Thank you Fallout Season 2 Episode 2 “The Golden Rule” for making me cry. And it didn’t even take the full episode to break me. Just the beginning. It was another reminder of how just because the show is focusing so much on Lucy and her experiences in the vaults, it doesn’t mean that others weren’t living good lives. And that was Maximus’ existence before Hank destroyed everything.
“The Golden Rule” also set the stage for Lucy to experience something I feel like the show has ignored. Because there is the danger of murder or being eaten by a mutated creature. But we have to be honest. Where there is darkness, there is violence against women. We saw it from the warning the tunic girl gave Lucy. But we also saw it during the Brotherhood meeting when one of the factions was led by a woman.
If Fallout is about control, then there’s no older or more prevalent form of control like that enacted on women by men.
MORE: Need a reminder of the premiere? Read our review for Fallout Season 2 Episode 1!
Maximus’s Past in Shady Sands
Anytime Shady Sands was mentioned in Fallout Season 1, it was always about the aftermath. It’s destruction. Either that or we saw glimmering visions from the perspective of a child Lucy about her time in the sun with her mother. And it was the right decision by Fallout to hold back on the actual reality of what Shady Sands was because when we see it in Episode 2, it’s jaw-dropping.
Hank has gone on and on alongside with his buddies about how the Wasteland is full of savages and how nothing actually liveable exists outside of the vaults. But here you have a community surviving and thriving. They had clean water, crops, and community. There were even book stands. They were rebuilding in a way that Vault-Tec never thought was possible. And at the center of Shady Sands, at least for the viewer, is Maximus.
This intro with Shady Sands broke me because this is what Maximus thinks about all the time. Think back to Season 1 when he was so desperate to get out into the field and he broke that latrine. That unbridled anger wasn’t just because someone was chosen over him. He knows what it is to have a home, a family, and a community. And it was destroyed. That leaves a mark on you that never goes away. And it makes you realize that Maximus fought so hard in Season 1 so he can leave the world a better place, just like his parents did. Or tried to do.
After experiencing the horror of the destruction of Shady Sands, seeing Maximus with the Brotherhood is jarring. And you can tell that there’s this coldness to him grounded in all the pain he’s experienced. But there are still moments of light within him like when he was talking to his trainee about the basics of self-care. He’s a good man trapped in a world that has tried to destroy him over and over again. And even though I think the Brotherhood is definitely going to fall, he’s going to be the one to rebuild things in a way that isn’t what the world was before the nuclear apocalypse or even after.
Maximus is going to create a new future that his father and mother would be proud of. And I personally can’t wait to see it.
Annoyed with Lucy, But Also Scared for Her
Like the title says, this episode is called “The Golden Rule.” It’s a throwback to Season 1 where Lucy was telling The Ghoul to treat others like you want to be treated. And as much as I love that The Ghoul got a dose of his very own medicine when it comes to how you treat people, I do think it was a little messed up to choose a stranger over the person that has been on this journey with you. And it’s going to come back and bite her in the ass in the next episode.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that Lucy remains who she is. But it feels like we’re backsliding a little bit into the Season 1 version of Lucy. And that girl went through a lot. Let’s not negate the pain that she went through and reboot her as if Season 1 Episode 8 didn’t happen. She knows the world is a little darker and is trying to fight a balance. I get that. It just so happens that it feels like she’s course correcting a little too hard and abandoning the development she’s had.
Guiding back the tunic woman, also leads to the most harrowing moments of Fallout Season 2 Episode 2. Lucy has faced monsters, horrors, and hard truths. But I don’t know if she’s faced this kind of violence, the one that comes with a threat of rape. As a woman, it shook me to my core when the tunic woman casually warned Lucy about what could happen to her in these hills. It’s like the illusion that separated the viewer from this post-apocalyptic was shattered. And we felt that raw fear for Lucy.
My hope for what comes next for Fallout is that the show doesn’t make Lucy understand how truly cruel the world is with a sexual assault. They’ve already shattered the illusion for myself and Lucy with just saying the world. They don’t need to go any further and act like this is Game of Thrones. It isn’t. Instead, let’s explore other nuanced traumas. Because there’s plenty out there to work with. And TV shows don’t need to lean into sexual assault to give women obstacles. It’s not the only thing we would fear at the end of the world.
Norm Taking Control is Everything
When you think about the people that are in the vaults, there has always been something a little different about Norm. While Lucy is the bubbly older sister with clear purpose, Norm is the emo little brother always observing. This makes him adept at handling the Overseers from Vault 31. He uses the way that he grew up to position everybody in the vault to figure out a way out of that place. And when he finally gets to the top, to the outside world, things go a little bit unexpected.
Norm has always been the one to stay behind when his sister was the one to take charge. He was comfortable in the world and life he was living. But in Vault 31, he didn’t have Lucy to have his back. He had to do it all by himself. And when he stepped outside, the world expanded in a way that made me pause and go, “Yeah, Lucy is your sister and that was your mom. You’re nothing like Hank.” Whatever may come, it’s this moment that made me realize that Norm and Lucy might never go back to the vaults.
And it’s something that their dad doesn’t understand.
Hank wants to erase humankind and come up with a “better” and more controlled version of life. Sucks for him that he’s got two kids who believe in the good of humankind and see beauty in this world that has survived. For Norm in particular, he took control of an entire vault. And he wasn’t like his father. It wasn’t born of maliciousness. It was born out of not wanting to die. And when he got those vault dwellers, he kept them together and they had supplies. He’s ready for the world they’ve found themselves in. But unlike Lucy, who is idealistic, Norm has seen the darkness and learned to confront it head on.
Additional Thoughts About “The Golden Rule”:
- I know that The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is Prime Video’s baby, but the budget for this season is on another level.
- Is that you, the dude from Eternals as the head of the Commonwealth?! *quick Google search* His name is Kumail Nanjiani!
- Also is that the evil guy from The X-Files? *another quick Google search* Brian Thompson aka the Alien Bounty Hunter. Every time I see him I know he’s going to be trouble.
- Love Maximus prioritizing himself and how it’s important to appreciate the little things in life.
- Also talking about Maximus, that fight with the random dude from another Brotherhood chapter was super brutal but necessary. That guy was going to kill him. But luckily Maximus did it first.
- But it acted as a moment to contrast his kindness from earlier with the trainee and even Shady Sands. Because his life is different now. People see him as a specific kind of hero. And by looking at the other soldiers, those heroes are a bunch of jerks.
- That’s not Maximus. That’s never been him. He’s not a jerk.
- If you hear noise from a building that is abandoned, do not enter it. If you’re in 2025, call emergency services. Outside of that, yeah it’s going to be a no for me.
- Again, what are you doing Lucy!?
- There’s helpful and then there’s taking another side quest as if consequences just skip over you.
Fallout premieres new episodes every Wednesday at 12am PT/3am ET on Prime Video.
Lovely article 😊