SPOILERS AHEAD

There are spoilers starting with the second paragraph of the main review. You have been warned. Again, THERE ARE SPOILERS HERE. If you read the review, don’t complain about spoilers.

After the First Two or Three Episodes

The Ghoul is an ass. I’ve got an idea why he’s the way he is, but I don’t like him. I was pretty certain I knew who he was when he was smooth-skinned as soon as he got pulled out of the ground.

I don’t like the change to the overall ghoul lore (they need drugs to prevent going feral). There are in-game characters who show it doesn’t hold up, and The Ghoul himself (if he’s who I think he is) is proof that it’s not true in-show.

Thaddeus is a fool and annoys me for his braggadocio. He occasionally aggravates me enough I need to pause the show.

Maximus is a well-meaning (possibly misguided; I’m not a fan of the BoS) bumbler who survives on pure dumb luck. He doesn’t seem to know what he wants.

Lucy is a well-meaning bumbler, too, but she has a reason for being out of her depth (vault upbringing, no surface knowledge).

The Target was interesting. His casual acceptance of how life in the wasteland is and his place in it reminds me of the way my own brain works.

I suspect Dane put the razor blade in their boot themself (to give Maximus the spot; their behaviour when they were caught near the armour suggests this might be the case).

After Episode 5

Just finished ep 5. I like the tie-ins to FO4 (the boy in the fridge; of course, in FO4, he was fully ghouled and wasn’t BoS). He’s also proof of the ‘no drugs needed’ non-feral ghoul. That was wrong.

After the Season

Someone I thought was a ghoul isn’t (Maximus). Lucy impressed me with her decision with the last choice she was given (killing her mom because she was a feral ghoul). Dane admitted something I suspected (injuring themself). I appreciate The Ghoul’s personality more (he wants his family back, at least his daughter; I have my doubts about whether he wants to find his possibly ex-wife); I still don’t like him, but I dislike him a little less.

There are certain scenes that just grate on my nerves (the flashbacks for The Ghoul/Cooper Howard with Barb and Vault-Tec, and Hank MacLean trying to claim he’s a good guy).

I like the protagonists (Lucy; Maximus; The Ghoul, to a lesser extent) and their support characters/sidekicks (Norm; Dane and Thaddeus; Moldaver, after her scenes in the observatory). I thought for a while that they weren’t actually going to call Dogmeat by his proper name.

• The other characters are a bit of a toss-up:
• The BoS seem to be a mix of stupid and megalomaniacal characters (not sure if they’re being played as a straightforward antagonist, or just a villainous backdrop for Maximus to be a flawed diamond in comparison). The knights seem to be bullies.
• The vaulties in general are (I think) mostly just supposed to be a send-up of 1950s sitcoms and dramas mixed with retro-futuristic tech (the Vault 31 crew/Bud’s Buds are just Grade A assholes).
• The survivors/surface dwellers are, appropriately, doing what they need to in order to survive without being outright nasty.
• The raiders are absolute violent scum, like they should be.
• The Enclave seem to be a rename of The Institute, although they might be a similar faction from something before FO4; FO4 is the one with which I’m most familiar.

The overall setting seems to be a mix of the games (The Commonwealth and the NCR are both present). Reading the trivia on IMDB suggests and being based around LA supports that it’s supposed to be in the same area as the original game. The end of episode 8 suggests that season 2 (assuming it’s picked up) will be in New Vegas.