The Fallout series has the world on its shoulders. Fan expectations couldn't be higher after a mess of titles with wildly varying success and failure. The first episode unleashes everything a relatively reasonably-minded fan could expect. The characters sparkle with enough wit to stay lovable. The jokes land or flop with roughly the same ratio as the gags in the games. The action set pieces work without blowing too many minds. It's a fun ride, but it hasn't reached its apex yet.