One of the most shocking moments in Fallout’s season 2 premiere, “The Innovator,” is the show’s new Macguffin. The Brain-Computer Interface Implant Chip (also known as the Black Box), was invented by Robert House.
“The Innovator” starts with Robert attaching the device onto an out-of-work construction worker named Bill. Once the clunky device is attached to the back of the neck/spine, it’ll link the victim’s nervous system to a handheld controller. When the chip is activated, it can compel the victim to do pretty much anything.
Which we saw when Mr. House encouraged Bill to murder his friends. When Bill tries to resist the chip’s effect, Mr. House struggles to get Bill back under his control. The RobCo founder’s attempt to regain control causes the poor worker’s head to explode.
This Is Not Just Another Fallout Gadget
It is important to note that the games never featured a mind-control implant tied to Mr. House. The Mesmetron and Vault 92 from Fallout 3 explored mind control, but through different methods.
The Mesmetron was a weapon created by pre-war company Implied Hypnotics Inc. The weapon gave players the ability to confuse enemies and yes, make their heads explode.
Vault 92 was another Vault-Tec experiment where residents had subliminal messages implanted in their minds through exposure to white noise generators. The white noise didn’t cause head implosions, but the residents did go insane as a direct result of the experiment.
Vault 24’s Dark Experiments
Later in the episode, Lucy and The Ghoul find an abandoned Vault 24 during their search for her father Hank MacLean. They discover a horrifying experiment where Vault-Tec was brainwashing American residents into embracing communism. They achieved this by using the Brain-Computer Interface Chip alongside propaganda.
That’s not even the worst part.
The duo are stunned to find a young man with the chip attached to him. He gives Lucy a message from her father telling her to give up and go home. Then his head explodes. Unfortunately that seems to be both a bug and a feature for the chip.
Hank MacLean is Making Moves
By the end of the episode, Hank MacLean arrives at a completely different Vault located in New Vegas.
There, Hank learns that Vault-Tec had been working to improve Robert House’s Brain-Computer Interface Implant Chip by miniaturizing it.
Hank gains access to the vault’s data and the tools needed to shrink the implant. He then calls Mr. House to make it clear that if everything goes Hank’s way, Mr. House will be begging to work for him. So not only are Hank and Robert plotting something big, but Hank implies he’s working independently.
What is Hank up to that’s so big, that even Vault-Tec is left in the dark?
