Fallout Season 2 Episode 6 Review: The Other Player

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

We didn’t want to believe that Barb was the one willing to drop the bombs on America, but that’s the way Fallout has made it seem.

The big question was always how Cooper could fall in love with such a monster, and that’s something he has been wrestling with throughout the series’ past storyline.

Well, it’s time to get a few answers, while also seeing just how little power Betty really has in Vault 33.

Finally Time on Barb

Something we have needed is time to understand Barb, and this episode offers it in droves.

Fallout Season 2 Episode 6 spends a lot of time in the past, and while that does slow down the present-day story, it’s not in a bad way. After all, there are many questions about who dropped the bombs.

We finally learn the details. At least, it seems like we do.

The Enclave dropped the bombs, and they were the ones who pushed Barb to make the suggestion during the meeting with the different companies at the end of Fallout Season 1.

Yes, Dr. Siggi Wilzig returns in the past, leading to a few questions about how he’s around 200 years later — but I guess he was put in one of the other vaults for Management and went into cryosleep until it was time for his skills to be put to use.

Back to Barb, though; having that reveal that Siggi was the one who told her to make the suggestion to drop the bombs just adds a whole new layer to this apocalypse.

The Enclave was the threat the whole time, and House had every reason to be worried about it from the beginning. 

Knowing about the research division, it even makes sense that the Enclave would push for so much research.

Barb isn’t really a monster, but a woman stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She’s learning that 30% of the water chips will fail — and she has to choose which vaults those failing chips will go in — and that there isn’t that much time between the bombs dropping and people needing to be in their vaults.

This apocalypse is scary, even for her, and now the tears as she was trying to pack Janey’s suitcase during Fallout Season 1 make much more sense.

This is a woman just trying to survive, and if that means being a monster for a short period of time, then so be it. However, is survival worth the cost of losing your humanity?

In a way, Cooper seems to think so, considering he became a ghoul to make sure he could find his family, but that’s a different type of monster, isn’t it? He wasn’t willing to drop bombs on the world.

There Are More ‘Abominations’ Out There

Fallout Season 2 Episode 6 was a little slow when it came to the present-day story, but there were enough big reveals to make up for that.

One of those was the “abomination” who saved The Ghoul, who fell down a pole at the end of Fallout Season 2 Episode 5 after Lucy pushed him out of the window.

This creature is some sort of supermutant, and they want revenge against the Enclave. It continues with the idea that the Enclave dropped the bombs.

This Enclave was also heavy into the science experiments, and yet, they’re the ones who pushed their creations aside.

It’s no wonder that the mutants are rising up against the others. They seem to be creating an army.

We keep hearing that a war is coming, and at first, it seemed to be a civil war between the Brotherhood and the Commonwealth, but now, it looks like the mutants are about to strike.

The Ghoul isn’t interested in joining for now, but that may change as this war continues.

He will end up with others by his side, though, as Dogmeat went in search of help and found Maximus and Thaddeus. The gang is growing, and storylines are finally converging.

The only one to converge now is Lucy, who learned what her dad has been up to.

In a way, I do think Hank is trying to create a better world, and I’m starting to think that he was sending a message to someone in the Enclave.

He’ll know that Siggi is already dead, but Siggi would have had some sort of boss. After all, he stole the cold fusion and Dogmeat and ran away.

Hank has used the brain-computer interface to help bring a sense of peace, but it comes at the cost of control and autonomy.

There are more debates in the episode as we see Lucy push the button to control a Legion member before he can kill one of his enemy clan members, and she is certainly questioning the type of person she is becoming.

Is the Wasteland changing her? Hank was revealed to see it wasn’t when she wanted to take him to justice, and he likely won’t think of her pushing the button as changing her, but it very much could be.

Betty Is Losing Power

In the vaults, there’s an uprising starting. Betty is still trying to get the water chip fixed, but now we know that 30% of them were designed to fail.

Given the experiment underway between Vaults 31, 32, and 33, I don’t think Vault-Tec would have given them a faulty chip. That broke due to battle damage.

However, is there any way to fix it when it’s already clear that some will fail?

Betty isn’t going to give up hope, though. She needs to save the people of Vault 33.

Yet, not everyone likes the rations. Reg is leading a group opposing the rationing, and while we can see it as selfish voices, they probably don’t understand the real dangers of not fixing the water chip.

Part of it is an issue with not being honest with everyone. Betty could just give it to everyone straight, including the fact that Vault 32 won’t help.

Yet, she doesn’t want to panic anyone, as a real leader wouldn’t, and now she’s stuck with a potential uprising that could kill everyone.

It all comes back to Hank’s experiments in New Vegas. Would the world be better with everyone controlled by that brain-computer interface?

The only way to control a problem is to do what Steph seems to have done in Vault 32. Woody has disappeared, and Chet knows that Woody knew something about Steph.

She is ruling with an iron fist, and while it will keep many people in line, this sort of dictatorship society is sure to end in riots. 

It could all start with Chet, as he doesn’t want to marry Steph. What a way for the guy to find out via a poster on the wall announcing the wedding day!

Fallout certainly leaves us with many more questions, but we also get some answers. With two more episodes to go, we’re surely in for an epic climax and cliffhanger.

Fallout airs on Wednesdays on Prime Video.

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