I do wonder if part of the reason why the Ghoul is dead set on corrupting Lucy in season 2 is not just to toughen her up and get her used to killing for her own good, but also because he wants to make himself feel better for the choices he’s made over the years.
I think Lucy saving his life with those vials when he gave her every reason to leave him for dead or shoot him really bothered him. I think her goodness and selflessness not only reminded him of the man he used to be before the war, but also challenged his worldview.
I think Cooper was under the impression that he HAD to kill all those bounties and he HAD to adapt to be just as cruel as the unforgiving wasteland but Lucy being that good and surviving all the way to the observatory challenged that belief.
Lucy MacLean is proof that you CAN be kind and still survive, and while yes she did shed her naïveté, she held on to the core of who she is and her inner goodness and that’s gonna bother Cooper the more time they spend together in season 2.
Conversely, I think Lucy is gonna be on a mission to prove that maybe the Ghoul isn’t some irredeemable evil monster and that there’s still a bit of that kindhearted cowboy she grew up watching on the Radiation King.
While Cooper is trying to corrupt Lucy into a cynical wastelander like him, Lucy is going to be fighting back and reminding him of the pre-war values he once held so dearly and reminding him of his humanity.
It is truly going to be a joy to watch this push and pull of morality as their morality tug-of-war plays out over the season. Season 2 is going to be an absolute sight to behold y’all 🥹🥹🥹
Barb Howard being yet another perfect all long “lost love” who never actually did anything ‘bad’ so her action hero ex-husband can rescue and reunite with her without any moral issues: cliche, boring, gross, probably the worst storyline ever
Barb Howard compromising her morals, giving into the banality of evil, and sacrificing the world to save her family even if she become the opposite of everything her ex-husband believes in as her metaphorical descent into inhuman monster-hood foreshadows/parallels his literal one: unique, amazing, perfect storytelling, 10/10 no notes
What if the cryo tubes are empty because Barb and Janie never made it to the site? What if Vault-Tec, knowing that Barb betrayed them, prevented them from making use of any of their cryo facilities?
I now believe that Barb and Janie are in a specialized cryo chamber in The Enclave. (Remember Barb telling Cooper that she wanted them to be in the best place? After watching her meetings in this episode, you better believe she knows that that is not vault-tek!)
Wilwig works for The institute but is being manipulated by The Enclave. Same thing with Barb; she's working for Vault-tek but is in fact owned by The Enclave.
Worst yet... What if they used them in experiments, or killed them!?
What will this do to Cooper Howard when the truth comes out?
Would he give up and go full-on feral? Or would he embark on an epic hero's quest to bring all those responsible to Justice?
Now remember; I'm not saying that I believe this is what happened. I am just stating a possible reason for them not being in the cryo tubes.
Unfortunately, I do have to believe that if Vault-Tec had Barb warned / threatened so quickly when she started to second guess herself, that they would quickly have known of her betrayal and taken some action against her.
So it's not vault tech warning Barb through Wilzig, it is actually The Enclave.
In the past, I believe that Cooper handed off the cold fusion to Wilzig. I believe it is his hand that we see in the car. When next we see the cold fusion it is still in Wilsig's possession.
In the current timeline, Cooper is about to come back into possession of the cold fusion. He now has the chance to do with it what he should have done the first time... Give it to Robert House.
...But if I had been entrusted by my very influential and powerful company to oversee the delivery of something to be sold to a very influential and powerful man and then, just for funsies, I decided to fuck over that company and that man by drugging my fellow employee, stealing the delivery, and giving it to someone else who could potentially charge me with multiple felonies,
I wouldn't be so chill about it.
I wouldn't be joking with my husband who technically committed the crime for me.
I wouldn't be sipping champagne and shooting the breeze with the coworker I stole the item from.
I wouldn't be taking a leisurely stroll to my getaway plane
And I sure as shootin' wouldn't smile and be so cavalier with no way to escape or protect myself if the room suddenly filled with G-men and all the phones started going off like a slot machine payout.
I dunno...
Seems like the only reason you wouldn't freak out in a situation like that is if you were already beyond reproach and consequence.
Let's look at all the things we still don't have answers for or that have just been left hanging in the Fallout show as of the end of s2! Under the cut tho because as an ADHD brain tends to do, I started making a lot of connections as I typed things up so it got.... Chaotic.
Also please note: this is absolutely not spoiler free! In case that's not already obvious! Its also ship discourse free and is only looking at current plot points and my half-assed speculation about what might be waiting in store for us in s3.
How does Cooper go from being arrested for treason to playing cowboy at a birthday party with janey when the bombs drop? Does House pay his bail? Is he released on the condition he divorces Barb and keeps out of vault tec business? Oooo I actually really like that idea....
Who's the Other Player? -- we know they're part of the enclave but just who exactly are they? I'm almost certain it's not the president -- pretty sure he's just another pawn too...
Whatever the hell is happening to Thaddeus sure ain't normal, even for ghouls right? Saw someone comment about him possibly being turned into a centaur rather than a ghoul and while I haven't played the games I'm Aware of these guys and that's horrifying
Max and Lucy are at the top of the central tower in New Vegas. And the NCR and Legion are about to wage war to gain control. Yikes!
Norm and Claudia (yay!) have no weapons no supplies and one is wounded as they go back to the wasteland (more yikes)... Just where is Norm planning on going now that he knows his vault is in deep shit? I suppose he'd want to go back and warn them? Seems horribly risky....
Steph has unleashed Phase 2 -- or has requested it be unleashed. Based on what I've gleaned about the game lore, FEV, aka phase 2, is what created the first super mutants. AND. Because FEV was the result of experiments happening before the bombs dropped -- I'm pretty sure this is where deathclaws come from too. Vaults 32 and 33 are now sharing water so I suspect both vaults are gonna be affected by this
The super mutant that saved Cooper mentioned war with the enclave.... I have a feeling Coop's gonna get roped into that whether he wants to or not
Speaking of -- Cooper has a giant chunk of uranium ore in his abdomen! No idea if this is a good thing or a bad thing! I'm guessing it has serious pros and cons, such as a healing factor with simultaneous poisoning/transforming elements...?
I highly doubt we've seen the last of Dane or the Brotherhood... But how they're likely to play apart in future eps idk
Going back to Cooper and the Enclave -- I know in the games the Enclave has its base on a massive ocean oil rig (so fitting) -- but we've only seen a base nestled in the canyon of some serious snowy mountains. My guess? They're the Rockies or Uintah's. Maaaybe the Sierras? Regardless, those mountain ranges are in the direction Cooper is going in. Annnnd if I had to take a wildass guess, that's who has Janey and Barb. Fuck ...
Also in game lore, FEV testing and the first super mutants were created in! Drumroll please! Colorado! I really don't like where these points are all going!
Did I miss anything? I'm sure I did.... There were a LOT of moving plot points this season. Please feel free to add anything if I did and you read this far lmao.
