Fallout Season 2's Big Unseen War With Canada Is Straight From The Video Games

Okey dokey! This article contains spoilers through "Fallout" season 2, episode 7.

The world of "Fallout" is a vast one. Through 10 games, the franchise has created a lived-in, fleshed-out universe where every detail paints a picture of a unique retrofuturistic and post-apocalyptic world. Each game explores different areas, adding something new to the table while expanding either the post-apocalyptic landscape or the history of what happened before the bombs fell.

Likewise, the TV adaptation of "Fallout" expands the games in ways gamers hadn't seen before. The first season dropped the bombshell reveal of who exactly ended the world with nuclear war. Season 2 has continued this by solving mysteries the games left unanswered, like whether Deathclaws were deployed in the war. This is the biggest secret weapon that the TV adaptation has. It uses flashbacks to explore the world before the bombs, thereby turning the tragedy of the apocalypse into an intricate web of conspiracy, greed, and rampant capitalism. At the same time, the more we see of the pre-war world, the more the show fleshes out its history.

In the penultimate episode of season 2, "Fallout" explores yet another previously unseen chapter in the games' history. It does so by giving a backstory to the unlikely character of Overseer Steph (Annabel O'Hagan), who was revealed to be born in Canada. Turns out her journey to Vault-Tec was one of tragedy, death, and war.

That's right. War. In case you missed it (the show doesn't really spell it out), there was a war with Canada in the world of "Fallout" that resulted in its annexation by the United States. This is an important history straight out of the games.

After a long war for resources, the U.S. began preparing for a potential invasion of Alaska by China and sent in troops to protect the Alaskan oil pipeline. This included sending soldiers to Canada to secure the pipeline that crosses that country. This led to tensions rising between the two countries. Eventually, the Sino-American war broke out, and both sides started one-upping each other in committing atrocities — like sending mutated monsters to the battlefield.

According to the games, the growing Canadian opposition to increased U.S. presence eventually led to sabotage on the oil pipeline. This, the U.S. couldn't stand, and in response, it decided to invade Canada to annex it as the 51st state.

We don't see much of the invasion in the live-action "Fallout," but through the flashbacks of Overseer Steph (Annabel O'Hagan), we see how brutal the treatment of Canadians by American soldiers was. Resistance members, protesters, and even refugees were shot on sight. The border became a war zone, and jubilant mockings of "Little America" were common, as seen in the end credits sequence for the latest episode.

This is what makes "Fallout" such a unique franchise. On the surface, it's a series of fun action role-playing games set in a nuclear wasteland. But that's just the mere surface of a much deeper world with nuanced and poignant commentary about politics, the dangers of capitalism, and greed. The TV show, by showing us more and more of the pre-war world, serves to draw parallels to our reality and what the future could hold. At least we don't have Deathclaws ... yet.