So I watched the whole thing, I had a day off today (didn't time it like that) and I thought I'd share my opinions on it. I took a few notes thoughout but I'll give a TDLR then I'll go for spoilers to discuss it. As a prefix, I went in with low expectations.
TDLR: it's actually alright, the one thing that might bother me most is a few lore issues
Spoilers: To set this out, three things I have to state:
Fallout 2: 2241
Fallout New Vegas: 2281
This TV show Fallout: 2296
Ok now the timeline is set up I can state this, THEY NUKED SHADY SANDS AFTER 2277. NCR are practically gone, they either joined the Brotherhood, joined Vault 4 which is a Amazon made Vault along with 33, 32 and 31 or exist as a remnant faction. They were the raiders in the first episode that infiltrated 32 to get to the MC's Vault 33 to get her dad who turns out, an ORIGINAL vault tec employee and HE was the one that nuked Shady Sands...because his wife (MC's mom) found out NCR existed so they don't need to be in the vaults anymore. This was the BIG thing that stuck out to me as a "WTF they did this? This can't be cannon!?' moment. Oh and the show confirmed Vault-Tec started the great war, they arranged it in co-operation with Robco, Big MT, REPCONN and West-Tek. And the end of this show (which is setting up for a season 2) implied a House Wins ending for Fallout New Vegas
The good: Set design was on point, I can't really complain about that as they portrayed power Armour well. One of the main characters, the ghoul Cooper (best character) because he fought in them during the battle for anchorage KNEW their weakpoint so in the last episode took out several Brotherhood. The OST is still good and enjoyed seeing before the war and the action scenes were good and very gory.
The bad: Lore wise, it's a mess. Not just the whole 'a bad dad nuked Shady Sands' and no explanation for it other than 'he's a Vault-Tec employee', a lot of things were inconsistent. The West Coast Brotherhood having the same Vertibirds as the East coast and an airship not to mention the West Coast recruiting openly. The main 'bad woman' is over 200 years old but no explanation for it really, oh and shes the original creatir of Cold Fusion, that's the Macguffin everyone is working around (it was on an Enclave scientist which also Enclave exist on the MAINLAND WEST both Brotherhood and NCR wiped them out) and in the end, the Brotherhood now have access to cold fusion. The lore is such a mess to a long term gamer. Also apparently there's a serum now that halts Ghouls going feral, that's new. And no mention of any other vaults most critically Vault 15 which Shady Sands was built around.
The ugly: let's talk about how woke it is, to be honest it isn't that woke. The biggest woke character might be the 'main villain' who made to be the sympathetic villian as it was actually the MC's father fault. You might say the evil capitalists colluding with Vault-Tec not just to start the Great War (which goes against House's lore in Fallout NV) but the experiments in the vaults but that's a stretch as Cooper's wife who's Black, she's the cunt that proposes that idea in the meeting, so not painting diversity in a good light as the new villain in Vault 33 is also diverse. Maybe Knight Titus who was such an unlikeable dick was hating on white guys but he barely lasted one scene so meh.
Honestly, the best people were the white guys, the MC's brother using his own intellect investigates the truth behind their vault on their own and it's heavily implied either him or Betty the new Black overseer posioned all the raiders in revenge. Cooper as it showed prewar him discovering the truth behind Vault-Tec and as a Ghoul the guy everyone is scared to fuck with as he demonstrates his skills.
The main two, Lucy the Vault dweller and Maximus the Scribe are pretty incompetent. Lucy is just TOO naive for the wastelands and suffers everytime for it and Maximus is more aware of his surroundings but isn't the most competent or making the best decisions.
So that's my notes for Fallout series, I know it's weird, it ain't too woke, is actually alright but the one part it doesn't make sense is the lore timeline. This has to be a seperate TV universe is my only conclusion. Feel free to ask about any aspects of the show and I'll try answer as best I can.
Fallout 3 was a mistake. Rather than make make up new factions entirely, Bethesda just reused what was in the originals, like the Brotherhood, Enclave, and Super Mutants, inexplicably slapped them on the other side of the country, and made them bigger and more prominent than ever for no other reason than because they were "iconic." Now they're expected to be in every Fallout-related product no matter how little sense it makes (and no matter how many opportunities the games give us to wipe them out).
Yeah, when you compare it to Fallout New Vegas where it is a continuation that makes sense with the rise of the NCR, the issues with the Brotherhood, the Enclave remnants and even the Legion.
I do think that the Brotherhood split for 3 to happen is fine only because I don't want Liberty Prime to not exist and means there is a different direction kinda like tactics but not as huge.
Liberty Prime could've easily existed without the Brotherhood. Bethesda would've just needed to write a new faction occupying the Pentagon.
Honestly, they could have and should have just made an all-new similar faction to serve the purpose they did in FO3. The Brotherhood of Steel as it was in the original games consisted of the descendants of soldiers deployed to the Mariposa Military Base to oversee West Tek's research on FEV before they took refuge in the Lost Hills bunker. There are plenty of other secure places in the US where military personnel and/or tech obsessives could have been stationed, especially in proximity of the DC region, which could easily have been one of the most militarized places in the world. Heck, the FO3 Brotherhood equivalent could easily have formed from the people overseeing the Liberty Prime project! We didn't need a chunk of the Brotherhood to have hiked all the way from one coast to the other for that purpose.