The Season 2 finale of Fallout ended with Hank MacLean activating a mind-control chip to erase his own memory, preventing his daughter Lucy from learning about the Enclave’s plans. He forgets who she is and the scene plays out as a tragedy.
But should we believe it?
Hank has spent two seasons lying, manipulating, and committing atrocities behind a veneer of concern. Now we’re supposed to accept that he’s suddenly gone? The man who perfected mind-control technology just happened to use it on himself at a convenient moment?
The case for a genuine memory wipe
Hank developed these miniaturized mind-control chips under Enclave direction. We’ve watched them work on others throughout Season 2. He transformed violent Wastelanders into cheerful, compliant workers by erasing their personalities and replacing them with new ones.
Why would his chip function differently?
Kyle MacLachlan, who plays Hank, approached filming the scene by asking himself “what if she really were my daughter, and what would that mean?” The emotional weight is there. MacLachlan says Hank “took the decision out of Lucy’s hands, because I think he knew that she would not be able to do it.”
The scene is framed as a self-inflicted punishment. A father sacrificing himself to spare his daughter the burden of “killing” him or learning the full truth of what he’s done.
If we take it at face value, Hank becomes a blank slate. A man who no longer remembers his crimes, his daughter, or his loyalties to the Enclave.
But what if it’s all an elaborate con?
On the flip side, everything about Hank’s character makes a strong case that he could be faking his mind wipe.
He’s a master manipulator. He tricked both his children Lucy and Norm into believing he was a loving, protective father. He’s committed genocide by nuking the NCR capital city of Shady Sands. Hank could be pretending to be a blank slate to deter Lucy from digging deeper into his ties with the Enclave.
And then there’s what MacLachlan himself said in interviews. “I like to think it’s a moment where Hank knows something we don’t. He makes this decision because it’s part of the next play.”
That’s not the language you use to describe a man erasing himself. That’s the language of strategy. MacLachlan even acknowledges the uncertainty: “Memories, who know if they come back, float back around again. Is it temporary? We don’t know the extent of this instrument of memory loss.”
Another thing to consider is that the Enclave has been listening to everything. They heard Steph’s message to initiate Phase 2, radio calls from Hank and Norm.
If Hank is the Enclave’s devoted acolyte, would they really let him go? Or would they have a plan to recover him?
A real memory wipe removes Hank’s value to the Enclave entirely. But a fake one? That embeds a wolf in sheep’s clothing into the lives of Lucy and anyone else who believes he’s harmless now.
The problems with a mind wipe
Hank thought that wiping his memory would prevent Lucy from learning about the Enclave’s real plans for the Wasteland. But is that actually the best way to protect those secrets?
Lucy is smart, resourceful, and she’s not going to stop investigating. If anything, a memory-wiped Hank raises more questions. Why would he do this unless the truth was catastrophic? What was he protecting?
Before activating the chip, Hank told Lucy that “the surface is the real experiment.” That’s a massive reveal about the Enclave has in store. If he really wanted to keep Lucy in the dark, why drop that bombshell first?
Plus, what if the mind wipe is temporary? Now that Lucy has destroyed the mainframe and the basic personality template for the chips, what if Hank gets parts of his memory and personality back? Then what?
What this means for season 3
If Hank really erased his memories, Lucy will have to grapple with whether a mind-wiped person is still responsible for their past actions. It creates an impossible situation for her. The man who committed atrocities is gone, replaced by someone who genuinely doesn’t remember any of it. How do you hold that person accountable?
But if Hank is pretending, he becomes a ticking time bomb. Every moment of apparent confusion is a performance. He can still manipulate Lucy once she lets her guard down. She’s particularly vulnerable now that she’s been separated from the Ghoul, who’s off to Colorado for the hope of finding his family.
Fallout thrives on moral ambiguity. The entire franchise is built on showing you the horrors hiding behind cheerful facades. Hank pretending to be harmless while remaining fully aware is the most likely scenario, but also the most dangerous.
