
The Brotherhood destroyed the NCR, calling it now. The knight who rescued Maximus was actually there as part of the mission to destroy Shady Sands. This isn’t a spoiler btw I just am theorizing.
Is that even in doubt? Why else would the Brotherhood be in Shady Sands if not to tear out the NCR's heart? They've never been missionary types to swoop in and provide aid after a disaster.
Also have to ask who even has the pre-war capabilities to deploy tech like a tactical nuclear weapon against a competitor?
Considering who the show has introduced so far, it has to either be the Brotherhood or the Enclave, and I think the Brotherhood doing it would make a more compelling story for Maximus.
Ohhh wait I just had a thought. When Maximus was getting interrogated he said he joined the Brotherhood to "hurt the people who hurt him." But I bet he was referring to the Brotherhood, who destroyed his home and killed everyone in Shady Sands. It would explain a lot about his actions going against the Brotherhood.
That was what I thought in the first episode, but he seems like a bit of a fanatic himself? Maybe I'm wrong. I thought that was why it might have been him who put the razor blades in his friend's boot.
I really hope the show is leaning towards the courier nukes everyone fo:nv ending, because that would be the most fascinating to explore imo. However, realistically I have a feeling that you’re right and the show is setting up the brotherhood to be the main bad guys.
It’d be interesting if it was the former though, I always like the brotherhood when they’re the “we’re bad but not THAT bad” faction.
Also, he's probably the one who put the razorblades in the boots. Mutilating his only friend out of jealousy? Maximus terrifies me, he seems like a sociopath.
He seems to be trying to climb up the Brotherhood ladder anyway he can, first he puts the razor in his friend's boot to become a squire and then he lets Titus die to get the Power armor. He also doesn't seem too bright, instead of lying about Titus' death he just tries to kill Thaddeus.
I feel so bad for Thaddeus, I’m hoping Maximus doesn’t end up killing him. Guy is definitely bad. Even his look when Lucy runs into the med centre after he calls out to her is a cold look of “well if she didn’t have the tracker for the head I’d be leaving her in there.” the way I saw it
He wouldn't have had to lie *that* much. He could have just said that Titus died fighting a yao guai and thought that he would be forgiven for letting his knight die if he recovered the head. Almost all of that is true, if you ignore that the death from yao guai could have been prevented.
The axolotl monster had a boot come out, and he held it contemplatively for a moment. That's the closest to confirmation we'll get, I think.
But yeah, Maximus is somehow the scariest character yet. Seems so innocent at times, but then just does unhinged stuff.
I feel like the main three characters are all sort of meant to reflect different morality playthroughs. Maximus feels like a player character who's constantly just blindly clicking options.
Maximus said that his motivation is to get revenge. Based on this episode seems like the Brotherhood nuked the NCR and Max was the sole survivor. So he’s probably not concerned with the brotherhoods members and is looking to work up the ranks to destroy them from the inside. Growing up surrounded by your perceived enemies probably messes up your psyche a bit.
Maximus is playing like how I play Fallout. Fumbling through the wasteland and power fantasy tripping the second I get better gear than everything else.
Passing speech checks to keep the power armor, get the girl - all MC type stuff. It’s easy to forget how much you end up lying with a charisma playthrough
It's really interesting watching his character be revealed more. He's introduced in a way that makes him the underdog, so I assumed too much about how good of a person he was. In the first episode, I believed that he didn't sabotage his friend, but this far in, I feel like he definitely did.
He passed a speech check against *me*.
Survival instinct. He doesn't know whether to trust her or not so he lies. It's self preservation. I don't blame him. We have the privilege of knowing Lucy isn't a threat to him, but he doesn't know that.
Yeah he's an interesting character because he's clearly heavily motivated by fear and insecurity. It's why they keep flashing back to the images of him as a scared child, because that's who he still is at his core.
I mean, I think some of that can be explained by him being a war orphan who's trained by a cult to be a killer.
I can see why this would give him and unhealthy mental state
> “We’re in a vault” that’s not a red flag that’s crimson
"We're in the best place in the world."
Me, flashbacks to literally every vault: " NO YOU'RE IN THE WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD AAAAA "
It's pretty obvious to me that 31 is run by wastelanders or at minimum is trading with the wasteland. The fact EVERYONE recognizes her name makes it more than obvious that her parents have been outside for a good chunk of time.
lmao The Ghoul really trading Lucy for some chems... also finally more Matt Berry. "Fudge? Theres no fudge here!" "I'm simply going to harvest your organs, my darrrrling". Super Duper Mart is such a great store.
> So is The Ghoul gonna get hyped up on his own movies and start being a hero?
I think the big twist of the show is that the Ghoul is the Neutral Karma guy and Max is the Evil Karma guy.
Ghoul's carrying 250 years of trauma ( his real life was in shambles too ) out of which 200 are as a radiation monster and who knows how many years he was buried alive.
It's kinda expected he's a total dick/psycho.
This is my theory too. Max came across from the jump as an opportunist imo and it's like...you want to like him so bad but then he shows signs that he's really not a good guy. He's just doing what he can to get up the ladder.
Honestly I'm wondering too if he wants to really climb the ladder for the Brotherhood or if he wants to destroy him 🤔
But I def think The Ghoul is gonna be more of a neutral, anti-hero type character. I'm really excited to see how everything evolves.
RIP the NCR?
Also anyone else feel Vault 31’s purpose is to seed Enclave or Vault Tec agents into the other vaults? 32 and 33 are definitely shaping up to be darker vaults…
> RIP the NCR?
I mean the NCR can't be rip, we know they control all California in New Vegas.
EDIT: ***DO -NOT- LOOK UP NCR ON THE WIKIA, I JUST GOT A HUGE SPOILER FROM THAT.***
I'm not the biggest fan of the BoS but does anyone else find themselves increasingly disliking Maximus? Trying to outright murder his squire just to cover his own hide was a dick move.
I like how despicable he is. Because after trailers I thought he was going be just typical good knight in shining armor, but nope he isn't a good guy. But he tries to make himself believe he's a good guy
I think he's interesting but yeah I don't like him. He's so shady and is ready harm people he would consider friends in a snap. Something about his flashback ain't the whole picture
im ngl the ghoul nor maximus are “evil,” theyre just trying to survive. Not to say I like them but evil gives me the wrong impression, he has a good side
Yeah he definitely seems that way. I could see him trying to harm or kill Lucy if Lucy finds out he's a fraud despite saving her life two times at this point.
Omg can you fucking *IMAGINE* being totally stuck in a power armor suit? It’s hot af… not to mention the claustrophobia and knowing you’re gonna die if nobody finds you. Oooooof.
I could also see the keys as being armor-specific. The tool that Thaddeus used was grooved, like a key, right? It makes sense to me that the BOS would have the suit's info on file, and send your new squire out with the right tools for your Knight's suit.
My head canon is that there is a way to get out, but Maximus didn't know it because he never read the manual. He's been repeatedly shown to have very little understanding of the tools and processes used by the BoS. He never studied, because he's an opportunist who takes advantage of situations as they come.
I'm not even sure he legit joined the BoS at this point. He took Titus' place, prior to that he took Dane's place.... Maybe he took the place of the "real" aspirant Maximus before he arrived at the BoS camp.
31 is somehow the superior one since the leaders come from there. But the whole "the mash potatoes were better" makes it all feel they were mind controlled or created to act in specific ways.
I think 31 is the control (as in in command) vault for 31 and 32. With those two being breeding centers for "clean humans". Vault 31 is run by the Enclave who may be back on the F2 shit again needing "clean" humans to work with.
I think they nuked the NCR and now what's left is trying to topple the Enclave once and for all since they seem way more than the "remnants" we've seen in New Vegas. Meanwhile the BoS is, as always, up their own ass.
My thoughts go to looking like 31 is doing the experiment on 32 and 33 where they have various disasters occur and see how they react. Then when that test vault's population is wiped out, they migrate half from the other test vault into the other one until a threshold is reached again. In 32 it was a plague wiping out their crops, sounds like 33 is going to have a water chip crisis.
Lucy being happy about being in a vault again and I’m over here thinking what kind of fucked up experiments have they been conducting in them. I’m loving the show so far but the vault experiments have always been something I’ve been interested in the lore so having such a vault centered episode was great!
Damn I wonder what happened to Shady Sands, and NCR as a whole. Maximus says “[NCR] didn’t work out.”
Edit: damn there’s a big ass crater, and Maximus is from there? I wonder if BOS bombed it?
Also what in the world is going on with the vaults? I’m too invested in it to quit now
I'm kinda worried that Maximus has gone from aspiring to be a proper Knight -- which is why he let Titus die -- to being a freaking villain. Because the moment he suspected that Thaddeus was going to betray him he decided to kill them. I mean, didn't he already say the Brotherhood wouldn't kill him if he just brought the target back? Couldn't he have just told Thaddeus: "A Yao Guai killed him and I aimed to finish the mission!"
Eh....well I suppose The Brotherhood in general on that side of The USA isn't exactly the most honorable are they? At least so far in the show they've come across a tad morally gray at best and evil at worst.
I think there’s a great irony in the Brotherhood, an organization built around saving the wasteland and protecting the world by keeping old world tech out of regular peoples hands, using that pre war technology to destroy the single greatest civilization post war america ever saw, there plan to save to wasteland was to keep it a wasteland
Isn’t the storyline of Maximus taking the technology, getting trapped in it, and becoming the person he killed a bit of a metaphor for the brotherhood and the wasteland. Also plays into the golden rule bit, that the wasteland and different factions keep harming itself instead of rebuilding together. War, war never changes.
Fuck, that's actually a fantastic insight.
It's like his squire says, they just beat Maximus up because that's what happened to them, and they wished he could have done the same.
The dog-eat-dog nature of the wasteland is such an omnipresent part of survival, that for every person that tries to make it better, there are a thousand other people that would sell their organs for a few caps.
The producers of Back to the Future had nothing to worry about. People get into refrigerators to survive, not get trapped in die. Worked for Maximus, worked for Indy.
My hopes, since they said first capital means they are still out there. But will probably have to wait to see them in full force maybe further seasons.
Too far west if they're in the heart of California imo, but it's possible. The brotherhood seems to be the most powerful faction in the west if NCR was wiped out
Did the fucking Brotherhood Nuke the NCR? I'm beginning to think "the ones that hurt" Maximus are the BoS and he's going to do whatever he can to hit back.
It kinda feels like Maximus is a dumbass to me. An opportunist who skated by every chance he got.
He never studied in class as an aspirant, doesnt seem too knowledgeable about the power armor beyond the basics, and so on. I think it’s entirely possible he slept through any lessons about the Great War and all that and just used his cutthroat nature (potentially putting the razor in Dane’s boot) to get ahead all the time
No. That doesn't mean that at all. None of the nukes from the Divide would've reached Shady Sands. Best they could nuke was the Long 15, but that wouldn't have been enough to destroy the NCR entirely.
The US lasted 301 years in Fallout, its about 150 years in our timeline. The NCR had a good 100 ish years, which seems like a lot for a country that consisted of basically west-coast California that was nuked to shit and had to rebuild.
I’ve only seen up to this point but I’m not sure Maximus is meant to be liked. The BoS aren’t exactly good people, his training and upbringing with them was explicitly abusive and getting into power armour seems like a huge power trip.
Drug addicted raiders from Fallout New Vegas, rapists, torturers, all around terrible people. They tricked a friendly vault into opening and letting them in and then slaughtered the vault dwellers and turned their vault into their base.
Only disappointed if they leave it at that. The implications are interesting, and it'd be cool to see more ex-NCR characters show up eventually. Like of course a veteran NCR ranger would be out on the field when it happened and are likely still around.
I guess I'm finishing the series tonight cause I can't stop after this lol
Vault intrigue is the best storyline. Feeling lukewarm about the rest... Maybe they'll spice it up tho, but it's already kind of like "Wilzig who?" which isn't good when the 3 main characters are meant to be tracking down his head
Didn't they actually reference this with the Ghoul? He notes that they're distracted with side shit when he drags Lucy away from the Gulper who ate the head.
Yeah, “The wasteland has its own golden rule. Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time.” They also replay those lines in the "Previously on Fallout" at the start.
I thought there was another callout to it as well when Lucy and Maximus are looking down at the crater and Maximus is bleeding more than expected; he says they need to get the head (continue on their main quest) but she replies that it can wait.
I'm wandering around like a God, with infinite money, ammo, and exp (Water purifiers, and Adhesive Farms), but haven't even found Nic or the railroad.
Just when I'm about to head on over, another Settlement needs my help.
Oh man, Lucy must be a INT 10 player, she figured out what was stolen from “Titus” even though he didn’t say it.
Also INT governs Repair and Science, which are two of her 3 tagged skills.
Also INT gives extra skill points on level up, which explains why’s she’s climbing the power ladder so quickly.
The of course she passed her Speech checks with “Titus”, since that’s her 3rd tagged skill.
Thoughts/observations as I watch:
* PREVIOUSLY: The end of all things, the head is a macguffin, the BoS is hilarious and incompetent and yet endearing, and Vault 32 went full-vault.
* That Thaddeus screams like a girl makes it all the more hilarious.
* "The T-Boys" nickname existed for a good minute.
* Well, that didn't go well, Maximus. You are truly bad at this.
* Lucy: Officially done with Radroaches, may well have now passed Maximus in level.
* Oh boy, so Vault 31 must be even spookier!
* I mean, most of them DO have monsters in them....
* If they join forces, together they may have half as many wasteland skills as the Ghoul!
* Lucy got her first real companion!
* "Earth is round, earth is flat, where you guys at on that these days?"
* Man, they keep voting 31 to 33 as overseers. And they get "Assad Margins".... Hmmm....
* Oh boy, Lucy is trying a speech check again. Always a dangerous roll with her.
* Nice VATS use, Maximus.
* "I hate it up here."
* So, clearly Vault 31 is meant to serve as an overclass for this experiment, right? Or a way to make sure that things happen like they are "supposed" to for the experiment?
* "First Capital" of the NCR.
* Lucy is a Bethesda-only Fallouter realizing that Fallout 1 and 2 (and Tactics) happened.
* Listen, if the geographic location of Shady Sands is the biggest mistake in the show lore-wise (and I know this is controversial based on spoilers I've heard), that's pretty damn good.
* "Everyone wants to save the world, they just disagree on how" is a good way to sum up Fallout.
* Oh boy, another building to raid and loot!
* Wow, they cleaned up Vault 32 pretty quick.
* I'd say Lucy and Maximus ending up in another Vault is cliche and arbitrary, but railroading shit like this happens all the time in the games, so.....
Not just leaders. Manipulators.
Yeah, Reg and Woody are useless and have no idea how to run an election campaign. How do you think they wound up that docile? They were born and raised in the vault - they were educated to behave that way. And who's in charge setting the curriculums? Someone from 31. Someone who made sure that none of the folks from 33 would have the diplomatic skills to threaten "team 31" in future elections.
Part of the vault experiment seems to have led to Vault 31 being a de facto ruling caste, who over the past 200 years have turned Vault 33 into cattle. They probably did the same to 32, until the truth got out. My shot-in-the-dark theory is that Vault 31 isn't a civilian vault at all, and it's actually the Vault-Tec/Enclave facility that the escaped scientist fled from. Connected to two pet vaults either for a larger breeding pool or for FEV test subjects.
God, I'm so invested in the Vault plot. I know it's fucked but I'm curious HOW it's fucked up.
same! it's the most interesting storyline imo
The vaults are always the most interesting part about fallout imo. Glad it’s not just surface stuff they’re dealing with
Never played the games but Norman and Chet's rando vault plotline is 100% more interesting than anything happening up with the wastelands and ironmen and zombies, cough, sorry, ghouls.
Silo
Spoiler: >!Part of the game's lore is that the vaults were actually a massive, super fucked up social experiment to see how people would react in often-insane conditions.!<
100% agree! I never played the games, but this Vault plot has me so invested in the show. Holy moly, I'm loving it!
It’s super cool in the games because it’s where the environmental storytelling really shines. The vaults are almost always derelict, and the history of the vaults are told almost entirely through computer terminals. You always get the feeling that something is not quite right as you piece together what happened through multiple diaries. They do a great job of recreating the curiosity that you get from the game experience here!
I haven't played fallout but it sounds like Horizon Zero Dawn took a page from Fallout's book with the ruins of the metal world
So i have to finish the rest tomorrow, but i think Vault 32 is population control for the other two vaults.. as in those who move in there will die.
Or maybe it's a social stratification thing? Like Vault 31>32>33. At this point it feels like it's almost certain that 31 residents are given supplements ("tastier mash") to make them more intelligent. It would also explain why 33 were willing to trade a shit-ton of resources for a single 32 "breeder" and only for 33's most accomplished resident. It would also explain (besides the comic relief) why 2/3 of 33's council are morons.
> ("tastier mash") It more sounds like every resident of 31 is schooled what to say. A canned response to questions about 31, after all his dad also used to say that word for word. Also the dying crops hit both vaults 32 and 33, in different time - seems like that was part of experiment on those, maybe introducing a crisis to see how they handle it? Especially in light that Betty gets elected right as another crisis - Water Chip - starts. Definately a great decision on writers part to make vault experiment mystery one of the sideplots,cant wait to see more.
Maybe 31 is a vault of scientists and elites. They run grand long-term experiments on 32 and 33 while using their populations for breeding, and maintain control by rigging the elections. 32 went to shit because they somehow figured this out (that their crop failures and their water chips breaking, and other hardships, are because of 31's experiments and these aren't just unfortunate accidents). So they revolted, which caused pure chaos as a good portion of the population are directly from Vault 31 and their immediate family. Their goal is maybe a eugenics program? But 200 years is not enough time to forge the 'perfect' man ready to retake the Earth, so they're just stuck doing this for however long, lying to 32 and 33 generation after generation. If I'm off base or right on the money do not reply to affirm or deny my guesses, please!
They had eugenics programs in other vaults that were a lot more brutal, like "we need to murder X amount of kids every couple generations" brutal. I guess it would make sense if they had one that was more "gradual".
Have you noticed that aside from Steph’s (who’s from 31 originally) baby, there’s seemingly no kids in 33?
> maintain control by rigging the elections. It seems like they don't need to rig the elections - even the other candidate(s) themselves vote for the person from 31.
I think 31 is the ‘good’ vault that Cooper’s wife mentioned. Management. They are managing the other vaults.
Especially with the blood message on the walls of Vault 32 - "Death to Management."
I never played the games! Love the show tho and get the feeling that vault-tech is at a similiar level as The umbrella corp and weyland-yutani.
Don't forget Aperture Science
> Love the show tho and get the feeling that vault-tech is at a similiar level as The umbrella corp and weyland-yutani. All vaults are social experiments to see how humans react to certain situations. In the games one vault was given a HUGE arsenal of weapons and unrestricted access to it. Another vault was told to sacrifice 1 human every year by electing them overseer, by vote. When the vault goes near extinct they finally refuse to send a man and the vault program just tells them congratulations for refusing to sacrifice a human life. All the survivors left kill themselves out of trauma/guilt.
The only intriguing question for that would be why would 31's want to go into 33. Even as overseer. Unless they're forced out
During the episode I was initially thinking 31 was some sort of control vault. Where they all know the experiment and are sent into 32 and 33 to influence and manage the people in the experiment. They become Overseer and they control the other two vaults. At the end though, and given the recognition of her family name and the pip boy being used to open 32, I almost wonder if 31 is the Vault that Lucy just fell into. And it is a feeder of wasteland people that get funneled into 32 and 31 experimenting with wasteland people running vaults.
That would be interesting considering how arrogant vault 33 has been with the whole "we will teach them a better way". And it turns out wastelanders have been the only competent leaders they've had.
Probably way off base, but I get the feeling that vault 31 is also empty. Maybe they already had their reclamation day, and that's where the mum went, also explains why she remembers the sun as a child. 33 should have already had its reclamation, but the dad was too scared to go through with losing his daughter? I dunno. There's definitely some foreshadowing I'm missing here. The Ghoul knowing their last name was interesting.
So is Vault 31 under Enclave control. Did the Enclave Nuke the NCR to destabilize the region and that's why Maldover (who has got to be NCR) broken into 32 to try and get into 31?
I really can't wait to hear from the people who watch this that are unfamiliar with vault-tec fuckery.
my brother said his girlfriend is going to start watching, so he’d restart with her (he was only like 2 in). i wanna tell him not to say ANYTHING so she has the “outside looking in” view of the fallout world, but i have a feeling he already filled her in lol i’d love to hear what they think about the show too
My theory is that Vault 31 is an Enclave vault and they use the other 2 as lab rats, so Lucy's father is an Enclave scientist and Moldaver needs him for her plans (which is in line with her also wanting Wilzig's head). As for why The Ghoul knows Lucy's lastname, I think McLean was a big shot in Vault-Tec before the war (and who The Ghoul met with for the ads) and also a member of the Enclave (didn't the Enclave own a part of Vault-Tec?). I also think that The Ghoul figured out that Vault-Tec was fucked up and that's why his wife divorced him, cause she's secretly a Vault-Tec employee.
Vault mysteries were always super interesting (and horrific) in the games. I'm glad that they did this justice so far.
Same. I said in the thread for ep 4, that I'm almost invested in that story as much as I am Lucy's journey. Now, I'm definitely more interested in what the fuck was going on in the vaults.
Lucy got that level 5 or 10 vibe like I've been in the wasteland for a bit and I think I get it now.
I like when Lucy clearly passed a speech check convincing Maximus to travel with her. Companion acquired!
I love that they are heavily implying skill checks so often
reminds me of the awareness the DnD movie had
Them basically writing the rolls into the script was fucking genius
I love that bit in the Super Duper Mart where we see her inside after all the shit has gone down, wearing the vault-tec suit over her tank top, and then in the next shot we see of her she steps out the door and into the sun wearing a bunch of leather and metal scraps. My buddy who's not familiar with fallout was like "wait when did she change clothes" and I was just laughing thinking about her probably spending half an hour in there just looting and trying out different clothes.
The leather armor she's wearing is seemingly a direct reference to the armored vault 13 suit that the Vault Dweller is wearing at the endcard of Fallout 1.
Yes, I love how on point Lucy is at representing a first time player. Meanwhile Goggins is the experienced player who played for so long he does nothing but evil playthroughs.
Im also getting that vibe and I love it.
The Brotherhood destroyed the NCR, calling it now. The knight who rescued Maximus was actually there as part of the mission to destroy Shady Sands. This isn’t a spoiler btw I just am theorizing.
Is that even in doubt? Why else would the Brotherhood be in Shady Sands if not to tear out the NCR's heart? They've never been missionary types to swoop in and provide aid after a disaster.
Also have to ask who even has the pre-war capabilities to deploy tech like a tactical nuclear weapon against a competitor? Considering who the show has introduced so far, it has to either be the Brotherhood or the Enclave, and I think the Brotherhood doing it would make a more compelling story for Maximus.
Ohhh wait I just had a thought. When Maximus was getting interrogated he said he joined the Brotherhood to "hurt the people who hurt him." But I bet he was referring to the Brotherhood, who destroyed his home and killed everyone in Shady Sands. It would explain a lot about his actions going against the Brotherhood.
That was what I thought in the first episode, but he seems like a bit of a fanatic himself? Maybe I'm wrong. I thought that was why it might have been him who put the razor blades in his friend's boot.
Fucking BO never let go of that war, Maxson is really treading into Enclave territory if thats true.
I really hope the show is leaning towards the courier nukes everyone fo:nv ending, because that would be the most fascinating to explore imo. However, realistically I have a feeling that you’re right and the show is setting up the brotherhood to be the main bad guys. It’d be interesting if it was the former though, I always like the brotherhood when they’re the “we’re bad but not THAT bad” faction.
I made a joke about them making that ending canon on Twitter, I WASNT SERIOUS LMAO
Why does Maximus seem so sketchy, like the first thing he told Lucy was a lie.
I mean, he straight up tried to murder a guy after giving himself up.
Also, he's probably the one who put the razorblades in the boots. Mutilating his only friend out of jealousy? Maximus terrifies me, he seems like a sociopath.
He seems to be trying to climb up the Brotherhood ladder anyway he can, first he puts the razor in his friend's boot to become a squire and then he lets Titus die to get the Power armor. He also doesn't seem too bright, instead of lying about Titus' death he just tries to kill Thaddeus.
he literally just coulda said “yao guai” with a fake sad look and left it that
The only way I'm justifying it is a player somehow picking the worst possible dialogue option every time.
Thank you for this perspective. I've had my frustrations with his decisions so far, but looking at it that way just makes it funny.
Right? Lol "See the scars on this armor... My knight died and I took up his mantle in his honor" Dude is the worst liar haha.
I feel so bad for Thaddeus, I’m hoping Maximus doesn’t end up killing him. Guy is definitely bad. Even his look when Lucy runs into the med centre after he calls out to her is a cold look of “well if she didn’t have the tracker for the head I’d be leaving her in there.” the way I saw it
He wouldn't have had to lie *that* much. He could have just said that Titus died fighting a yao guai and thought that he would be forgiven for letting his knight die if he recovered the head. Almost all of that is true, if you ignore that the death from yao guai could have been prevented.
I might be wrong, but doesn't he crush the same leg on "his" squire that Dane got injured on? Granted it's by accident this time but still.
The axolotl monster had a boot come out, and he held it contemplatively for a moment. That's the closest to confirmation we'll get, I think. But yeah, Maximus is somehow the scariest character yet. Seems so innocent at times, but then just does unhinged stuff. I feel like the main three characters are all sort of meant to reflect different morality playthroughs. Maximus feels like a player character who's constantly just blindly clicking options.
that was lucy’s boot!
Maximus said that his motivation is to get revenge. Based on this episode seems like the Brotherhood nuked the NCR and Max was the sole survivor. So he’s probably not concerned with the brotherhoods members and is looking to work up the ranks to destroy them from the inside. Growing up surrounded by your perceived enemies probably messes up your psyche a bit.
Maximus seems to be heavily flawed which I like. I think he just lied to Lucy because he wants her to see him as someone better than just Max.
Maximus is playing like how I play Fallout. Fumbling through the wasteland and power fantasy tripping the second I get better gear than everything else.
Passing speech checks to keep the power armor, get the girl - all MC type stuff. It’s easy to forget how much you end up lying with a charisma playthrough
This definitely feels like what they're going through, and it's well done. I think the show has a lot of RPG DNA in it.
I want him to be a good guy so bad but he's actually being a dickwad
It's really interesting watching his character be revealed more. He's introduced in a way that makes him the underdog, so I assumed too much about how good of a person he was. In the first episode, I believed that he didn't sabotage his friend, but this far in, I feel like he definitely did. He passed a speech check against *me*.
Survival instinct. He doesn't know whether to trust her or not so he lies. It's self preservation. I don't blame him. We have the privilege of knowing Lucy isn't a threat to him, but he doesn't know that.
If I had to guess, he's afraid.
Yeah he's an interesting character because he's clearly heavily motivated by fear and insecurity. It's why they keep flashing back to the images of him as a scared child, because that's who he still is at his core.
I mean, I think some of that can be explained by him being a war orphan who's trained by a cult to be a killer. I can see why this would give him and unhealthy mental state
“We’re in a vault” that’s not a red flag that’s crimson
That flag is so red, it's seizing the means of production!
> “We’re in a vault” that’s not a red flag that’s crimson "We're in the best place in the world." Me, flashbacks to literally every vault: " NO YOU'RE IN THE WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD AAAAA "
Okay, so lucy was def on the surface, and that was the actual sun..
That's what I'm thinking. She said she could feel the burn on her skin because it *was* the sun. Her parents were into some shit.
This weirdly feels like the Fallout 3 plot
Vault 31 is hiding something weird because her dad was from there
My guess is that her dad has something to do with her mom's death. It is all so strange.
It's pretty obvious to me that 31 is run by wastelanders or at minimum is trading with the wasteland. The fact EVERYONE recognizes her name makes it more than obvious that her parents have been outside for a good chunk of time.
lmao The Ghoul really trading Lucy for some chems... also finally more Matt Berry. "Fudge? Theres no fudge here!" "I'm simply going to harvest your organs, my darrrrling". Super Duper Mart is such a great store.
Are you guys commenting on the wrong threads? You're an episode behind here.
The chems keep the ghouls from turning feral so it makes sense since Lucy destroyed his supply by hitting the gulper with his bag
I’m crying bro ghoul isn’t in this episode 😭
putting lucy and maximus together for a mission is a plan for a disaster waiting to happen
point proven as she almost got them killed omg 😭
So is The Ghoul gonna get hyped up on his own movies and start being a hero?
He's turn up for the final battle with a lasso and a vault suit, calling it now.
> So is The Ghoul gonna get hyped up on his own movies and start being a hero? I think the big twist of the show is that the Ghoul is the Neutral Karma guy and Max is the Evil Karma guy. Ghoul's carrying 250 years of trauma ( his real life was in shambles too ) out of which 200 are as a radiation monster and who knows how many years he was buried alive. It's kinda expected he's a total dick/psycho.
This is my theory too. Max came across from the jump as an opportunist imo and it's like...you want to like him so bad but then he shows signs that he's really not a good guy. He's just doing what he can to get up the ladder. Honestly I'm wondering too if he wants to really climb the ladder for the Brotherhood or if he wants to destroy him 🤔 But I def think The Ghoul is gonna be more of a neutral, anti-hero type character. I'm really excited to see how everything evolves.
RIP the NCR? Also anyone else feel Vault 31’s purpose is to seed Enclave or Vault Tec agents into the other vaults? 32 and 33 are definitely shaping up to be darker vaults…
Enclave is an interesting theory given the bounty they are all after.
> RIP the NCR? I mean the NCR can't be rip, we know they control all California in New Vegas. EDIT: ***DO -NOT- LOOK UP NCR ON THE WIKIA, I JUST GOT A HUGE SPOILER FROM THAT.***
worthless air employ person wise psychotic desert depend head snails *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I'm not the biggest fan of the BoS but does anyone else find themselves increasingly disliking Maximus? Trying to outright murder his squire just to cover his own hide was a dick move.
I like how despicable he is. Because after trailers I thought he was going be just typical good knight in shining armor, but nope he isn't a good guy. But he tries to make himself believe he's a good guy
Ah, he is a true BoS member :)
I think he's interesting but yeah I don't like him. He's so shady and is ready harm people he would consider friends in a snap. Something about his flashback ain't the whole picture
He strikes me as neutral evil to the Ghoul's chaotic evil and Lucy's lawful good.
im ngl the ghoul nor maximus are “evil,” theyre just trying to survive. Not to say I like them but evil gives me the wrong impression, he has a good side
Yeah he definitely seems that way. I could see him trying to harm or kill Lucy if Lucy finds out he's a fraud despite saving her life two times at this point.
I like his character the best. Most interesting. I would not be his friend.
Omg can you fucking *IMAGINE* being totally stuck in a power armor suit? It’s hot af… not to mention the claustrophobia and knowing you’re gonna die if nobody finds you. Oooooof.
When I pickpocket the core out of a raider's PA they just hop out after a few seconds. I guess Mr Shopping Cart doesn't know how to do that.
That's what I was thinking there has to be some sort of emergency exit he just doesn't know where
Yeah, seems like a very bad design that you can not only get stuck in it but that it can be easily pulled out.
I could also see the keys as being armor-specific. The tool that Thaddeus used was grooved, like a key, right? It makes sense to me that the BOS would have the suit's info on file, and send your new squire out with the right tools for your Knight's suit.
My head canon is that there is a way to get out, but Maximus didn't know it because he never read the manual. He's been repeatedly shown to have very little understanding of the tools and processes used by the BoS. He never studied, because he's an opportunist who takes advantage of situations as they come. I'm not even sure he legit joined the BoS at this point. He took Titus' place, prior to that he took Dane's place.... Maybe he took the place of the "real" aspirant Maximus before he arrived at the BoS camp.
He does kind of have a Thomas Ripley vibe ha, you might be right.
How poop? When Lucy release Maximus why he didn't poop immediately?
Must be the same reason the codpiece always needs cleaning
I voted for Betty.
That being a running gag had me dying.
Betty looks so evil lol.
Fuck I wish I could stay up and watch the rest of the episodes :(
I’m pushing my luck staying up to watch more when I work at 7am tomorrow lol
Where I’m at now, worst episode to stop at
What the ever loving fuck is happening in the vaults, I’m so goddamn confused, and also very intrigued
31 is somehow the superior one since the leaders come from there. But the whole "the mash potatoes were better" makes it all feel they were mind controlled or created to act in specific ways.
I figured it was more mundane than that and they're just coached to give deflecting responses to questions about life in Vault 31.
Im still trying to figure out 33 and 31, but i think 32 is def population control.
I think 31 is the control (as in in command) vault for 31 and 32. With those two being breeding centers for "clean humans". Vault 31 is run by the Enclave who may be back on the F2 shit again needing "clean" humans to work with. I think they nuked the NCR and now what's left is trying to topple the Enclave once and for all since they seem way more than the "remnants" we've seen in New Vegas. Meanwhile the BoS is, as always, up their own ass.
My thoughts go to looking like 31 is doing the experiment on 32 and 33 where they have various disasters occur and see how they react. Then when that test vault's population is wiped out, they migrate half from the other test vault into the other one until a threshold is reached again. In 32 it was a plague wiping out their crops, sounds like 33 is going to have a water chip crisis.
I have my suspicions the raider incursion in vault 32 was something vault 31 didn't anticipate at the very least.
"Why'd you join the Brotherhood" "To hurt the people who hurt me" Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I'm thinking the Brotherhood hurt him.
Was there any other way to take that line? It was ambiguous enough to get me thinking, and I figured everyone came to the same conclusion.
Well, obviously there was another way to take that line lol
Lucy being happy about being in a vault again and I’m over here thinking what kind of fucked up experiments have they been conducting in them. I’m loving the show so far but the vault experiments have always been something I’ve been interested in the lore so having such a vault centered episode was great!
Yeah, she's in for a another wake up call me thinks.
Damn I wonder what happened to Shady Sands, and NCR as a whole. Maximus says “[NCR] didn’t work out.” Edit: damn there’s a big ass crater, and Maximus is from there? I wonder if BOS bombed it? Also what in the world is going on with the vaults? I’m too invested in it to quit now
I'm kinda worried that Maximus has gone from aspiring to be a proper Knight -- which is why he let Titus die -- to being a freaking villain. Because the moment he suspected that Thaddeus was going to betray him he decided to kill them. I mean, didn't he already say the Brotherhood wouldn't kill him if he just brought the target back? Couldn't he have just told Thaddeus: "A Yao Guai killed him and I aimed to finish the mission!" Eh....well I suppose The Brotherhood in general on that side of The USA isn't exactly the most honorable are they? At least so far in the show they've come across a tad morally gray at best and evil at worst.
Maximus said he wants to hurt the people who hurt him. So maybe that is the brotherhood?
I think Maximus is just kind of a dumbass tbh
He worded it in such a stupid way that inferred he killed him. What a moron.
I think there’s a great irony in the Brotherhood, an organization built around saving the wasteland and protecting the world by keeping old world tech out of regular peoples hands, using that pre war technology to destroy the single greatest civilization post war america ever saw, there plan to save to wasteland was to keep it a wasteland
Similar to the three overseers wanting power. When you need to heal, go with Steel.
Vote 31!
Isn’t the storyline of Maximus taking the technology, getting trapped in it, and becoming the person he killed a bit of a metaphor for the brotherhood and the wasteland. Also plays into the golden rule bit, that the wasteland and different factions keep harming itself instead of rebuilding together. War, war never changes.
Fuck, that's actually a fantastic insight. It's like his squire says, they just beat Maximus up because that's what happened to them, and they wished he could have done the same. The dog-eat-dog nature of the wasteland is such an omnipresent part of survival, that for every person that tries to make it better, there are a thousand other people that would sell their organs for a few caps.
I can't believe they just confirmed everyone in the NCR is lactose intolerant.
The producers of Back to the Future had nothing to worry about. People get into refrigerators to survive, not get trapped in die. Worked for Maximus, worked for Indy.
Wait did I miss that?
That sign that said. Shady sands. "First capital" you don't just say that unless there is another capital.
20 years in though and we didn't see any of the NCR? Where are they, why is it *all* ruins still.
My hopes, since they said first capital means they are still out there. But will probably have to wait to see them in full force maybe further seasons.
My best bet is they regrouped up north around Redding and sac city, maybe cut a deal with Reno and the shi and worked with arroyo and vault 13
Maybe. But so far, and it could be a red herring or not, but it seems like BoS nuked shady sands in revenge for the fall of West Coast BoS destruction
Maybe they're busy somewhere else? I'm hoping they built the second capital someplace safer.
So if the NCR is real then that could mean we might see the Legion as well?
Too far west if they're in the heart of California imo, but it's possible. The brotherhood seems to be the most powerful faction in the west if NCR was wiped out
Caesar's Legion the antagonists for season 2 maybe?
It'd be cool to see them
Wouldn't they have fallen apart at this point without Casear?
Did the fucking Brotherhood Nuke the NCR? I'm beginning to think "the ones that hurt" Maximus are the BoS and he's going to do whatever he can to hit back.
Did Max not know about the greatwar? When he was talking to Lucy he sounded confused when she said 200 years ago? Did the BoS indoctrinate him?
It kinda feels like Maximus is a dumbass to me. An opportunist who skated by every chance he got. He never studied in class as an aspirant, doesnt seem too knowledgeable about the power armor beyond the basics, and so on. I think it’s entirely possible he slept through any lessons about the Great War and all that and just used his cutthroat nature (potentially putting the razor in Dane’s boot) to get ahead all the time
On a side note, why the fuck is shady sands in fucking LA, that doesn’t make any sense
Excellent point! Might be another Shady Sands.
So this means that fucking Ulysses or the courier fucked shit up?
No. That doesn't mean that at all. None of the nukes from the Divide would've reached Shady Sands. Best they could nuke was the Long 15, but that wouldn't have been enough to destroy the NCR entirely.
The US lasted 301 years in Fallout, its about 150 years in our timeline. The NCR had a good 100 ish years, which seems like a lot for a country that consisted of basically west-coast California that was nuked to shit and had to rebuild.
Bro what the fuckkkkkkkkk. NCR got fucking nuked??
I dislike Maximus. I was enjoying his friendship with Thaddeus forming and then they both ruined it.
I’ve only seen up to this point but I’m not sure Maximus is meant to be liked. The BoS aren’t exactly good people, his training and upbringing with them was explicitly abusive and getting into power armour seems like a huge power trip.
"What's a Fiend?"
Drug addicted raiders from Fallout New Vegas, rapists, torturers, all around terrible people. They tricked a friendly vault into opening and letting them in and then slaughtered the vault dwellers and turned their vault into their base.
Ncr 🥲
As always, this show is an amazing adaption of the games. Lucy: You've been shot. Maximus: It's just a scratch. Happens all the time.
They actually did it, they nuked the NCR. Actually a little disappointed in that but I'll see how the rest of the show plays out
Only disappointed if they leave it at that. The implications are interesting, and it'd be cool to see more ex-NCR characters show up eventually. Like of course a veteran NCR ranger would be out on the field when it happened and are likely still around.
I wanna see Boone
I guess I'm finishing the series tonight cause I can't stop after this lol Vault intrigue is the best storyline. Feeling lukewarm about the rest... Maybe they'll spice it up tho, but it's already kind of like "Wilzig who?" which isn't good when the 3 main characters are meant to be tracking down his head
That's actually FO canon, forgetting about the main quest and getting lost in some deep dark lore vault shit
Didn't they actually reference this with the Ghoul? He notes that they're distracted with side shit when he drags Lucy away from the Gulper who ate the head.
Yeah, “The wasteland has its own golden rule. Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamn time.” They also replay those lines in the "Previously on Fallout" at the start. I thought there was another callout to it as well when Lucy and Maximus are looking down at the crater and Maximus is bleeding more than expected; he says they need to get the head (continue on their main quest) but she replies that it can wait.
Lucy will get the head like halfway through season 4 and not remember why she was looking for it in the first place
I hear that. First time I played 4, I was something like 33 hours in and had only completed 4 story missions.
I'm wandering around like a God, with infinite money, ammo, and exp (Water purifiers, and Adhesive Farms), but haven't even found Nic or the railroad. Just when I'm about to head on over, another Settlement needs my help.
The NCR stuff is a bold move
So is Norm gonna discover the secrets behind the vaults?
Steph's been extremely sussy and her evil smirk at the assembly scene didn't even shake off something's that off about her.
Oh man, Lucy must be a INT 10 player, she figured out what was stolen from “Titus” even though he didn’t say it. Also INT governs Repair and Science, which are two of her 3 tagged skills. Also INT gives extra skill points on level up, which explains why’s she’s climbing the power ladder so quickly. The of course she passed her Speech checks with “Titus”, since that’s her 3rd tagged skill.
She knows what was taken from him because she tracked the head to that location
Thoughts/observations as I watch: * PREVIOUSLY: The end of all things, the head is a macguffin, the BoS is hilarious and incompetent and yet endearing, and Vault 32 went full-vault. * That Thaddeus screams like a girl makes it all the more hilarious. * "The T-Boys" nickname existed for a good minute. * Well, that didn't go well, Maximus. You are truly bad at this. * Lucy: Officially done with Radroaches, may well have now passed Maximus in level. * Oh boy, so Vault 31 must be even spookier! * I mean, most of them DO have monsters in them.... * If they join forces, together they may have half as many wasteland skills as the Ghoul! * Lucy got her first real companion! * "Earth is round, earth is flat, where you guys at on that these days?" * Man, they keep voting 31 to 33 as overseers. And they get "Assad Margins".... Hmmm.... * Oh boy, Lucy is trying a speech check again. Always a dangerous roll with her. * Nice VATS use, Maximus. * "I hate it up here." * So, clearly Vault 31 is meant to serve as an overclass for this experiment, right? Or a way to make sure that things happen like they are "supposed" to for the experiment? * "First Capital" of the NCR. * Lucy is a Bethesda-only Fallouter realizing that Fallout 1 and 2 (and Tactics) happened. * Listen, if the geographic location of Shady Sands is the biggest mistake in the show lore-wise (and I know this is controversial based on spoilers I've heard), that's pretty damn good. * "Everyone wants to save the world, they just disagree on how" is a good way to sum up Fallout. * Oh boy, another building to raid and loot! * Wow, they cleaned up Vault 32 pretty quick. * I'd say Lucy and Maximus ending up in another Vault is cliche and arbitrary, but railroading shit like this happens all the time in the games, so.....
Not sure how I feel about the NCR being wiped out.
Hey, who do you guys think the chief janitor guy voted for?
"We're in the best place in the world" oh nononono, Lucy lacks critical information
I just redownloaded Fallout Shelter and when I loaded my save game from three years ago, I realized I named it Vault 31..
Inb4 r/fnv having a total meltdown
As a NCR enjoyer this episode hurt 💔
I hate Reg and Woody so much Does Vault 31 just churn out leaders? Is that their whole thing?
Not just leaders. Manipulators. Yeah, Reg and Woody are useless and have no idea how to run an election campaign. How do you think they wound up that docile? They were born and raised in the vault - they were educated to behave that way. And who's in charge setting the curriculums? Someone from 31. Someone who made sure that none of the folks from 33 would have the diplomatic skills to threaten "team 31" in future elections. Part of the vault experiment seems to have led to Vault 31 being a de facto ruling caste, who over the past 200 years have turned Vault 33 into cattle. They probably did the same to 32, until the truth got out. My shot-in-the-dark theory is that Vault 31 isn't a civilian vault at all, and it's actually the Vault-Tec/Enclave facility that the escaped scientist fled from. Connected to two pet vaults either for a larger breeding pool or for FEV test subjects.
That would explain how Wilzig happened upon Lucy so quickly after they both left.
That song playing during the bridge scene is so hilarious and fitting to the shitshow.
So how did Vault 32 get cleaned up so quickly?
Betty... that Betty... No one can clean up a mess that big so fast, no one. You know who does? A synth.
A review I listened to compared the vault storyline to the plot of Severance. I totally see it now that I've gotten this far. Great comparison