The penultimate episode of Fallout season 2 landed on Prime Video last night, and it gave us a riveting set up for what promises to be a thrilling finale. If the show's first season is anything to go by, Fallout will likely stick the landing and then some. It's going to be a long wait for the season's eighth episode next week — even if it is premiering earlier than usual.
That said, Fallout season 2 is a more sprawling, complicated affair than season 1, and considering how many twists that first outing had, that's saying something. There are more imporant characters, more storylines, and a ton of huge mysteries that the show has set up heading into its second season finale. Can it actually pull off servicing all these disparate elements in a satisfactory way in only one more episode?
Given how solid it's run has been so far, I'd bet it will manage just fine. But with only one more episode to go, now's the time to take stock of some of the biggest questions Fallout season 2 Episode 8 still needs to answer before the curtain falls.
1. What's in Hank MacLean's keepsake box?
Things have spiraled out of control in Vault 32, where Steph's big secret that she's more than 200 years old (and Canadian) has turned the Vaultdwellers against her. We learned more about Steph than ever before in Episode 207, and it's now clear that she's a character with absolutely no reservations about killing anyone who gets in her way.
That makes the mystery of Hank MacLean's keepsake box all the more important. Steph bartered with Betty, the Overseer of Vault 33, to get the keepsake box in exchange for some of Vault 32's water. Given everything we've learned about Steph, I'd wager whatever's in that box is dangerous in her hands. We need some sort of payoff in the Vaults, and all the set up is there for Hank's keepsake box to play an important role in it.
2. What's going on with the mutants?
Fallout season 2 Episode 6 introduced an iconic creature from the video games: the super mutant. The one we've seen in the show is played by none other than Ron Perlman, and you don't cast an actor like that just to have them appear for a few seconds and then never again. We're going to see more of the super mutant and his allies, and I hope it's in the finale rather than just season 3.
In Episode 206, the super mutant reveals to The Ghoul that he and other mutants are building an army to fight against the people who originally set off the bombs, and that ghouls and other beings who were twisted by the Wasteland are welcome. We've also gotten hints at the pre-war origins of the super mutants, thanks to Norm glimpsing a Vault-Tec program for the "Forced Evolutionary Virus" on Barb Howard's computer at the Vault-Tec offices. It makes for a juicy set up, and we have to learn at least a little more in the season 2 finale.
3. Who actually dropped the bombs and caused the apocalypse?
One of the biggest revelations of Fallout's season 1 finale came when Cooper Howard eavesdropped on a summit between Vault-Tec and the other most poweful companies in the world, only to listen in horror as his wife Barb declared they had to drop the bombs themselves to ensure their bottom line was met. Fallout season 2 has spent a fair amount of time fleshing this development out further, revealing that it wasn't actually Barb who wanted to drop the bombs, but a shadowy organization who put pressure on her to make that statement. She actually gets something of a redemption arc in season 2.
We know that organization is the Enclave, thanks to a cameo appearance by Michael Emerson's scientist Doctor Wilzig. But who controls the Enclave? And what other player do Robert House's calculations for the end of the world allude to?
We may have just gotten confirmation in Episode 207, when Cooper hands over the cold fusion device to the president of the United States. Coupled with Lucy discovering the severed head of congresswoman Welch in the present-day timeline, it seems like there's a strong possibility Cooper's handoff of the technology is about to go sideways, badly. Fallout has gotten a lot of mileage out of this mystery, but it's time to play its full hand.
4. Will The Ghoul be reunited with his family?
Throughout Fallout season 2, The Ghoul has had one crystal clear aim: to find his family. We got confirmation already about their whereabouts when Hank MacLean tried to make a deal to force The Ghoul to bring Lucy back to Vault 33. But now that that fell through, and The Ghoul has teamed up with Maximus in order to get back into the Lucky 38 casino above the Vault-Tec management Vault, there's little between him and his family.
Everything has been building to this moment for Cooper Howard. He's been searching for Barb and Janey for more than 200 years. Will he finally see them again in the finale? Or will their reunion be snatched cruelly from his grasp once again?
5. Can Lucy bring her father to justice and retain her humanity?
While The Ghoul has been searching for his family, Lucy has been on a own collision course with her own father, Hank. Their reunion was anything but cheerful, as our plucky Vaultdweller awakens in the management Vault to discover the extent of Hank's demented experiments on the residents of the Wasteland. And perhaps most terrifying of all, she finds herself kind of getting it. If brainwashing the Legion could stop them from murdering their way across the countryside, wouldn't it be worth it? It's a classic Fallout conundrum.
Lucy's morals have been tested again and again this season, and here at the finish line, it's time to see the effect all those hits have had on her. Will she bring Hank to justice, and retain her humanity in the process? Or will she fully detach from the life she once knew, and deliver retribution Wasteland style?
6. Will anyone hear Norm's call for help?
Lucy's brother Norm has gotten into a bit of a bind this season. After escaping from Vault 31 by prematurely waking up all of Bud Askins' management trainees, Norm pretends to be their Vault-Tec superior in order to get to the surface. But the gig's up; they know Norm isn't who he says, and are planning to kill him for it.
However, Norm manages to get a call out on the Vault-Tec office radio, beseeching his missing family for help. We see this call actually does reach the Vault where Lucy and Hank are located, but she's too busy trying to stop the mind control mainframe to hear it. Did that radio record Norm's message? And will anyone come to his rescue, or will he be forced to find some way to talk his way out of his deadly situation?
7. What happened to Robert House?
The most enigmatic new character of Fallout season 2, Robert House has made quite an impression despite not actually appearing on screen all that much. The genius inventer managed to build a strong enough missile defense system in Las Vegas that it saved much of the city from destruction during the apocalypse. But the one thing House needed to assure his own continued survival was the cold fusion relic from Vault-Tec, which he believed would let him become immortal through technology.
With cold fusion out of House's hands, his ultimate fate is largely a mystery. At the end of Episode 207, The Ghoul boots up House's computer with cold fusion, and his floating head appears there ready to converse. There's a missing piece to the puzzle of Robert House, and now that he's able to communicate once more, I have a feeling we're about to get it.
8. How will all of Fallout season 2's storylines intersect?
Just like Fallout's first season, there's a feeling as we head into the finale for season 2 that all of our main characters are being drawn together for the big finish. Maximus is fighting Deathclaws in the streets of New Vegas, The Ghoul is inside Robert House's casino, and below them, Lucy is unraveling the truth about the mind control system. Meanwhile, Norm's calling for help, and Vaults 32 and 33 have reached a breaking point.
I don't expect every single one of these elements to tie neatly together in the finale, but I'd be shocked if Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus at least didn't have some crossover. From Maximus stealing cold fusion from the Brotherhood of Steel, to Lucy's quest to stop her father, to The Ghoul's search for his family, to the looming mystery of who dropped the bombs in Cooper Howard's flashbacks, there are simply a lot of different story elements at play right now. The biggest trick of all for the Fallout season 2 finale will be resolving everything in a satisfactory manner, while laying the groundwork for a third season to come.
The finale of Fallout season 2 premieres Tuesday, February 3rd at 6:00 p.m. PT / 9:00 p.m. ET on Prime Video. We'll see which of these questions it answers and more. Check back for our full breakdown once the episode is out!