#auguryintheether

Heavy spoilers, read at own risk. It's gonna be long one, so giddyup, buttercup.

*The Legion

They had a very small part in this episode but ultimately their role leads to Lucy chasing after the Ghoul (see Lucy's section down below). Lacerta Legate is comparable to other story villains who act out of fear of their worlds turning upside down, and Macaulay Culkin nails the part of someone reacting (not responding) out of fear of their entire identity (as a follower of "the mighty Caesar") crashing.

Lacerta Legate is actively trying to deny that his entire life has been a lie. THIS IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST THEMES IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. The life previously led has all been nothing but a LIE, a facade.

Think of any other characters yet who fit that bill? Allow me:

Lucy MacLean

Norm MacLean

Rose MacLean

Hank MacLean

Betty Pearson

Cooper Howard

The Ghoul (they are two different characters as of S2 finale)

Barb Howard

Steph Harper

Chet (son and "father" of ... Chet Jr)

Reg McPhee

Woody Cherry

Maximus

Thaddeus

Kate Williams/Lee Moldaver

All of these characters experienced their entire lives turning upside down and learning their lives had been a lie. In one form or another, they learned this, sometimes multiple times. Some took action that influenced others, some took action that influenced only their own personal life. They are all trying/tried to cope within familiarity before they realized they had passed the point of no return. But they all experienced their lives being revealed as one massive lie.

*Robert House

Robert House and the Ghoul meet again. Did anyone else catch how computer-House recognized the Ghoul as Cooper Howard when the Ghoul wasn't even wearing a Pip-boy yet? The Ghoul hasn't been in the Lucky 38 since the year 2077, when he was still Cooper Howard. How did House know? Anyone could have activated the cold fusion relic in House's hq. Either House had aqthat activated when the Ghoul activated the cold fusion, or House on the screens was a VI programmed to expect and interact with only Cooper Howard. Which means House may have something to do with Cooper becoming the Ghoul.

House mentioned he was "alive again." The reason I bring this up is because there is a fan theory that the cold fusion, once activated a certain way, can cure Cooper of his ghoulism; re-write the genetic code to how it was at birth, restore tissue, essentially "fix" him (when there are no other possibly theories for curing ghoulism). Hence:

The Season 2 Finale pointed huge flashing arrows all around this theory when the Ghoul asks "What happens if I shoot this thing?" and it suddenly becomes the biggest WHAT IF the show has experienced yet. "Unclear," answers House, "There's only ever been one of them, so it would be fresh snow from a scientific standpoint. BUT IF IT WERE TO EXPEL ALL OF ITS ENERGY SIMULTANEOUSLY, DAMAGE WOULD LIKELY EXTEND TO OTHER PLANETS."

A few thoughts here:

Canonically, the entire planet has been bombed and taken severe radiation damage to its major cities and ports, anywhere with resources for potential Vault-tec/West-tek, Rob-Co, etc competition, a bomb or many went off. And anywhere that has the potential to be competition is going to have things that humans need to rebuild: ore, metal, farming, textiles, mass water treatment, mass food production, electrical resources, etc. If the desctrution of the cold fusion diode affects other planets by expelling its energy all at once, that would mean that COLD FUSION NEGATES RADIATION. It could heal the planet, it could make other planets become habitiable. Somewhere down the line in the next season, I'm betting the Ghoul and Lucy find out that destroying Cold Fusion negates the effects of radiation.

There is only one cold fusion diode, so eventually - and why mention it if they don't plan on trying it? - someone will have to VOLUNTEER TO TEST IT. To stand in the immediate radial affect WHILE they destroy it. And it will be done out of extreme desperation during an extreme emotional climax (because it's Fallout, nothing extreme is never apathetic)

There is a chem/drug in the Fallout lore that creates ghouls almost instantly (compared to gradually). Mayor Hancock of Fo4 used it. Eddie Winter of Fo4 took it. Since there was a will and a way, it only goes to stand that there is somewhere in the wasteland a will and a way for the reversal of it. The Institute in Fo4 already had figured out how to create super mutants and then they figured out a cure to reverse that process, when super mutants over time - like ghouls - lose their senility and coordination and pretty much any other mental faculties that make make a human humane. If a reversal could be done for super mutants, it stands to reason that someone out there is working on or has made a cure for ghoulism. On a low scale, this might only work for newly-acquired ghoulism. But on a huge scale - like shooting an activated Cold Fusion diode - could work on some of the most stubborn genetic mutations. Ghouls like Ghoul Cooper, super mutants, centaurs, gulpers, etc. That the Cold Fusion diode could be that cure is not outlandish for the Fallout lore.

This heavily imples that in the end, Ghoul Cooper Howard will save the world by sacrificing himself. With his daughter Janey being the primary focus for surviving and her not being in her cryo pod, he is going to do what he can to make the world safe for her again.

THE COLD FUSION ACTIVATION MUSIC FROM S1 FINALE IS NOW THE GHOUL'S THEME SONG. Ghoul Cooper Howard is the Cold Fusion. He's the change that will heal the nuclear wasteland. No more yodel. No more Big Iron. The Cold Fusion music.

The Ghoul asks Mr. House why he never told him about the vault for management in Vegas. House's response is "Because you hadn't yet brought me the diode." I specifically wanted to touch on this part because it shows Robert House's character. House is many things, but he is not a liar. He only withholds information only until the person speaking to him has exceeded the need-to-know checkpoint. We see a few scenes in Season 2 where pre-war Cooper Howard passed these need-to-know checkpoints.

Let's head back to the conversation "from the fuckin' toilet" back in S2 E3:

House stands against the wall calling out Cooper Howard a "pinko", aka Communist, which is what Cooper would be seen as eventually after associating with Kate Williams - if you remember S1 E1 at the birthday party, the bday boy's dad and dad's friends call Coop. But as of that moment in the restroom, Cooper Howard was not yet seen as a "pinko." He was seen as Vaut-Tec's Doomsday golden child, which struck fear into people, and if people stop watching Cooper Howard movies out of fear, Hollywood loses significant revenue. But instead of House calling Cooper some doomsday crier, House insists that he's a pinko.

Flash forward to S2 S8 that mass wave of pay phones ringing, and it's obvious something is sketchy. Cooper is the ONLY one to try to answer them. RIGHT before Cooper Howard is arrested for (as the entire show has strongly hinted at) being a Communist. Which was a treated as a felony (even though it was legally not; but instead laws like the Smith Act of 1940 made it illegal to forcefully overthrow government which affected only communism. I don't know if the Smith Act is part of canon Fallout lore). There are what looks like 1940's MIB standing around staring at Cooper. House tries to warn him "Whatever is about to happen wasn't me," we get a flashback to Cooper handing the Cold Fusion diode to the so-called President. If that really was the canonical US President, it's safe to say he saw Cooper Howard as a threat because - as Kate Williams (Moldaver) once said - "Fame is a rare kind of power. You get to sit in rooms that I can't, meet people that I could never."

S2 E6 in the elevator, Barb Howard is cornered by Wilzig, who we all knew worked for The Enclave. He tells Barb she will do as instructed or else because she is a replaceable part.

Now let's take this info to S2 E7 "The Handoff". The title of it more significant than just the diode. Cooper meets with Rep Welch, who says she can get him an audience with the President - somebody Kate Williams could never meet. Then we see Barb Howard escorting Cooper to a black car, of how she suddenly - after super intense discourse moments with Cooper in private - suddenly had a very big smile and wanted to save the world alongside Cooper and seemed very supportive and optimisic, which optimism is the opposite of Barb Howard the entire series. Think of the title of that episode again: The Handoff. It wasn't JUST Cooper Howard handing off the Cold Fusion diode to someone he hoped was a good person. It was also Barb Howard handing off Cooper to someone she had to have known, given her position in Vault-Tec and personal communication with House (decoy House, but he spoke for Robert House), would do what they could to silence him.

To further emphasize Barb handing off Cooper, cut to the next scene in S2 E6 where Barb told him she was threatened in the elevator and then immediately tells him "please, you don't need to get involved in any of this." THEN WHY TELL HER HUSBAND SHE WAS THREATENED IN AN ELEVATOR AT WORK? It is clear that Barb was passive aggressively - which she did all through season 1 - provoke Cooper into action. (don't get mad at me, I'm not the one who wrote the show. This is just an observation from someone who has lived many years with passive aggressive mental abuse).

I believe House knew about Barb handing off Cooper to the Enclave.

I'm not saying Robert House is the Good Guy in this show or in Fallout Lore in general. But I am saying his character is not one to lie, he willingly opens up when someone has arrived at the need-to-know checkpoint, he was already a fan of Cooper Howard because of the influence Cooper Howard had over the people - like Kate Williams said. But I believe that Robert House took a liking to Cooper Howard - and likewise Rep Welch (see her section below) because of their pure values, their ideals that everyone was ultimately good underneath and if that goodness was pushed a little harder, then society would be perfect and peaceful.

Robert House would have wanted people like that to influence others into accepting his inventions, because he was genuinely (as are all billionaires) dissasociated from the life of the working man and thought that his inventions were helping people, when in reality the cost and labor was kiling the people.

Robert House needed Cooper because of Cooper's moral code to do the right thing like a martyr. This is why he tried to warn Cooper via the mass-ringing payphones (when one didn't work, he made all of them ring), and he insisted it was not him. But Robert House had eyes all over Vegas, so he knew someone was plotting something, he had to have known the Enclave was invovled (they had traceable tech), he had to have known the President was involved with the Enclave (they started out as a branch of the US government), he saw Barb hand over Cooper to the Enclave. And right before the arrest happens, Barb Howard steps up like she's expecting something, Cooper thinks she's not involved so he tells her to play along FOR JANEY - which was Barb's whole argument for wanting to drop the bombs. House tells him (over the phone and in the post-war Pip-boy) "You bet on hope, and you lost" - and that was Cooper's exact reason for handing over the Cold Fusion diode, hope that it would end up in good hands, and he hoped that Barb was pointing him in the right direction. Hoping that Barb's tears after the HUAC agents arrested him were real.

House brings the opening Legate theme to a full circle close by telling the Ghoul: "You're still living in a world of FICTION, a world that isn't real." This signifies that like the Legate and Lucy and Max's time in the Brotherhood, the Ghoul is living in Wishful Thinking, thinking he is fighting for a cause grander than himself and his family. This means that Mr. House knew and recognized, from their meeting at the Lucky 38 pre-war, that Cooper Howard then was living the ignorance is bliss life on a few different levels - the perception of who was actually a communist, what the so-called communists actually fought for and against, how Cooper's submissive nature even when faced with suspicions led him to allowing himself to be used as a puppet. House could see that Cooper, in his desperation to do the right thing and have his life go back to normal, was letting himself remain in a puppet's world.

Robert House has been trying to keep Cooper Howard grounded this whole time, from the moment Cooper started thinking for himself instead of blindly believing everything he was told.

Again, not saying House is good, but House tried to prevent what he saw as potentially one of his greatest assets from being able to do what he needed Cooper to do - which was bring him the Cold Fusion diode, because Cooper had access to it because Barb had access to it. No one would have thought twice about a Hollywood star chatting up a suave gentleman at a Lucky 38 bar in Vegas.

*The Ghoul

Focusing primarliy on the post-war Cooper Howard now, the Ghoul he became.

To elimiate the obvious first off, Lucy has changed him. In some areas, for the better:

Lucy spent the entire first half of Season 2 emphasizing hope. Don't give up, conduct yourself right to give others hope, pointing out that hope is still inside the Ghoul even though he pretends it's not.

Trying to change his bahavior with lines like "don't you want [your family] to like you?" and telling him (the entire story of) A Christmas Carol, and suggest they try asking politely first before drawing guns and making demands.

She's given him someone to mentor, in a way. He's remembering that he's able to help people through situations he's struggled with (do mo' drugs).

He tips his hat at her the entire season - actual tipping of the hat, a very obvious courtesy to a woman that a cowboy fancies or respects. He did this to acknowledge her help (a silent thank you) or that he appreciated her presence. (different from the under-the-brim swipe that he does when he normally used for men)

He's learned to smile and laugh again and not from making people feel threatened.

Lucy looked at him, touched him, smiled at him, sought his approval as if he wasn't a ghoul - of which the wasteland heavily prejudices against. She made him feel good and human again.

In some ways, she's changed him for worse - because the nature of the wasteland demands harsher approaches:

The Ghoul now has hope in the little everyday things again.

He's trying to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, now, and assume they have good intentions

He's learned to share again, he's learned how to be a friend again

WHY are these bad things?

Because now the Ghoul is starting to become delusional with hope. She inspired him so much with her hope that people really are good underneath, and her persistence in helping without judgement... that now the Ghoul - like he was at the end of S2 E7 - has blind hope for his future.

In S2 E5 when he hands Lucy over - at the relay of a message from a man too chicken to come speak to the Ghoul himself - the Ghoul is so overwhelmed with hope (the hope that Lucy taught him) that he blindly trusts Hank MacLean's word that Lucy will be safe, that Hank MacLean won't touch Janey's cryo pod, and that everything will be fine. No questions asked, no suspicion. Lucy was suspicious - but the Ghoul's sight at that moment was so deeply distorted by blind hope that he allowed himself to believe Hank's lie. Just like in S2 E7 "The Handoff" when he let Barb walk him to the car with the people who would try to silence him. He blindly believed that Barb was optimistic when she'd never been so in any other of his memories, he blindly believed Rep Welch knew what she was doing because she was a good person.

And after befriending Lucy and learning to hope again, Cooper Howard, now over 260 yrs old, was falling into the exact same trap that led to his ghoulism and the wasteland all over again.

Those last words in the Season 2 finale from Mr. House via the Pip-boy, that the Ghouls is "still living in a world of fiction", The Ghoul immediately counters with "You're wrong about that" - connecting yet another parallel between him and the Lucy he first met. Lucy may be transforming to adapt to the wasteland, but the Ghoul is devolving back to humanity - the same humanity that made him a ghoul in a wasteland in the first place.

All of that said, let's look deeper at his behavior in S2 E8:

The Ghoul is going to need saving, and Lucy is going to have to be the one to do it.

Lucy is the ONLY one in the entire wasteland to move him emotionally. When the time comes for him to make incredibly important decisions - ones that might affect only him, or only the two of them, or the whole world - Lucy is going to be the one to balance him again and get him to open his eyes to see reality so he stops trying to achieve something that no longer exists/never existed or that which will hurt him...

.... Which is what Robert House was doing all along.

But Cooper Howard never had a connection with House like he did as the Ghoul with Lucy. Lucy was the first and only person in the wasteland to appreciate him, to appreciate his efforts and his company. Everyone else he knew was a transactional experience; bounties, vials, etc.

It will happen again because Lucy already balanced him once - but that balance was cut prematurely by the Ghoul's need for character growth which came in the form of blind hope. That blind hope will for certain land him in a predicament he will lose his hope in and act out of desperation, and Lucy will need to snap him out of it.

Now let's talk about Freeside and him helping Max and Thaddeus in S2 E7. Max couldn't figure out why the Ghoul would help them. The Ghoul gave them armor and weapons, and Max believed it was transactional, like the Ghoul said.

BUT THEN WE ACTUALLY SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN FREESIDE.

Max starts to get overpowered by the Deathclaws, they throw him through the gate and let themselves in.

Real quick, let's go back to S2 E7 when Max tells Thaddeus to ditch the power armor because it has a tracker. Even in the games, power armor has a tracker.

Back to S2 E8. The Deathclaws are coming, and his NCR Power Armor registers the threat and automatically actives the heavy weapons. And for a moment, Max kicks ass. But then the suit is compromised, it won't stop beeping in error, so much that Max has no choice but to exit his armor and try his luck with a pole and a makeshift shield. And right as the deathclaw is about to attack, it's gets shot in the head. Thaddeus points us to an overhang, and there is an NCR Ranger, who takes another shot to blow off the head of the other deathclaw. Then we see an entire echelon of NCR soldiers marching through Freeside and Captain Rodriguez tells Max they'll take it from there.

Bounce back to S2 E3 when the Ghoul seeks out the NCR Rangers for help against the Legion so he can save Lucy. "I came to the NCR looking for help based on the cozy-ass assumption that the good guys would prevail in the great state of Nevada," the Ghoul told Captain Rodriguez. The Ghoul believes the NCR are the Good Guys. When he brought Lucy back to heal at their camp, we can only assume Lucy's Pip-boy helped those 3 Rangers contact their battalion. The Ghoul made that happen for his good guys.

In S2 E7 the Ghoul told Max and Thaddeus that they would do like Robert House did and "rig the game." It seemed, at the time, that he was simply using Max and Thaddeus as fodder, because prior to befriending Lucy, that's what the Ghoul would have done.

But he wasn't talking about having armor and weapons. The Ghoul knew the NCR would respond to the tracker in dormant Power Armor powering up and then suddenly getting compromised by heavy force. He knew that tracker would lead the NCR straight to Freeside.

HE CALLED IN THE FUCKING CAVALRY with that power armor. HE RIGGED THE GAME so the deathclaws couldn't possibly win.

And that is all due to Lucy's influence on him. Before he met Lucy, before she showed off her Golden Rule and helped him outside that Super Duper Mart with the vials even though he'd sold her, the Ghoul would have used the townsfolk as bait and hid out of sight until there was a clear path to the Lucky 38.

Lucy taught him to hope again, that good comes from not giving up hope.

And unfortunately, just like we're shown at the end of S2 E7, in his desperation to find his family, the Ghoul is drowning all over again with blind hope. And he's clearly not listening to Mr. House's or that super mutant's advice, and he doesn't trust Max, and definitely not Thaddeus (with his shoulder mouth). The only one left to snap him out of it and bring him up for air is Lucy.

*Representative Welch

An almost mono-toned politician who believes in fairness and freedom for all, yet lacks the spine to assert herself in public. She did just fine with Cooper Howard at the Wrangler pre-war. But when it matters in public, she goes soft and lets others push her around or make fun of her.

A lot of people wondered how, in S2 E7, Welch - as a mere Representative - and one who'd been in jail right before that Wrangler scene - knew about what Barb Howard was doing in Vegas or how she could get Cooper Howard a meeting with the President of the US.

Back to: S2 E3, when Welch is hosting the Veteran's Hall event, who do we see in the restroom but Robert House.

Other than her lack of spine, Welch is the exact kind of person that pre-war Cooper Howard would trust to run the country.

At the end of S2 E7 and begging of S2 Finale, we see Welch's head, attached to the same control device as House used to control his computers in the Penthouse of the Lucky 38. This seemed to strongly suggest that Diane Welch was a plant requests by Robert House to lure in Cooper Howard, who didn't seem a big fan of politics at the time.

In the car with Welch, Cooper hands over the Cold Fusion diode to the apparent-President of the US. Because of House's presence at the Veteran's Hall, we're under the assumption that Mr. House acquires the Cold Fusion.

But we need to take a couple steps back again:

--S1 E2, Wilzig at the Enclave base had the Cold Fusion diode, and there he inserted it into his neck. ------Remember, too, that Moldaver (Kate Williams), who factioned with the NCR, paid a LOT of caps to get Wilzig with the Codl Fusion diode to her at the Ovservatory. --S2 E3, Victor in the abandoned Camp Golf site, tells the Ghoul that Mr. House didn't live forever because he never got the Cold Fusion diode, and "Didn't YOU have something to do with that?" Victor asked the Ghoul. -While the Ghoul is walking through the underground Vault-tec HQ, Robert House on the Pip-boy reminds him "The Enclave's eyes are everywhere. You should know, Mr. Howard. 200 years ago, you delivered that diode into their possession yourself. You were there unwitting servant." ------Remember that Wilzig told Barb Howard in the elevator to comply or else, and that Barb herself escorted Cooper to that car with the President and Rep Welch.

This leaves us with one concusion with the following points combined:

Willingly or unwilling, Representative Diane Welch was being controlled by the Enclave. Likely unwilling, because she believed that the President of the US was a good person who would do the right thing with the Cold Fusion. The Enclave started out as a secret pre-war government program, so it's not surprising for her to have been in contact with them.

Likely to silence her, Vault-tec ended up using Welch's head - her brain, her ideals, her personality - as their mainframe. Because the Cold Fusion diode was in truth given to THE ENCLAVE that night in the car, it's safe to say that the Enclave gave Welch to Vault-Tec to silence her when she found out. Vault-tec already had some of Mr. House's technology, as Barb told Cooper in S1 E6, Bud Askins was the one who liscened Rob-Co tech for Vault-tec.

While the Ghoul is walking through the underground maze beneath the Lucky 38 in the Vault-Tec HQ, Robert House tells him that the entire structure actually belonged to Vault-tec's investors instead of him. It explains how Wilzig was able to get into that elevator with Barb Howard.

Vault-tec belongs to the Enclave.

Based on this, it is no wonder the head of Diane Welch begged Lucy for a mercy kill. Someone who chose that option (like brain-on-a-roomba Bud Askins) would have been merely bored but still preferred it to death. But Welch begged Lucy to kill her.

*Barb Howard

She doesn't have a big role in this episode, so let's focus on the song that plays when Barb Howard is walking through the airport with Cooper before the phones all ring at once:

I've got you under my skin I have got you, deep in the heart of me So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me I've got you under my skin I'd tried so, not to give in And I said to myself this affair it never will go so well But why should I try to resist when baby I know so well That I've got you under my skin I'd sacrifice anything come what might For the sake of having you near In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night And repeats, repeats in my ear Don't you know, you fool You never can win Use your mentality Wake up to reality And each time I do just the thought of you Makes me stop before I begin 'Cause I've got you under my skin I would sacrifice anything come what might For the sake of having you near In spite of a warning voice comes in the night And repeats how it yells in my ear Don't you know little fool You never can win Why not use your mentality Step up, wake up to reality But each time I, just the thought of you Makes me stop just before I begin Because I've got you under my skin Yes, I've got you under my skin

Fallout, especially this show, uses songs for 2 reasons: to describe the scene without characters actually talking, and to describe the characters themselves. If you're interested, I compiled all the songs throughout the whole show (S1 and S2) that tells what the songs mean and what they describe. It's worth looking at, if this particular section confuses you.

THIS VERSE RIGHT HERE is particularly interesting and telling:

I'd sacrifice anything come what might For the sake of having you near In spite of a warning voice that comes in the night And repeats, repeats in my ear Don't you know, you fool You never can win

Barb has been planning since the earlierst memory we have of Cooper Howard to LITERALLY SACRIFICE ANYTHING to keep Cooper and Janey with her. DESPITE Cooper constantly challenging the rules and the motives of the Vaults and asking questions Barb is not supposed to answer. Given their argument at the table in S1 E6, it seems like Barb Howard lost control of her fear of what might happen (war, atomic bombs) when Cooper was drafted for the war in Anchorage, and now she is unable to separate what might happen with it's happening and we're going to die if you dont' agree with me.

Cooper's constant questions became that "warning voice in the night that repeats 'don't you know, fool, you can never win'". Because Barb has let fear completely take over her common sense, this panics her, and that is why we see her getting short with him through Season 1, why she never denies that's she's going to launch the bombs, why she never says IF the bombs fall and only says WHEN the bombs fall, and other countless passive aggressive remarks and actions (lying to Coop that the vault suits really protect against radiation is a good one).

These two lines speak directly about both pre-war and post-war Cooper:

Why not use your mentality Step up, wake up to reality

Robert House tried to get him in both eras to stop living in a dream. It is also what the Ghoul tried to teach Lucy through Season 1 and in S2 E1-2.

Let's aslo look back at S2 E7 "The Handoff". Barb Howard spent the entire episode in Cooper's memories arguing how she wasn't the worst person and how she's willing to bomb everyone to keep only Janey alive. Then she suddenly switched gears at the very end and was suddenly optimistic - when she never has been the entire 2 seasons - and she actied like Cooper handing the Cold Fusion diode over was going to save them

when we now know the Enclave owned Vault-tec the whole time and it was really the Enclave who Cooper gave the Cold Fusion diode to

Barb escorted Cooper TO the car to make sure he gave the "President" the Cold Fusion.

Pair all of that with those song lyrics, and BARB KNEW. Barb KNEW what she was doing, and she pretended like she didn't know that her real boss, the Enclave, would do what they could to keep Cooper from digging into the truth and blabbering to the world because - again, as Kate Williams told Cooper in S2 E1 that fame was a rare power that ensured Cooper could get special audiences that normal people couldn't. If Cooper found out the truth, he could have blabbed to anyone.

When Cooper put down that phone in the airport in the S2 Finale, Barb was expecting something she didn't want to see. Why else would she expect something she didn't want to see if she didn't already know? The instant all the phones started ringing at once - when Cooper didn't pick up the first time - Barb knew who it was on the other end. The look on her face said it. And Cooper had already long since put his blind trust in the wrong people, he was still drowning in desperate hope and didn't want to believe his wife the mother of his child was past the point of no return.

"Am I crazy, or did we just come out of Vegas a couple of winners?" Barb asks with a smile that does not reach her eyes, right before they pass a Vault-tec billboard that reads "YOU NEVER KNOW. DON'T WAIT UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE," as if an omen for Cooper to turn and run. Barb ignores the billboard completely, nose turned up everything, that fake smile still on her face. And too late comes when Barb notices the phones all ringing at once.

After observation by other viewers when they sat the tarot cards on the wall of Lucy and the Ghoul's Atomic Wrangler motel room, they matched all the cards to all the characters, and Barb fit the Empress. In Season 1 we were shown the Empress upright with slow, very passive nods to the Empress Reversed as Cooper's memories progressed. In Season 2, all we see of Barb is the Empress Reversed: Insecurity, lack of confidence, lack of growth, overbearing tendencies, disharmony, negligence. Letting irrational fear of the bombs lead her life makes her all of those.

Villains aren't always evil. Barb is not evil, and I will argue this point to the death. But acting solely out of fear to the point that she is irrational about those fears and can no longer see the world without those fears, it does make her a villain.

*Lucy

Lucy had a close call in this episode. Had the Ghoul not walked in from behind - and from behind, it must have looked like Hank was holding Lucy down so that huge man could r@p3 her - Lucy's story would have ended there. The Ghoul was livid, anger and hatred all over his face, jaw clenched, glaring as he threw his knife into the back of the man's head and then switching weapons in a literal blink to shoot Hank MacLean in the ass. The Ghoul had taken a leap of faith and trusted Hank's word - against his gut impulse, as we saw in his face in S2 E5 - that Lucy would be safe, only to walk in on her own father forcing her against her will. Hank had betrayed him for the last time by betraying his only friend, so the Ghoul killed her attacker, and left the final judgement up to Lucy. He left her his spare concealed gun and the knife that he'd thrown, and out of respect for Lucy he let her make the final judgement upon her father.

The Ghoul glared at Hank, but when he looked at Lucy, his expression softened. Ghoul Cooper Howard restored Lucy's agency while it was being taken away - for the second time in just a couple weeks. This time, instead of the traditional hat tip he gave her - than a cowboy would normally give a lady - the Ghoul gave her that under-the-brim SALUTE. He saluted her. At that moment, they were equals. He had paid his debt that had landed her in harmful clutches. And while he gave it, he even smile a tiny bit from the right corner of his mouth.

The Ghoul had detroured into a dead-end to save his only friend. For the first time, he acknowledged her as an equal, and Lucy instinctively starts to follow him - the one person who cared enough to come save her - only to remember she needed to deal with her father first.

Then Lucy finds herself in another, less harmful predicament. She put the micro-control chip onto the back of her father's neck and ordered him outside.

AND SO BEGINS LUCY'S 5 STAGES OF GRIEF. Lucy is stuck in the first stage, Denial, for the rest of the Season 2 Finale.

She looks to be telling herself it's not really murder because Hank would still be alive

That wiping his memory and controlling him is better than killing him

Lucy tells her father "Guess the surface changes a person" when he guesses they're not going back to Vault 33. The fact that she's starting to talk like the Ghoul seems like a trivial thing, but it reveals two other little things.

Lucy's used to the Ghoul, his presence, how he talks, and she's been learning from him.

the Ghoul also just saved Lucy. Her initial reaction had been to follow him out of that room. His heroic deed was likely still on her mind, meaning she probably felt conflicted inside - follow the man who saved her, or see her dad brought to justice. She certainly hesitated on the steps of the Lucy 38 for a good long moment.

Then Hank pushes the button himself. But let's look closer at that for a moment:

Hank only had the controller for the large control chip. Lucy had the controller for the micro chip that she inserted into Hank's neck. Hank should not have been able to control himself, should not have been able to wipe his own memory.

As far as the audience can tell, Hank MacLean has wiped his own mind and doesn't remember Lucy at all. It's clear that despite who much she feels betrayed by him, she's going to miss the father she grew up with.

When she's up in the Lucky 38 with Maximus, we see her still in the Denial stage - but this is a bit of a different type of denial. She's in denial that she is not the one responsible for the Legion's actions.

This mirrors Ghoul Cooper Howard feeling like he's responsible for the Enclave getting the Cold Fusion and destroying the word when he didn't know he'd been set up and used like a puppet. He was and still is in denial that he was not the one who used him and tricked him.

And unfortunately this will likely put the Ghoul into a type of depression when he (it feels like it's pointing to the Ghoul) gets captured, and it will take Lucy to snap him out of because she not only will snap out of it sooner than him, but she's the only one he listens to. The only advice he listens to is hers (and we know that is a fact because of how he's changed to be more like Lucy since he met her).

**There is also the not-so-small matter now of Lucy now knowing who the Ghoul really is. This amazing catch from @auguryintheether from right after the Ghoul kills the large brainwashed Legion soldier. Normally when the Ghoul has tipped his hat to Lucy, it's been the full tip, brim between three fingers, a nod to tip it. But when he saved her from the large man and Hank, the Ghoul saluted her by swiping under the brim - just as Lucy grew up watching Cooper Howard do in Hank's favorite movie, The Man from Deadhorse. During Hank MacLean's favorite scene when the Sheriff shoots the criminal Joey Toro, the Sheriff - Cooper Howard - does the under-the-brim hat tip. Just like the Ghoul saluted Lucy.

Lucy is not staying Vegas with Maximus. She still might stay for a day, but not much longer. She's going after the Cowboy she grew up idolizing.

*Maximus

THE BOY WHO PULLED THE SWORD FROM THE STONE.

Like the tarot post liked in Barb's section, Maximus is linked to deeper symbolism. Only in Maximus's case, he is the equivalent of the boy king, King Arthur, with the Knights of the Round Table (not the Monty Python version; but also not entirely wrong, either, because Thaddeus).

Most people are roughly familiar with the story, so I'll just hightlight what caught my attention in the Season 2 Finale.

Maximus starts out herding the people indoors so he can fight the oncoming mob of deathclaws. The power armor helped him for a time, but once the weapons failed, the deathclaws were able overpower him and damage the armor. Max made the choice to ditch the armor and take his chances in melee combat without even basic armor. All he can find is a pool stick and a discarded Roulette wheel.

One of the townsfolk inside sees that Max is "just a kid" and, at least for a moment, is inspired to grab a gun to help Max out, with the obvious hope that the "kid" won't die that day. (also a nod to the Spiderman movies)

Then unexpected backup arrives in the form an echelon of the New California Republic marches into take over for the "kid" who, for that brief time, was was the New King of Freeside. Of New Vegas.

NCR soldiers = Knights of the Round Table, Thaddeus

The Round table = Max's discarded Roulette wheel shield. The Roulette wheel is for gamblers to place a bet on a single number - as the Freeside residents do while they're watching from inside the shop. Thaddeus dumps out all his caps to make it a High Stakes bet - all or nothing, which is exactly what Maximus up against outside. Thaddeus then climbs the roof with one arm and creates a way to help Max win.

The Sword in the Stone = a metaphor. Sword = Hope, Stone = the dejected residents who, in S2 E7, say they have lost their home to the deathclaws.

Remembering his father's voice: "One day you will be a great man," is reminiscent of "god" being on the righteous King Arthur's side and guiding him to victory.

Max pulled Hope out of Nothingness when no one else in New Vegas had been able to. And only when Max stood up for a righteous cause could the NCR - the good guys - prevail.

It's not that Max is particularly special. He's fairly average, seems to have lower self-esteem perhaps out of lack of knowledge, tries to ignore the bad and focus on the good. But Max doesn't know how to give up, and he would rather die trying to save everyone - like pre-war Cooper was - than just watch from the sidelines.

The only problem with Max is that, while he is wise to the wasteland and surviving it and he knows the importance of safety... he is, like most wastelanders, naive and inexperienced with personal relationships. He doesn't know how to read intentions or when to not suggest sexual encounters (hence what we see of him in Season 1 in Vault 4).

When Max and Lucy reunite, Max is overjoyed to see her safe and alive. Lucy, on the other hand, was just saved from permanent enslavement by her father by the only person she fully trusted in the waste, her only true friend - a friendship built from honest exchanges and gratitude for company and not needing to wander alone and scared. Her only true friend saved her from becoming a slave for the second time, then just left. And immediately after that, Lucy watched her father erase his own memory. When Lucy saw Maximus again, she felt emotionally lost, she didn't know what to do or where to go. But Max was suddenly there.

Specifically, Max was suddenly there when Lucy was at an emotional low and more than anything needed comfort.

Max thought he was reuniting with his love interest. Lucy was just glad to see something familiar.

Cut to the scene up in the Lucky 38 overlooking the town:

Lucy is still in denial that the actions of Caesar's Legion are not her fault, still heartbroken about her father, still wondering about her friend who suddenly left. Lucy is still still reeling with all those feelings, ... and Max reaches down to hold her hand.

And I felt sorry for Max. Lucy does not respond like we would expect her to if she were in love.

Max still seems to have this ideal of Lucy, this nice, kind, perfect girl from a perfect vault who feels bad not saying hi with a smile when people walk by. He remembers and romanticizes Lucy as the girl fresh from her Vault who just wanted to bring her dad home. Max still wants to return to to the safe, happy life he had as a child in Shady Sands.

But that's not who Lucy is anymore. Lucy doesn't want what a safe life offers her anymore. And Lucy has grown up so much since she last saw Max that she no longer wants someone who just wants a life free of less-than-pleasant emotions, that you can't fully be honest with someone if you hide the less-happy feelings. She's learning that those are good and healthy feelings to have. Lucy is now more interested in equal and honest exchanges. Lucy wants someone who will tell it to her straight than keep her going on false lies.

Which is why Lucy will be the one to save the Ghoul later on when he's drowning in his false hope.

Just as Wilzig said in S1 E1, "Will you stll want the same things when you have become a different creature altogether?"

The answer is... no.

So when Max holds Lucy's hand and she doesn't reciprocate, when she instead looks too troubled by everything going on, it is because she's not there mentally or emotionally. Her instinct is not to engage with Max. Her instinct had been to follow the Ghoul, but personal duty to bring her father to justice stopped her.

Even though Max has had a great season for personal growth, it's still been within the confines of the Brotherhood of Steel.

For an additional good time, if you like the sensation of your brain exploding inside your skull, I think some of us are onto something connecting Moldaver -> Enclave -> Barb -> House -> Hank MacLean -> Cooper -> Charlie Whiteknife -> Super Mutant.

SO WHY THE HELL DO I THINK THIS STILL POINTS TO GHOULCY BEING ENDGAME? And before you turn away, you've come this far, so you might as well keep reading, what can it hurt?

Because Lucy is the ONLY person the Ghoul will listen to. The Ghoul has at least dozens of contacts from his time over his many years alive, yet the only advice he's accepted and strived for is Lucy's.

Lucy's companionship struck a nerve of nostalgia, of homesickness for the family he once had and he is now drowning in that newfound hope. He is becoming delusional in this hope.

But Lucy is still the only person he listens to. She is his only friend, she trusts him, he trusts her, their friendship was built on equal exchanges rather than life-shattering lies that destroy entire communities. He has company at last, someone worth talking to. The Ghoul values Lucy's companionship so much that worries how she actually sees him, because when she led the Legion slave girl away she said the Gold Rule was for people, and his response after she left was to use of the Ship of Theseus as a metaphor for himself. When he's impaled after she punches him out the window and he starts turning feral, he reminds himself he is a human being.

Form the start of Season 2 until he gets into the Lucky 38 at the end of S2 E7 and activates the Cold Fusion diode, the Ghoul's most important priority - even above those necessary vials - was Lucy's safety. It was keeping the only person who wanted to be around him with him.

There may very well be a tragic ultimate end for the Ghoul/Cooper Howard, and he is starting to lose himself in a dream that no longer exists, because Lucy gave him hope that he is worthy of love and a family again. But there will obstacles along the way, something will happen to him when he is down in the depths of his false dream, his false hope, and Lucy will be the one to pull him out of it. Even if it's a physical drowning in water, unless his one companion is there to talk him out of it, the Ghoul will end up too far over his head to reach air.

And this is all in addition all the songs and even background images and the hotel/Howard house wallpaper has a micro detail that is relevant to the characters or storytelling or mood setting, I don't think we could ever get the whole story just ignoring all these details I just typed.

You are free to not like this post or the Ghoulcy ship. But considering all the above - all of it - has led to one thing: the Ghoul and Lucy need each other. They need the kind of person they are to each other. They both need that Tough Love and absolute trust based on Equal Exchanges. They both need someone who isn't judging them for their looks or how they grew up. They need someone who's not afraid to lose themselves and rebuild themselves just to find the other again.

Lucy and Cooper are posed as mirrors, facing each other, and Cooper is the only one not looking at the viewer, he looks off frame to his right. Cooper and Lucy's paths are intertwined, revolving around each other, and Cooper is especially focused on Lucy.

Max, Norm, and Thaddeus face the viewer head on, their paths lay ahead. They confront the world directly and with honesty. They do not hide anything.

Hank and Barbara are hiding something. Hank's hands are concealed in his pockets, away from view entirely. His cards are yet to be shown. Barbara hides one hand behind her back, but flaunts the hand bearing her wedding ring. She is presenting the identity to the viewer she wants us to focus on—her allegiance to Cooper—all the while she has a trick up her sleeve, something behind her back. What cards will she play?

Stephanie... oh Steph. She's an odd one—turned away from the viewer enough to be aloof, but she wrings her hands in front of her where the viewer can see. She's nervous, but her plans are in full view. She's not hiding anymore.

And finally, the goodest girl in all the land. That's all.

We know the writers love to tease us with not-so-covert instances of indirect foreshadowing, such as:

When Ma June says to Lucy: "[...] I can tell by looking at you, clean hair, nice teeth, and all ten fingers. Must be nice. " → And then Lucy proceeds to loose a finger.

While on set for The Man from Deadhorse, Emil says to Cooper: "The audience Coop, they already know you're a good man. They wanna see that even a good man as yourself can be driven too far. [...] It's a new kind of western, the power of the individual when the chips are down, [...] 'cause out here, it's just you, your gun, and your personal code bringing order to the wild wild west." → Literally foreshadowing Cooper's own trauma, descent into chaos, and moral journey.

Cooper discussing the power armor design flaws with Bud Askins → later using those design flaws to take out an entire company of BoS knights.

Max selling his own teeth for money → later getting shot with teeth.

While Lucy and Wilzig flee Filly, the chicken fucker calls out "[...] serums for pain, foot-healing serums! Serums that will make you grow an entire new foot... maybe." → Thaddeus literally heals/regenerates his foot with his serums.

So, with this writing and production style in mind

When characters say very pointed things and the art direction is done very consciously to include certain elements, which otherwise do not affect the plot and could have been omitted entirely, it is clear that these things were included for a reason and serve a larger function in the narrative. They were a choice. Otherwise, why include them at all? For example:

Norm speculating that Lucy's future husband will be a cannibal full of tumors → narrative proceeds to introduce Cooper and make a plot point showcasing that he is an irradiated cannibal. HELLLOOOOO!!

Cooper reminiscing with Roger about missing ice cream and apple pie → Lucy's track in Ramin Djawadi's score is titled "Ice Cream and Apple Pie"

In scenes of Barb, such as in Barb's office, during a shot of Barb in the Howard home, and during the diode exchange scene, the posters for Cooper's movies Under the Covers and The Revenge of Brutus are featured prominently in the background. Under the Covers is a detective noir, which notoriously feature femme fatale characters and double-cross betrayals by the female love interest. Revenge of Brutus implies Marcus Brutus, who betrayed Julius Caesar and orchestrated his assassination → Barb is repeatedly situated in relation to the these symbols, foreshadowing her double-cross, deception, and betrayal.

In multiple shots of Lucy and Cooper in the wasteland, the background features love themed graffiti such as hearts and "I love you"

In the scene of Cooper sewing Lucy's finger onto his hand, the stitches form a heart as the thread is pulled taught. I'm fairly confident the threads are comped in, so this was a choice that someone intentionally animated. (also a ghoulcy fan favorite lmao)

Roger looking at Lucy and saying to Cooper, "You got a smoothie of your own." GET YOUR GIRL COOP

The overseer of Vault 4 calling Lucy, "Goosey" MacLean → is, as we all know, a portmanteau for Lucy and the Ghoul (and is also just a cute play on the loosey-goosey idiom, of course).