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Episodes 7 and 8 of Fallout Season 1 are incredibly important to the narrative. So many revelations take place during these episodes, so of course, major spoilers are coming in this recap article.
All the major players are converging on one point because everyone is after the same thing: the severed head. It has something that could change the course of the entire planet, depending on whose hands it’s in. It could be used for good or ill in equal measures.
The final battle is going to take place for the future of the California region and perhaps beyond, in the seventh and eighth episodes. It will be interesting to see how it affects the world around it as well, and if we get a second season to follow up on these events.
Before you check the recap, you can read our Fallout Season 1 review if you are wondering whether it's worth the watch. You can also catch up on the latest happenings with our Episodes 5-6 recap.
Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for episodes 7-8 of Fallout Season 1.
Highlights of Fallout Season 1 episodes 7-8
Episode 7
- The Ghoul seeks Moldaver
- Flashback to the meeting with Moldaver
- Vault 4’s experiments and the truth behind it
- Thaddeus ditches Dogmeat
- The Fusion Core and Trauma Bonding
- Thaddeus meets a Wandering Merchant
- Mysterious circumstances in Vault 33
- Cooper agrees reluctantly
- Vault 32 is occupied, and a secret is revealed
Episode 8
- The MacGuffin is revealed
- The Brotherhood took over Filly, and aims for the Observatory
- Maximus offers to lead them to the real head
- Lucy arrives at Moldaver’s camp
- Bud’s Buds, and Moldaver
- Moldaver reveals Hank MacLean’s secret
- A brief dip into the past
- Bud’s Buds are alive and well - the Truth Behind Vault 31
- Horrifying truth behind other Vaults’ futures
- Dane admits to razoring themselves
- Hank’s crime
- Battle Begins
- The Ghoul confronts Hank
- The End
Recap of Episodes 7 and 8 of the Fallout series
Episode 7
The Ghoul kicked off episode 7 of Fallout, sitting in someone’s house, eating a meal. The father and son duo came in, horrified that maybe The Ghoul had eaten the other person who lived there - a little girl. Of course, that’s not the case. The Ghoul just wanted information about Moldaver’s location. He knew that the man’s sons (both of them) were mixed up in the NCR business, and that’s how the other child lost his life.
Tommy (the son) gave up the information, but as The Ghoul got up to leave, Tommy drew his gun on The Ghoul - which he warned against. Quick on the draw, the man formerly known as Cooper Howard slew Tommy in cold blood to end this Fallout scene.
Moldaver said,
“Uh huh. And those principles of yours, how much did Vault-Tec pay to take them off your hands?”
This led to a flashback sequence, to Moldaver and Cooper speaking. Moldaver was familiar with the man’s wife, who is an executive at Vault-Tec. Moldaver revealed she was with a company that was close to mastering Cold Fusion - which could provide infinite energy for everyone. However, Vault-Tec bought out everyone connected to prevent this from getting out.
Ultimately, Moldaver wanted Cooper to spy on his wife - he originally balked, but later in the evening, he changed his mind. Conflict brews within the Fallout protagonist. Meanwhile, back at Vault 4, Lucy’s shackled up, while she and the Overseer talk about “sick experiments”. This is the kind of thing that happens when scientists are given complete control with no oversight - especially true in the Fallout games.
On a holotape, Lucy listened and watched as someone talked about hybridizing humans with species that are resistant to radiation, and that it has potential - but the subjects weren’t compliant. Remember the Gulper from earlier in the series? It shows up here. The Overseer and his descendants were "labrats" in this Vault until they rose in rebellion. When asked what her Vault’s experiment was, she replied.
“Well, there was no experiment.”
She was led away with a hood over her head and was accused of infecting this place with violence. Maximus continued to watch TV while this scene played out in Fallout Season 1. Torn between his new friend and comfort, he took one more bite of popcorn before rushing off.
There’s a brief, but awful scene with the squire Thaddeus. His foot is completely mangled, thanks to it being stepped on by Maximus’ Power Armor. He decided to stuff Dogmeat into a Nuka Cooler fridge and leave him behind - a monster.
In one of the lighthearted moments of the series, Maximus steals the Fusion Core and strolls into the room where Lucy is, kicking the stuffing out of everyone he can in the room - only to learn she’s being let go. Not only that, they’re even giving them two weeks' worth of rations.
Outside, the two talk about the Fusion Core, and Lucy refuses to be a part of anything that condemns others to die - which is what Maximus was ultimately doing. He sadly gives it up and leaves the armor behind again. Lucy is slowly changing people in the waste - little by little.
The two have a long talk, where Lucy brings up her failed marriage and her bad luck with strangers, but calls Maximus the best stranger she’s ever met. She invited him to live in Vault 33 but kept calling him Titus. That’s when he revealed he lied about being Titus, and that he had let Titus die.
“I just threw acid in an innocent man’s face, and I’ve only been up here two weeks. The Wasteland sucks.” - Lucy MacLean
The main Fallout protagonist was very forgiving about the lie, considering everything else that had happened. The offer to live at Vault 33 remains open, though. The Squire, on the other hand, helplessly waited for someone to pick up from the Brotherhood, and their merchant before realizing he had one more shot to sell to someone. He was inches away from taking his own life before he saw the Squire.
Since Thaddeus couldn’t afford the supposed cure, he traded the stolen Fusion Core instead. The awful-tasting potion does fix all the wounds on Thaddeus, which is incredibly suspicious. What’s the catch? The merchant then points the young man towards Shady Sands, as they have a radio tower.
Things are suspicious over at Vault 33, though. The next scene in Fallout 33 has someone being carried off for poisoning the prisoners, while a message about Vault 32 plays in the background. Betty blamed it on Norman, in a backhanded manner.
“What did I tell you, Norman? Words have meaning!”
She would then send the Vault assignments out, and it seemed like many of her political enemies or rivals were being sent over to Vault 32 - led by Stephanie, who was, conveniently, from Vault 31 too. That means Norm is now separated from Chet, as he’s going over with Stephanie.
We also get to see another scene with The Ghoul in Fallout; this time, he frees Dogmeat, before saying “All right, let’s go find your daddy.” It’s a solid time to flash back, to Cooper with his dog, and when he plants the listening device. He would briefly wear the listening device, before changing his mind, and throwing it out - only to dig it out of the trash later that night.
While Thaddeus speaks with the radio DJ for the Fiddle station, Lucy and Maximus show up. Thaddeus tried to shoot them, emptying his clip - and hitting neither of them. However, bodies were murdered everywhere in the Fiddler’s booby traps. Earlier, he said that he was not a popular man, so he set these traps to be safe.
This included Thaddeus, who stepped back into one, catching a crossbow bolt through his neck. However, it didn’t kill him. When he pulled the bolt out of his neck, the Fallout antagonist’s neck healed perfectly.
The stuff he was given turned him into a ghoul. What a time for the Brotherhood to show up. Maximus lets Thaddeus go and takes a fake corpse head to throw the Brotherhood off Lucy's scent, while she goes to Moldaver’s place.
While everyone says their farewells to Vault 33, Norm sneaks into the Overseer’s office and sends a message to the Vault 31 Overseer, disguised as Betty. Norm said “she” needed to return to Vault 31, to which the responding message was “Are you compromised?” The conversation ended with “Betty” being told to come back, and thus, that’s where Norm wound up.
Ending Theme: Fiddle music of unknown origin
Episode 8
“Your entire life, you’ve been looking for a home. Build one with me.” -Head Cleric, Brotherhood of Steel
Maximus tried to outwit the Brotherhood of Steel at the start of episode 8 of Fallout, but that didn’t work. However, Maximus did state he could lead them right to the real prize - he knew where it was. This all took place in the overrun town of Filly. The Brotherhood took the town without much of a fight.
Lucy was finally at Moldaver’s camp, where she noticed things were very nice. Everyone worked together, there were plenty of crops, and it was well-maintained. There was even at least one Ghoul there, at Griffith Observatory.
The final part of the team, The Ghoul was walking the wastes with Dogmeat, when he had a flashback to being at Vault-Tec HQ. Bud Askins once again brought up “Bud’s Buds” as a project where projects that could take centuries or even millennia, could be completed with the best minds in the business.
Since the receiver on the tracking device wasn’t good, he made up an excuse of wanting to see his wife and waited inside. Then the camera cuts back to Lucy going to see Moldaver. We saw her father was alive, held in a cage in the same room as Moldaver. Lucy admitted she almost stuffed a grenade in the head, blew it, and Moldaver up.
On the other hand, Moldaver was friendly. She offered to give Lucy the truth about her identity, though Hank MacLean (her father) repeatedly begged Lucy not to listen. The scene switches to Norman in Vault 31, where he finds a brain in a little robot - it’s Bud Askins. It scanned Norm and found it wasn’t Hank MacLean, but just his son.
Back in the past, Cooper learned about Henry MacLean, who was a big fan of Cooper. Cooper agreed to meet him while listening in on the conversation between Vault-Tec, and the other major companies of the era.
There were accusations of Vault-Tec losing money, though the Vaults could self-sustain for centuries. Then, by the time they came out into the world, everyone else would be dead. Cooper’s wife discussed the future, and how she wanted to provide a good future for her daughter.
Instead of finishing the thought, it was back at Fallout’s Vault 31, where Norman learned the truth about Bud’s Buds. All these tubes were Vault-Tec executives, which were frozen in stasis until they could be thawed out and used in the future. This includes names like Betty Pearson and Stephanie. And of course, their father, Hank MacLean. That’s the big secret - Hank MacLean was one of the many that was stored to be used in the future to control things.
Back in the past, Barbara (Cooper’s wife) explained the idea for three interconnected Vaults (31-33), but they needed more ideas. She stated that they were willing to let the other companies have access to the Vaults, where no one had to know what their experiments were. Zero oversight and nobody needs to know.
Fans of the original Fallout games will recognize several of these cruel experiments. Vaults 32 and 33 were designed to be Vault 31’s breeding pool, to help create a race of “Super Managers” who will ultimately inherit the earth, when they “wipe the surface clean”.
Big MT’s representative suggested purposely overcrowding a Vault, so people have to compete to survive. Repconn suggested seeing a Vault governed by a robot. West-Tek suggested using a Vault to create a “Super Mutant Soldier” which could be a reference to Vault 87 in the Fallout Capital Wasteland. There were other places Super Mutants were worked on, however.
Another easter egg of sorts was when Big MT suggested pumping psychotropic drugs into the air supply of a Vault - which is a clear reference to Vault 106. Barbara said that the company was willing to drop the bombs themselves, to ensure the Vaults succeed - which may be a reference to the canceled Fallout movie. It would be, as they said, a tragedy, but also the greatest opportunity in history.
"This is our chance to make war obsolete. Because in our current societal configuration, which took shape without intentional guidance, we have friction. We have conflict. And we have war. And war, well, war never changes." - Barbara Cooper
Hank never told his family where he was really from, and when Moldaver was asked about Rose (Lucy’s mother), she said Rose was very kind. The scene would shift back to the Brotherhood, on the way to the conflict. Dane admitted to razoring themselves and felt guilty for Maximus being blamed.
Even the Prydwen came to this battle in Fallout - the Brotherhood was taking it very seriously. Back at the Observatory, Lucy learned that Rose had found something was siphoning the Vault’s water. She learned that way, that civilization had rebuilt itself on the surface, but Overseer Hank said to keep it quiet.
She didn’t and fled the Vaults with her children. Instead of reacting responsibly, Hank went after them and burned Shady Sands to the ground to get them back. He was responsible for the tragedy at Shady Sands.
Moldaver would also explain, between Lucy’s flashbacks of her mother, what Cold Fusion was. That it was going to give everyone infinite energy. Instead of the father figure in this Fallout entry being a hero, he was a monster. He would ultimately get bullied into giving up the code to start Cold Fusion, after Lucy realized her mother’s necklace was on the Ghoul that sat in the room, strapped down.
The battle between the NCR and Brotherhood of Steel’s battle began shortly after - with the NCR launching missiles at the incoming vehicles. How fitting to hear “I don’t want to see the world on fire” playing in the background. Sadly, the Brotherhood decimated the NCR. It wasn’t even a contest.
“I bet dat outfit makes ya’ll like a big man, don’t it? And I know cause, well, I used to wear one back in the day. There was only one problem with it. There was a flaw in the welding. Just below the chestplate. I wonder if they fixed that in this new model.” - The Ghoul.
A whistle rang out in the darkness though, and it came from The Ghoul. After explaining himself, he immediately defeated several Power Armor-clad soldiers, since he knew the weakness. It was gruesome and swift.
Maximus would then break into Moldaver’s room, and set Hank MacLean free, without hearing that it was a bad idea. Hank fled the room, and afterward, Lucy told Maximus the truth - that Hank committed the Shady Sands massacre and drew a pistol on her father. The guilt trip he laid on Lucy failed, and he knocked out Maximus in one punch. However, the Ghoul was nearby and asked if Henry still wanted another autograph.
“I’ve waited over 200 years to ask someone one question. Where’s my f**kin’ family?”
Hank MacLean fled in the power armor, using its jets to flee the scene, as the battle continued at the Observatory. While it wasn’t clear at first where the former Overseer was going, The Ghoul had an idea. While it looks like chaos on the waste, someone’s always behind the wheel - this is true in the Fallout universe.
The Ghoul offered Lucy a chance to go with him, or stay behind - where the Brotherhood would kill her. She put her mother out of her misery with one shot, kissed the unconscious Maximus, and left him behind.
The best part though, was that Cold Fusion worked. Shady Sands received power in the distance. Moldaver asked a final question before dying of her wounds: What would the Brotherhood do with Infinite Power?
Maximus was given credit for killing Moldaver and promoted to Knighthood at the end of Fallout. The Ghoul, Dogmeat, and Lucy all set off into the night. She’s officially a wanderer. In the distance, the Hollywood sign lit up, with a second sign under it, “Sponsored by Nuka Cola”. One final scene takes place, though.
Hank MacLean trudged all night through the wastes until he got to a very familiar place. The Lucky 38 is off in the distance. That’s right: Hank MacLean went to New Vegas.
Final Thoughts
War, war never changes. That’s the way of things in Fallout. What a phenomenal way to end Season 1. We learn that Vault-Tec was way more horrible than we ever thought possible, and get some serious teases as to what is happening in the other Vaults.
The characters went through a lot and felt even more fully fleshed out than before. Everyone’s character arc wrapped up neatly - except The Ghoul. He’s still got work to do in the Wastes. Lucy and Maximus have things to do, but at least, their first story ends. Hank MacLean still needs to be dealt with.
The show was incredible from start to end, and while not perfect, it did an excellent job of showing what the future is like in this setting.
Fallout Season 1 on Prime Video is available from April 10, 2024. You can check out other episodes' recaps here:
- Fallout Season 1 Episodes 1-2 recap
- Fallout Season 1 Episodes 3-4 recap
- Fallout season 1 ending explained
