Fallout on Prime post-release thread

[ArmyOfOptimists]

Spoiler: Twist

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Okay, So Moldaver is, somehow, from the pre-apocalypse age and is desperate to regain her stolen cold fusion technology so she can bring it to the world and restart civilization. Vault-tec stole it, but she's going to get it back from an Enclave scientist and needs a code from a Vault-tec lackey to unlock it once she gets it. She knows that there's at least one Vault-tec lacker in Vault 32, the overseer, Hank. She's allied herself with the remnants of the NCR for support and has fairly significant military force, as well as an impressive reputation in the area.

She also has a bunch of pipboys from Vault 32 and managed to get into Vault 32 at some point, presumably revealing the secret of what Vault-Tec was up to, which resulted in the civil war there? Maybe? It's not entirely clear if she was involved in that, though she had Rose and presumably Rose's Pipboy, so I don't know who else it could have been? Anyway, she's able to get into Vault 32, she arranges this deal with Vault 33 to get access, presumably because she can't break in there like she could in 32, even though no one knows that she (or someone) broke into 32...but even though she knows the protocol and knows that Hank is going to be the one answering the door (or if not him, than whoever the overseer is will be a Vault-tec stooge) she goes through this elaborate infiltration with a bunch of crazed raiders, all to kidnap Hank, who is the guy who answered the door for her. Like, two NCR guys with rifles and she could have grabbed him right there and not set up her friend's daughter to be raped and murdered.

But okay, she goes for this whole infiltration, sets up a choice (which isn't a choice, because everyone survives, without anyone doing anything clever, they just run away from the bomb and are fine) and leaves Lucy behind, even though she needs to be able to force Hank's compliance and Lucy is right there. Take them both, then when you get the device, tell Hank, put in the code, or I cut Lucy's throat. Also, if she hates Vault-Tec so much, it's really weird to just leave Vault 31 alone?

So, the reveal that she's hooked in with the NCR remnants and her actual motives are basically good doesn't explain her earlier actions, it just confuses the heck out of them? Especially given that she has to at least seen what happened in Vault 32, where once people knew what was going on, they turned on the Vault 31ers in a bloodbath...speaking of which, who the hell cleaned up Vault 32? I was assuming there was a large staff in Vault 31, but then it's just a brain and a bunch of frozen executives...

Spoiler

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I think they still have a lot to explain about Moldaver and I wouldn't be surprised if she came back in Season 2. She obviously had some way to survive for 200+ years. The fact that everyone knows her and she hasn't seemed to age at all suggests it wasn't just cryonics. If she was frozen all this time, she wouldn't have a cult, and if she'd been thawed earlier, she'd have aged more. Maybe she has some mutation or science quackery keeping her going. I think her quote in the flashback about hypocrisy being necessary to avoid defeat explains a lot about her character.
She's not above being exactly as horrible as Vault-Tec because she thinks she has a better goal.

I think the attack on Vault 33 was just her getting revenge. It's pretty clear she hates Vault-Tec enough that she'd consider everyone in there acceptable collateral. Maybe she just spared Lucy and the gang at the end because she remembered her mother? Vault 32 was cleaned up by the 31ers. It's implied that there are more of them, since both Betty and Steph are from there and are in on it.

Moldaver's definitely the most confusing and weakest character in the show, though. I also found it funny that Hank even gave her the code at the end. Like, why? All he had to do was say nothing and she loses. He didn't have anything to gain by telling her and she had no leverage against him.
If she'd threatened Lucy, it'd make more sense.

All said and done, it's not like the Fallout games are at all renowned for their amazing plots. The show largely rehashes Fallout 3 with the vault dweller leaving in search of their father with a mysterious past and, in doing so, commits almost all of the same plot fumbles. It was still an enjoyable show and one of the better video game adaptations I've seen.