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Ben is a Senior Writer on the New TV team at Screen Rant. He graduated from the University of Central Lancashire with a First Class B.A. Degree in English Literature and History.
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Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Fallout season 2, episode 5.
Fallout season 2 has just confirmed the presence of a major virus from the games, FEV, which could change the entire course of the show going forward. While season 1 of Fallout helped to bring the vast Wasteland out of the game world and into live-action, season 2 is doing a lot of heavy lifting to establish the story and canon of the games through world-building.
Thus far, we have met some significant figures in the Fallout universe, such as Robert House, and explored notable locations like Shady Sands and now Las Vegas. And while the story fluctuates between the world before the war and post-nuclear fallout, there is a lot that appears to carry over across the centuries.
Lucy MacLean has covered considerable ground in unraveling the dealings of Vault-Tec, and the parts that executives like her father play in the company and the fall of civilization, but her brother Norm may have stumbled upon one of the biggest reveals to date if the games are anything to go by.
Norm Finds A Mention Of FEV On Barb's Computer In The Vault-Tec Building
Norm MacLean escaped from Vault 31 with an army of junior executives from Vault-Tec, whom he managed to convince he was their new leader, replacing Bud Askins. With their support, Norm has been able to not only survive his first foray into the Wasteland, but he has also successfully arrived at an old Vault-Tec office building, where he finds some surprising answers.
While there, Norm makes a connection with one of the more recent hires, who appears to be less brainwashed than her peers, and she informs Norm about a high-ranking executive who was heavily involved in experimental projects for the company. This is none other than Cooper Howard's wife, Barb Howard.
When Norm finds Barb's office, he successfully logs into her computer and finds information about the Future Enterprise Ventures that one of the other junior execs hinted at in a previous episode. However, Norm confirms that this was a code for a terrifying product known as FEV, or Forced Evolutionary Virus, which the computer describes as being "the gene-altering agent for organism supercharging."
What The Forced Evolutionary Virus Is In The Fallout Games
Fans of the Fallout games will likely be familiar with FEV, and if they don't recognize the name, they will certainly recognize the creatures that were created by it. From the super mutants to the deathclaws, FEV is a potent chemical that transforms subjects into terrifying monsters.
FEV is fairly ubiquitous in the games, with several versions of the chemical appearing in various entries, and the results of injection and infection changing depending on the subject, dosage, and how the chemical is used. Simply put, FEV is a drug that nearly instantly transforms the subject into something that is supposedly perfect, often overtly dangerous, and always abhorrent.
Why Barb & Vault-Tec Would Be Involved With FEV
In the games, FEV is a product that was produced by West Tek, but due to how easily it could be reproduced, many other entities and corporations made their own unique supplies. Within the world of the Fallout TV show, it appears as though the wealthiest and most prominent companies in the US were able to work together and exchange top-secret projects relatively freely.
Post-war, it has been confirmed that many of the Vaults were assigned to different groups and/or individuals, and several were given specific, often hidden, objectives. And while Barb seemed reluctant when confronted with the reality of causing so much death and destruction, she also seemed willing and occasionally enthusiastic about other aspects of her work at Vault-Tec.
Barb's role at Vault-Tec clearly saw her involved in managing dangerous and experimental programs, so it is possible she was tasked with assigning a number of Vaults to administer FEV to their survivors. However, the greater purpose of this, beyond wealth and power, is unclear.
What The Forced Evolutionary Virus Could Mean For Fallout Season 2 (& Beyond)
The plot is getting ever thicker in Fallout, and season 2 has stepped things up in a big way with the introduction of some of the most horrifying creatures in the Wasteland, from radscorpions to deathclaws. And yet, there is still a lot more to unpack. From the mystery of where Cooper Howard's family is to whether Robert House survived the apocalypse, there is plenty more to see in Fallout season 2 and beyond.
FEV's introduction means that there is yet another great threat that will almost certainly be a roadblock for Lucy and Norm while they both search for answers. It appears as though Hank MacLean is much more focused on a different experiment with his mind control chips, but the deathclaws that guard the Las Vegas Vault-Tec building suggest there is at least some small connection.
Beyond that, there could be another threat out there aside from House and Hank, whose experiments create nightmarish creatures from humans with an infectious disease that could replace the population with super mutants at a rapid pace. Whatever the case, FEV showing up in Fallout season 2 spells disaster for our heroes.
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