The episode was written by series developers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner and directed by executive producer Jonathan Nolan.
The episode follows Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), a young woman who leaves behind her home in Vault 33 to venture out into the dangerously unforgiving wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles to look for her father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan).
On October 23, 2077, at a birthday party in Los Angeles, famous actor Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) entertains the children with his cowboy tricks, while the adults are distracted by news reports regarding a possible nuclear threat.
219 years later, groups of humanity have been living in underground colonies known as "Vaults", built by Vault-Tec to "preserve American society in the event of nuclear war".
The Brotherhood of Steel, an organization dedicated to securing pre-War technology, trains young people in a boot camp on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
Maximus is named as squire to Knight Titus and is assigned with his troop in pursuing a scientist from the Enclave who has escaped with dangerous technology.
Under the cover of night, three bounty hunters sneak into a cemetery where they dig up "The Ghoul", a still alive and heavily mutated Cooper Howard, who has been held captive for several years by a gang boss named Dom Pedro.
[2] The episode featured many songs, including "Orange Colored Sky" by Nat King Cole, "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" by Perry Como, "Some Enchanted Evening" by The Castells, "So Doggone Lonesome" and "All Over Again" by Johnny Cash, and "Crawl Out Through The Fallout" by Sheldon Allman.
Club gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "If these three chapters felt of a piece, or like they were meant to comment on each other — or even, honestly, like they came from the same TV show, period — the interpolation could have made for something special.
"[8] Ross Bonaime of Collider wrote, "In just an hour, Fallout's first episode does an excellent job of seeding important information through the story while still leaving plenty to the imagination, as well as introducing these three characters, each with their own unique perception of the world.
"[9] Joshua Kristian McCoy of Game Rant gave the episode a 3.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, ""The End" is a solid beginning, but it clearly presages something much more enjoyable for Fallout's future.