Fallout Season 2, Episode 2 Winks At Fans With A Brilliant New Vegas Easter Egg

This article contains spoilers for "Fallout" season 2, episode 2 – "The Golden Rule"

We previously saw the crater, but now we've seen the Shady Sands incident itself. The early flashback to this event in "Fallout" season 2, episode 2, "The Golden Rule," continues the storyline involving brain chips and the enigmatic RobCo CEO Robert House (Justin Theroux) that was introduced at the very start of the season premiere, "The Innovator." Here, we discover that Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan) utilized said brain chip technology on a caravaner (Pancho Cardeña), who then proceeded to smuggle a nuke into the middle of the Shady Sands settlement. Stripped of his own faculties, the poor guy can only repeat a single sentence over and over again: "Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter."

If you watched the episode with a friend who suddenly whooped and punched the air when they heard the line, there's a reason for it. "Patrolling the Mojave..." isn't just some random phrase. Rather, it's one of the most famous sayings in the video game that "Fallout" season 2 draws direct inspiration from: "Fallout: New Vegas." "Fallout" season 2 captures the original games more closely than ever, and the fact that the stellar video game adaptation's New Vegas installment takes a moment to adapt this classic phrase and its repetitive nature only adds to the experience.

Some ambient video game lines become so iconic that any fan can recognize them off by heart. "I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee..." from "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" is one of the most famous examples from the first-person game era and is spoken by many of the guards in the game's assorted settlements.  

"Patrolling the Mojave..." belongs in the same unofficial hall of fame. Anyone who's talked with enough non-player characters patrolling the, well, Mojave desert in the "Fallout" video games will have heard it enough times to appreciate its inclusion on the TV show adaptation, especially given the way that Cardeña's doomed, unnamed caravaner repeats it ad infinitum — not to mention the clever way in which the series makes this phrase part of Hank's increasingly ominous storyline. It's a fun addition to the many "Fallout" season 2 Easter eggs, and it will be equally entertaining to see what other surprises the show's sophomore season has in store.

"Fallout" season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video.