Remember the Enclave? It’s understandable if they’re not at the forefront of your mind; after all, Fallout has given us scant reason to dwell on them. Initially introduced in Season 1, this secretive group of merciless scientists emerged so early in the narrative that it was easy to confuse them with other factions like Vault-Tec or the Brotherhood of Steel. For those who haven’t delved into the video games, keeping track of these entities can be challenging — a testament to the complexity of this universe.

The Enclave’s influence in the series is far-reaching, being behind the coveted cold fusion relic and the loyal canine companion to the Ghoul. Both were spirited away by Wilzig, a scientist portrayed by Michael Emerson in what seemed like a one-off guest role. Wounded by the Ghoul, Wilzig chose to end his life to ensure Lucy could escape with the device, cleverly concealed in his severed head. This mirrored a pre-war concealment method involving Hank MacLean, though his head remained attached during the retrieval process. At this point, it appeared Wilzig and the Enclave’s storyline had concluded.

However, recent episodes have unveiled new twists. In the present timeline, a formidable mutant figure played by Ron Perlman reveals that the Enclave orchestrated the apocalypse. Flashbacks show them coercing Barb into proposing a catastrophic first-strike to America’s corporate leaders, threatening her family’s safety to ensure compliance. Delivering this ultimatum, under duress himself, was none other than Wilzig.

Barb later recounts this ordeal to her husband, Cooper Howard, when confronted about the catastrophic plan to drop the bombs. Her justification of protecting their daughter by risking countless lives does not elicit the sympathy she hoped for. When Cooper questions how she could make such a decision, she challenges him by asking if he wouldn’t do the same. In his pre-Ghoul state, it seems unlikely he would.

Yet, many might not hesitate at such moral quandaries. Social media often reveals individuals boasting about extreme actions they’d take for their loved ones. Recently, a viral post showcased a new father claiming he’d annihilate entire continents for a mere smile from his baby daughter. It’s doubtful this person even changes a diaper without prompting, yet here he is, eager to commit atrocities in the name of fatherhood.

Remind you of anyone? “Some things just never change,” Hank MacLean tells his daughter Lucy in the present. “People just wanna kill each other, don’t they? I think it’s the only way that people feel safe. It’s ironic, isn’ tit? To feel safe they have to kill each other.” It’s the raison d’être of the fascism we see playing out on American streets in 2026: In order to assuage our baseless fears, we must inflict terror on others.

There’s a similarly blunt argument made elsewhere in the episode that also reflects the modern right’s warped way of thinking. Down in Vault 33, we learn there’s no real master plan behind Reg’s inbreeding support group turned thinly veiled way of getting around ration restrictions. He just really wants to eat and drink a lot, and to share this bounty with as many people as possible, because living high on the hog rules! It’s true that Ron properly clocked Betty and the other Vault 31’ers he’s known as strange, but his credo is one of pure selfishness and privilege. 

“You don’t get extra rations because of who your parents were!” Betty tells him angrily after crashing the group’s meeting — which Reg pictures in his mind as an elaborately choreographed dance routine — with a phalanx of heavily armored guards.

“Actually, this is still America, so yes, we do!” Reg retorts. Aren’t all of them alive because of who their parents’ parents’ parents’ parents’ parents were? Doesn’t America exist because “Our ancestors put themselves first”? It does if you believe in the America they’ve been taught about, or the America we live in now.

“I don’t wanna hear about the weevil famine anymore!” Reg bellows when Betty brings up past environmental catastrophes.

“It feels good to hear someone finally say that out loud,” chimes in one of the group members. Hear that? That’s the sound of denialism — of people who don’t want to hear about climate change, or slavery, or the existence of trans people. They’re so proud of themselves for rejecting reality. They see it as a badge of courage! The whole exchange is one of the show’s most sledgehammer-subtle jokes yet, and also one of its funniest.

Up on the surface, the Ghoul has his own political struggle to sort out. He spends a day and night slowly going feral while impaled on that post because his satchel full of anti-feral drug vials is out of reach; there’s a terrific scene where he pulls himself up to the top of the post through sheer upper body strength, only to have a spasm and slide all the way back down. Fighting through the feral brain meltdown to remember his real name and that of his daughter is what enabled him to make the effort in the first place.

But then he’s effortlessly set free by Ron Perlman’s gargantuan mutant character, who repairs him with a chunk of uranium and tries to enlist him in the coming war between “abominations” like them and the humans who started it all: the Enclave. The Ghoul passes, so the mutant knocks him back out and dumps him far away from his hidden base. The Ghoul’s dog finds him help in the unlikely form of Maximus and Thaddeus, who briefly made his acquaintance last season, and who are now on the run with the cold-fusion relic.

Back to Hank and Lucy, it seems Hank has had a special interest in the brain-chip technology that Robert House dubbed “the Automated Man” back when he traded it to Vault-Tec in exchange for cold fusion. Perhaps that explains how he’s gotten so adept at finding and chipping new recruits fast enough to create an entire office pool from the wasteland’s various factions and weird loners. They make chips together like synchronized swimmers.

Hank voluntarily surrenders to Lucy, claiming he’s ready to stand judgement for what he did to the city of Shady Sands, in case he truly did go too far. But he takes the opportunity to quote-unquote prove that the technology is a force for good when a fight breaks out after Lucy refuses to push the button and brainwash members of two rival factions. When a lunatic from the Legion drives staples into the head of the New California Republic veteran played by Jon Gries, Lucy has no choice but to push the button and pacify them both. 

In the heat of the moment it’s hard to blame Lucy for wanting to save a man from getting gruesomely beaten to death. It’s not like she really thought through the full ramifications of mind-wiping two human beings, including the one she was trying to save, and did it anyway. But “disagreeing is a medical condition that requires coercive action by the state to cure” is also straight out of the fascist playbook, from the 1920s to the 2020s. There’s even a nod to how AI, in the form of Robert House’s robots, and brain-chipped humans are really two sides of the same coin: They’re the result of the ultra-rich overclass’s desire to own slaves who lack not only the right but even the ability to say no.

Heck, look at the big hurry Overseer Steph is in to marry Chet, announcing the wedding date without even letting him know. Might this have something to do with her desire to safeguard her child from whatever the next step of the master plan might be? 

Either way, you can rest assured that bastards like Steph are only ever gonna look out for them and theirs. It’s what unites all the rotten characters on this show: her, Hank, Barb, House, Quintus, even the Ghoul at his worst. It’s the basis of the factionalism that’s divided the wasteland and further decimated is population. It’s a mindset any society determined to survive would do well to reject.

Sean T. Collins (@seantcollins.com on Bluesky and theseantcollins on Patreon) has written about television for The New York Times, Vulture, Rolling Stone, and elsewhere. He is the author of Pain Don’t Hurt: Meditations on Road House. He lives with his family on Long Island.