With only one espisode away from the finale you can really feel everything coming together with all the characters getting closer to each other and how every of the last three episodes have turn into some kind of contast test for Lucy while other characters and now getting more action. This episode did a ton of work setting up what I assume is gonna be a huge showdown between everyone involved, Cooper, Lucy, Maximus and whoever else is left standing by the time we get to the end of this season, its all building to something big and you can feel it in every scene, specially towards the end when Mr House came on screen and I would only assume he is on Ghoul side. The coolest part of this whole thing was definately watching Maximus and Cooper team up to fight those Death Claws with that sick New California Republic armor, like holy shit that armor looked incredible on screen and the action was so well done with very brutal kills and gory moments, I dont know if to actually say the effects and cgi was good because then again this Deathclaws are not dangerous at all considering how easy they were to beat. We also got way more backstory on Steph witch was really interesting because I already knew she was sketchy as hell but now we finaly know why she is doing what she is doing and where she came from, turns out she was stuck in a Canadian internment camp during the bombs and had to kill her way south to survive, eventualy got brainwashed by Vault Tech to become an overseer witch explains a whole lot about her character and why she acts the way she does now. Lucy is still struggling with the moral side of things trying to figure out if what Steph is doing with all the brainwashing is actualy better than just killing people like Cooper would do without thinking twice, its a tough call and I really like that the show is not giving us easy answers about what is right or wrong in this messed up world they live in, keeps you thinking about it after the episode ends.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/
- Platform: PLATFORM
[Source](https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0OUYJY2GXNSY3UWTJH9TGCUZL5/ref=atv_dp)
The Death Claw fight started well but then was kinda lame, yes that thing looked terrifying and the way they shot it with Cooper and Maximus working together to take it down was cool but its like the series was put on easy mode during the fight scenes. The episode focus and starts with Stephs backstory in this Canadian internment camp where things are going to hell real fast, her mom tells her to head south and survive no matter what she has to do, even if it means hurting people along the way becuase God wont judge her for it. You see Steph brushing her teeth way too hard until her gums bleed and then she makes her way south crossing the border into America, kills people for food and eventualy ends up working for Vault Tech as an overseer after they basicaly wipe her memory and reprogram her to do what they want. There are this flashback sequences that I consider are well done because doesnt get you bored or confuse and adds so much context to why Steph is the way she is now, at first though it was someone else and also all those years just trying to get closer to Vault Tech, shes not just evil for no reason she has been through some serious trauma and got manipulated by Vault Tech into becoming this cold efficent overseer who will do whatever it takes to keep things running smooth. Meanwhile in the present Lucy is at the Vault Tech facility with her dad Hank trying to understand what he has been doing with all these people, Hank shows her how the brainwashing works with this device that wipes peoples traumatic memorys and replaces them with new thoughts that make them peaceful and obediant. Lucy watches as this guy named Biff who tried to strangle her earlier is now smiling and serving water like nothing ever happened, its creepy but also kind of sad because you can tell hes not himself anymore, hes just a shell of who he used to be before they messed with his brain.
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Lucy eventualy decides she needs to shut the whole mainframe down so she tricks her dad into thinking she was on board with his plan, she even puts on a nice dress, to be honest she look so hot, she acts like everythings fine during dinner while secretly planning on her head to destroy the mainframe that controls all the brainwashing devices. She asks Hank how to stop the process and he tells her its irreversible once its done but she can destroy the mainframe in the basement to stop more people from getting brainwashed, so Lucy heads down there and her idea is to plant explosives to blow it up. The best part is when she gets to the basement and finds this creepy setup with Representative Welchs head hooked up to the system like she was being used as some kind of living processor, that reveal was crazy because it shows just how far Vault Tech is willing to go to control people, they are literaly using a politicians brain to run their brainwashing operation. Lucy just stands there and stop because now the show is showing its true colors and Im not so sure how this applies with the games?, on one hand she can stop her dad from brainwashing more people but on the other hand she knows those people out in the wasteland are gonna go back to killing each other witch is also terrible, its a no win situation and the show does a great job showing how complicated morality is in this world. Meanwhile Cooper and Maximus are on there way to Vegas trying to find Lucy and they run into this ghoul named Thaddeus who has been slowly turning into something else, his arm literaly falls off during there conversation and he just acts like its no big deal witch was hilarious, Thaddeus also reveals he knows where Lucy is being held so Cooper agrees to take them to the Lucky 38 casino in Vegas but they have to cross the strip first witch is infested with Death Claws, well the word infested might sound terrifying but sadly its not.
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Cooper comes up with a plan to use old NCR armor to get through Freeside because people still respect that symbol even though the NCR is long gone, its basicaly just using nostalgia and brand recognition to manipulate people into following them witch is pretty smart but also kind of sad when you think about it, literally no hope for the wasteland. Maximus put on the armor and people start gathering around them like they just saw a hero from the old days, Maximus is loving it but Cooper knows its all fake and that these people are desperate for something to believe in, you can see it on his face that he hates using them like this but he does it anyway because they need to get to Lucy. The Death Claw fight happens when they finaly reach the strip and its disappointing with just a couple of minutes of chaos, one Death Claw shows up first and Cooper starts shooting it with electric rounds but they barely slow it down, Maximus jumps in with his power armor and starts fighting it hand to hand until and surprisingly was having the advantage but during the fight his power armor gets stuck and he cant move, the Death Claw turns toward Cooper and is about to rip him apart when Maximus gets free and takes its head off with one swing, it was such a badass moment but then more Death Claws show up and things get even worse and this is what I think was a missed opportunity to let Maximus and Ghoul get creative and fight the rest of the Deathclaws. Thaddeus stay behind this time because he is freaking out the whole time because his body is falling apart and he cant help fight. The initial deal was that if Maximus gives the Ghoul the cold fusion device he will help them get to Lucy , Maximus doesnt want to give it up because he knows Lucy wanted to give it to someone good but Cooper convinces him that sometimes you have to do bad things to save good people witch is pretty much Coopers whole philosophy at this point.
Cooper takes the cold fusion and heads to the Lucky 38 where he meets up with Mr House, well I think digital Mr House, the think about Fallout is that they got all this very advance tech that is visually very retro so Im not sure if this was digital Mr House or just a broadcast, since turns out House has been offline for years and needs the cold fusion to power back up, Cooper plugs it in and suddenly House appears on the screen saying hello old friend. That ending was clever to be honest because it opens up so many questions about what Houses role is gonna be in the finale keep in mind he was very wary he was not the only player in the game, is he gonna help them? or is he gonna try to take over Vegas again like he did before the bombs dropped, either way its gonna be wild. Back at Lucys vault things are getting messy too, Steph is trying to marry this guy named Chad but he refuses at the altar because he knows she is crazy and has been lying to everyone, Norm shows up and exposes Steph for being 200 years old and Canadian witch gets everyone freaking out, Betty tries to shut him down but its too late the truth is out there now. Norm sends a message to Lucy over the radio telling her he is okay and asking for help, you can tell he is scared and have no idea what to do next now that his cover blew up, although Lucy turn out to be very etermined to stop her dad and Vault Tech from hurting more people, well controlling more people. The episode ends on this huge cliffhanger with Cooper activating House, Lucy trying to shut down from her dads facility and Maximus stuck outside Vegas with more Death Claws closing in on him, its all setting up for what looks like its gonna be an epic finale where everyone finaly meets up and has to decide whos side they are on. I am very excited to see how they wrap this up in the last two episodes because right now it feels like everything is building to something massive and I really hope they stick the landing, this season has been so good at connecting all the dots from the flashbacks to the present day story and making you care about these characters even when they do questionable things, just like classic Maximus, how he gave the cold fustion so easy to the Ghoul? that make me wonder if the Ghoul will do the right thing again, just like years go, cant wait to see where it goes next.
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