Like many, I had more or less given up on television. Hollywood has been so sucked into "modern audience" narratives that much of the entertainment we're served up has run together. No matter the title, you could take the characters and swap them out with one another and it wouldn't affect the tired themes and storyline one iota. 

I'm starting to wonder if that time is coming to an end, and we're about to crawl out through the fallout, baby.

I can't fully relay to you how happy I am to be writing this article. I've been playing the "Fallout" series of video games for years and they not only rank as one of my all-time favorite game series, but the post-apocalyptic world and ongoing stories within it are one of my all-time favorites ever told. I even wrote a hype piece on "Fallout 4" for The Federalist in 2015.

When it was announced that Fallout was getting a series on Amazon, my heart broke, especially since it was Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy at the helm. Some of you may recall that the duo is responsible for HBO's "Westworld," which achieved one of the greatest first seasons of a series ever made before it succumbed to the mind virus of modernity and proceeded to crater itself into a series few people cared about. 

(READ: The Fall of Westworld)

I'm such a huge fan of the "Fallout" series that I felt it only fair to give it a shot. I'm glad I did. 

Because it's a really good show. 

The basics of setting, acting, and storyline, along with character development, are all there and shining brightly. There's no modernity infecting the story. Characters do what it makes sense for them to do. They act and behave exactly as they would given their backgrounds and motivations. They grow and evolve based on the events they're put through. The plot twists (mostly) make sense.

I'll keep this relatively spoiler-free. 

The story revolves around three individuals playing out three storylines that weave and intersect together. There's Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell) a naive and happy-go-lucky dweller of a "vault," an underground community of tightly controlled people who are kept "safe" from the atomic fallout on the surface and continue the "American way" of life in these gigantic bunkers. Like all vault dwellers played by the players in the games, Lucy is forced to leave the safety of her underground shelter to pursue a goal.

There's Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire in the "Brotherhood of Steel," an organized paramilitary/religious group whose primary goal is to horde and control pre-war technology.

Finally, there's Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins), a Hollywood actor who survived the apocalypse by becoming a "ghoul," an intelligent zombie born by radiation and chemicals that are relatively immortal but always threaten to lose their humanity and become mindless killers. Post-war, Howard is a cold and cruel bounty hunter who seems to know more about the world around him than everyone else.

The trio eventually comes to pursue a man and his dog (players will know the dog as the loveable and faithful companion "Dogmeat"), and all for different reasons. Lucy wants the man because delivering him to a group of raiders would result in the return of her father, Maximus wants him because he wishes to prove himself to the Brotherhood, and Howard wants him for reasons that only become truly known at the end of the show.

These motivations sometimes have the three working together, and sometimes working against each other, but as events unfold, great mysteries are unveiled. This is helped along by the events happening in the vault Lucy left behind as her younger brother Norm MacLean (Moises Arias) uncovers the dark truth behind the vaults. 

You can't help but love the characters, even the ones you find annoying at first. I wasn't surprised by how good of a performance Goggins delivered, especially playing what amounted to two different characters, a pre-war and post-war version of Howard. What I was drawn in by was Purnell's depiction of Lucy, who probably had the greatest character arc of the three and truly pulled off going from an innocent and ignorant vault dweller to a somewhat hardened wasteland survivor. Arias delivers an incredible performance as well, as he starts as a grade-A coward but evolves thanks to spite and bitterness at his situation. 

Despite my glowing attitude toward it, the show does have some problems. The setting is oftentimes spot on but there are moments where it becomes a bit too green, taking you out of the post-apocalyptic feel from time to time. Some of the props truly look like they came fresh out of a cosplayer's garage. The necessary dark humor is definitely present but there's one moment where the humor stops being dark and gets kind of elementary. You'll know it when you see it. 

But these are minor complaints. Nolan did what many showrunners nowadays fail to do, and that's sticking to the source material. There were little details non-fans of the game won't even notice but as a massive fan of the games, I surely did. The very feel of the games was there, including the technology and locations. The storyline feels as if it belongs in the "Fallout" universe. Even the music from the games shows up from time to time. 

Nolan nailed it. He showed great respect for the series, the lore, and most importantly, the fans. There's clearly been a setup for a second season which takes place in arguably the most popular location in the "Fallout" series, New Vegas, and we'll see if Nolan can deliver a second season that keeps up with the first, but for now, you can enjoy what he's delivered. The first season of "Fallout" matches the quality of what he delivered to us in the first season of "Westworld," and he deserves all the applause for that.

I have to say, there's been something of a turnaround on television happening lately. It feels more like a slow trickle, but I'm hoping it'll truly become a rushing wave soon. Between "Fallout" and shows like "Shogun" on FX, 2024 is churning out some pretty decent television. Even the latest offerings from children's shows like "Bluey" seem to be adding a new element of well-written, well-thought-out entertainment that doesn't push messages and has very fascinating storylines and characters you get attached to. 

"Fallout" isn't going to be for everyone. It can be dark, offputting, bloody, and sometimes grotesque, but if you're relatively desensitized, and have a dark sense of humor that loves a good story with ups and downs, then this series is for you.