Fallout TV Show ... not vibing with eps 1,2 ... what am I missing?
Yes, I'm slow, sorry!
Now this may very well be excessive expectations. I had heard a few people say it's this year's Andor. IE, you should just watch it even if it's not the sort of thing you think you'd be into. Also, I've never played the games
I've just finished the first 2 episodes, and, for me, it's not bad, it's a kinda interesting world ... but there's a distinctly empty feeling and awkwardness to the show for me. Sometimes scenes feel like they're either filling time or still trying to find their rhythm. I'm not sure any of the dialogue has caught my ear (at all). I'm not sure I've picked up on any interesting stakes or mysteries. And I've often wondered about the directing (where I can't help but wonder if Jonathan Nolan's directing is more about trying to compete with his brother).
The soft tipping point for me was the Knight's fight with the Ghoul (episode 2) ... it just felt pointless and childish. The whole scene seemed to strangely lack any gravity or impetus. And I find myself ~2.5 hrs in and not caring about anything that's happening. It's a post nuclear apocalypse world, with some mutants, a naive bunker person, and a manipulative corporation or two doing sneaky shit ...
... dunno ... what am I missing? Should I just keep watching?
There's a lot of world-building going on in the first 2-3 episodes, and story lines start slowly drawing together after that point. It doesn't really come together until the final episode, and that is something that's clearly leaving a lot of room for a second season.
Yes, it helps if you understand the context that it's all taking place in; playing the games (particularly 3, New Vegas, and 4) is very helpful to knowing some of the context that isn't stated explicitly, but not strictly necessary.
Despite having a ton of action and violence, the plot is a fairly slow burn, and takes a while to get to the critical parts where everything really comes together. Things seem straightforward, until you realize that they aren't.
Thing is, I've played most of the games, and I feel no connection to the characters, feel no reason to continue even after the first episode and I could barely get through that.
It's all melodrama, nothing more, sadly.
I don't see how someone who's never played the games would find even the first episode intruiging enough to watch more.
You should watch till like the 4th episode I'd say. There is a lot happening that doesn't have context until a bit later one. It's an excellent story, but it is a slow burn.
This community was originally intended to be for both movies and TV, but it was a bit redundant and so we took focus off of TV. I did a search around for Fallout discussions and didn't find anything in the sort of critical vein of my post, and it's old enough that it falls under "discussion" more than anything news etc, so I thought it could make sense here. Happy to be criticised for this. But I feel like it'd make sense to allow retrospective "slow" TV discussion back into this community while disallowing latest TV news and trailers and the like ... but I'm not speaking as a mod at all on this, just riffing. I like the people here and like discussing things here is all!