The Wrangler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Episode 5
| "The Wrangler" | |
|---|---|
| Fallout episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Liz Friedlander |
| Written by | Owen Ellickson |
| Cinematography by | John Conroy |
| Editing by | Micah Gardner |
| Original air date | January 14, 2026 |
| Running time | 57 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Wrangler" is the fifth episode of the second season of the American post-apocalyptic drama television series Fallout. It is the thirteenth overall episode of the series and was written by co-executive producer Owen Ellickson, and directed by Liz Friedlander. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on January 14, 2026.
The series depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history of Earth where advances in nuclear technology after World War II led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout shelters known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. In the episode, the Ghoul and Lucy take refuge in New Vegas, while Norm discovers new information about Vault-Tec.
The episode received critical acclaim, with critics praising the reunion between Cooper Howard and Robert House, world-building, and ending.
In 2077, Cooper Howard arrives in Las Vegas, where he is assigned by Kate Williams to kill Robert House and retrieve the cold fusion technology. He refuses to kill House, making it clear he will just retrieve cold fusion. Accompanying Barb and Hank to the Lucky 38, he meets House at his penthouse suite, where House reveals he knows about Cooper's assignment and plans to use cold fusion to survive indefinitely, concluding that an oncoming nuclear war, caused by an unknown third party rather than himself or Vault-Tec, is inevitable. He also notes that day the war's certainty was calculated was the date of birth of Janey, Cooper's daughter. Cooper rejects House, consoling himself by drinking before confronting Barb of what he learned.
In 2296, Lucy and the Ghoul find themselves cornered by Deathclaws in the New Vegas Strip. They barely manage to evade them and take refuge in the Freeside district. While the Ghoul visits a bar, Lucy enters a shop, where she steals a power fist and a drug to remedy her addiction. When a thief posing as the owner becomes suspicious, Lucy kills him.
Norm and the Vault-Tec executives reach the ruins of the company's headquarters, gaining access to Barbara Howard's notes. On a computer, Norm uncovers information about the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV), and opens up to Claudia, a Vault-Tec executive who is critical of the company. However, Ronnie overhears their conversation; he overpowers and strangles him.
In the secret Vault-Tec facility, Hank kidnaps a California snake oil salesman and implants a control chip. After numerous failures, the chip finally works on the salesman.
When Lucy reunites with the Ghoul, they are approached by the now-mind-controlled salesman, who offers the safety of the Ghoul's family in exchange for Lucy's return to Vault 33. The Ghoul then reveals he brought Lucy to negotiate with Hank, and prepares to accept the deal, sedating Lucy. Upset with his betrayal, Lucy wakes up and uses the power fist to punch the Ghoul out of a window, impaling him on a pole. Before losing consciousness, she is greeted by Hank.
Production
Development
The episode was written by co-executive producer Owen Ellickson, and directed by Liz Friedlander. It was Ellickson's first writing credit and Friedlander's second directing credit.[1]
Writing
Justin Theroux admired the mystery surrounding House, "It's a character I haven't played before or it doesn't feel close to any other character I've played before. The writing is fantastic, so it's like tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. The directors were fabulous. And then obviously, the biggest tick is getting to, for the first time, work with Walton."[2] Theroux also said that reserving the character's big reveal until this episode was part of the plan, "I think that's part of the enigmatic charm of House is that there's proxy House. There are other Houses out there, but there's only one real House. And I think that's partly out of necessity, and also because he's just so weird that he can't really afford to go into the real world."[3] Rafi Silver, who plays his double, compared House's use of doubles to Howard Hughes, "we think that he has an actor playing him as the public persona, and that's who you are."[4]
Regarding the Ghoul's betrayal of Lucy, showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet said, "It's very jarring for her to realize that he's still using her. It's still exactly the dynamic that they had when they first met in Season 1, when he dangles her into the water to bait a Gulper to come potentially eat her."[5] She said that all the conflicts escalating would lead to some interesting plotlines, "I think may make her more receptive to what he is suggesting, but she's still Lucy. She's someone who also has a real, very deep core sense of morality and she doesn't trust her father and she knows he's a mass murderer and judges him tremendously. She's very conflicted about him. So I hope that audiences are excited to see what happens when the two of them are together."[6] Ella Purnell added that Lucy using the gauntlet to punch the Ghoul out of the window is a sign that she is becoming more like the Ghoul, "He said to her in Season 1, ‘You are me, sweetie, just give it time.’ This is what he means. It's that age-old prophecy: What you fear is what you create. She spent so long trying to not be like him and suppressing and it comes out."[7]
