Critics Say Fallout Season 2 Tops Season 1 — And Rotten Tomatoes Backs It Up
Fallout blasts back on Prime Video with Season 2, and early raves plus a surging Rotten Tomatoes score hint it’s already outpacing Season 1’s 93 percent benchmark.
Fallout is back on Prime Video, and the early read is pretty simple: Season 2 didn’t just hold the line, it leveled up.
The scorecard (and why people are buzzing)
Season 1 set a high bar with a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. Season 2 has rolled out with a 97% Tomatometer, and critics are largely in sync: the show gets bigger without losing the weird, gnarly heart that made it work in the first place.
"When it’s two human actors trading insults, Fallout - exploding skulls and all - stands head and shoulders above most video game adaptations."
- Ed Power, The Daily Telegraph (UK)
That pretty much captures the vibe. Reviewers keep hitting the same notes: sharper characters, a more confident tone, and a world that keeps expanding in smart ways. ComicBook.com’s Cade Onder says it’s hard not to fall back in love with the Wasteland at this level of execution. Collider’s Therese Lacson calls it an entertaining return that leans into the show’s roots: dark, violent, and funny. GamesRadar+’s Lauren Milici singles out the production design, especially how New Vegas is brought to life with meticulous sets and a pile of franchise nods. And The Seattle Times’ Chase Hutchinson says Season 2 outdoes an already strong first run by pushing into bigger ideas.
What Season 2 is actually doing
The new season picks up immediately after the Season 1 finale. Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), now fully aware that her father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) helped set off the nuclear apocalypse, sheds whatever innocence she had left. She heads for New Vegas with the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) at her side. It’s not exactly a friendship; it’s an uneasy partnership built on mutual goals and clashing motives, and that dynamic drives the season.
On a bigger canvas, the show keeps digging into the fallout of inequality, violence, and buried corporate rot. It’s still brutal. Still darkly funny. And, apparently, even more sure of itself.
- Rotten Tomatoes: Season 1 at 93%; Season 2 debuts at 97%
- Creators: Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner
- Episode count: 8
- Where it starts: immediately after the Season 1 finale
- Key players: Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), the Ghoul (Walton Goggins)
- Where we’re going: New Vegas, brought to life with obsessive detail and plenty of franchise Easter eggs
If you liked Season 1’s mix of sincerity and splatter, the consensus is that Season 2 doubles down and refines it. Hat tip to Devanshi Basu at SuperHeroHype for surfacing the early reaction roundup.