The episode was written by series developers Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner and directed by executive producer Jonathan Nolan.
Before the Great War, Cooper Howard films a Western movie and complains to the director about his character killing the villain.
He is rebuked, but news of a water shortage due to the Vault's purification chip failing puts more pressure on the overseers to make a decision.
Agreeing to work as a spokesman and ambassador for the company, Cooper wears a Vault-Tec jumpsuit and goes to a photoshoot to advertise the Vault, at one point giving an impromptu thumbs up for a photo.
Take the early scene that sees Lucy chatting placidly with Wilzig's severed head, so recently liberated from his neck at his own request.
Ella Purnell has a serious knack for projecting Lucy's cheerful acceptance of the horrors around her, curiously chatting with the head while hunting around for whatever MacGuffin is lurking under the skin.
"[6] Jack King of Vulture gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Each glimpse we've been offered of Cooper Howard before the Great War shows him as a completely different entity to the (literal) ghoul he'll become.
I mean, he's a virtuous family man who can't even stomach the idea of playing a good-guy sheriff who kills a bandit onscreen.
"[9] Joshua Kristian McCoy of Game Rant gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "Fallout has some sluggish moments, but it's a refreshingly straightforward series.
"[10] Greg Wheeler of The Review Geek gave the episode a 3.5 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "As we approach the midway point of the show, this cat and mouse game has just started to get interesting.
Quite what Wilzig's significance to the plot is, alongside the various characters who need his head (and how Moldaver ties into it) remains a mystery but it's an enticing one and certainly helps to keep things ticking over.