A romance set in the gaming world of Fallout 76 sounds like the spark for a basic, decent story idea. How it grows from the writer’s mind onto the page and ultimately into the ears of listeners is a different issue. That being execution. With the world already setup by Bethesda and the original developers behind the first two Fallout games, the writer of this romance, Brad Williams can focus on telling a story and not worry about continuity.
The Romance Genre: Tropes and Themes
The story uses the tropes found in not just romance, but the post-apocalypse genre and maybe a hint of “Romeo and Juliet’s” opening premise that’s blended together with the overall taste of this hearty piece of an aged queen mirelurk steak from the game itself. Being set in the world of Fallout, a setting all about factions and what happens post-nuclear war, romance is a story element that isn’t tied to the genre of fiction about a post-apocalyptic world. You can have a romance in pretty much any story. The question is what the setting adds to the tropes that romance genre fans will enjoy.
Romance as a genre is intrinsically formulaic. You know you’re getting a happily ever after by the end. The journey is the second most important thing on a macro level. It’s the will-they-won’t-they dynamic and the textual embodiment of Fabio on the the cover that’s both a cliche and not. Third, I’d argue, are the characters. All three aren’t mutually exclusive or all inclusive of every romance genre trope.
A Fallout 76 Love Triangle? I’ll Raise You a Romantic Rectangle
Love triangles are more like < than shaped like an actual triangle. A triangle has three sides, but often in romances it’s just one character who can’t decide between one person or the other. Those two romantic interests often don’t have feelings for the other one. The focal point is the main character and it branches off into them falling in love with both of them but having to choose one over the other.
This Fallout 76 romance isn’t just an actual triangle. It’s more a rectangle. There are four characters who have been involved somehow romantically. Amanda, Beth, Cindy and Odessa. At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist—Amanda, Beth and Cindy have a love triangle all on their own. Amanda and Beth have history together and so do Amanda and Cindy. Beth and Cindy are also a pairing. The odd grouping out are Amanda, Cindy and Casey. Someone who was with Beth in Vault 76. If those three have a past or even a spark, it’s mentioned briefly and ultimately doesn’t affect the story.
Some relationship pairings are deeper than others. Perhaps the most obvious one is the bond between Amanda and Beth. Their chemistry is perhaps even more apparent than the main couple of Odessa and Beth who meet in episode one and fall in love so quickly that it feels disingenuous to the people inside the story. Not to ship anyone, but
Character Dynamics and Plot
Plot is clearly second fiddle to characters, as Brad Williams has said in the minisodes published between seasons one and two. His focus was on character interactions and dynamics. For him, good characters can turn a good story great. However, you still need a plot. Otherwise the great story will just be good if everything else is done well. That’s where my complaints lie with this Fallout 76 romance.
It’s a breath of fresh air to not see the typical romantic comedy plot rehashed and have different story beats than one might expect in this first season. In terms of engagement I wasn’t invested until the episode with a content warning about an attempted sexual assault by one of the characters. After that, the only other episode aside from the finale that confused me was episode seven.
Playing 3D Chess in a Fallout 76 Holotape
As listeners we are trying our best to put round objects in round holes on iPad. We’re working on a 2D plane. Brad Williams is playing with real blocks and three dimensional space. That rectangle is actually a cube. I won’t try and explain what happens in episode seven. Do know, however, that I have so many questions. Key among them being is the journey up until Beth and Odessa a simulation? Is this Fallout 76 meets Inception?
Episode seven feels like a transition point for the moments we’re with Beth. As soon as she’s out, everything goes back to normal. On paper, this section of the story undoubtedly makes more sense than what one hears in the final product. Maybe not that much, but a difference nevertheless. With Odessa and Beth trying to perform espionage, having them call each other by their fake names so one scientist doesn’t get suspicious just plain confusing. After Beth escapes the simulation(s?), the trajectory returns until the last episode when the simulator aspect is brought up again. At that point, I gave up trying to understand what happened in those sequences. It’s probably an Occam’s razor situation, except the simplest possible solution eludes me.
The heart of the story for me was just shy of working the way the creator intended. The overall tone never wavered and that’s hard to do. It’s much easier, to the point of being accidental, to start with one story and end with another. The only thing linking them together are the characters, often times acting out of to force the ending to work. For this Fallout 76 romance, the external plot regarding the Morning Star was far more interesting for me than the will they won’t they dynamics between all the female characters. In short: the morning star plot was the more engaging, but handled less than ideally. The romance plot on the other hand was less interesting but handled better.
7.5/10 Stars
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