If Fallout gives Lucy and the Ghoul a romance arc, it will be a disaster

New Fallout trailers are always a bit of a treat at TheGamer. I like the show and as a casual fan I can spot the most obvious nods like the Kings or Mr. House making an appearance. But it also means dealing with super fans who think the curves of the valley in the background are secret hints leading viewers to Easter egg hunts.

This is not a joke. This is what happened.

While I'll never be that observant, I noticed two things in particular about this trailer for the upcoming second season. First, despite being the main character, we haven't seen much of Maximus at all. Second, and most ominously, we've seen a lot of Lucy and the Ghoul together. So much so that it seemed to indicate some chemistry between them. I have to state in the minutes that I do not agree with that.

Fallout can't make Ghoulcy Canon

Ghoul and Kings in Season 2 of Amazon's Fallout series.

Lucy and the Ghoul, known as Ghoulcy, is incredibly popular in the fandom. On AO3, the ultimate source for all things 1,147 of 1,962 fanfictions for Fallout the show is Ghouls. Only 53 is Lucy's other most popular ship, the Maximus (or Lucymax). Ghoulcy seems to be in demand.

But I'm not sure if that's true. As someone who has spent a lot of time in fandoms, they rarely reflect the general public. From experience, they're not always that smart either. It's also pretty telling that the second most popular ship is the Ghoul/Reader with 257. In the bulk of those 1,147 Ghoulcy fics, Lucy is probably just the closest generic female to mediate the fandom's thirst for the violent sack of rotten flesh that is the Ghoul.

I don't really like Ghoulcy anyway because it's a) not yuri and b) that's it. I freely admit my own bias! But giving Lucy a girlfriend isn't necessarily at the top of my list – I think her story is bigger than romance, and I hope the show continues to support that view. Out of the limited options, I'm a much bigger fan of Lucymax because the way they were raised lends itself to a connection that goes beyond the potential of fiction.

This is entirely personal, but I've also seen modified adaptations of Ghoulcy using Ella Purnell's previous Yellowjackets character, high school lesbian Jackie Taylor. These manips make me want to eat my phone so I have time until I pass the phone through my digestive system before I have to see Jax again with the weird old man.

Also, the direction of the show shouldn't be so obviously driven by fanfiction. This exists for fans to play out wild and imaginative scenarios that allow them to have fun with the source material. While the quality varies, some of the fan work is very, very good. But they should be a pitch against canon, not his plan.

Lucy & The Ghoul should have a father daughter relationship

Fallout TV Show - Ella Purnell as Lucy MacLean in Vault 33.

There's also the fact that there's a much richer angle to giving them a father-daughter relationship. Lucy spent the entire first season searching for her father, whom she adored as a good and decent man, before discovering that he was hiding a shameful and violent past. The Ghoul, meanwhile, is outwardly vile and violent, initially ordering this cruelty towards Lucy. But it hides a good, decent past.

I obviously hope they don't castrate the Ghoul as a good guy – that seems like a waste of his anti-hero potential. In fact, we're more likely to see the often naïve Lucy learn from the relentlessly ruthless side of the Ghouls. This father/daughter parallel (heightened by the Ghoul's pain over his own daughter) seems to be what the show was going for, and I hope it doesn't get thrown away.

That's where a lot of this fear rests. Fallout exceeded expectations in its first season—despite the game's popularity, it wasn't widely known and told a new story on a streaming platform that was still establishing itself as a place for prestige television. Although she was still under pressure due to the license, she also clearly had a lot of freedom. Success often means more people in the room and it stifles that freedom.

And as we've seen time and time again, a very popular comment among managers who play to the lowest common denominator is “add more romance.” If Fallout got this memo, I at least hope it's Lucymax and not Ghoulcy. I'd still prefer if Lucy got a more fleshed out story than such clichés, but if she's going to kiss someone who isn't her cousin, I'd rather it be the handsome, clumsy sidekick than a hundred year old radiation zombie with a rotten face.