Fallout season 2 has finally come to an end... and we can't believe it's over. From exploding heads and Deathclaws, to Radroach massacres and super mutant cameos, it's been one heck of a season. Good thing Fallout season 3 is on the way.
Because the series is canon to the video games, there's a lot of lore that the average viewer may not be familiar with. For example, what is the Enclave? What is the FEV? What the heck is Thaddeus turning into? Well, that's where we come in. Below, we've answered all of the burning questions you might have after watching Fallout season 2 episode 8, as well as summarizing the finale so you don't have to go back and take notes.
It goes without saying that there are massive spoilers for both Fallout season 2 and Fallout: New Vegas ahead, so proceed with caution! For more, check out our Fallout season 2 review, or our guide to all of the Fallout season 2 Easter eggs you might have missed.
Fallout season 2 episode 8 ending recap
As a civil war begins to brew, Caesar's Legion is in a war with its own members. Frustrated, Legate decides to open the note that Caesar died with in order to find out once and for all who is supposed to lead the Legion next. When he opens the note, it reads, "I am Caesar. I am the Legion. It ends with me." Rather than accept this, Legate kills the witnessing Legion member and puts on Caesar's crown – officially making him the next Caesar.
Back in the Lucky 38 penthouse, the Ghoul demands that Robert House (who is now immortalized on a game-accurate computer screen forevermore) take him to his family. As they walk through the halls, with House in a Pip-Boy on the Ghoul's wrist, he explains that even though he tried to remain one step ahead of the end of the world... he couldn't have seen the Enclave and their immense amount of power coming. He then confirms that Cooper delivered the cold fusion diode directly into the hands of the Enclave, which the last President of the United States was a member of.
We then cut to Cooper and Barb having a glass of champagne at the airport, celebrating the fact that all of their end-of-the-world troubles are now over, with Coop suggesting they head to Colorado after all of this. Hank and Steph walk up to them, revealing that they're off to get married... and that he hopes she can get a job at Vault-Tec. Suddenly, all of the pay phones begin to ring in succession.
Elsewhere on the surface, Bud's Buds are seconds away from killing Norm... before a Radroach swarm flies out of an empty elevator shaft and attacks and kills them all (except for Norm and Claudia).
On the strip, the fight against the Deathclaws continues. Maximus almost dies, but Thaddeus (who is definitely deteriorating into a centaur or mutant of some kind) is able to fend them off with a pretty impressive sniper shot (using his foot, mind you). Sadly, this doesn't work for long, and Max musters the strength to continue and decides to fight them off with just a stick and a poker table. Before they can charge at him, the New California Republic (who have seemingly reunited, minus Jon Gries's character having fallen victim to Hank's chip experiments) comes in to save the day.
Deep down in the management Vault, Lucy comes face to face with the severed head of Congresswoman Diane Welch. Diane, who is alive and directly linked to Hank's experiments, begs Lucy to kill her and "stop him." Lucy reluctantly does so. She's then confronted by Hank, who explains that Robert House wanted to turn humans into robots... but that, in turn, Hank wanted to give the robots a little bit of "personality." He explains that he used Diane Welch's "gold standard" personality to rewrite the minds of every chipped person. His goal is to make the chips as small as humanly possible, and he attempts to implant one into Lucy in order to make her "his little girl again."
Thankfully, the Ghoul appears, shoots Hank in the butt, then tosses the gun to Lucy. She implants the chip in his neck and forces him outside, threatening to press the button and turn him into one of those mind-erased zombies. Hank tells her that the Legion is coming and that with his help, the two of them can save the rest of humanity. Lucy knows the latter part isn't true, and demands that he tell her what he's really doing in Vegas. He then tells her that he's already sent his "R&D" out into the Wasteland, and that the "surface was always the experiment," before pressing the button and activating his own chip. Lucy cries in his arms, but he doesn't recognize her. As Lucy looks around Wasteland, Maximus appears – and the two finally reunite.
Down in Vault 32, the dwellers are still banging on Steph's door and demanding she come out and face consequences. Realizing there's nothing else she can do, she opens the box that Betty gave her. Inside the box is a special kind of Pip-Boy made specifically for the Enclave. She puts it on and introduces herself as Hank Maclean's wife, before initiating "Phase 2."
We cut back and forth between the Ghoul entering the cryopod chamber and Coop answering one of the payphones in the airport. When he picks up the phone, the voice of Robert House tells him, "I want you to know that it wasn't me... whatever it is that's about to happen. There are far worse people than me, Mr. Howard. I commend you for trying to play the hero... I really do." Cooper then looks around to realize he's being watched by the Enclave, before the police suddenly come to arrest him on authority of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The Ghoul enters the chamber and finds Barb and Janey's cryopods. He makes Robert House open them, but – in a rather devastating turn of events – the vaults are empty. Located inside Barb's empty cryopod, however, is a postcard depicting the beautiful mountains of Colorado. On the back, it reads, "Colorado was a good idea." The Ghoul ignores House's reply that he's "living in a fantasy world" and takes the Pip-Boy off before leaving the Vault.
Max and Lucy re-enter the Lucky 38 penthouse and climb up to a high spot so they can look over at the approaching Legion. "I could've prevented this," Lucy says. "There's going to be a war, and it's all my fault," Maximus reassures her and takes her hand. Elsewhere, the Ghoul is on his way to Colorado.
A post-credits scene takes us back to the Brotherhood of Steel, where Dane presents Quintus with a mysterious set of documents. Inside are blueprints for a pretty lethal-looking suit of armor labeled "Liberty Prime Alpha."
What happened to Cooper Howard?
Unfortunately, and despite his best efforts, Cooper doesn't manage to save the world at all. In fact, Coop ends up igniting the end of the world – just as Robert House predicted.
While in the management Vault, House tells Cooper that, 200 years prior, he delivered the cold fusion diode directly to the Enclave and brought forth the "greatest threat" to what would become the Wasteland. "You were their unwitting servant," House says. Though Congresswoman Diane Welch is the one who persuaded Cooper to give the cold fusion diode over to the President of the United States, he had no way of knowing that the President was involved with the Enclave. We don't know exactly what the Enclave uses it for, but we do know that this eventually kickstarts the nuclear disaster known as The Great War. We're still a little bit unclear on Moldaver, but we know that she was a cold fusion scientist and can infer that she truly thought House would be responsible for the end of the world.
Cooper and Barb head to the airport and drink champagne, thinking that the worst is over. All of the payphones begin to ring, and Cooper receives a call from House. "I want you to know that it wasn't me... whatever it is that's about to happen," he tells him. "There are far worse people than me, Mr. Howard. I commend you for trying to play the hero... I really do." Cooper is then arrested on the authority of the House of Un-American Activities Committee, an organization that actually existed in America from 1938 to 1975. This organization was created by the US House of Representatives to investigate alleged betrayal of American citizens and those who had ties to communism. This also resulted in actors, producers, writers, etc, being added to a Hollywood blacklist that barred them from being able to work. This explains why Cooper Howard is working as a cowboy for birthday parties in Fallout season 1, episode 1, rather than making big motion pictures. It's possible that the Enclave, now in possession of the cold fusion diode, needed to frame Cooper as a traitor in order to cover its bases.
We don't know what happens to Cooper after he's taken into custody, other than that his career is effectively over. Season 3 will likely fill in the gaps, as well as give us some answers as to how he got separated from his family at the beginning of the Great War and how he eventually became the Ghoul.
Is Hank MacLean dead?
In a way, it's actually a bit worse than that.
After Lucy finds and (reluctantly) kills the severed, still-alive head of Congresswoman Diane Welch, Hank approaches her and explains his evil experiment. "Robert House wanted to turn humans into machines, erase their memories," he says. "Make them suggestible enough to follow his orders... So what I was trying to do was add a little personality to his product." Hank goes on to say that Diane had the perfect "gold standard" personality type, one that is sweet and unassuming. He connected her severed head to the microchips so that when activated, the person will have their mind erased and replaced with a more submissive, obedient, and overall warm demeanor – which is, of course, perfect for enslaving the population. Though unclear, it's possible that Hank took Diane out of her cryopod, cut her head off, and hooked it all up himself.
Hank attempts to put a microchip into Lucy, but is shot by the Ghoul. Lucy then puts the chip into the back of Hank's neck and demands that she tell him what he was really doing in Vegas. He explains that he's already sent the microchip technology all throughout the Wasteland, and that they'll be following orders "written for them centuries ago." Perhaps most chillingly, he says, "The surface is the experiment." This all relates back to the Enclave, and more or less implies that it was always their idea to destroy the world, enslave the population, and carry out depraved experiments with the intention of gaining even more power.
Hank refuses to say anything more and presses the button to activate his own microchip. This effectively erases his memory and personality, and he no longer has any recollection of Lucy. In a way, Hank MacLean is dead... but he remains alive as a robot with no direction or purpose unless someone comes along and assigns it to him. Lucy appears to abandon him in the Wasteland, and his fate ultimately remains unknown (or at least until season 3).
Did the House win?
Robert House got what he wanted... and so did fans of the game, if we're being honest.
He explains to the Ghoul that Vault-Tec wanted an impenetrable Vault buried half a mile underneath Vegas, but he "was always one step ahead." He rigged every aspect of the city, right down to every single slot machine, and including the Vault for management. That particular Vault belongs, not to Vault-Tec, but to "their investors." The investors are the same "invisible adversary" who created the Deathclaws, and who effectively brought about the end of the world. Though it's a little murky, we know that House is referring to the Enclave (and that it's Enclave scientist Dr. Wilzig who blackmails Barbara into positing that Vault-Tec should drop the bombs themselves). Because he knew the nuclear disaster was inevitable, House developed a complex cryopod system that would keep his body alive and hardwired his brain to a computer – as seen in Fallout: New Vegas. Though his body aged, he essentially digitized his consciousness in a way that makes him more or less immortal.
The Ghoul knows he needs the cold fusion diode to essentially "wake up" House, placing it into a device located near the entrance of the management Vault. We don't know what House has endured over the last 200 years, but we do know that he was subject to "poisonings, shootings, and crowbar bludgeonings from wandering travelers with something to prove." Because the TV show takes place some 15 years after the events of the New Vegas video game, where House is the overall ruler of New Vegas, and he's maintained his power, as well as his immortality, we could very well say that the House did, in fact, win.
Are Barb and Janey alive?
Maybe! When the Ghoul finally makes it into the management Vault, it's Robert House who leads him to the floor where Barb and Janey's cryopods are located. When he opens them, however, they're empty. Though this initially implies, at least for a few devastating seconds, that Barb and Janey did not survive the Great War, there's a sliver of hope. Inside Barb's cryopod is a postcard from Colorado that reads, "Colorado was a good idea." The Ghoul, staring at the card, says aloud that he finally knows, for the first time in 200 years, that his family is alive. The finale appears to end with the Ghoul setting foot onto Colorado soil and staring out over the mountains.
It's quite possible that the Ghoul won't find anything in Colorado, or that Barb and Janey may very well be deceased. It's also worth noting that Colorado is a location that is mentioned by name, but never actually featured, in the Fallout video game franchise. Because we have no idea what Vault-Tec looks like over there, or what creatures roam, there are endless possibilities for season 3.
Who dropped the bombs?
Though it's never outright stated who dropped the bombs, we do know for certain that the Enclave is at the very least responsible for using cold fusion to ignite the end of the world as we know it. In season 2 episode 7, Cooper Howard hands over the cold fusion diode to the President of the United States, believing that giving it to a non-corrupt person in power will stop the impending nuclear war from happening. Unbeknownst to Coop, the last President of the United States is indeed a member of the Enclave.
In season 2 episode 5, House tells Cooper that he believes there is "another player at the table" and that there is an "unknown entity" responsible for the creation of the Deathclaw. Though this isn't confirmed until the finale, those of us who have played our way through Fallout: New Vegas know that the Deathclaws were engineered by the United States Government. The Enclave, a mysterious, powerful, and genocidal faction, is made up of politicians and former US presidents, among other people in positions of power. The Enclave was already a secret, all-powerful faction prior to the nuclear disaster, and, according to House, remains in power some 200 years later.
We don't know what the President does with the cold fusion diode after Cooper gives it to him, but we can infer that Cooper is arrested shortly after as some kind of cover-up. While it's heavily implied that the Enclave dropped the bombs and needed cold fusion to do so, we can only confidently say that they were heavily involved with igniting the Great War and, at the very least, creating a domino effect that leads to the bombs being dropped. Season 3 might provide us with more clarity, but the question "Who dropped the bombs?" has never been answered in the video games and is meant to linger on purpose.
Who becomes the new Caesar?
As fate would have it, our ol' boy Legate has taken on the crown – albeit the fact that it was, uh, self-appointed. As the unrest within the Legion grew and the soldiers continued to attack each other, Legate and his men managed to recover Caesar's body from over yonder. Finally fed up with all of the infighting, Legate grabs the note that Caesar left behind and reads it. However, instead of revealing who was meant to take over, the note simply states that Caesar is the Legion and that it ends with him, and no one else can take his place. Of course, this isn't good enough for Legate, so he swallows the note and takes the crown for himself (and makes sure to kill the only other person to witness him do so).
In Fallout: New Vegas, the player has the option to save Edward Sallow (founder of the Legion) from his brain tumor. If he dies, Legate becomes the new Caesar. This really only affects the Caesar's Legion ending of the game (which is one of four potential endings), in which the Legion takes over New Vegas.
What is Thaddeus turning into?
You might recall that Thaddeus was a pretty unbearable member of the Brotherhood of Steel in season 1, and that he had no respect for Maximus whatsoever. After he learned that Maximus was posing as the deceased Knight Titus, a fight ensued and his foot was injured. He was given some miracle potion by a snake oil salesman in exchange for Wilzig's severed head (which contained the cold fusion core). The potion makes Thaddeus nearly immune to pain, but also begins to warp his physical features. Believing he was turning into a ghoul, which is considered "an abomination" in the Brotherhood code, he fled. In season 2, we see him managing the Sunset Sasparilla bottlecap factory, where several other ghoul children are working.
It isn't until Thaddeus and Maximus (albeit reluctantly) reunite with the Ghoul in season 2 episode 7 that we get a better idea of what's happening to Thaddeus. He opens his shirt to reveal a mouth with teeth... and then his arm falls off. As per game lore, we can infer that Thaddeus is turning into a centaur. This is mainly because of the terrifying little rows of teeth, and the fact that their limbs are, uh, not where they're supposed to be. Though centaurs vary in physical appearance, they tend to be armless at the shoulders... wherein other arms and legs develop and give them a horse or centaur-like appearance. This implies that the snake oil salesman sold him a tiny bottle of the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus), and that things are only going to get worse from here.
What's in the box?
Well, let's just say it's not good. Towards the end of the finale, a frustrated Steph decides to open the box that Betty gave her. Inside is a special Pip-Boy made specifically for members of the Enclave. Steph places it on her wrist and announces herself as Hank MacLean's wife. Though she admits to not knowing how contacting the Enclave works, she tells them to go ahead and enact "Phase 2."
So, what is Phase 2? In episode 5, when Norm is looking through the computer at the abandoned vault, he comes across the acronym FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus). In the video game franchise, this is a virus used by several evil entities that causes humans to mutate into a variety of creatures, such as floaters, psykers, centaurs, and super mutants (the latter of which we saw at the end of season 2 episode 6).
In season 2 episode 4, one of the Vault dwellers from Bud's Buds program asks a confused Norm whether they should continue on with "Phase 2" and refers to it as Future Enterprise Ventures... aka FEV.
We can infer that Steph, trapped inside her unit as an angry mob continues to riot outside of her door, has decided that the only thing left to do is turn members of Vault 32 and Vault 33 into super mutants, or worse. This, of course, will play out in season 3.
Where will Fallout season 3 take place?
Get ready to get Rocky Mountain High, because we're headed on over to Colorado. When the Ghoul opens Barb and Janey's cryopods, they're empty. Inside Barb's cryopod, however, is a postcard depicting a beautiful mountain landscape that reads, "Colorado was a good idea." Deciding that this means his family is, in fact, alive, he immediately heads on over to the state of Colorado – and that's where we leave the Ghoul in the season 2 finale.
It's worth noting that, though Fallout season 2 is based on the game Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout season 3 is going to be something else entirely... or a hybrid of other games in the series. This is because Colorado is not a featured location in any of the (canon) games, and is only ever mentioned by name. This is exciting, as it opens the door to new locations and new creatures. We're thinking mutated moose, elk, mountain lions... the possibilities are endless.
What is Liberty Prime Alpha?
As the civil war brews outside, Brotherhood of Steel member Dane delivers a mysterious set of documents to Elder Quintus. "Out of the virtue in my heart," Quintus says. "I tried to unify the Brotherhood. Look what it got me. No matter. Quintus the Unifier is dead. Quintus the Destroyer is born."
The documents are none other than the blueprints for Liberty Prime Alpha, an iteration of the Liberty Prime robot that Cooper was wearing when he fought the Chinese in pre-war Alaska in season 2 episode 4. Liberty Prime is featured in Fallout 3 and 4 as a robotic ally that aids the player. In the TV series, this means that the Brotherhood of Steel now has machinery powerful enough to defeat the other factions within the civil war... and that includes the seemingly undefeatable Legion.
Fallout seasons 1 and 2 are airing now on Prime Video. For more, check out our ranking of the best Fallout games.
