Spoilers for this week’s episode of Fallout to follow.
This week’s episode of Fallout was an explosive one. Between Lucy (Ella Purnell) and Cooper (Walton Goggins) finally arriving in New Vegas, Maximus (Aaron Moten) causing conflict within the Brotherhood of Steel, and Vault 31 struggling to survive without their waterchip, there was no shortage of exciting events. With exciting events come easter eggs and deeper ties to the Fallout video games that are a treat for new and returning fans. Let’s take a look at some of this week’s easter eggs as the show arrives in the City of Sin.
Operation: Anchorage
This week’s episode began with a pre-war flashback depicting Cooper fighting on the Alaskan front. In Fallout lore, Alaska was occupied by Communist Chinese forces and fought the United States over control of Anchorage. The liberation of Anchorage was most famously depicted in the Operation: Anchorage DLC for Fallout 3, which saw the player character entering a simulation to relive the historical battle.
Cover Model
The Alaska flashback also depicts the first time the United States deployed the T-45 power armor, which helped to aid their victory against the Chinese forces. Power armor ends up becoming the main tool of the Brotherhood of Steel after Roger Maxson left the United States army to form the organization, but longtime fans will also recognize the T-45 model of the armor as the centerpiece on the cover of the original 1997 Fallout game.
You’ve Become Addicted
When Lucy recovers we learn that she was being pumped up with Buffout, a chem from the video games that provides a boost to strength stats and is essentially a powerful, in-world steroid. Like many other chems in the games, Buffout becomes addictive after prolonged use and leads to negative stat effects unless the player keeps using it regularly or goes many in-game days without use. With no time on her side, Lucy has to keep using Buffout or face negative repercussions from her addiction.
Freeside is the Funside
Throughout the episode–particularly whenever they run into trouble on The Strip–Cooper suggests that they take a detour to Freeside to either avoid combat or learn information. Players of Fallout: New Vegas will recognize Freeside as one of the last locations they can visit before they reach their destination of The Strip. Overrun by gangs such as The Kings (who appear in this episode as ghouls), Freeside is inspired by the real-life location of Fremont Street. The real world location is disconnected from the Las Vegas Strip and offers cheaper (and sometimes more rambunctious) entertainment options for travelers and tourists.
V.A.T.S.
While Lucy is high on Buffout and gets into a shootout with The Kings, her final kill is showcased with a slow motion gory headshot that is very cinematically pleasing. This shot replicates a critical headshot in V.A.T.S. from the Fallout video games. The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System allows players to slow down or freeze time to line up gory head and body shots and was introduced in Fallout 3 as a way of replicating the turn-based combat of the first two entries.
A Place to Call Home
The credits of the episode depict an abandoned Camp McCarran inside a derelict Las Vegas International Airport. In Fallout: New Vegas Camp McCarran was the largest active military base of the New California Republic and served as the NCR’s stronghold in their activities against Caesar’s Legion. With the NCR all but non-existent in the Mojave Wasteland as of late, it’s not surprising to see Camp McCarran has met the fate it has.
