Fallout 2x03 Full Reaction!
Added 2026-01-07 21:51:33 +0000 UTC
Comments
That is true about the lady not deliberately being part of a trap. She still didn’t do much to dissuade Lucy, on the other hand. So I keep hearing about this group being the sort that’s full of murderers, rapists, and thieves. It’s like being in the stands at a Los Angeles Raiders game. Never saw the trailers, but I heard news of Macaulay being in this and got so excited. Hell of a thing when I saw him in American Horror Story, and here, he’s still got it. Did notice how big the reveal shot was, and it did lead to a great reaction from Jess. Poor old Frodo would get some PTSD seeing him, (maybe we should loosen his pants,) my brother and I remember that film. Couldn’t figure out a good reference to crowbar in with that one. Good nod you had to Kings as well by the way. Which also had Moldaver in that. I did also hear about Lucy being misinformed about prima noctae. I would assume that’s meant to show how the Vault-tech educational system is fucked. Could see them studying Braveheart and Age of Ultron, complete with them having unironic worship of both the controversial and cancelled figures directing. Yeah, I remember Age of Ultron doing the blow to Whedon to the point that even his more cultish fans were not happy. And even then, yeah, the red flags probably should have been picked up on. Lucy surely prayed for the vulture, and if no one listened, then the HELL with them. Rather love how we both had the different references to the Theseus paradox without actually using that, particularly as the Ghoul now gives us another great way of looking at it. Could see the Roman costumes eating up the budget. A testament to Walton and the writers that you would not put it past the Ghoul just screwing them over. Love the payoff. He definitely sped up the forgone conclusion. Complete with the observation of the “ambiguous line under slash through the name he wrote”, as you wrote. I take it that’s in reference to Fuller? If so, you would tell the Legion, “You are not serious people.” The big thing that has the alarm bells up with Xander is Kumail. This is against his usual type, or at least the type I’m familiar with. In this setting, that would be well-suited to him being villainous. We are liking how there’s no good guy, perhaps Dane notwithstanding, in this Brotherhood war. First I’m hearing about the fandom backlash with the technology. Shame about no more Kumail, though he is busy. I kept trying to think of a good The Big Sick reference, but none quite fit, or I just couldn’t figure one out. The flipside is remembering Thaddeus dealing with Malcolm Tucker, figured you’d catch that one. Shame that the film lost the adapted screenplay Oscar.
Thomas Corp
2026-01-08 03:26:40 +0000 UTCMy mind went more to Mr. Rogers with Thaddeus' whole performance here, but I guess Nazi Julie Andrews also fits. I had to go after one of the more obscure Macauley roles after reading this. Also coming to mind: King Silas would definitely be chewing him out for letting things get to this state, bringing guns to a tank fight. And of course that trip through the library was along with Picard, Guinan, and...well, I'm sure he did some alien noises somewhere in the franchise. I first heard the term in the Seinfeld episode about Communism. Though none of it stuck quite as much as the callback in the finale: "Pink as they come. Like a big juicy steak!"
Ryan
2026-01-08 02:59:18 +0000 UTCWell, if nothing else, it seems the woman wasn't part of a deliberate trap, so Lucy had that much going for her. Too bad it gets her in the exact same situation having to deal with what I've gathered is one of the most notoriously depraved societies from the games. And we chalk off another nutty guest spot with Macauley Culkin, who I imagine the crew was not expecting to be openly revealed in the trailers with the big deal made of revealing his face (and probably giving Elijah Wood some PTSD). Thomas has mentioned the whole thing with the pronunciation of Caesar, so I'll just add that Lucy's also off base in that there's zero evidence of prima noctae ever actually being a thing, and anyone who says it was probably stopped their research at watching Braveheart. Or maybe Age of Ultron; fuck, were there some warning signs about Joss Whedon. Though it does give us more of one of my favorite parts of her characterization last season, that the hopelessly naive and sheltered character is also the one who's totally open about sex. And she ends up in the most literal interpretation possible of her natural state. Okay, don't panic, all you need to do is wait for a vulture to try to eat you and then bite its throat out. The Ghoul brings up the age old question: Say you kill a man with an ax and the handle breaks, so you replace it. And then the blade breaks while fighting a monster, so you replace that. And then a zombie knocks on your door and says "That's the ax that killed me." Is he right? Nice to finally see the much-referenced NCR, though in a conspicuously budget-friendly form after all those Roman costumes probably weren't cheap. And the big twist at the end only works if we genuinely believe there's a chance the Ghoul would just screw them over based on everything we've seen so far, which absolutely worked on me. Although the whole thing definitely would have gone down like this soon enough, and the Legate's brother probably would have advised him that note would just have an ambiguous line under slash through the name he wrote. I too had my guard up about Xander the whole time, and you had to figure they'd end up at Thaddeus' place after the opening scene needed some reason to be there. Some game players got upset at the implications the state of technology in this area has for certain storylines, so good thing I don't care. And much appreciated that they're determined to show absolutely no one is the good guy in this war within the Brotherhood, with Quintus doing his level best to drive Maximus right into Xander's arms. Later me will probably have some things to say, but right now me is just going to sit back and watch. A bit bummed this is all we get of Kumail, but he seems to be a very busy guy these days so it won't be long before he pops up again somewhere.
Ryan
2026-01-08 02:48:24 +0000 UTCTook a sec to ascertain what you meant by that, asking, “What’s the Dreamworks face that-” then the gear clicked, and I said, “Oh, right, the, got it. Slow, but here.” Kumail did very good with that, true.
Thomas Corp
2026-01-07 23:09:44 +0000 UTCLike the new shade on the nails. Speak on the cold momentarily. First, the episode. Good to have the update on Thaddeus with the child labor ring that he’s in charge of. Doesn’t seem great for him. But then again, this is probably preferable to dealing with Linton being on his ass for allowing I Heart Huckabees on the dvd roster for the troops, so there is that. Sucks for the kids though. Lucy is in the tight spot with this Legion bunch. The lady she helped got killed quick. You had your own comment, and I was mean in saying, “Good call, Goosey.” when that happened. We have one fun guest star in this one. I had heard that Macaulay Culkin was going to be in this. Thanks to recent pictures of him, I recognized that it was him just from seeing the back of his head before he turned around. Got a huge laugh over that fact. Loved your own instant recognition of dear Macaulay. He’s running the show of this not great group. Buck would be very disappointed. No giant pancakes for him. They all look so scandalized. Apparently for this group: Rape is one thing, but the cousin thing, that’s something else, and is beyond the pale for this Legion. Got a laugh. Laughs are also had over the debates of the soft C or hard C. This caused lots of people to come out of the woodwork and point out that the hard C is in fact accurate, which I imagine is the joke. And evidently, this ties into some sort of joke with the games. Rather hilarious too, how Lucy tries to educate the Legate about matters of reading considering his whimsical nineties journey with Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror. (So rarely do I have the opportunity to make a deep cut reference to that film, it feels kind of nice.) Lucy gets crucified. All because she sticks to her morals. You bring up liking that she holds onto her morals. To be clear: I don’t have a problem with her retaining her morals. I take issue with her unbearable naivete. She could keep the spirits up by remembering that life’s a piece of shit when you look at it. Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke, it’s true. The Ghoul drains the poison from his body. During this, he has the talk with our good girl. Fantastic symbolic conversation when the Ghoul poses the philosophical, “Question: You take a broom, you replace the handle, and then later you replace the brush. And you do that over and over again. Is it still the same broom? Answer: No, of course it isn’t. But you can still sweep the floor. (Which is not strictly relevant, skip that last part.) Replacing every piece. Time and time again. There’s not a trace of the original left. You probably can’t even remember where you got that face from.” Does hit ya, that scene. Given what you’ve mentioned about Rocco’s recent health problems, it makes sense that the scenes like the one that our good Ghoul has with our good girl would get to you. I had that with the scene last season with Dogmeat getting me good with making me think about my cat, Muffin, who’s been gone for many years now. I will not begrudge you the tears, Jess. And I hear ya on how you want Dogmeat to be safe. Love how the Ghoul, badass though he is, knew that the fight was too much for him. He certainly knows that this is a battle he can’t fight by his lonesome once he clocks the Legate as it’s without a doubt that the little bundle of misery has the place well-fortified with plenty of bricks, paint cans, blowtorches, red hot doorknobs, and the ARC welders hooked up to the sinks. Meanwhile, nice to see your reactions to Maximus. Quintus had a bit of a temper tantrum. He wasn’t wrong, just mean. Makes Maximus susceptible to Xander. You offered the compliment of his hair looking amazing. ...His hair did look good, yes. He’d stress me the fuck out with handing over flying controls. Man must think he’s Lee Grant trying to throw Lieutenant Columbo off his game, or at least that’s what instantly sprang to mind when seeing that part. The gents having the grand old time. Contrast to Lucy having less of a grand old time. And it gets worse when seeing the Ghoul as Lucy undoubtedly thinks she’s seeing shit that’s not there. That heat wouldn’t do her any favors, making it so that her sanity is barely hanging in there just like Shelley Duvall’s cigarette. Love how you called the Ghoul’s game. Within that, flashbacks to Barb having a rather despicable moment. Love more of Charlie. We also get more of Justin’s character. You don’t like seeing Justin playing an unsettling character. Funny you should say that... Evidently, this scene with Justin caused certain circles of the internet to explain the definition of the word “pinko”, making me say, “People, I know what “pinko” means. M*A*S*H is my favorite show, after all. It’s cool.” Leads to that emotional moment when the Ghoul gets Lucy free, and blows the place up with the lighter that Charlie gave him. We both had strong reactions there, Jess. Love the ambiguity of did he actually give the location of the NCR, or did he bullshit so he could save Lucy. Great scene. Horrifying when Xander was all prepared to kill all the kids. Luckily Maximus brought the hammer down, love your reaction there. Maximus has yet another fine mess that he’s gotten himself into. He’s back together with Thaddeus, so that’s something. All in all, a fun reaction. No problem if it takes some time for the next one. You take care of yourself, and we will be patient. Does not sound fun that you got the cold. You made the joke of you always catch that stuff. Makes me feel terrible as I rarely catch colds. And since they say that the average person has roughly two and a half colds a year, since I rarely catch colds, for the math to balance out, someone must have five colds a year. Do hope that I’m not jinxing you. In any event, as I said, this reaction was fun, Jess, thank you.
Thomas Corp
2026-01-07 23:07:32 +0000 UTCKumail doing the Dreamworks face in the thumbnail
Faction Paradox
2026-01-07 22:07:27 +0000 UTC
