'The Enclave' explained: Why new 'Fallout' Season 2 episode changes everything
The sophomore season of 'Fallout' is moving fast towards its impending conclusion. On the way, the Prime Video show is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that canonical events from the video game series are featured prominently on-screen. The most recent example would be a reference to 'The Enclave'. For those unfamiliar with the CRPG franchise, The Enclave is an umbrella term describing the pre-war technocratic military elite that claims exclusive authority over the American wasteland in the post-apocalyptic show.
The foreshadowing of The Enclave hints at an important role this elite faction may play in subsequent episodes and seasons of the show, chiefly as the main antagonist to Ella Purnell's Lucy and Walton Goggins' The Ghoul. The most recent episode was ominously titled 'The Other Player', and the name might not be a coincidence after all. As described by GamesRadar, Barbara's conversation with Dr. Wilzig revealed that Vault-Tec initially had no designs to drop the bombs that caused the apocalypse. Instead, the decision to drop the bombs was forced upon Vault-Tec, potentially opening the way towards the identification of The Enclave as the power responsible for the world's destruction.
Moreover, a super mutant, played by Ron Perlman, came to rescue The Ghoul as the latter had impaled himself after being hit by Lucy. While applying uranium to ease The Ghoul's suffering, the super mutant confessed that a war against The Enclave was indeed coming and that both The Ghoul and he were at risk of being exterminated; the Enclave considered them to be "impure".
GamesRadar explained that The Enclave was primarily formed by the pre-war government of the United States, and the then-President was christened as the supreme leader. The Enclave brings together the elites from all walks of life, including CEOs, military generals, and senior bureaucrats. As the first bombs dropped across the landscape, The Enclave retreated into safe underground bunkers with ample resources that would allow them to last for two or three decades. Their original plan required them to emerge out of hibernation at the end of this period and regain their control over whatever remained on the surface.
The Enclave was discovered by the public shortly before the dropping of the bombs. They chose to let the American citizens suffer and perish, as they did nothing to ensure their safety in the face of a nuclear apocalypse. They eventually transitioned into a fascist paramilitary clique with the sole intention of wiping out the entities on the surface. 'Fallout' Season 2 is exclusively available on Prime Video.
