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Hail, Caesar! Finally,we're getting closer to New Vegas Fallout season 2. While season 1 ended with a clear look at the iconic location from the 2010 game, the show’s writers don’t seem to be in a particular rush to get there. We didn't get to the post-apocalyptic den of hedonism in episode 4, but we were introduced to one of Fallout: New Vegas's iconic factions: Caesar's Legion — for better or worse.
[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Fallout season 2, episode 3.]
Seeing the Great Khans have set up shop in Novac in the season 2 premiere was exciting. Sure, the Khans are a third- or fourth-tier faction, at best, in New Vegas. Clearly, though, the game's inspiration is on full display. Episode 2 teased the introduction of perhaps the most iconic faction in the game, Caesar's Legion. Cut to episode 3, and we actually meet the faction.
Image: Prime Video
For those unfamiliar with New Vegas, the Legion is the faction you tend to run into the most. They are basically an army LARPing as Julius Caesar and his men, eager to rule over the Mojave Wasteland. And in pursuit of that goal, they will definitely hunt and kill you, should you wind up on their bad side. At least, that's how they used to be as one of the most-feared groups in the Mojave Wasteland, standing apart from the others roaming the desert, clad in football pads repurposed as body armor and ornamental warrior helmets that made them look far more regal in a sea of dirty rags and rusty armor.
Theoretically, introducing the Legion should be a major moment for Fallout season 2. The faction even gets its own title card at the beginning of the episode. Not only is the group a key player in the story of New Vegas, but two of the game’s potential endings see the group taking power over the region and ruling it with a bloody iron fist while violently rebuilding the city of New Vegas in their image — which includes enslaving or murdering anyone who opposes them.
Almost immediately, we are presented with a Legion that is just as bloodthirsty as they are in the game, with a Legate (second-in-command to Caesar) beheading a woman in front of Lucy (Ella Purnell). And while that action is clearly a threat, it's immediately underwhelming when the Legate unmasks himself to reveal Macaulay Culkin. Yes, the Home Alone kid.
Look, Macaulay Culkin rules, but seeing him under the mask of the Legate immediately injects an unnecessary bit of humor into what should be a tense moment. It's a fun bit of casting, but this is where the might and danger of Caesar's Legion needs to hit home. And while Fallout loves to mix its silliness with the brutality of the Wasteland, it's here that, as a New Vegas fan, I feel the ball was dropped.
The Legion, while still large, is a shell of itself. After the death of the previous Caesar, the faction split into two factions battling each other for supremacy. It's a pathetic outcome for what was one of the most exciting groups in the franchise.
Image: Prime Video
By contrast, we meet two surviving members of the New California Republic in the region in this episode, surviving despite the Legion cutting them off from their battalion and leaving them stranded. The timeline for the NCR's downfall in this area is murky. We have no idea when the Legion came for them and whether that was before the previous Caesar died. While the Legion can't stop fighting with itself, these two older soldiers refuse to give up their cause. And while The Ghoul trades their location to free Lucy from the Legion's capture, it's merely a ruse to further make the Legion look stupid.
As the Legion prepares its armies to take on the last two measly NCR soldiers in the region, The Ghoul ignites the civil war that's been brewing between the two sides. We don't know the final outcome, but when we last see the Legion, they are killing each other in a massive gunfight that overtakes their entire encampment.
If this is really the end of the group and not something to be revisited in future episodes, then it was a huge waste. It would have been better to simply not feature the Legion than to eradicate them after making them look like inferior warriors.
Fallout season 2 is just that: the second piece of a larger story surrounding the characters introduced in season 1. And while going to New Vegas had me thrilled as a fan of the game, the realization is setting in. Fallout: New Vegas is merely the backdrop for season 2, rather than the story of it. While I am enjoying seeing familiar locations and factions, the events of that game are long over. All that’s left is the aftermath.
Unfortunately, that means a pretty weak ending for a once-great faction like Caesar's Legion. Still, I remain hopeful that the show won't completely shy away from what fans love about New Vegas — beyond Novac, the Khans, and the Legion, we've also met Victor the Securitron robot. It's just unclear how it's going to be adapted and whether it's going to matter. That's scary, as someone who holds that came close to my heart.
When Fallout finally arrives in New Vegas, I have no idea what to expect. And while before thisepisode, that might have been an exciting feeling, now that I see what's become of the Legion, I'm afraid.