Major spoilers ahead for Fallout Season 2.
The Fallout series is currently five episodes in, with Episode 6 releasing on January 21. So far, the series has come out swinging with a deeply interconnected story that is finally starting to come together, but it’s also raised more questions. The growing complexity of the story has had me on the edge of my seat from the start, but Season 2 has turned up the dial on introducing fascinating plot threads. Right now, it’s unclear if all of these threads will be tied together by the time the Fallout finale arrives, though.
A franchise like Fallout is a great template for a live-action adaptation since it allows for a blank slate with brand-new characters. The only thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the lore. Of course, whether the Fallout series handles the franchise’s lore correctly can spark debate, but my take is that it’s done a fantastic job. As this season has progressed, the show has continued to expand the scope of New Vegas. Whether it’s diving into its history through Cooper Howard’s flashbacks or showing a realistic view of what New Vegas might look like years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas, it’s managed to tell a story without disrupting canon endings. In all that, Episode 5 was a doozy. A lot of pieces regarding Mr. House’s story are starting to come together, but one of the biggest reveals was another revelation: the Forced Evolutionary Virus.
Fallout Only Has Three Episodes Left, and It Needs to Make Them Count
The story is officially over the halfway mark, and there is a lot that still has left to be answered. Steph’s surprising pre-Vault Canadian citizenship, Cooper and Barb’s yet-to-be-revealed serious conversation, Maximus’ increasingly conflicting feelings about the Brotherhood, and Lucy’s fate after being tranquilized by the Ghoul are all on the table. However, I’m mainly wondering how the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) is going to play into all of this.
In the wasteland, Norm finds evidence of the Forced Evolutionary Virus on a terminal.
What is the Forced Evolutionary Virus?
For those who have only watched the show and are unfamiliar with the Fallout games, FEV is an engineered virus that mutates its hosts. Using it on humans causes a mutation that results in one of Fallout‘s most notable wasteland creatures: Super Mutants. Fallout‘s Super Mutants have been featured in every game, and it’s a major piece of the overall lore. FEV was originally created before the Great War by West Tek, but post-war experiments have also existed.
Super Mutants have differed based on which Fallout game they’re in. Some variants are more intelligent and agreeable, like in New Vegas, while others are more blindly aggressive, like in Fallout 3.
The big question remains, though. What role will FEV play in Fallout Season 2? So far, the season has been laying breadcrumbs each episode that tend to lead to a clearer picture by the next one. With there being only three episodes left, Season 2 could be setting up FEV as a larger part of the season’s latter half or prepping something for Season 3. It’s hopefully the former, though. Lingering questions are necessary to build up Season 3, but dropping a detail as big as FEV and not at least giving some kind of answer before the finale would be frustrating. There is already a fascinating fan theory about how FEV could play out in Season 2’s story, though.
Fan Theory: Steph Could Be the Key to Fallout Season 2’s FEV Storyline
Steph is one of the most mysterious and compelling characters of Season 2. After Episode 4 revealed that she’s a Canadian citizen born before Fallout‘s Great War, her motives are now more mysterious than ever. During this episode, she has a tense discussion with Betty where it’s revealed that she wants access to a locked keepsake box that Hank brought into the Vault.
Hank’s Locked Keepsake Box
What sits in this box is a complete mystery at the moment, but some fans on the internet think that a strain of FEV could be inside and that Steph is planning to use it on the Vault Dwellers. There are a few scenes from the Season 2 trailer that haven’t happened yet, and one involves a large party involving the Vault’s “Products of Inbreeding Support Group.” The theory is that Steph plans to lace the club’s party food with FEV, resulting in mass mutation across Fallout‘s Vault 33. This is simply speculation at the moment, but another shot from the Season 2 trailer showing Steph frantically running through the Vault adds even more weight to the theory. Until now, Vault 33’s inbreeding club has just seemed like a random addition to Vault 33’s daily life, but it could be laying the groundwork for a horrifying moment.
Fallout Season 2 is Setting Up a Wild Finale
If the Steph/FEV theory is true, then between that, Lucy seemingly being reunited with her father, Maximus’ next moves, Cooper and Barb’s dynamic, and the ongoing mystery of Mr. House are setting up the story for a big closing moment. In the flashbacks, Cooper Howard seems to be even more entangled with whatever triggered the bombs to drop than Season 1 led on. In the wasteland storyline, characters’ morals are beginning to shift, and deeper backstories are beginning to come to light.
Season 2 is currently at a big tipping point, and it’s going to be fascinating to see where Episode 6 takes the story. This season has covered a lot of ground already lore-wise. Between Fallout Season 2 introducing Deathclaws and FEV, Super Mutants seems like the next logical step. Factions like Caesar’s Legion, the New California Republic, and even ghoul-ified versions of the Kings would make the potential absence of Super Mutants feel strange. Super Mutants play a fascinating role in Fallout: New Vegas‘ wasteland, so it will be interesting to see if Season 2 opens the door to finally introducing these beings in some capacity. It could be saved for Season 3, but I sure hope not.
