Fallout Therapist Analysis: The Ghoul's Humanity
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ส.ค. 2024
- Watch the uncensored video on Nebula at: nebula.tv/videos/georgiadow-f...
🔥 NO ADS! Join Nebula! nebula.tv/georgiadow
Step into the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout with therapist Georgia Dow as she analyzes the character known as the Ghoul. Georgia explores how the Ghoul navigates the harsh realities of his environment while grappling with remnants of his humanity. Join us as we unravel the intricate layers of his struggle and resilience in this thought-provoking analysis.
🔔 SUBSCRIBE th-cam.com/users/georgiadow?su...
🌎 Visit Georgia's website: www.westmounttherapy.com
💜 SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL / georgiadow
🚨 DISCLAIMER: This video series is provided for informational purposes only and should not substitute for a personal consultation with a professional.
🐦 Contact Georgia on Twitter: / georgia_dow
Nebula homepage for Georgia!
Video: nebula.app/georgiadow
🙏 Thanks for watching, see you next video!
Watch the uncensored video on Nebula at: nebula.tv/videos/georgiadow-fallout-therapist-analysis-the-ghouls-humanity
🔥 NO ADS! Join Nebula! nebula.tv/georgiadow
I think an important thing to keep in mind with Cooper's character is the fact that he IS a ghoul. He was able to stick to his morals and ethics when he was a human even when they were really hard to do and put his success at risk because they made up a big part of his identity. As a ghoul though, it is his very identity he is fighting to hold onto not his life, public image, or financial success. Every step we see Cooper take in the show is either to fight back his nature as a ghoul and hold onto his very sanity just a little bit longer or try to find the family that was taken from him. Both BIG parts of his identity. Its a lot easier to die for a cause then to live with your very mind betraying you or with the knowledge that the people you love might be out there in need of your help.
Funny that he later sows on her finger on his hand. At least it had some muscle memory from shooting rifles.
Fantastic review ma’am. I do have different opinion in regards to the scene where he watches himself in a movie. It is very symbolic. It symbolizes his change. In the beginning of the series, he has a serious problem with shooting the unarmed man (during making a movie) but now we are watching the same scene with different outcome (director of that movie wanted it to be that way). He became polar opposite of what he used to be: cynical, ruthless and calculated.
Please annalize cherry bomb from Hazbin, everyone says she's the worst friend but I don't think that's right
I've missed you Georgia! i havent been able to watch most of your videos for a while because im trying to avoid spoilers for shows i havent yet watched - talk about a catch 22 - but fallout ive seen! it's good to be back.
Imagine stepping into Georgia's office and she's wearing a cosplay of you
Now that would be a fun psychologist it be like talking to your self but you’re self is listening
That’s one way to face your inner demon lol
That honestly sounds very creepy.
Imagine going into Georgia's office and she says "turd blossom"
If that’s how they operated, I’d consider therapy 😂
Something that people who analyze Coop often neglect his other, "other" life: That as a soldier during the war. The Ghoul is just a natural evolution of who he tried not to be after the war. He did not pick up this grit over time. He learned his skills during the Alaska war and became a domesticated, civilized being after.
Very good point
It also speaks to the prejudice the “smoothies” perpetuate against the Ghouls: the fatalism of radiative ghoulification is everywhere and a limitless source of dread for relatively unexposed, healthier surface folk
He is a Marine
Resource Wars; Fallout's answer to why no nation CANNOT understand each other despite same biology or identity!?! Sorry going meta.
@@XSilver_WaterXnot really "not understanding each other" it's more fighting over some of the last valuable resources on the planet drive the pre war nations to do some deplorable stuff.
Lucy may be the main character but The Ghoul took centre stage as the most interesting character in the show. Great analysis.
I agree with you, tho I'm still curious of Lucy's analysis when Georgia gets to making a video about her.
Also I hope Georgia will make a video about Norman too, I think despite how he seemed like an unimportant side character in the first episode, they made really nice job in developing him into someone important who has hidden talents which he uses only when he has the right motivation to put an effort into something.
I saw it more as 3 main characters playing good (Goosy), neutral (Maximus) and bad (The Goul)
I'm not saying it's because he's New Vegas but he is New Vegas, We all agree on that right?
all three of them are the main character in a way thats the point
@@BooN877 Funny you say that as Nolan said when he was thinking of writing the 3 main characters he was thinking of the movie, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Roger died happy, remembering his mother and her kindness... but ghoul to ghoul I think it might be more important that Roger died Roger. Coop made sure his story didn't end with his identity being entirely lost. That's huge given that losing himself is one of his own great fears.
Poor Martha, though....
yeah that was quite sad and well said on Roger
Walton Goggins, is great as the Ghoul. I think The Ghoul sparing his “friend” from turning Feral was a great scene.
Your wastelander outfit is amazing.
Yeah, Walton Goggins is great. I would love analysis of Boyd Crowder, he was a phenomenal character.
Roger's last thoughts were of his mom's apple pie and it was over before he had a chance to even notice anything else. I think that's kind of beautiful honestly. It's a small kindness but it was the most anyone could have done for him.
Having your last thought be something nice is something I think we can all hope for.
A small kindness before making ass jerky:).
Yup ol Roger got Lenny'd.
Cooper was definitely doing him a favor. Roger was suffering and effectively at the end of his life. Coop has been around long enough that I'm sure he knows that once a ghoul turns feral there is no going back for him, so giving him a quick end rather than letting it draw out and become a monster is the best he could have hoped for. And on the other hand, Cooper was doing it for himself. It's pretty clear he stopped there for the same reason Roger did, to find more vials. Which Roger already took any that might have been there. The first thing he did after shooting Roger was cut out part of him to eat.
I've heard it suggested and believe myself that that drug the ghouls are taking to stave off turning feral might have included fluids they were harvesting from the ghouls and humans that they were selling to the guys at the Super Duper Mart. So killing Roger might have been a kindness to him, but it also kept Cooper going. So he was doing it for his own sake as much as Roger's.
hes ruthless but at the very least he isnt sadistic
What's beautifully ironic is that in the end he was proven right and Lucy realizes that. That culminating moment at the end where she puts her mom out of her misery like he did Roger demonstrates that. You can really get that sense of understanding on his face when she does it.
In a way, they were both right.
The scene where he shoots the billboard is really interesting. Like first when I saw it I thought the sole purpose of him shooting Vaultboy in the face was just to taunt Lucy, only for the whole thing becoming more complex when we learn more about his past.
yeah
It can also explain why he dislikes Lucy so much. To him, she is Vault-tec. The company that took away his wife and possibly ended the war.
@@nekoali2 Yeah, exactly. I think this explains a lot of the antagonism he was showing towards Lucy that Georgia was calling out
Because Coop wasn't going to do it, but she used her 10 Charisma *+Black Widow* perk (it's what the perk is called) to convince him. Even so, it probably stung a little knowing that the ubiquitous mascot was based on his work, and that his contribution was erased after they got what they needed
When looking at the Ghoul, I think it's helpful to see him as two personalities fragmented by trauma, and somewhere deep inside Cooper is hoping that an unseen director will yell "CUT!!" and the nightmare of the last 200 years will disappear.
The ghoul exists to keep Cooper Howard alive and Cooper Howard exists to keep the Ghoul from giving up and going completely feral. A sense of purpose, and a reminder of who he used to be before the world broke.
Some of the traits(Bravery, Strength and Dignity) for Cooper are still there but the Bravery and Strength have been mutated to Ruthlessness by the Wasteland.
How do you build a safe place to integrate this trauma, when the trauma is all around you?
I think one (unhealthy) way he has integrated this trauma is by becoming the traumatizer.
Like when he's with Lucy and uses her as bait, makes her carve a still-warm person's corpse like a Christmas turkey so they can have Ass Jerky® and then sells her off for vials.
He wants to bring others to his level so he doesn't feel the need to fix himself. But Lucy's just a bit too stubborn to break as completely as he has. She makes him realise that maybe there is a point to retaining your humanity.
This is actually a great way of looking at it. It also lends to the theory that the doctors in Underworld had about ferality in fallout 3; Isolation is what causes ghouls to go feral. We see with Roger that he was living alone, in a random town with the only people he saw treating him like a monster. His options were to isolate himself to keep himself safe, or go out into the wasteland and risk being hate crimed or killed. But with The Ghoul, even though he travels and lives on his own most of the time, he still has Cooper, like you said. No matter what, there will always be a person worth fighting for, to comfort him and help him not feel so alone. Even if his wife and daughter are gone, he has the memory of Cooper to protect and he won't let that go, even if he knows he'll never be that Cooper again.
@@ToyotaCorolla-en2mv So basically... Cooper is saving Cooper. That's actually kind of cool, and sweet.
He essentially had to live as a drug addict for over 200 years, which is it's own form of torture to have to constantly worry about what'll happen when you run out.
Ya... Except those drugs save his humanity unlike regular drug addicts who live to be like the brainless ghouls of the game
@@MrBiggz-do6ej you're missing the moral compromises he has to make to obtain his drugs
It just now hit me that the Ghoul shooting Roger was straight out of Steinbeck’s _Of Mice and Men._
To quote a character you'd previously done one of these on; "we might tell you anything just to make it stop, and you'd have no way of knowing whether or not we're telling the truth..."
"Oooorrr we might like it too much, and then you got a whole new problem to deal with"
Helluva Boss!!
"Nothing stays clean up here" referring to both the water going radioactive and people trading their humanity for survival
I think Coop watching his video at the end is not just him reflecting on how much he's changed since the beginning, but also how even then he was losing himself.
He was a man of principle... and then he made commercials for Vault-tec, then he compromised on his image to shoot a guy when he was down. Watching that video shows him how even then he was selling out.
13:00 The ghouls repeating their own name is also significant in that Cooper Howard goes by "The Ghoul". As if he has gone feral already, by choice. But I think that's a protective lie he tells himself so it doesn't hurt as much to remember the man he used to be.
That he embraced it
@@GeorgiaDowExactly. Like it's another role/character for him to escape into as an actor, but one he's played for 200 years. Quite the method actor.
There's also the reading that Cooper might be a stand-in for players of Fallout. As the Ghoul, he is experienced and usually unsurprised by all the wackiness and brutality of post-apocalyptic America, but as Cooper he's more mild-mannered and principled. Cooper finds escapism in the Ghoul in the same way a player finds escapism as the main character of a video game.
@@dodgyrhubarb457 I think he is the PC too - I believe (I only seen the entire show once) he is the only one to use "VATS" and he takes hit and stuff and shrugs it off like whatever. I know ghouls can regenerate, like that one former BOS person, but yea. Same with him meeting "Important" characters, like he didn't/couldnt one shot Maximus in his power armor on their introduction, but at the end, he could one shot everyone. It also seems he has perks too.
Probably looking too much into it though.
in the scene where Lucy asks for water,, I believe that the ghoul was deciding whether or not to let her drink the water that was in the canteen, because most likely that water was also radioactive, as ghouls are immune to radioactivity, so not giving it to her at that time and in a way it only did her some good, even though she was dying of thirst.
I think it was also a lesson that there’s no freebies above ground. If someone is giving you water a valuable resource that the original value of caps was based on for free then there’s some other most likely horrible reason behind it.
@@mactysonkarate speaking of free water: I'm very sorry for the poor guy Lucy met on the way to Filly, he seemed more like a desperate poor guy, alone and without water, than a disturbing "background" character (as many have said, certainly because he's not one of the cool guys on duty), with no real life prospects, not even in the short term (Lucy's water made him survive at least another couple of days) and I would like to know more.
@@sonosoloio as No-Bark Noonan said in New Vegas once he doesn’t trust someone unless they got something strange about them.
“Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every goddamned time” is something I’ve repeated to myself several times already on my first run of New Vegas, and I haven’t even reached Benny yet.
I also really think the ghoul almost takes offense at Lucy as a concept.
He survived everything. He has all the skill. All the smarts. All the experience.
And here is this naive child, who is "lesser" than him in every aspect he normally considers important. And yet, she managed to not break like he did.
Sure, she grew up in a vault and is much much younger, but she has been on the surface now and is not only alive. She is keeping up with him.
This annoying piece of walking dead meat that he normally wouldnt believe could last 2 seconds, is holding up. And she did it without losing who she is.
In his eyes, she is below him, but she still survives where he broke.
And that's what's fascinating. She is who he wasn't able to be, and he *hates* it.
Great take. To be fair tho she was 1 week in the wasteland and he was 200years plus served in a war and knows how the world ended up as it is.
I agree with you tho and it will be really interesting to see where her character goes after some years on the surface
@@ricosnake3591Like he said "She's him...just give it more time".
I am in no way a therapist or psychiatrist or anything along those lines, I am an actor, but I was so fascinated by this character, I have gone back and watched his scenes more than 20 times trying to fully grasp and understand him. It’s been a deep dive character study at this point. I haven’t seen a character this compelling in quite a while.
He’s not a hero. He’s not a villain. Though if anyone has the right to become a villain, it’s this character. The fact that he can find any bit of his humanity at this point is remarkable. I’ve tried to imagine the amount of time he has spent in the wasteland and what it’s done to him, and how remarkable it is that he can even remember 219 years ago. It’s impossible to fathom.
It feels like he, Cooper Howard as an actor, decided to play this character of the ghoul to survive, and got lost in the role over time. I’m not sure if that’s the right way to put it, and it’s not JUST that, but I feel like there are elements of him being an actor playing a character as the ghoul. When he talks to Dogmeat (I’m sorry Dogmeat, but you ain’t him), his accent isn’t as thick. It felt like he almost dropped the character for a moment for the first time in who knows how long.
And, this is random, I loved that the first thing out of his mouth on screen as the ghoul was a literary/theatrical reference that, I’m sure he was aware, nobody present except him would get. “Is this an Amish production of The Count of Monte Cristo…”
He is a great character isn't he I really enjoyed analyzing him = )
@@GeorgiaDow I loved your analysis and it’s really added to my character study. I got so caught up talking about the character, I forgot my initial reason for commenting was how wonderful I thought your analysis was!
He drops the character every time he's alone with Dogmeat. From his genuine, boyish smile rather than the typical smirk when he revives her, to 'let's go find your daddy', and the scene you already mentioned. He also dropped it when he asked Hank where his family was and when he asked Lucy if she was coming with him. The gunslinger voice completely disappears.
I think he's very aware that he's playing a role. At least, he definitely is post Lucy showing him mercy and being reminded of the man he used to be. Maybe he hadn't thought about it actively in a long time, but he sits down to watch himself and remember after that confrontation with someone living up to their principals when the chips are down.
3:33 I just realized the irony, that the goul ends up looking for Lucy’s father at the season, he had the prefect bait to get him too
Hearing the ghouls repeat their own name to themselves as they go feral genuinely broke my heart. Even though they don't have any real way to stop it, they can't help but cling to who they are in their last moments as themselves. As someone who struggles with identity, obviously for different reasons, that shit just hit me. I really love how well they got the psychological aspect of this show, from the stuff like holding true to your ideals to identity to even showing ghouls about to go feral using grounding techniques as a desperate last measure
Sorry to poke fun at the identity bit, but when i read that in your comment, i looked up at your profile and was greeted with Toyota Corolla and i chortled a little.
I really liked the scene shown at 11:00 where the Ghoul shoots the vault boy poster. It was a really cool symbolic way of showing how perception is key.
To the Ghoul it's likely a painful reminder of his past. He could be shooting it because of loathing towards himself, hatred at the part he played in Vault-Tec, and where he ended up.
To Lucy, however, it's a vicious criminal shooting the personification of the vault dwellers - and by extension malice aimed at her.
well said
The crazy part about Cooper is he got exactly what he wished for. He wished he could become a cowboy gunslinger like he plays in his movies. After the war he became exactly what he wanted.
It's like the enclave scientist asked when you become a different animal will you still want the same things. He got to be the gun slinging cowboy but after becoming that he lost the values he wanted to embody as a gun slinging cowboy.
He wanted to be a real cowboy again (as in, leave Hollywood and work quietly as a ranch hand on a farm the way he did before becoming an actor), being a gunslinger was not what he wanted.
They all did. Lucy wanted to find her dad. Maximus wanted to become a knight.
And both got it...and then wished they hadn't.
I'm so glad that people did actually like the Fallout tv show, it was amazing for old school fans and brand new fans alike!
Most of the discrimination against ghouls is not because of how they look but because they can go feral at any time with very little warning. Though how they look doesn't help matters.
That's the fear driving it, but they get heavily discriminated for their looks all the time.
@@SoulsOfWisdom as I said there looks don't help but there would be less problems if they didn't go feral.
They probably smell even worse than your average Wastelander too.
@@MR.LMR1996 It’s canon that they don’t smell great, though as you said, most wastelanders can’t talk XD
The idea that exposure to the world irrevocably changes a person is as old as storytelling, but this show phrased it in a specificly stark way I thought was so well done, “will you still want the same things?” The danger of experience can be that sort of can’t go home again concept, and the loss of a desire itself can be pretty devastating.
I think the most underrated bit of dialogue is when Cooper Howard interrupts Charlie Whiteknife at the bar, "Oh, come on, man. Don't say that. Tallhand Mudlake could talk to HORSES! You played him with grace and with dignity. It was a great role for you!"
Fallout's worldbuilding, foreshadowing and character development is by far some of the best I have ever seen in TV writing. Not only that, but the characters are actually relatable !
The Ghoul shooting the guy going feral, gave me big vibes of Of Mice and Men
Tell me about the Rabbits Goerge.
Giving him a good final thoughts and finish him quickly without him realizing it, and with some fun thoughts
I think the character of “The Ghoul” shows that humanity is at its best when things are at their worst. His mercy killing of Roger showed empathy, fore-thought and necessity. He selfishly saw his own future in Roger, and at the same time he saw the Roger he knew. He knew Roger was more than the rotting living corpse that everyone else sees, and bringing Roger that last few seconds of happiness was the only way he could put him out of his misery and prevent him from reaching his undesirable, yet undeniable destiny.
We as human beings go through sort of a ghoulificatioin in aging - we may feel like the same person internally but we begin to recognize that humanity and society start treating us differently as a result of our physical deterioration.
One interesting thing about “The Ghoul” is that he is actually the lucky one - he had a good life, he had health, youth, family, love, affection, acceptance, but that war snatched that all away. Many people never have the good life before they start fading away, yet how much of their humanity is based on not just becoming old and cast off by society, but never having the most basic assets of what we all want?
I think The Ghoul sees in Lucy the last shred of his willingness to be more empathetic and kind. The world around him has taught him not to trust, only to exploit, survive and cast off his humanity - but Lucy reminds him of what he could be. It just doesn’t suit him in the current situation.
The show does a wonderful job of portraying how surviving over 200 years in a literal nightmare wasteland *will* change you.
By the time Lucy meets him, The Ghoul and Cooper Howard are practically two different characters. We only see a slight overlap of the two near the end of episode eight.
Walton Goggins gets to show both extremes of his acting chops here and it's fantastic.
I also see a small part of old Cooper come out when he tries to save the Dog he stabbed.
You first see a glimpse of his long lost humanity in his eyes when he watches the old movie of himself in the ghouls episode.
Fellow therapist here. Love these videos and keep going! Inspires me in my work, I use a lot of narrative therapy in my sessions. And I love that I discovered you through Total Party Kill. Your Dragonborn character brought me joy.
That is so hilarious ! Love it thanks for enjoying my Dragonborn !
It is said that war, war never changes but men and women do through the paths they walk. Unfortunately, that is not always a positive thing.
On another note would anyone like to see her talk about the social experiments carried out in some of the vaults? I imagine Vault 11 in particular would be unpleasant.
Speaking of the Ghoul putting Roger out of his misery, a character would mirror this scene in a later act. I thought that was such a cool moment when the other character finally understood the sheet of music the Ghoul was on.
I really think the parts with Dogmeat show what he really is as well, he only attacked the dog after being attacked in turn; and even after that healed the dog, yes that was to get a trail but the point still stands. He could have easily killed Dogmeat after he had gotten to the head's location, or when he found Dogmeat in the refrigerator at the gas station. It shows quite a bit on how he has a great amount of empathy, especially for animals even before Lucy has helped to bring out that empathy more.
What you see with him as the Ghoul is someone who has had to adapt a persona to survive his hellish new life. But the scenes with Dogmeat as well as when the retired NCR ranger's daughter was serving him food. Gave us a peak into the fact that Cooper is not ruthless when he feels he doesn't have to be.
He could have killed Max in the suit but chose to humiliate Max in sort of a teaching moment. He even dropped the accent when confronting Hank.
Right towards the end, I think part of what makes The Ghoul's reaction so fascinating is his recognition of his own hypocrisy. It's not like he could have avoided it-he genuinely tried, in fact-but the studio execs told him, essentially, "do this or you don't have a job." He's always been survival oriented, even when he believed he was honorable above earthly needs.
I like to think that the three main characters are just stand ins for different play styles that people take in fallout games. Lucy will try to do the right thing even though she doesn't understand the wasteland, maximus is the one who sides with the brotherhood cuz he thinks the armor is cool, Cooper is the veteran who has become detach from the people in the wasteland and is just trying to maximize the caps he earns.
Part of me wonders if Lucy is becoming, in his mind, the embodiment of his daughter. I actually have some fan theories about this, that I am not going to share for spoiler reasons, but they all involve the daughter's fate,. and how that ties to Lucy's fate. Does the Ghoul feel like he failed his own daughter? Is he angry that Lucy is sweet and innocent and somehow still alive when his own daughter did not survive?
I believe this is the case. I doubt Cooper has run into many truly good people like Lucy, and she surely reminds him of the innocence of his daughter. I can't see any other reason why he would want so badly to teach her how the world works now.
she may remind him of her at times given her youthful enthusiasm. but nah, i think he'll come to like/respect her as her own person, not as some ghost of his daughter.
Agreed. I don't think this is another case of 'heartbroken badass with a dead child who slowly comes to adopt another child as his surrogate.'
Lucy is a grown adult and he treats her like an equal. He both says and implies that she reminds him of /himself/. He empathises with her and respects her, but clearly in no way feels paternal towards her.
A lot of us would become just like Cooper if we were put in the same situation, either become like Cooper or let ourselves turn feral.
Love your analysis. Your getup is ahead of its time. My prediction is the Ghoul costume will be trending high this Halloween.
Him and the Vault Dwellers ! I'm planning on cosplaying Lucy.
Can't wait for the Lucy breakdown. I'm expecting at least 4 to 5 "okey dokey" through out the video and then a deeper meaning behind the phrase.
His analytical nature might be training. Its mentioned in the first episode he was a former marine. I don't know how training is now but when i was in the way you were trained to think bordered on sociopathic. You were trained to complete your objective all other considerations including your feelings and even your survival were secondary to the objective.
yes that is true. and he is an actor as well which may have taught him to control his emotions as well.
I think he was a man who went along to get along...up to a point. He then went into his film persona in a way to survive. This is noticeable in his voice as Coop and then The Ghoul...Is it just me as I get an Outlaw Josie Wales vibe from Coop?
Ooh, this is a surprise! I love all three of the characters; they're all compelling in different ways (one the sheltered goody-goody trying to maintain her humanity, one who wants to be good but having to navigate dangers through pragmatism and self-interest, and one who is just about done with everything life has thrown at him). Norm is also a good character seeing how someone in his sheltered background makes it perfect for him to be beneath notice from the Overseers; he may not conform, but he's way more intelligent and capable than he wants to admit.
On the other side of the torture argument, they might like it too much and then you have a whole different situation on your hands
Love the video! I just noticed the bit at 7:30 is great character writing because his ability to remain analytical even when upset is probably a skill he learned in his past in the military.
good point
@yt45204 that's so interesting!
@yt45204 yep my salary manager was a Nam Vet he taught me that i was his hourly supervisor he figured out i had CPTSD anxiety depression made me get in therapy .....grateful to him
The ghoul was my absolute favorite on the count he acted like a true cowboy, when the bombs fell, especially when he did that mercy k*ll, And as a Easter egg hunter, finding all of his “perks“ he developed was fun to watch
I knew after watching the trailers for the tv show that the Ghoul would be the one I'm invested in. I like fallen/broken characters. They go from good, normal people to twisted dark shadows of who they used to be. The best ones became the very thing they hated. I find him shooting that poster of the Vault Boy in the face very interesting, because you don't waste valuable ammo for target practice or being petty towards Lucy. He hates it because it reminds him of his past, he hates it because of the institution that the Vault Boy represents and probably deep down he shoots it because deep down he hates himself. I like reading body language and its a little hard to do it with the Ghoul because of his make up but you can see it with his eyes. You can really see it with his interaction with Roger. Throughout the show The Ghoul and Lucy are learning from each other, directly and indirectly. He's showing her how to survive and what it takes to do so no matter how vile it may be (cannibalism) and she's teaching him to regain his humanity again. And no one (I watch reactors) has got the Samuel Taylor Coleridge reference that was briefly mentioned in the game. "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink". That his from his poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner
In the games, there's few examples how ghouls cope with their long age and questions of identity. In the first game, we only really had Set and Harold, which the former had lost all his marbles due to transformation (not that he was bastion of sanity to begin with) becoming a fullblown social darwinist to point of being cannibal, while the latter still held on to his human identity (albeit Harold is kinda different from your normal Ghoul) even when the entire world cast him down. Later games more exposition is given how ghouls deal with their high age, with the likes of Calamity saying she changes jobs and names every decade or so "to keep things interesting" and Raul Tejada whose long years of living have left him with great deal of self-doubt, to which player can help him with.
Man I loved the fallout series tv adaptation! It really captures that somewhat dark but at the same time silly atmosphere to almost perfection.
I know that I’ve seen some people say that “The Ghoul” is a representation of a high level player character, due to how OP he is and that he is called “The Ghoul”. Like the other fallout protagonists were called “The Vault Dweller”, “The Lone Wanderer”, “The Courier” and so on.
He definitely was my favorite character of the three main characters and I am so happy that you are covering this show. I’ve watched so many of your character analysis’s and they help me live my life in the way that I want.
So thank you for these video ❤ and I am looking forward to what you have to say about the other fallout tv characters 😊
I can't believe how good the cgi of ghoul noseholes are. I mean... wow. It's so easy to overlook until you're like... wait, how are you getting this complete shot with moving camera and the background lighting through properly??
But man, I love this show. It's just so so so amazingly well-written, which you don't often see in genre shows (because it's easy to get lazy and lean on the sfx and fantastical elements)
I absolutely love this one.
The Ghoul / Cooper Howard is a far more complex character than he initially seems. It helps that Walton Goggins definitely stole the show with his performance. Something myself and my teenage daughter have been doing when we watch TV is we'll pause and talk a bit about a character's mindset and what we think is going through their minds. Or we'll talk about why characters may be doing something. Guess I'm not so subtly trying to get her to better think about situations and through other people's perspectives than just her own. The Ghoul was great for that. I remember we had a fairly good conversation about ... well ... bacon of a certain variety.
Great video as always!
Also: I really hope you have a Pipboy ready if you hopefully do videos about any of the vault dwellers!
I never expected this but I love that it happen thank you for this blessing
Another thing I think was happening when he watched his old movie, he's been The Ghoul for so long and not Cooper Howard, not just in action but having his entire body changed and disfigured by the radiation and life in the wilderness, that seeing his *real* face again also reminded him who he was. It's the closest thing to looking in a mirror he has, to see his own face again, remembering who he was as that man and even if he can't physically *be* him again, it reminded him who he was and who Lucy believed he could still be, and he started accepting that person could also survive again. That Cooper Howard, the good family man who loved his dog, didn't have to die so the Ghoul could survive. It's after that he starts to warm up to Dogmeat, after being alone so long. It makes it even more complex realizing he's staring at the daughter of a Vault-tech exec he'd met in another life, she's the product of everything he's got reason to hate and regret, and somehow she's also the thing that makes him want to be a person again. (also after realizing Ella Purnell was also Jinx's VA I can't unhear it especially when Lucy's upset and her voice cracks, it's a very Jinx voice again)
I took the water thing as him trying to teach her that for survival she can’t be so picky and sometimes you will need to drink irradiated water
Please consider X-Men 97 and the character of Magneto especially
Oh yeah that show was amazing
I didn't see Coop looking at Lucy when asked about the vials as empathy, more like "well I WOULDVE had some but look who broke them all"
Madam it’s 01:00 in the dawn in Brazil, but here I am to watch you video because i damn sure love it, stay great love you content I’m sending love waves for you from Brazil
thank you so much for that = )) appreciate the support
When he is watching his old movies after being saved by Lucy, i think it is more about how he started to lose his principles, accepting to say the lines that were against his beliefs
YES! Thank you for starting this series!
FINALLY! I have seen many "analyses" of The Ghoul and they're either shallow/surface level, missing the point, adding the reviewers personality and own lens to the review (which is interesting to see how people from different walks of life and experiences identify with him), but I personally have been looking for a more in depth psychological analysis.
You have literally covered and interpreted every scene and the overall transition to The Ghoul from Coop in the same way I would have noticing and identifying the same psychological themes (which makes sense because I am a psychology grad student myself). Of course it takes a therapist to make such an excellent analysis of such a psychologically complex character. Bravo! And I've subscribed 😊
Every time that dog was on screen, my only thought was “they better not kill that dog.”
Cant wait for the rest of this series!!❤️
I think that at the beginning of the apocalypse Cooper actually tried to help people and be a good guy but eventually got screwed over or betrayed enough and had to grow into a tough and hard guy to survive, losing all faith in humanity so giving up his own- eventually finding lucy and only keeping her alive as 1. bait, then 2. to give her up as body parts in order to get his chems, but when she not only didnt kill him when she had such an easy opportunity to do so but also give him the chems he needed to avoid going feral, he definitely saw that she was one of the few good people left in the wasteland and was also a victim of vault tech and not a product of them he gained some faith in humanity again- its gonna take more than that one interaction to undo 200 years of inhumane actions towards and from him, but I can see him and lucy learning alot from each other and eventually becoming really close like a father/daughter duo, with her restoring some faith in humanity and him showing that the wasteland will eat her up and turn her into him if she doesnt adapt, One of my favorite videos is “every okey dokey in the fallout show” and you can see how much shes lost her faith in humanity and how the wasteland has already severely affected her
Great video! I loved this series and its got plenty of stuff to dig into
Another youtuber, an expert on Fallout lore, once said that people have always defined themselves by the place they live, the the work they do, the religion they practice, the culture they belong to. That most of that was destroyed in the Great War and it would have taken a psychological toll on the survivors as they would have lost a part of their identity. Before the bombs, if you had asked Cooper who he was he would have said he was an American film actor who lived in California. Then the bombs destroyed the American government and film industry and it's culture and civilization collapsed.
It would also be turmatic to be suddenly transformed into something you don't understand, some would call it a loss of humanity.
But I think what really turned Cooper into this monster is (spoiler) hearing his wife wanting to deliberately start a nuclear holocaust. She was the love of his life, someone he always could count on to do the right thing, maybe even his guide star. And he heard her saying she was going to do the most evil thing in history.
So far we have plenty of reason to think she really did it. Imagine seeing the bombs fall, people dying in the aftermath, 200 years of wandering and seeing skeletons, vibrant cities reduced to ruins, civilization reduced to a ragged shadow of it's former self. And every time, every day thinking "My wife did that."
Since she was the best person he knew, that could be he gave up on morality.
But also I don't like your implications that this is simply what happens when people live in a dog-eat-dog world or what people are like when there isn't enough food or water. I for one think people can a should chose morality over survival. And argue that trust, honesty, love, decency and goodness in general can not only survive in a harsh reality, not only contribute to survival in their own way, they're actually better for survival then the alternatives.
And yet you make the claim you’d choose morality over survival in one of the safest times in earths history in spite of regional current conflicts. Like she said, it’s easy to say what we’d do in comfort of our own homes. It’s an entirely different thing during times of duress. As the ghoul also pointed out.
Well there are things that people say they will do and then there is what they did. - The ghoul. It isn't what happens and not to all but I think we all feel comfortable beleiving we will do the right thing which ends up making us judgemental to others who survived as well. we need to check our privilege in living in such a time of prosperity. = ).
@@ConsoleCombat I'm fully aware that it's easy to say what you'd do in a situation and reality could well be another. I've long thought that it's easy to hold onto morality when it doesn't cost you anything. But that's what makes it so admirable in times of duress. It's such times that morality was created for.
Indeed I might use the current conflicts to support my point. It would have been easy and more practical for my own country of Britain and others not to support Ukraine in their war with Russia. Far easier and practical for Ukraine to simply let Russia have their country. Yet we've all chosen to put ourselves under avoidable duress rather then let go of our morals.
@@GeorgiaDow We may be living in a time of prosperity (relatively speaking) but that doesn't mean we wouldn't do the right thing. nor does that excuse the desperate who don't.
By the way I forgot to mention that, as someone who's played a lot of Fallout, the people in this show are often a lot more amoral then the people in the games.
Among the raiders, slavers and tyrants there are entire settlements of decent and honourable people who have risen above that.
Also in the beginning, she says she watched old movies with her dad, who we know was a big fan later. So she was probably influenced by pre-nuke Coop, which probably upset present day Coop/Ghoul even more.
The Ghoul/Cooper Howard is my favourite main character in the show (along with Dogmeat, of course), much because of Walton Goggin's performance but also because The Ghoul makes sense in a cruel and unforgiving world where he has been changed and abandonded.
As much as I like Lucy's sweet nature and belief in the good in people, she is ultimately naive and sheltered, and it shows, whereas The Ghoul has faced the cruel reality of the wasteland for more than two centuries. Plus, he's pretty badass.
I think loving Dogmeat is pretty much a given. I'd question the humanity of anyone who doesn't like the pup
Great video, wasn't expecting to get videos about the Fallout characters but I'll take them!
18:06 I totally agree. My out loud knee-jerk reaction when that happened was "awwww" like "that's so sweet". It was the period to replace the question of whether he still has his heart. Like you mentioned with him being put in a position he doesn't want to be in, he also makes Lucy get in a situation she 'needs' to do (if she is to survive upland) something she doesn't want to be.
Great analysis as always!
Can't wait to see what you do with the other characters in this amazing series!
I would have liked to see you break down the scenes where he's torn about whether or not he wants the same things as his wife. There are interesting inner conflicts of loyalty and values hidden in those scenes.
God i love the scene where what he was is judging who he became. I think a big thing is, he's just forgotten.
Between the bounty hunter mentioning california, walking around his old home, lucys name being maclean, and that scene, we perfectly set up the start of a redemption arc where he starts regaining his old morales before seeing his daughter again.
Im 90% sure hes going to die redeeming his character at some point in the show.
16:50 I love your insight on that here. I've seen the show three times through and I'm still catching and learning new things :) There's so many layers to this show, it's wonderful.
Amazing work as always❤
This is the first video of yours I've watched that isn't Hellaverse related, heh. Good as always
happy you enjoyed it = )
I enjoyed your breakdown of the ghoul, he is the fallen hero.
the ghoul is immune to radiation. i have to wonder if he was not being cruel pouring out the water from the canteen if he knew it was irradiated and lucy dident.
That's what I thought it was when he refilled it with the radiated water in front of her. Like he was showing her what kind of water he had before.
I really love how you cosplay as so many different characters. Your videos are very fun. Subscribed!
Thanks for subbing!
Georgia, glad to see you doing profiles of the fallout TV show characters! I think with Cooper Howard, my favorite moment, the one where he watches himself on the old television inside the Super Duper Mart, is when he realizes the man he used to be and how different he was from the man he is now, and it almost seems to make him sad or disgust him. To me, it seems like after that moment is when he starts reclaiming some of his humanity and moral compass.
Can we all appreciate Ms. Dow’s commitment to cosplay? Her ammo belt is not completely full, she’s been in a fight or two already!
Great video! The cosplays are purely extra and they are appreciated.
12:42 this was fantastic part as we never "saw" what going feral meant & it be a struggle to keep your humanity made it very clear whats as stake being a Ghoul.
How on Earth do you not have more subs!?! Easily one of the best channels on TH-cam.
Looking forward to more from Fallout, Georgia.
Thanks so much. : ))
The scene with The Ghoul and his friend (17:50) was one of those moments that really sold his character as someone who still has values, just underneath all the harshness that the wasteland pours atop them.
Love these!!
Thank you, Overseer Georgia Dow from Vault 0 located in Cheyenne Mountain.
Oh I'm gonna love your analyses on this series.
I actually wonder… was he also checking on Roger to see where he was at on vials, how he was doing, and possibly get vials for him if he was out but still able to be saved?
YES!!! I’ve been waiting for you to cover this since this series came out!!! Wonder if you’ll cover the other characters we meet within the games?
Great video one of your best yet!
Wow, thanks! That means so much to me
I’m an aspiring nurse studying psychology and mental health on the side so I really enjoyed this breakdown of Cooper thank you for sharing and as a huge Fallout fan I myself love completing every side quest across the entire wasteland
I think we'll see coop start to slowly turn back into the hero he used to want to be when he travels with Lucy. Theres still a hero in there
I have been waiting for this video!!!! I kept thinking "Hey the Ghoul would be a good character for one of these" and low and behold my thoughts have been answered!!!! Great video.
Excited for Maximus video if you get around to him, the Ghoul vid is amazing!
Him pouring out the water, instead of sharing it with Lucy, was actually a mercy, and a lesson. It comes full circle at about 21:37 in your video. That's good world building, story telling, and character development.
Appreciate the video and analysis, +1 sub on your way to 300k! I really enjoyed Cooper and Lucy's interactions, among the best in the show IMO. You hit a lot of the same thoughts (more articulately ofc) in that he sees a lot of himself in Lucy from before the bombs. I also wonder, without knowing much about his daughter, if he sees some of her/what she could have become. So part self-hate reflected onto her but also trying to teach her what it takes to survive because she reminds him of him and/or his daughter and he does care about good people surviving. We know he fought for that, back before he was a famous actor. I also think that he really hates VaultTec in addition to anything that he feels guilty about and anyone who represents that or supports them (or is benefiting from their schemes and plans) is something he wants to correct and holds a lot of derision towards. That's one of the things I think they did so well is they wove so many possible competing and reinforcing drivers and emotions into the motivations of the characters that there really is a lot of speculative depth in addition to what they have directly shown/told within the show (or pulled from the canon.)
Great work 👏👏
few character arcs play out over hundreds of years. that must have been exhausting.
i am so glad that walter goggins was finaly given a job as a protagonist, ever since django unchained i have noticed how good of an actor he was, in hatefull 8, i got to experience it even more, but tarantino seemed to be the only person to acctuly cast him in important roles, most of the times he was just doing minor character here and there, so i was VERY HAPPY to see that someone FINALY recognised his talent making him a protagonist.