Fallout Actor Walton GogginsImage via Prime Video
By
Ross Bonaime
Published Feb 3, 2026, 9:00 PM EST
Ross Bonaime is the Senior Film Editor at Collider. He is a Virginia-based critic, writer, and editor who has written about all forms of entertainment for Paste Magazine, Brightest Young Things, Flickchart, The Free Lance-Star, and more. Ross graduated from George Mason University with a focus in communications and journalism and a minor in film and video studies.
Ross is a Tomatometer-approved critic, a member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, and a member of the Critics Choice Association. He has loved movies ever since he saw Cinderella in the theater as a kid, he can quote 10 Things I Hate About You and Wet Hot American Summer from memory, and is fascinated by all things Georges Méliès and Charlie Chaplin.
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Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents:
Try something different:
Show me the facts
Explain it like I’m 5
Give me a lighthearted recap
Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Fallout Season 2 Episode 8.Season 2 of Fallout has all been leading to the finale, "The Strip," and it's well worth the wait. Not only does this episode hint at the big things potentially coming in Season 3, but it also gets the characters to a great place on a personal level. From the beginning, this is a season that has led the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) back to some of the humanity and heroism that he had when he was Cooper Howard 200 years ago. Meanwhile, Lucy (Ella Purnell) has moved toward a more realistic view of the world, keeping her morals but understanding that she'll have to be more flexible in the Wasteland; simultaneously, Maximus (Aaron Moten) is starting to become the hero his father knew he would be one day. "The Strip" is a fantastic conclusion to Season 2 that builds even more excitement for what's in store in Season 3.
The House Always Wins in 'Fallout's Season 2 Finale
Justin Theroux as Robert House in 'Fallout' Season 2.Image via Prime Video
“The Strip” throws the story back to Caesar’s Legion, where the two sides are in the midst of a massive battle. Lacerta Legate (Macaulay Culkin) pulls a corpse into safety and takes a note from his hand that reads: “I am Caesar. I am the Legion. It ends with me.” But Legate stabs and kills the soldier who’s with him, saying, “Caesar is dead. Long live Caesar,” and eats the note to hide the evidence. As he leaves his tent with the deceased Caesar’s crown, the soldiers chant for their new leader. Lacerta’s first order of business is to reclaim Vegas, where they’ll build a palace for their empire — Caesar’s Palace.
In Vegas, the Ghoul has just woken up the computer that holds the consciousness of Robert House (Justin Theroux). House reminds the Ghoul that, as he said when they first met, the House always wins, and that even though his body has been poisoned, shot, and bludgeoned with a crowbar, he’s now alive again within the computer. The Ghoul asks what happens if he shoots the diode of cold fusion, and House states it’s unclear, but if it were to explode, the damage would probably reach other planets. The Ghoul questions why House didn’t tell him about the secret management Vault, and House says it's because he hadn’t brought him the diode yet. The Ghoul makes a deal with House: if the Ghoul can go into the Vault, he’ll leave the diode alone. But if the Ghoul wants to get into the vault, he’ll have to wear a Pip-Boy, which leaves House stating that everyone works for him eventually.
As the Ghoul makes his way to the Vault, House communicates with him via his Pip-Boy, revealing that he rigged every aspect of the city so he could protect its future — and that this Vault in particular wasn’t for Vault-Tec, but for the investors. House was only off a smidge in predicting the end of the world, but when it came to controlling the future, he was outclassed by an invisible adversary — the person who sent the Deathclaws to Vegas,a nd one of their acolytes is in this very building. The Enclave’s eyes are everywhere, but 200 years ago, the Ghoul delivered the diode to them, and became their unwilling servant who helped bring forth the greatest threat to the Wasteland.
Cooper Howard Takes the Fall in the 'Fallout' Season 2 Finale
Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard and Frances Turner as Barb in Fallout Season 2Image via Prime Video
In a flashback, Cooper Howard (Goggins) and his wife Barb (Frances Turner) are celebrating handing off the diode to the president (Clancy Brown) at the airport on their way out of Vegas before discussing a possible move to Bakersfield or even Colorado. They run into a young Hank and Stephanie (Annabel O’Hagan), the latter of whom says that they talked until 4 A.M. before Hank proposed. Hank hopes to find a job for Stephanie at Vault-Tec, and these two new lovebirds run off together. Cooper and Barb then walk past a line of pay phones, which all start ringing.
As the Ghoul makes his way through the tunnels, he opens a door to discover the Vault-Tec offices, with House telling him his family is on subfloor seven. In a separate flashback, Cooper answers one of the ringing phones, and when he does, all the other phones stop. It’s House on the other end, and wants Cooper to know that whatever is about to happen, it wasn't his doing; there are far worse people than House, who commends Cooper for trying to play the hero — he bet on hope, House says, and lost. With that, Cooper is arrested by several men and taken away from Barb. Later on, in the moments before he’s arrested, he tells Barb he’ll take the fall.
Lucy Gets a Head at Vault-Tec in the 'Fallout' Season 2 Finale
Image via ©Amazon/MGM Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection
At Vault-Tec, Lucy has discovered the disembodied head of Representative Welch (Martha Kelly) connected to the mainframe. As Lucy goes to touch the head, it starts to move — the head is still alive. The head begs Lucy to kill her, and despite her own reservations, she takes a crowbar and obeys. After smashing the head, Hank discovers Lucy and asks her why she did it, revealing that House wanted to turn people into machines, erase their memories, and make them suggestible enough to follow his orders. Hank thinks that House was a bit of a robot, and who wants to live in a world of robots? Hank was trying to add personality to House’s product. When Lucy asks who the head was, Hank answers truthfully, before adding that Welch had qualities he’d like to see more of in this world.
Lucy questions what Henry’s endgame is, and Hank says it’s miniaturization. His goal is to create a world where people won’t know who’s automated and who isn’t, as he shows Lucy a minuscule mind control device about the size of a fingernail. Hank wants Lucy to be his little girl again, but Lucy says Hank is insane before one of Hank’s mind-controlled workers grabs her. As Hank gets ready to put the mind control device on Lucy, Hank’s helper is hit with a knife in the back of the head, and Hank is shot in the leg by the Ghoul. Much like in the first episode of the season, when Lucy wouldn’t kill enemies, the Ghoul refuses to kill Hank, leaving the choice up to Lucy as he slides her a gun and heads off to find his family.
Maximus Faces an Onslaught of Deathclaws in 'Fallout's Season 2 Finale
Aaron Moten as Maximus in Fallout Season 2Image via Prime Video
When we last saw Maximus, he'd just been punched out of Vegas and into the city of Freeside. Maximus tells the locals to head to safety as he discovers his power armor has rockets, which he uses to blast the shit out of a few Deathclaws, but there’s still more on the way to join the fight. As Maximus continues to shoot and slash his way through Deathclaws, the people of Freeside start taking bets on how long it’ll take before he dies — but Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) bets 500 caps that his friend will win.
Despite his efforts, Maximus is clearly getting tired, and his suit is starting to spark, but out of nowhere, a gunshot hits one of the Deathclaws — it’s Thaddeus, on the roof with a rifle, using his feet to steady the scope. Still, despite the assist, the Deathclaws seem to get the best of Maximus. When it seems like Maximus is done for, he flashes back to his final moments with his parents in Shady Sands, where his father told him he’d be a good man. Maximus ditches the malfunctioning suit in favor of an old roulette wheel and a stick, looking like a Vegas gladiator. A sniper takes out the last few Deathclaws, and it turns out the soldier is a part of the New California Republic, which marches its way down the streets of Freeside before approaching Maximus and saying they’ll take over from here.
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Posts By Jen VestutoThe Vaults Storyline Heats Up in 'Fallout's Season 2 Finale
Moises Arias and Rachel Marsh in FalloutImage via Prime Video
The Vault 31 Dwellers have captured Norm (Moisés Arias) with Ronnie (Adam Faison) leading the charge, as Claudia (Rachel Marsh) tries to fight them off. As the group drags Norm to the elevator, the giant roaches that Ma June (Dale Dickey) previously warned them about begin to attack. Norm fights off a roach and helps another Vault Dweller, but when he tries to run to safety with the others, Ronnie tries to slam the door on him. While keeping Norm out, Ronnie also lets the roaches in, and they massacre everyone who isn’t Norm. Once things have settled, Norm gets into the room that Ronnie was trying to keep him out of. It’s a bloodbath, but Norm finds Claudia, still alive, and puts her on a cart before telling her he’s taking her home.
In Vault 32, Stephanie is still stuck in her office as the Vault Dwellers bang on the door, demanding she open up. Inside, Stephanie opens Hank’s old box of keepsakes, which contains a Pip-Boy. As she turns it on, she initiates an emergency Enclave frequency. She calls on the frequency, saying that she’s Hank’s wife, and that she heard the Enclave is always listening, before initiating "Phase Two." At the Enclave headquarters, they've received Stephanie’s request, as well as other radio calls made this season by Hank and Norm — it seems as though the Enclave is always listening.
Lucy and Maximus Finally Reunite in the 'Fallout' Season 2 Finale
As Lucy leads the limping Hank outside, the episode reveals she’s implanted the miniature mind control device into her father’s head. Lucy admits that she always wondered what it would be like to come to the surface with her father, and Hank replies that he wanted to make the surface worthy of her. As Hank ponders going back to their Vault, he realizes that this won't be happening. Hank insists that the Legion is coming, and they’ll massacre everyone, but with Hank’s help, Lucy can stop them. Lucy demands that Hank tell her what he was doing here, and after that, she’ll turn Hank into the father she thought he was. When Lucy says that Hank lied to her for her entire life, Hank reveals that the surface has always been the experiment, not the Vaults — and that he's already sent his own R&D department into the Wasteland with the newest model of the device.
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Dive into the world of entertainment with Collider, delivering the latest news, reviews, and exclusive updates from movies, TV, and pop culture Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.Hank pulls out his own remote control and says these people are following orders written for them centuries ago. When Lucy asks what they’ve been programmed to do, Hank pushes the button on his own remote, seemingly wiping his brain to the point that he doesn’t recognize who Lucy is. Lucy starts to leave her confused father at the steps of the Lucky 38, but then, she hears someone call her name: it’s Maximus, finally seeing her for the first time this season. The pair hugs each other, happy to be together yet again. Together, Lucy and Maximus go back into the Lucky 38 and into House’s penthouse suite. They look out at Vegas, and Lucy says she could’ve prevented this. There’s going to be a war, and it’s all her fault. As Maximus takes Lucy's hand in his, the episode fades to a shot of House’s face popping up on his old monitor.
The Ghoul Finds Hope in the 'Fallout' Season 2 Finale
Walton Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout Season 2Image via Prime Video
The Ghoul continues to the Vault, as House asks how he’ll protect his family, since the Enclave is still out there. When the Ghoul enters the Vault, he finds the containers labeled for Barbara and Janey Howard. The Ghoul asks House to open the containers, but once the cold air inside evaporates, no one is inside. Once again, he has bet on hope and lost. He’s been searching for hundreds of years and found nothing. But inside Barbara’s container, he discovers a postcard for Colorado, and on the back is written, “Colorado was a good idea.” As House criticizes the Ghoul for living in a world that isn’t real, where his wife and daughter could still be alive, the Ghoul says he’s wrong. After 200 years, he knows that his family is alive, as he takes off the Pip-Boy, despite House's protests. In the finale's closing moments, the Ghoul and Dogmeat head out once more toward Colorado.
After the credits, a scene at the Brotherhood of Steel’s camp reveals that the group is still dealing with the aftermath of the battle from earlier in the season. Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones) enters the office of Elder Cleric Quintus (Michael Crisfoter) with the remnants he requested. When Dane asks what it is, Quintus claims that he tried to unify the Brotherhood, but Quintus the Unifier is dead. Quintus the Destroyer is born. The remnants are plans for a machine known as Liberty Prime Alpha, a massive combat robot that may be familiar to those who played Fallout 3 or 4.
"The Strip" is a fantastic conclusion to a pretty great sophomore season. More than any other episode in this installment, "The Strip" is excellent at weaving together multiple stories, popping back and forth between characters and timelines to create the most captivating hour of the series so far. It also offers a wonderful evolution for all the main characters that makes them feel like they're finally discovering who they need to be to survive within the Wasteland while setting up an entirely new location for Season 3.
Review
8
10
Fallout
Fallout Season 2 goes out with a bang.
Like Follow Followed TV-MA Sci-Fi Action Adventure Drama Release Date April 10, 2024 Network Amazon Prime Video Showrunner Lisa Joy, Jonathan Nolan Directors Frederick E. O. Toye, Wayne Che Yip, Stephen Williams, Liz Friedlander, Jonathan Nolan, Daniel Gray Longino, Clare Kilner Writers Lisa Joy, Jonathan NolanCast
See All-
Ella Purnell
Lucy MacLean
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Aaron Moten
Maximus
- "The Strip" expertly balances all the characters, stories, and timelines.
- This finale evolves the characters into great places for their next adventure.
- "The Strip" does a wonderful job of setting up where Season 3 might be headed.
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Fallout
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Ella Purnell
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