Fallout
Created by: Graham Wagner, Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Based on: Fallout by Bethesda Softworks
Stars: Ella Purnell (Lucy MacLean), Aaron Moten (Maximus), Kyle MacLachlan (Hank MacLean), Moisés Arias (Norm MacLean), Xelia Mendes-Jones (Dane), Frances Turner (Barb Howard), Walton Goggins (The Ghoul / Cooper Howard)
Season 2 – Episode 4
Episode title: The Strip
Original release date: February 4, 2026 (Amazon Prime Video)
Plot: In 2077, Hank and Steph get engaged in Las Vegas, while Cooper is arrested after taking the blame for Barb for handing the relic to the President, secretly tied to the Enclave. In 2296, the Legion schism ends when Lacerta Legate proclaims himself Caesar and plans to seize New Vegas. Norm and Claudia survive a radroach attack at Vault-Tec HQ that kills the rest of the Vault-Tec executives as they attempt to bring Norm to trial. In Vault 32, Steph activates a Pip-Boy from Hank’s box and contacts the Enclave to begin Phase 2. Fighting between Maximus and Deathclaws reaches Freeside, where the NCR rescues him. The Ghoul enters the Vault-Tec facility with House’s help. Lucy mercy kills Welch, but is captured by Hank and then saved by the Ghoul. Lucy implants a control chip in Hank, who admits his Enclave ties before activating it himself and losing his memory. The Ghoul finds his family’s cryo-pods empty and a clue pointing to Colorado. Maximus and Lucy reunite as the Legion marches into New Vegas. In a mid-credits scene, Dane retrieves Liberty Prime blueprints for Quintus.
* * *
Fallout – S02E08 – The Strip | Transcript
Note for Students & Writers: This transcript is archived here for educational purposes, critical analysis, and screenwriting study. All rights belong to the original creators.
[distant explosions booming]
[explosions continue]
[people screaming]
[swords clanging]
[grunting]
[heavy breathing]
What’s it say? Who’s the next Caesar?
[pronounced Kaisar]
Caesar is dead. Long live Caesar.
[knife unsheathing]
[grunting]
[grunting]
[soldier yelling]
[army chanting] Caesar, hoo! Caesar, hoo!
[pronounced Kaisar]
Caesar, hoo! Caesar, hoo! Caesar, hoo!
Together, we will reclaim the holy land that they call Vegas.
[soldiers muttering in agreement]
There, we’ll build a palace worthy of our empire.
[soldiers chattering, chuckling]
Caesar’s Palace. Now, to New Vegas!
[army chanting] Hooah! Hooah! Hooah! Hooah! Hooah! Hooah! Hooah! Hooah!
[chanting continues faintly]
[soft, dramatic music playing]
[Robert House] [on monitor] Well, hello, old chum! What did I tell you when we first met?
[Ghoul] The House always wins. Winnin’ might be overrated, Robert. ‘Cause them swimming pools outside used to be full.
[Robert House] Well… I will say this much. It’s good to be alive again. Over the years, my body became something of a target for wandering travelers with something to prove. I have been poisoned, shot, bludgeoned with a crowbar…
[Ghoul] Shut the fuck up.
[Robert House] The diode. What about it, old friend?
[Ghoul] What happens if I shoot this thing?
[Robert House] Unclear. There’s only ever been one of them, so it would be fresh snow from a scientific standpoint. But if it were to expel all of its energy simultaneously… the damage would likely extend to other planets, so I would exercise extreme caution.
[Ghoul] Well, most people ain’t got shit to live for anyway. Let’s cut to the chase. Where’s my family? Why didn’t you tell me there was a Vault for management in Vegas?
[Robert House] Because you hadn’t yet brought me the diode.
Ghoul] [sighs] [sighs] I tell you what. You get me in that Vault and I’ll leave your batteries on. We got a deal… Bob?
[Robert House] Absolutely. But in order to show you the way, you’ll have to… wear one of these. Like it or not, Mr. Howard… everyone works for me eventually.
[dramatic music swelling]
[heavy footsteps]
[growling]
[breathing heavily]
[Deathclaw growling] Comin’ through! Comin’ through! Hey, comin’ through! Comin’ through.
[Deathclaw roaring]
Oh, wow.
[growling continues]
[Thaddeus] Max!
[Maximus] Stay behind me.
[roaring]
[screaming]
[Thaddeus] Oh, no!
[Maximus] Get inside! Go, go, go! Go! Go!
[Maximus] [distorted] Go! Get inside, go!
[people screaming]
Get inside! Get inside!
Deathclaw!
Go, go, go!
[continues shouting]
[Deathclaw growling]
[Maximus] Come on, let’s go.
[snarling]
[beeping]
[Maximus] What, “weapons activated”? Hot dog.
[♪ Perry Como: “It’s a Good Day”]
♪ Oh, it’s a good day
for singing this song ♪
♪ and it’s a good day for moving along ♪
♪ Yes, it’s a good day ♪
Deathclaw! Hurry up!
♪ How could anything go wrong?
♪ A good day from morning till night ♪
♪ Yes, it’s a good day ♪
[Deathclaw growling]
[Maximus] Let’s go right here! Come on!
♪ Everything to gain
and nothin’ to lose ♪
[exclaiming and laughing]
♪ ‘Cause it’s a good day ♪
[Maximus] Whoo!
♪ from morning till night ♪
♪ You’re right ♪
♪ I said to the sun, “good morning, sun” ♪
♪ Rise and shine today ♪
[Thaddeus] Oh, Max. Wish I could help.
You only got one arm, what are you gonna do?
Well, someone’s gotta do something! Look at him out there!
Nah.
♪ Morning till night ♪
[Deathclaws roaring]
[dramatic music playing]
♪
[tubes hissing]
[gagging, gasping]
[Lucy] Are you alive?
[distorted groaning]
[Lucy] Okay, so… kinda.
[voice distorted] Kill me.
[Lucy] What?
Kill me.
[Lucy] Oh, please, no.
Kill me.
[Lucy] No. No, look, we-we can… patch you up. Maybe. There’s no telling, uh, with the miracles of science these days?
Kill me.
[Lucy] No. I can’t, I…
Must kill…
[Lucy] No! Gosh! Why does everybody always want me to kill them all the time?
Kill me, please. Stop him. Kill me. Must kill me. Must… kill me.
[Lucy] Shut up!
Please.
[screaming]
[Claudia] Stop.
[Ronnie] You lied to us, Norm.
[Claudia] Ronnie, hey!
[Ronnie] You have no one to blame but yourself.
[Claudia] Ronnie, stop!
Let me go!
[Claudia] Ronnie, stop!
Let go of me!
[Ronnie] Don’t worry.
Ronnie!
[Ronnie] We’ll give him a fair trial.
Stop! No, don’t!
[Ronnie] This is America, after all.
Stop!
[Norm groaning]
What are you gonna do to him?
[Ronnie] You’re not one of us either, Claudia. You only got this job last week.
Let him go!
Get off!
[grunting]
[elevator pings]
[Claudia panting]
[metallic creaking]
[skittering]
[Claudia wincing]
[Claudia continues panting]
[sighs] There’s nothing there. I guess the roaches really don’t get that big after
[Radroach screeching]
[exclaiming]
[group screaming, shouting]
[screeching continues]
[shouting continues]
[screaming]
[Ronnie] Move!
[all screaming]
[Ronnie] Let’s go, come on!
[tense music playing]
[Norm] Oh, my God!
[Ronnie] Go! Go, go!
[screeching]
[shouting]
Let’s go!
Haul ass!
No! No! Not you!
[Claudia shouting]
No!
Get out the way!
Not you!
[Claudia] Let him in!
No room! You’re not getting in!
[Radroaches chittering]
[Radroach hissing]
[Radroaches chittering]
[all screaming]
[dramatic music playing]
[Robert House] Vault-Tec wanted an impenetrable Vault buried half a mile below the city, but I was always one step ahead.
[Ghoul] Uh-huh.
[Robert House] I rigged every aspect of the city so I could protect its future. I rigged every slot machine, every roulette wheel. Turn left. I even rigged their impenetrable Vault for management.
[Ghoul] Is that so?
[Robert House] But I miscalculated. Because this Vault belongs not to Vault-Tec but to their investors. I never fathomed there could be someone one step ahead of me. Until I saw your demon in the snow.
[Deathclaw roaring]
Come on!
[exclaiming]
[roaring]
[shouting]
[grunting]
[grunting]
[Armor beeping]
[Deathclaw growling]
[shouting]
Shit.
[Armor chiming]
Oh.
Oh, no.
[growling]
[Maximus] Come on.
[Thaddeus] Oh, Max.
[Deathclaw growling]
Fifty caps says he goes down in the next five minutes.
I’ll put 20 on three.
[Freesiders clamoring]
Okay, 20 on three.
[Deathclaw roaring]
[shouting continues]
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! [shouting] Five hundred says he wins.
Those are steep odds, kid.
He ain’t got no 500 caps.
Count it, losers. I used to make money for a living.
[excited chatter]
Alright, here we go.
[chatter continues]
[panting]
[eerie music playing]
[panting]
[Robert House] When it came to predicting the end of the world, I was off by just a smidge. But when it came to controlling the future, I was wholly outclassed by an invisible adversary. It was they who set the Deathclaws on Vegas. And now one of their acolytes is here, in this very building.
[Hank] Why’d you go and do that, Lucy? You know, Robert House wanted to turn human beings into machines. Erase their memories. Make them suggestible enough to follow his orders. You know, Robert, he was a bit of a robot himself. And who wants to live in a world full of robots? So… [sighs] what I was trying to do was to add a little personality to his product.
[Lucy] Who is she?
[Hank] Congresswoman Diane Welch, from Glendale. ISTP on the old Myers-Briggs, which is still the gold standard for personnel. Ideal personality to scale. With the kind of attributes we could stand to see more of out there in the world, if you ask me. Well-meaning. Sweet. Non-threatening.
[Lucy] Then, why would you do that to her?
[Hank] Well… Daddy’s job is complicated, sweetie.
[gasps]
[Robert] The Enclave’s eyes are everywhere. You should know, Mr. Howard. Two hundred years ago, you delivered that diode into their possession yourself. You helped bring forth the greatest threat to the Wasteland. You were their unwitting servant.
[Ghoul] I am what I am.
[Robert] Is that what you’ll tell your family if you find them?
[♪ Frank Sinatra: “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”]
♪ I’ve got you under my skin ♪
[Cooper] Cheers.
[glasses clinking]
[Barb] After all this, I’m thinking Bakersfield isn’t such a bad idea.
[Cooper] After all this, I say we go out as far as Colorado.
[Hank] Coop! Hey!
[Cooper] Henry.
[sighs]
[Hank] You make for one heck of a wingman.
[Cooper chuckles]
[Stephanie] Hello again.
[Hank] I don’t know what you said, but it worked.
[both chuckle]
[Stephanie] Can you believe it? We talked all night, and at four in the morning, this little romantic proposed.
[Hank] [laughing] She has a truly unbelievable resume for a hotel maid. I’m hoping Mr. Askins can find a job for her.
[Barb] Uh… maybe. [chuckles] And, uh, well… Congratulations to you both.
[Cooper] Congratulations.
[Stephanie chuckles]
[Hank] My parents are gonna kill me.
[Stephanie] Oh, come on, you.
[chuckles] Oh, okay. Bye.
♪ In spite of a warning voice ♪
♪ that comes in the night and repeats ♪
♪ Repeats in my ear ♪
[Cooper] Oh, thank you.
♪ Don’t you know, little fool ♪
[Barb] Am I crazy, or did we just come out of Vegas a couple of winners?
[Cooper] Huh.
♪ Use your mentality ♪
♪ Wake up to reality ♪
♪ But each time that I do,
just the thought of you ♪
♪ makes me stop before I begin ♪
[phone ringing]
♪ I’ve got you ♪
[all phones ringing]
[ringing continues]
[dramatic music playing]
[Lucy] What’s your endgame with all of this?
[Hank] Miniaturization. It’s the wave of the future. Soon, we won’t know who’s been automated and who hasn’t. You just have a little scar on your neck.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[Hank] Other than that… you’ll be my little girl again.
[Lucy] You’re insane.
[Hank] You don’t mean that. And if you do, very soon, you won’t.
[screaming]
[Legionary grunting]
[Lucy gasping, grunting]
[Lucy screaming]
[horn blares]
[clanking]
[metal doors creaking]
[Robert House] Your family’s cryo chambers are on subfloor seven.
[dramatic music playing]
[Deathclaw growling]
[alarm beeping]
[panting]
[Freesiders clamoring]
[roaring]
[roaring]
You know if he loses, we’re all dead, right?
I’m still in for 20.
[shouting continues]
[panting]
[Deathclaw roaring]
[Maximus] Come on!
[screeching]
[Deathclaw growling]
Come on. Yeah.
[roars]
[alarm blaring]
[groaning]
[gunshot]
[Deathclaw screeches]
[grunting]
[Maximus] [sighs] Thank you. Thank you, Thaddeus.
[Deathclaw roaring]
[growling, snarling]
I gotta reload.
[alarm blaring]
[glass cracking]
[grunting]
[Lucy grunting]
[shouting]
[Hank] We can start over, Lucy.
[whimpering]
[whooshing]
[thwack]
[gunshot]
[Hank] [grunts] [wincing] Come on! Ah!
[Ghoul] If it was up to me, it wouldn’t be your ass bleedin’ out all over the floor. But it ain’t up to me. What say you, Vaultie?
[dramatic music playing]
♪
[electricity zapping]
[alarm beeping]
[alarm blaring]
[panting softly]
[whispering] You’re a good boy, Max. And one day, you will be a good man.
[alarm continues]
[grunting]
Max, no!
[alarm continues]
[Deathclaw roaring]
[Deathclaw snarling]
[Deathclaw roaring]
[dramatic music playing]
[Deathclaw snarling]
[roaring]
He’s just a damn kid?
[Freesiders chattering]
Come on!
[gun cocking]
Let’s take back our town.
I’m not doing that.
[chatter continues]
[roaring]
Hold on!
[somber music playing]
[Maximus] Come on!
[roaring]
[gunshot]
[Maximus sighs]
No.
[heroic music playing]
[roars]
[whistle blowing]
[uplifting music playing]
Ten-hut! We got it from here.
[Deathclaw roaring in distance]
[Maximus] Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.
[dramatic music playing]
[Lucy] [sighs] You don’t get views like this in the Vault.
[Lucy] You know, I spent my whole life dreaming of what it would be like to come up to the surface one day. With you.
[Hank] I just wanted to make all this worthy of you. You know, I was almost looking forward to going back to the Vaults with you. It would have been nice to see everyone again. Norm. Betty. Stephanie. Ooh, boy, Stephanie. We’re not going back, are we?
[Lucy] Guess the surface changes a person.
[Hank] The Legion is coming. They’ll massacre everyone here, you know that. Lucy? With my help, you could stop them.
[Lucy] I need you to tell me what you were really doing here.
[Hank] And then?
[Lucy] Then I’m gonna turn you into the father I thought you were. You lied to me my whole life.
[Hank] I know that’s how you feel. You think this is the real world. The surface is the experiment. Not the Vaults.
[Lucy] What experiment?
[Hank] I’ve already sent my R&D out into the Wasteland. Their Boxes are the latest models, too. So you can’t even see them. Unbeknownst to everyone, they’re following orders written for them centuries ago.
[Lucy] Orders to do what? What did you do?
[Hank] I love you, Sugarbomb.
[Lucy] No! No! No! Dad. [whispering] Dad? No…
[panting]
[whimpering softly]
[Lucy [sobbing]
[sobbing]
Aw. Miss? Miss. You have a little smudge on the side. M-May I? There. Good as new.
[whispering] Yeah.
[gentle music playing]
[somber music playing]
[Lucy whimpering softly]
[sobbing]
[somber music continues playing]
[sniffling]
[Maximus] Lucy?
[music turns hopeful]
♪
[Vault 32ers] Open up!
[knocking]
Open up! Open up!
[knocking continues]
Open up! Open up!
Open up! Open up! Open up!
[banging] Open up! Open up! Open up! Open up!
[banging continues]
Open up! Open up!
[ominous music playing]
[banging continues]
Open up! Open up! Open up!
Open up! Open up!
[group continues chanting and banging]
Let this be a strong message to management, huh?
Death to management.
[all] Death to management. Death to management! Death to management!
[Stephanie] This is Stephanie Harper. Hank MacLean’s wife.
[group continues chanting]
[Stephanie] I don’t know how this works exactly, but he said that you were always listening, and…
[group] Death to management!
[Stephanie] If you can hear this… initiate Phase 2.
[ominous music playing]
[Stephanie] I repeat, this is Stephanie Harper. Hank MacLean’s wife. Initiate Phase 2. I repeat, initiate Phase 2.
[terminal blaring]
[Hank] This is Hank MacLean, reporting for duty, sir. Nobody in Vault-Tec knows I’m here.
[Norm] This is Norm MacLean from Vault 33. Dad, if you can hear me…
[overlapping voices echoing, distorting]
[Norm] What’s gonna happen to our Vault?
[ominous music playing]
[Norm] You’re okay. Let’s get you home.
[dramatic music playing]
[Robert] If your family is here, I’ll be happy for you. But what is your plan? How will you protect them? With the Enclave still out there, there is no safety, as I tried to warn you all those years ago.
[phones ringing]
[ringing continues, stops]
[Robert] I want you to know that it wasn’t me.
[Cooper] What wasn’t you?
[Robert] Whatever it is that’s about to happen. I told you, there are far worse people than I, Mr. Howard.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Robert] I commend you for trying to play the hero. I really do.
[foreboding music playing]
[soft music playing]
[sighs]
[Robert] Shall I open it, Mr. Howard?
[Ghoul] Open it.
[cryo pod hissing and whirring]
[dramatic music playing]
[Robert] What a shame. You bet on hope, Mr. Howard. And you lost.
Cooper Howard, we have here a warrant for your arrest by the authority of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
[dramatic music continues playing]
[Robert] You’ve been searching all this time.
[soft music playing]
[Robert] You’re still living in a world of fiction. A world that isn’t real.
[Ghoul] You’re wrong about that.
[Robert] You’ll forgive me if I don’t see how.
[Cooper] Act surprised and let me take the fall.
[Barb] Coop.
[Cooper] I acted alone. You didn’t know anything.
[Barb] No. No.
[Cooper] Okay?
[Barb] [whispering] Don’t admit to this. Don’t admit to any of it. We can fight this together.
[Cooper] [whispering] For her.
[soft music playing]
[Barb] [whispers] Coop.
[Ghoul] For the first time in 200 long-ass years… I know my family is alive.
[Robert] What are you doing? The Enclave is still out there. We’re not done, Mr. Howard. We have business.
[Ghoul] Not with me, you don’t.
[dramatic music playing]
[elevator pings]
[hopeful music playing]
[Lucy] [scoffs lightly] I could have prevented this. There’s gonna be a war and it’s… it’s all my fault.
[Maximus] Yeah, well…
[♪ The Ink Spots: “This is Worth Fighting For”]
[Maximus] Welcome to the Wasteland.
♪ I saw a peaceful old valley ♪
♪ with a carpet of corn for a floor ♪
♪ and I heard a voice within me whisper ♪
♪ this is worth fighting for ♪
♪ I saw a little old cabin ♪
[static hissing]
♪ and a river that flowed by the door ♪
♪ and I heard a voice within me whisper ♪
♪ this is worth fighting for ♪
♪ Didn’t I build that cabin? ♪
♪ Didn’t I plant that corn? ♪
♪ Didn’t my folks before me ♪
♪ fight for this country
before I was born? ♪
♪ I gathered ♪
♪ my loved ones around me ♪
♪ and I gazed at each face I adore ♪
♪ and I heard that voice
within me thunder ♪
♪ this is worth fighting for ♪
♪ The other day we passed
through a little old valley ♪
♪ Had a carpet of corn for a floor ♪
♪ and it seemed there was something
way down inside of me ♪
♪ kept saying,
“Son, that’s worth fighting for” ♪
♪ A little further along, we passed
an old dilapidated cabin ♪
♪ One of them kind with
old man river flowing right by the door ♪
♪ Seemed like this thing down
inside of me kept on saying ♪
♪ “Son, that’s worth fighting for,”
so I got to thinking ♪
♪ Didn’t I help to build that cabin? ♪
♪ And didn’t I help to plant that corn? ♪
♪ And didn’t my folks
way yonder before me ♪
♪ fight for this country
way before I was born? ♪
♪ I gathered my loved ones around me ♪
♪ and I gazed at each face I adored ♪
♪ and I heard that voice
within me thunder ♪
♪ this is worth fighting ♪
♪ for ♪
♪
[explosion booming]
[screaming]
[indistinct chatter]
[soldier] Better act fast.
[booming continues]
Alright, let’s go.
[loud knocking]
State your business.
[Vertibird whirring]
[explosions booming]
The remnants you requested.
Open it.
What is it?
Out of the virtue in my heart… I tried to unify the Brotherhood.
[explosion booms]
[distant shouting]
And look what it got me. No matter. No matter. Quintus the unifier is dead. Quintus the destroyer… is born.
[ominous music playing]
