Fallout Season 2’s Surprising Redemption Arc for Hank and Barb

The following article contains SPOILERS for Fallout season 2, episode 6, “The Other Player.”

Fallout season 2 closed the buddy road trip chapter of its story in episode 5, “The Wrangler.” Episode 6, “The Other Player,” continued exploring the newfound distance between Lucy and the Ghoul in the aftermath of their falling out. Both Fallout main characters were forced to confront their demons as Lucy came face-to-face with Hank, while the Ghoul clung to humanity with memories of his family.

The final moments of “The Other Player” even launched a new road trip dynamic as none other than Maximus and Thaddeus stumbled upon the Ghoul, who had been discarded by the mysterious Super Mutant for refusing to join his war against the Enclave. But before that, “The Other Player” took an unexpected tone in its treatment of Hank and Barb.

Lucy’s Changing Her Tune After Confronting Hank In Fallout Season 2

This isn’t entirely surprising. Hank, completely confident in the Lucy he raised, plays her like a fiddle. When she puts a pair of scissors to his throat, he offers zero resistance whatsoever, even handcuffing himself and smugly telling his docile employees to do whatever Lucy says. Of course, his complicity is what ultimately gives Lucy pause, and she wavers even in their short walk down the hall.

All of Hank’s forcibly civilized staff balk at the idea of returning to the surface, confusing Lucy. Then, a pair of feuding NCR and Legion soldiers who haven’t yet been brought under the control of Hank’s device perfectly support his position. They lunge at each other the moment they get the chance, not hesitating to fight to the death until Lucy herself activates the devices in their necks.

Barb Reveals She Was Threatened Into Suggesting That Vault-Tec Drop The Bombs

Frances Turner as Barb Howard standing and smiling with a Pip-Boy on her wrist in Fallout

The Vault-Tec flashbacks in “The Other Player” were especially callous as marketing teams designed billboards for the end of the world — God forbid too many mushroom clouds make the imagery too “busy.” But this time, Barb didn’t seem so much like a willing participant. This story’s most crucial moment saw the surprising return of season 1’s Wilzig.

The Enclave scientist confronted Barb in an elevator at the exact moment that her loyalty to Vault-Tec began to waver. Her motivation to comply in order to protect her family had already been heightened by the reveal that not every Vault would have reliable water. Then, even as the ethics grew murkier around her, Wilzig reminded Barb that “if you forget your place in the company… you’ll die.“

He then gave her instructions: “The leaders of the most powerful corporations will be gathering here. And when they do… you tell them… the only way to guarantee results is…” The sentence is finished by Barb with new, sympathetic context: “by dropping the bombs ourselves.” Suddenly, the cold, shocking line from season 1 instead reads as desperate and sad.

Fallout Season 2 Shouldn’t Reverse Course On Its Most Compelling Antagonists

Kyle MacLachlan's Hank looking intensely while in his Power Armor in Fallout season 2 — Kyle MacLachlan’s Hank looking intensely while in his Power Armor in Fallout season 2

“The Other Player” left Lucy all turned around, clearly beginning to consider a return to her Vault 33 values of “civilizing the Wasteland.” Though this isn’t necessarily an endorsement of Hank in itself, the situation seems to have backed Fallout into two equally disappointing options.

Either Fallout season 2 sees Lucy regress, weakly succumbing to her old ways and backtracking on her season-long goal of “bringing Hank to justice,” or the story continues to sympathize with Hank’s ironically barbaric view of civilization, painting him as a misunderstood, “ends justify the means” type character. Neither would be particularly satisfying, so here’s hoping there’s a major wake-up call in Lucy’s future.

However, Barb seems to have shifted firmly into flawed, desperate mother territory. Cooper didn’t fully accept her in their cards-on-the-table confrontation, but these developments have effectively taken the air out of one of season 1’s biggest statements. She may not yet be hero material, but Fallout season 2 has taken Barb’s full-fledged villain status, and much of her character’s intrigue along with it.