Refresher: Fallout Season 1 in a Nutshell

For those who have watched Fallout and need a refresher on the characters and events of season 1.

**REFRESHERS CONTAIN SPOILERS**

Key Takeaways

Main Plot

An alternate version of Earth experiences a nuclear fallout in 2077. For 219 years, underground shelters created by Vault-Tec have provided dwellers protection from radiation. However, the vault dwellers are unaware that they are subjects of various experiments that have played out in different ways over the subsequent centuries.

• Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) has lived in a vault her whole life as the daughter of Vault 33 Overseer Hank (Kyle MacLachlan).
  • When surface-dwelling raiders led by Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) infiltrate their vault and kidnap Hank, Lucy sets out to save him by braving the surface.
    • With Hank taken, former Overseer Betty (Leslie Uggams) is elected as his replacement.
• Maximus (Aaron Moten) has been training to become a knight of the Brotherhood of Steel ever since he was taken in by them as a child when his hometown, Shady Sands, was bombed about 15 years ago.
  • He becomes the squire to Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport) and is sent to retrieve an artifact that could change the world.
    • Knight Titus turns out to be a bully and a coward, and when he’s injured, Maximus lets him die, then takes his power armor for himself, passing himself off as a knight.
• Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), aka The Ghoul, has been alive since before the bombs were dropped over 200 years ago and has survived due to having been turned into a ghoul.
  • As a wasteland bounty hunter, Cooper is currently also in search of the same artifact the Brotherhood of Steel is looking for.
  • Ghouls are created when humans are exposed to too much radiation.
    • Ghouls must then constantly take a certain drug, or else they will turn feral – losing all sense of self and control.
    • Cooper is known as The Ghoul since he is one of the oldest ghouls who has managed to avoid becoming feral.

Overlapping Quests

• Lucy teams up with Wilzig (Michael Emerson), who has the artifact embedded in his neck, meaning to take him to Moldaver to barter for her father.
• Cooper tries to capture Wilzig, but Lucy flees with him, protected by Maximus.
  • Wilzig is injured during the fight and feels like he’ll be too big of a burden to travel the whole way, so he takes cyanide and tells Lucy to take his head to Moldaver.
    • The head passes hands several times throughout the season but ultimately winds up back with Lucy.
• Maximus, posing as Knight Titus, is given a new squire, Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) – who happens to have been a former bully of Maximus at the training camp.
  • At first, Thad believes Maximus is Titus, and they end up becoming friends, but after learning the truth, Thad turns on Maximus.
    • During their struggle, Maximus steps on Thad’s foot with the power armor.
    • To heal his foot, Thad accepts medicine from a snake oil salesman (John Daly), which has the side effect of beginning the process of turning him into a ghoul.
    • The Brotherhood won’t allow a ghoul in their faction, so Maximus helps Thad get away, restoring their friendship.
  • During the period when Thad is at odds with Maximus, Lucy and Maximus officially meet and join forces, developing a romantic relationship.
• Lucy reaches Moldaver with the head, which Moldaver explains contains the secret to cold fusion, a limitless energy source.
  • Lucy asks Moldaver to free her father, but Moldaver first explains the truth:
    • Hank bombed Shady Sands when Lucy’s mother, Rose (Elle Vertes), took Lucy and her brother Norm out of the vault to live there when they were kids.
    • The intense radiation turned Rose into a feral ghoul.
  • Maximus brings Brotherhood forces to attack Moldaver and frees Hank before Lucy alerts him that Hank is the one who bombed his hometown. 
  • Hank acquires a power armor set and knocks Maximus out, then leaves when Lucy refuses to go with him.
  • Cooper joins the conflict and offers for Lucy to join him in tracking Hank so that she can learn more about the truth about all of the things her father has lied to her over time while Cooper also continues searching for his family.
  • When Maximus comes to, Lucy is gone, but he is declared an official knight due to the Brotherhood believing he killed Moldaver.

Pre-Bomb Flashbacks

• Before the bombs, Cooper Howard was a war veteran and famous actor with a wife, Barb (Frances Turner), and daughter, Janey (Teagan Meredith).
  • Barb works for Vault-Tec, and ropes Cooper into becoming the face of the advertisements for the vaults.
• Cooper begins to grow suspicious of Vault-Tec and attends a meeting for people who oppose it, led by Moldaver.
  • Moldaver tells Cooper that his wife is hiding things from him and gives him a device to spy on her.
  • Cooper eavesdrops on a meeting with Barb, Bud, and several other people, including Mr. House (Rafi Silver), who runs RobCo, where he hears Barb encourage them to release the bombs themselves in order to wipe out all competition and restart life on Earth under their control by using the vaults to conduct various experiments on the survivors.
    • Cooper also meets Betty and Hank prior to their cryogenic freeze in Vault 31 as part of that vault’s experiment.

Vaults 31-33

• Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are separate but interconnected vaults that occasionally trade personnel.
• After Moldaver’s people attack on Vault 33 while pretending to be from Vault 32, Lucy’s brother Norm (Moises Arias) and cousin Chet (Dave Register) investigate Vault 32.
  • At first, they believe the raiders killed the people from Vault 32 in order to pose as them, but during their investigation, they find the people have been dead for two years – seemingly by their own hands.
  • Norm finds records stating that Vault 32 was opened from the outside by his deceased mother’s pip-boy.
• Norm realizes that every Vault 33 Overseer has been someone who has transferred from Vault 31.
  • Norm accesses Vault 31 and finds that the residents are all people from before the bombs dropped who are cryogenically frozen. Most are still frozen, and those that have been sent to Vaults 32 and 33 were released as needed during personnel transfers.
  • Vault 31 is run by a robot powered by the brain of Bud Askins (Michael Esper), a prominent Vault-Tec employee back in 2077.
    • The last time Norm is shown, Bud has locked down Vault 31 for an indefinite time period and encourages the trapped Norm to allow himself to be frozen in his father’s pod.

Major Characters

Lucy MacLean

Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) has spent her life in the peaceful community of Vault 33. She believes the vault’s purpose is to reclaim the earth once it is livable again. She volunteers to be matched with a groom from Vault 32, but after the wedding, he and the others supposedly from Vault 32 attack. The group – led by Moldaver – takes Lucy’s father, Hank, with them and leaves for the surface. Lucy leaves soon after to find her father and bring him home.

Lucy quickly learns that the wasteland is incredibly dangerous and is forced to adapt. She meets Wilzig (Michael Emerson), who is harboring an important artifact in his neck which must go to Moldaver and joins with him in hopes of using him as a trade for her father. They are attacked by Cooper – who injures Wilzig – but are able to escape with the help of Maximus. Wilzig dies soon after and Lucy cuts his head off to take with her the rest of the way.

Lucy loses the head to a humongous mutated axolotl and is captured by Cooper, who tries to make her resort to more fierce and desperate behavior. She bites off his finger, and he, in turn, cuts off one of hers – though she is later given a replacement finger. She stubbornly remains as kind as she can, though she does become more resilient over time.

She gets away from Cooper and joins up with Maximus, who is also looking for the head. The two develop a romantic relationship as they endure several obstacles along the way, including an encounter with Vault 4, where Lucy realizes that the vaults are experiments.

Lucy and Maximus temporarily part ways after finding the head, and Lucy reaches Moldaver and her father. Moldaver reveals the truth about Hank and Lucy’s mom, Rose (Elle Vertes): when Lucy and Norm were young, Rose took them out of the vault to live in Shady Sands, the most populated post-bomb community – which was led by Moldaver. Hank found them and bombed Shady Sands, killing thousands and stranding the survivors. Rose has become a feral ghoul and stayed in Moldaver’s company ever since.

Maximus arrives with the Brotherhood and frees Hank before Lucy reveals what she learned about him. Hank knocks out Maximus and leaves without Lucy. Cooper offers for Lucy to join him in following Hank to learn more about the truth, and Lucy shoots Rose to put her out of her misery before joining him, leaving Maximus behind.

Maximus

Maximus (Aaron Moten) grew up in Shady Sands, a prosperous town, but it was bombed when he was a child. Managing to survive, Maximus was then saved by a knight of the Brotherhood of Steel and has stayed with them ever since, training to become a knight himself one day.

Maximus’s best friend Dane is chosen to become a squire to Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport) but becomes injured due to sabotage before leaving. Although Maximus is initially suspected of being responsible, he is able to convince the Brotherhood to send him in Dane’s place. Maximus and Knight Titus leave in search of the artifact held by Wilzig, but Knight Titus is mortally wounded during an encounter with a mutated bear. Since Knight Titus has shown cowardice and cruelty, Maximus lets him die rather than give him medicine, then takes the power armor for himself.

Maximus happens upon Lucy, Wilzig, and Cooper while they are fighting and defends Lucy and Wilzig, allowing them to flee, though Cooper damages his suit before he can join them. Maximus, posing as Knight Titus, tells the Brotherhood that “his squire Maximus” died, and they send Thaddeus to replace him. Thad used to bully Maximus, but now that he believes Maximus to be Titus, the two become friends and retrieve the head from a mutated lake creature. When Maximus reveals his identity to Thad, the squire takes the head and strands Maximus inside the power suit with the intent of turning him into the Brotherhood.

Lucy saves Maximus, and together they go after the head, developing romantic feelings towards each other. They find Thad, who is now starting to become a ghoul, and Maximus helps him run from the Brotherhood. Maximus splits from Lucy and petitions the Brotherhood for help in retrieving the artifact and saving Lucy’s dad.

When Maximus finds Lucy, he frees her father, but she then reveals that Hank was responsible for bombing Shady Sands. Maximus tries to fight Hank but is knocked out. When he comes to, Lucy is gone, and a wounded Moldaver releases the cold fusion technology from the artifact Maximus was looking for. Before she passes, she suggests to Maximus that he should try to keep it out of the hands of the Brotherhood if he can. Dane finds him and, believing he killed Moldaver, rallies the rest of the Brotherhood to declare Maximus an official knight.

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul

Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) was alive before the bombs destroyed the world. He was a famous actor and the original face of the ad campaign for the Vaults. With his wife, Barb (Frances Turner), they have a daughter, Janey (Teagan Meredith) – though he seemingly divorced his wife after learning that she was working with Vault-Tec to drop the bombs and restart civilization under their control. The radiation from the bombs presumably turned him into a ghoul, allowing him to survive for the next two hundred years.

As a gunslinging bounty hunter, Cooper also searches for the artifact that the Brotherhood is hunting, which causes him to cross paths with Lucy and Maximus. For a time, he keeps Lucy as a prisoner and tries to show her how ruthless she must be to survive the wasteland.

During his search across the wasteland, he realizes that Moldaver is someone he knew before the bombs, the person who helped him learn the truth about his wife. He also realizes that Lucy is the daughter of Hank MacLean, another person he knew before the bombs who worked with his wife at Vault-Tec. Cooper finds Lucy and Hank after Hank is released and asks where the rest of the Cooper family is, but Hank flees. Cooper tells Lucy that he plans to track Hank to see where he goes from here and offers for her to join him.

Norm MacLean

Norm MacLean (Moises Arias), Lucy’s brother, stays behind at Vault 33 after Hank is kidnapped and Lucy leaves to find him. He begins to investigate the interconnected Vaults 31, 32, and 33 and learns that there are dark secrets that have been kept from the residents of Vault 33.

Around 2 years prior, the residents of Vault 32 all seemingly killed each other and themselves, though it is still unclear what caused this. Vault 31 is composed of people who were alive prior to the bombs, most of whom are still frozen in cryogenic pods. Those who have been released, including his father, were sent to the other vaults during the occasional personnel transfers to eventually become Overseers. Upon learning these things while exploring Vault 31, its overseer, Bud, refuses to allow Norm to leave until it is time to reclaim the surface. Since that could take hundreds of years, Bud encourages Norm to use his father’s empty cryo pod in the meantime. Norm’s choice is not revealed as of yet.

Hank MacLean

Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) is the Overseer of Vault 33, though originally from Vault 31, and the father of Lucy and Norm. He seems to be a kind and caring father, so when he is kidnapped by Moldaver and taken to the surface, Lucy sets out to find him. However, when she does, it is revealed that Hank is not what he seems.

He was alive before the bombs and worked with Cooper’s wife Barb at Vault-Tec. He was a huge fan of Cooper back when he was an actor. When the bombs dropped, Hank was cryogenically frozen for two hundred years in Vault 31 before being revived and transferred to Vault 33. He married Rose, who later raised theories that life had returned to the surface. When he disregarded these theories, Rose took the children out of the vault to live on the surface in Shady Sands, the most thriving city since the bombs. Hank tracked them down and bombed the town, killing thousands and turning Rose into a feral ghoul. He took the children home and made them believe they’d never left the vault and that their mother died.

After the truth is revealed, Hank steals a power armor set and heads for New Vegas. Cooper intends to follow him, believing Hank may know where Cooper’s family is.

Lee Moldaver

Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) was alive before the bombs dropped. She was working on cold fusion, which could result in limitless energy, but Vault-Tec swooped in and stopped her from releasing it. She started a group to discuss concerns about Vault-Tec – going by the name Ms. Williams – and helped Cooper learn that his wife intended for Vault-Tec to drop the bombs themselves.

After the bombs, Moldaver met Rose MacLean, helping her and her children move from Vault 33 to Shady Sands. Hank MacLean took back his children and bombed Shady Sands, turning Rose into a feral ghoul. Moldaver kept Rose with her, and it is implied they may have been in a relationship.

Moldaver intends to finish her cold fusion project with the help of Wilzig. She infiltrates Vault 33 and kidnaps Hank, who has a Vault-Tec code needed to unlock Wilzig’s device. Lucy brings Moldaver the device and convinces Hank to give up the code. Moldaver successfully releases the cold fusion energy, turning on the electricity for the entire nearby area. She also tells Lucy the truth about Hank and Rose.

The Brotherhood attacks and mortally wounds Moldaver. As she dies, she encourages Maximus to keep cold fusion out of the hands of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood believes Maximus killed her, which gives him acclaim. 

Other Notable Characters

Chet

Chet (Dave Register) is Lucy and Norm’s cousin and the gatekeeper of Vault 33. He helps Norm investigate Vault 32, which costs him his job. Chet bonds with Steph after she loses her husband and is given a new home in the restored Vault 32 with Steph and her newborn baby. He is doing his best to forget what he and Norm learned during their investigation and to live a normal life.

Stephanie Harper

Steph (Annabel O’Hagan) is Lucy’s best friend. She came from Vault 31 during a prior transfer and married Bert. She is pregnant when Moldaver’s crew attacks, killing Bert and blinding Steph in one eye. Steph seeks comfort from Chet before giving birth, and the three are assigned a new home in Vault 32.

Steph is declared interim Overseer of Vault 32, which aligns with Norm’s discovery that all Vault 31 residents are secretly pre-ordained to become Overseers of Vaults 32 and 33. Presumably, since Steph is from Vault 31, she was alive prior to the bombs, though she was not encountered in any of Cooper’s shown flashbacks, so it is unclear what her role was during that time. 

Betty Pearson

Betty (Leslie Uggams) was alive before the bombs and worked for Vault-Tec with Hank MacLean and Cooper’s wife Barb Howard. After the bombs, she was cryogenically frozen in Vault 31 until she was transferred to Vault 33, where she became Overseer before Hank. After Hank is kidnapped, she is again elected as Overseer. She works to keep the residents of Vault 33 oblivious to the truth and tries to stop Norm from learning too much but is unsuccessful.

Barbara Howard

Barb Howard (Frances Turner) was married to Cooper before the bombs dropped and together they had a daughter named Janey. Barb worked for Vault-Tec and helped Cooper become the original face of the vault ads. Hank Maclean was her assistant, and Betty was her receptionist. She established the vaults as experiments with the help of Bud Askins (Michael Esper) and encouraged Vault-Tec to drop the bombs themselves in order to recreate the world by their design. It is implied that she and Cooper got divorced at some point after he learned of her plan but before the bombs dropped. She and Janey may still be alive, as Cooper has mentioned that he is looking for his family. 

Bud Askins

Bud Askins (Michael Esper) was a Vault-Tec employee prior to the bombs. He worked with Barb Howard, Hank MacLean, and Betty. With Barb’s help, he established interconnected Vaults 31, 32, and 33. Vault 31 is the Management vault, comprised of pre-bomb Vault-Tec personnel who are cryogenically frozen until they are needed, at which point they are transferred to the other vaults with the intent to make them Overseers. Bud’s brain was placed inside a robot to manage Vault 31 in order to keep him alive for hundreds of years. In this form, he meets Norm during his investigation and traps him in Vault 31 after Norm learns too much. 

Thaddeus 

Aspirant Thad (Johnny Pemberton) is an aspiring Knight of the Brotherhood, along with Maximus and Dane. He was bullied by the other trainees, so he diverted their focus to Maximus when he arrived, though he felt bad about it afterwards. When Maximus – pretending to be Knight Titus – claims his squire died, Thad is sent to become his new squire. The two bond and Thad even allows Maximus to brand him as his squire before Maximus reveals who he really is. They get into a scuffle, during which Maximus steps on Thad’s foot while wearing the power armor.

Thad is able to get away from Maximus with the head and calls the Brotherhood for retrieval. While he waits, he accepts medicine from a snake oil salesman (John Daly), which miraculously heals his foot to perfect condition. Thad and Maxmius reunite as the Brotherhood approaches, but they realize that Thad is turning into a ghoul due to the medicine, which will cause the Brotherhood to reject him. Thad gives Maximus the head and Maximus helps him escape before the Brotherhood learns the truth about his change.

Dane

Aspirant Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones) is Maximus’s best friend and fellow Brotherhood of Steel trainee. Dane is chosen to become the squire to Knight Titus, but before he can leave, he is injured when his boot is sabotaged with a hidden blade. Initially, Maximus is suspected, but Dane defends him. Later, Dane confesses that he sabotaged his boot himself out of fear of venturing out into the wasteland. When Dane finds Maximus near Moldaver’s body, he proclaims to the Brotherhood that Maximus killed her and declares Maximus a knight.

CX404/Dogmeat

CX404 (Lana 5) is a German Shepherd raised by Dr. Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson). She travels with Wilzig when he flees with the device and accompanies his head after he dies, regardless of who possesses it at any given time. She was last seen with Cooper, who is especially fond of dogs and has nicknamed her Dogmeat.