Fallout: Season Two - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Fallout: Season Two



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
After the fun that was the 1st season of Fallout, I was hoping we wouldn’t get a 2nd season dropoff in quality, as many modern-day shows seem to do. Luckily for us fans, this is not the case. In fact, I’d say that the 2nd season is really where the show has hit its stride, SLIGHTLY edging out the already stellar 1st year from 2025. Again, the show is not the PERFECT replication of the video games (video games are notoriously hard to adapt), but it manages to capture the comedic tone, hyper violence, and craziness that make the game fun. Just tweaking things here and there to make the silver screen experience a bit more fluid.

The 2nd season continues to follow Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) in her adventures with the Ghoul (Walton Goggins) as they traverse the treacherous world of Fallout. Now they’re on their way to New Vegas for answers, even if that means cracking a few eggs to get there. At least, that according to The Ghoul. Lucy still has that sweet and overly cliched 1950s train thanks to her growing up the same and sound inside the “perfect” world that is the Bunker dwellers' lives. But as we all know from playing the games, the one thing you can expect from the world of Fallout is unending horror. Horror, violence, gore, and unending brutality mixed with a heavy dose of comedy to lighten the killing mood.

Fans of the game will love the winks and nods to the new additions this time. The Legion is hysterically over the top as they follow old Roman tropes (with Macaulay Culkin making a 2 episode appearance as a member), and Kumail Nanjiani as one of the legion is a hoot. But really, let's be honest. We’re all here at this point to watch the chemistry between The Ghoul and Lucy. The Ghoul really needs no reason behind the scene stealing, and that reason is 100% Walton Goggins. Goggins absolutely eats the scenery with gusto, jumping back and forth between his modern-day killer persona and the man he once was in the copious flashbacks. Flashbacks which actually fill out the story a WHOLE lot, as it clues the audience into the world we’re in today (or in the future, really). But Ella Purenll continues to surprise me with how well she plays off of Goggins' touch guy act. She adds a much-needed balance to the show, crafting her into a sweet and well-meaning girl looking for answers about her father (which turned out to be a bit soul-crushing for her last season), but also one who can adapt and hold her own. Which effectively has her standing out as a more full-figured character compared to the other “nice guys” who end up becoming prey for the strong in the show.

This season feels a bit more focused, with less exposition for characters, but instead a general focus on how things got as messed up as they are today, with expository stories based upon the characters we got to know last season. BUUUUT, this is not going to be a season that ends on a truly happy note. The world of Fallout blows, and it’s going to continue blowing for a while longer as the finale ends on a bit of an uncomfortably bittersweet note. But hey, that means season 3 is right around the corner, and we’re in for another year of nastiness in the grim world that the video game lays out for us. And really, I’m all for it. I want more!!




Rating:

Rated TV-MA by the MPAA




4K Video:

Much like last year’s release of the 1st season, the 4K UHD imagery is spot on perfect. The visual aesthetics mirror the video game quite a bit, with heavy sepia tones, clean outdoor shots outside of the desert (where we get most of the sepia), and deep, rich blacks thanks to the Dolby Vision. I will say that the clarity and detail levels are off the charts here. Fine details on faces really pop off the screen (weird how Macaulay Culkin both looks middle-aged and 12 years old at the same time), and clothing shows every crease on cloth, and every bit of burnished metal on armor. Black levels are once again really stunning, with deep inky blacks that don’t crush, and no sign of banding anywhere. Honestly, this is probably one of my favorite encodes going this month, and probably most of the year.









Audio:

The Atmos track mirrors MOST of my thoughts from last year, but I had to dock it a half star for what I considered slightly muddy surrounds in a few episodes. Otherwise, this is a killer mix from beginning to end. The dynamics of the show dictate some crazy stuff, and the audio keeps up with all of the explosions, gut-rattling door slams (such as in the bunkers), and an insane sense of immersion with constant use of surrounds. As I said, I heard some muddy surrounds in a few episodes (mainly the 3rd episode where Kumail’s character gets his comeuppance), but overall this is a stellar mix. Great dialog, insane bass, and surrounds that basically never stop outputting sound make for a thrilling audio experience.







Extras:

• Audio Commentary: Inside Episode 8 – "The Strip" – with Aaron Moten and Kyle MacLachlan
• Welcome Back To The Wasteland – Featurette
• New Vegas – Featurette
• Fallout: Fake Talkshow – Hilarious interview with the cast
• RobCo Animated Series shorts
• Fallout: The Ghoul Log*

Final Score: ​

Fallout: Season Two adds a heavy dose of complexity to the situation, fine-tuning the focus of the show and giving us a much deeper dive into just how the world ended up this way to begin with. And guess what? With as many answers and developments to characters that we get in this season, the showrunners balance that development with added questions that open up things to so much more than the games have been hiding. Secrets that will play out in next year’s season (which supposedly adds in Aaron Paul and hopefully will be available to stream in very early 2027). The 4K UHD looks and sounds great (as was the case with the 1st season), but we did see a distinct drop-off in the extras department from last year. Not the end of the world, but still, slightly disappointing. But don’t let that keep you from watching the show, as it has tentatively become my favorite sci-fi show of the last several years.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, Kumail Nanjiani, Macaulay Culkin
Created by: Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish, German DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Rated: TV-MA
Runtime: 420 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 19th, 2026

Recommendation: Great Watch