A Profile of The Ghoul: How Betrayal Can Shatter a Good Man

in the ghoul we see two very different people Cooper Howard who before the bombs dropped is a man of loyalty and integrity and the ghoul who after the bombs dropped is filled with cynicism and a complete lack of respect for human life how did Cooper Howard become the ghoul I don't mean physically we know how he physically became the ghoul we see where he is the moment the bombs drop in 2077 he's performing at a child's birthday party with his daughter he tells his daughter that in the event of a nuclear detonation if the mushroom cloud is bigger than your thumb then there's no point in even running is it your thumb or mine the mushroom cloud was bigger than her thumb it was bigger than his thumb and yet he ran anyway he had to save his daughter we get the impression that he was successful or at least he thought he was successful we'll tackle that in a bit but he wasn't able to secure shelter for himself which is why he's wandering the Wasteland 200 years after the apocalypse and he's a ghoul he became a ghoul because he was exposed to the Fallout from the nuclear detonations of 2077 the show is very clear about how he physically turned into the ghoul but how did his character come completely change and is there anything of the original Cooper Howard left in the ghoul Cooper Howard was a Hollywood film star he was an A-list celebrity he made his living pretending to be a cowboy on the Silver Screen while on set during the filming of one of his pictures we see him taking on the role of a sheriff the script wants him to shoot a bad guy in the head but Cooper Howard POS say he hesitates he doesn't want to do it do I really have to kill him Cuts Coupe doesn't think that a hero Sheriff would be very Noble to murder an unarmed man even if he was a villain by shooting him in the head he doesn't think it's very Noble to execute this man without giving him due process but the director tells him that it's necessary and it's necessary due to the political climate in America at the time with America being at war with communist China the public was consumed with fear of Communists they were afraid of communist infiltrators in every corner of American society particularly in Hollywood hearkening back to the McCarthyism of our own era because of this any actor who even had the suspicion of being a communist anyone who was accused accurately or inaccurately of being a communist was asked by The Studio Hollywood Reds I'm telling you radicalism is sweeping through Hollywood like a bag case of the clap I've even got your friend Charlie White knife are you kidding me Charlie I serve with that guy we have meetings and everything is Bob Bob around here anywhere Bob's been fired why see it turns out Bob's a bit of a communist communist Cadillac Bob like the very one the audience wants to be reminded how tough and resourceful real American are to make them feel more comfortable in this uncertain political climate that's why Cooper Howard's character needs to be a beef eating American Patriot not afraid to bring the law and also to lay down a heaping dose of wild west Justice the audience C they want to see that even a good man as yourself can be driven that that's not really my thing you know that's not what I do please cuz out here it's just you your gun and your personal code bringing order to the Wild Wild West and Cooper Howard was a patriot he wasn't a communist he loved his country he served his country he was a soldier during the Battle of Anchorage he fought the commies in a suit of T45 power armor well back when I was in the Marines I wore the T45 when we almost lost the great state of Alaska to the Reds sorry you couldn't make it to the party the other night Charlie issue had one of your meetings huh one of your communist meetings come on man we watch people die together of North figh against all that hor yeah and for what for the American dream he didn't just support America in the war but he was also concerned about the well-being of his fellow soldiers he didn't see himself or his fellow soldiers as mere Canon fod he didn't see their lives as being Expendable as long as America's goals were met which is why he was so frustrated with Bud Askins when he found out that bud used to work at westtech which produced the T45 suit of power armor knowing that there was a fatal flaw in the design westtech a defense contractor oh I'm uh very familiar with you guys you designed the T45 power armor your first of its kind you know the design flaws were ridiculous but they sure looked great those design flaws here has cost a lot of good men and women their lives producing the T45 with a design flaw was probably cheaper and led to the series of power armor being deployed quickly in Anchorage so it was probably a no-brainer of course they were going to release the power armor in the state it was because it was worth risking the lives of their soldiers in order to deploy a piece of technology onto the battlefield that could turn the tide of the war but Cooper Howard didn't see it that way he valued the lives of his fellow soldiers those lives had meaning those people had dignity and they weren't Expendable westtech should have done everything they could could have to ensure that the T45 suit of power armor didn't have any design flaws he valued human life more than West Tech's profits and America's technological superiority on the battlefield that's why he objected the way he did but that didn't mean he was a communist he still loved his country he still believed in his country he believed in capitalism he believed in American companies which is why when his wife who worked at voltech approached him to become the face of voltech he agreed to do it however we get the impression that he was hesitant to do it on numerous occasions when Cooper Howard is talking with his wife or with people at vault tech he says something that leads us to believe that he's not exactly thrilled about becoming the poster child for a vault Tac you know I've never done an advertisement before in my life but then again my wife has never asked me to the things I'm willing to do for you never cease to amaze me later on he says to Miss Williams that he's not ashamed about having a sponsor well this is America everybody has a sponsor and uh I'm not ashamed to earn a living and he's probably not ideologically having a sponsor while living in a capitalist Nation makes a lot of sense but when you get a sponsor in some way you cheapen your own brand you sacrifice a little bit of your own Integrity especially if the sponsor isn't a very scrupulous company now at this point in time Cooper Howard really has no reason to think that vault tech is an unscrupulous company perhaps it's because he hasn't been listening to the gossip that other people in Hollywood have been saying about vault tech because clearly other celebrities in Hollywood knows something about vault tech that causes them to despise the company he learns this firsthand when he has drinks with Charlie the old co-star of his who got asked by the studio for being a communist Vex the devil man my wife works here and his career begins to suffer for it because his wife asked him to he agreed to become the face of vault tech he agreed to become the original Vault boy but by becoming the face of vault tech he alienated everyone else in Hollywood the reverse of the Red Scare happened to him instead of losing his job because he was too communist he began to lose work because he was too capitalist or rather because he chose to hop in the saddle with a company that had a bad reputation I think uh Hollywood actor friends I would to be seen celebrating with the pitch man for the end of the world here I lost a movie over these ads yeah showed upset the actors wouldn't come out of their trailers bnny Lewis said it was on moral grounds okay perhaps that's why he was so hesitant to work with voltech maybe he had heard the rumors of what voltech was really doing but he couldn't say no to his wife he loved his wife he adored his wife wherever she was his eyes were drawn to her when at the studio filming a movie she comes on set and he can't look away he ends his conversation with the director just so he can go and flirt with her you going to save any of that great Taffy for the rest of us it's not great it's lavender you know a lot of people like to write it off as some old lady flavor but tastes like someone touching you for the first [Music] time after shooting the Vault 4 commercial his wife comes on set and he can't look away he finds a reason to move away from from Bud Askins so he can get close to his wife and flirt with her I'm at work oh how about we clock out he adored his wife but Barb Barb kind of seemed to be annoyed by him she's flattered by the attention of Hollywood actor Cooper Howard but she only ever appears to be proud of him when he's serving the interests of vault tech the rest of the time she kind of treats him like a nuisance and this is an absolute tragedy rewatching these scenes and taking a look at her facial expressions and the way she looks at other vault tech employees and the way she looks a little nervous and uncomfortable when he gets a little too handsy feely with her she doesn't act towards him the way he acts towards her she probably knew that by asking him to become the face of voltech she was asking him to do something that made him uncomfortable but she did it anyway and the truly cold and Eerie aspect of this is the other voltech employees refer to their relationship as a business connection we wanted to say how delighted we are that barb could use her connections to get to you she used her connection with him to get him to be the face of vault tech they were married that's more than just a business connection and he did it because he loved her and he didn't want to disappoint her and he did the Vault for commercial because he loved her and he didn't want to disappoint her and then what does she do there is a rap party a rap party for this yes it's at our house she invites vault tech to a rap party at their family home without even talking to Cooper about it she tells him about it the day of the party and he's clearly disappointed he just wanted to spend time with his wife but he goes along with it because he loves his wife but even when he gets what he wants when he finally gets some alone time with her in a hot tub drinking martinis it appears like she's just plating him here she shows up she hops in the tub to you know satiate him for a little bit but she doesn't stay very long she's the first one out of the tub he's in the middle of talking with her when she just leaves I don't think Barb was always like this I'm sure she married him because she genuinely loved him and in fact I think that even at this point in the story she still genuinely loves him but I think she's overwhelmed with worry about what's coming she's a high-ranking vault tech executive and what she knows what she has learned about the end of the world and about what voltech is planning has preoccupied her mind to such an extent that everything her husband says anything he's interested in seems frivolous by comparison she knows things about what vault tech is planning that she's not sharing with her husband it guarantees us a spot in the vault we've got money we can buy a spot in the vault one of the good vaults what's that supposed to me and knowing these things that have imp on their lives gives her great anxiety to the point where she can't enjoy her normal life she can't enjoy her relationship of course Cooper Howard doesn't know any of this so when He offhandedly suggests moving away from the city and starting a ranch it's because he doesn't know exactly how close to the end of the world Humanity really is but she knows this and instead of forgiving him for his ignorance because how could he know she holds it against him every day I go into work and I think about how Humanity can survive a nuclear event that will wipe out 90% of life on Earth and I come home and you're talking to me about hiding out at a ranch up in Bakersfield yeah I don't even know what planet you're on sometimes CP at this point Cooper Howard is starting to see things that are becoming a bit hard to deny everyone around him hates vault tech his friends are saying that vault tech is the devil his wife Barb who works at vault tech is becoming increasingly preoccupied with her work to the point where their relationship is suffering she's even taking her work home with her and seeing her put on a pit boy seems so out of character for her that had startled Cooper oh come on you've seen these around not on you I haven't he's not a communist but he recognizes that something isn't right he sees that something is weighing a upon his wife and he's worried about her which is why he was open to the idea of going to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to listen to a talk by Ms Williams but during that talk she says stuff about America that he can't stomach when you think of the promise of the American dream you think of California but it is just a dream it's not real that's about all the horeshit I can take it's only when Miss Williams says that she knows something about his wife that he might not know that he decides to stick around you see it happens that I know your wife and perhaps aside of her you don't he loves his wife and he's worried about his wife how do you know my wife my research company was acquired by her division what is it it's a listening device a listening device what did you you want me to spy on my wife that's why he decides to install the device in her pit boy to evees drop on her conversations but almost immediately he regrets it he realizes that what he's doing is a huge invasion of privacy and again he wants to trust her he can't imagine that she would possibly be involved in anything unscrupulous not here you're right roselt what are you thinking his daughter FR Roosevelt here is acting as his conscience and that I think is because we learn that Cooper Howard has a special connection with dogs he loves dogs he talks to Roosevelt as if he was a person using Roosevelt as a sounding board for his own inner thoughts Roosevelt I'm sorry you can't come buddy I'm heading into enemy territory one of the movies he's most famous for is called a man and his dog his dog Roosevelt is the very dog who starred alongside him yeah I love that one too it was my real dog Roosevelt is there watching Cooper install the monitoring device on Barb's pit boy and he's watching as Coupe Eaves drops on his wife almost like a guilty conscience judging him which is why he immediately regrets what he has done and throws away the device but he still doesn't have any answers he still can't explain his wife's recent coolness towards him and this culminates in an argument during dinner about dogs you know no dogs in the vaults says who no dogs in the vault says who that's the policy you dogs eat meat it's an avoidable inefficiency Coupe loves dogs and vault tech has decided that there won't be any dogs in vaults this pisses him off but it's more than just about dogs that's not really the question is it who decided that there were no dogs in the vault who who who makes the rules because no dogs allowed that is a new rule I mean what else do you have in store for us are the are the blue jumpsuits are those mandatory what if I don't want to wear a blue jumpsuit what if I want to wear a green one so the bomb Falls and you want to know about your wardrobe no I want to know about my freedom I didn't go to war defending that freedom so that I could live in a seller under the boot heel of chairman but Askin it's about freedom and individuality his wife is working for a company that is creating a bunch of vaults where Human Society will continue to thrive underground for God knows how long and what he's learning in this exchange is that some company will be dictating parts of their lives that is an American and Coupe is a patriot Coupe believes in Freedom he values human life he values a person's individuality and now because he's in a vault some overseer is going to come up and say you can't have a dog because dogs eat meat that that concerned Coupe enough to fish his monitoring device out of the trash no dogs in the VA huh he needs to find out if the rumors in Hollywood are true he needs to find out what voltech is really doing and he needs to know how involved his wife is in it which leads us to coup's Great heartbreak he goes into vault tech headquarters while his wife is having a meeting with butd Askins and the heads of some of the major corporations in America he sits in the waiting room listening in to their conversation he begins to hear all of the awful evil crony capitalistic rhetoric that all of these CEOs are spouting but even at this point he has faith in his wife when it's her turn to talk he knows she's going to set them straight come on Barb set them straight because he still sees his wife as a force of good in vault tech sure vault tech may be an evil Corporation but a great way to combat an evil Corporation is to put good people in that Corporation who have power and influence he knows his wife always tries to do the right thing that's why he loves her I know you always try to do the right thing that's what I love about you and that's exactly what his wife is a good woman with power and influence at least so he thought there's a lot of earning potential with the end of the world how can you guarantee results by dropping the bomb ourselves but then the apocalypse comes out of her very mouth and that's when Cooper Howard's World changes he trusted Barb completely he trusted Barb with his fortune with his family with his heart and all this time she knows that voltech is planning to drop the bombs that voltech is planning to end civilization that is a betrayal voltech is talking about betraying America America outsourced the survival of this country to the private sector but it would have been insane to keep a failed nation alive so we kept voltech alive instead voltech is talking about betraying the human species his wife is talking about betraying him and their little family coming to terms with the fact that you've been lied to that the person you loved the person you admired never really existed that that person was someone else entirely the entire time that that person was using you to not just get what what she wanted but to get what her company wanted that kind of betrayal can shatter your entire identity the show doesn't tell us what happened between this point and the bombs dropping but it gives us plenty of Clues to piece it together we know that Coupe loved Barb because he thought she always tried to do the right thing but that that was a lie so maybe he fell out of love with her that could be one reason that they got divorced but also Barb noticed that something was wrong with her pit boy what's wrong uh my pit boy it's been acting strange the transmitter is always activated I can fix it myself I just need to figure out where the pit boy is trying to transmit to I'm I'm heading out it's likely that after this she discovered that Coupe was spying on her or maybe Miss Williams device installed some sort of Nefarious software on her pit boy that compromised her Ro at Vault Tac that may be why they got divorced and we learned that they got divorced during the birthday party one of the fathers talks about him paying alimony why the hell is Cooper Howard working kids birthday parties what else aloney this was likely a very public divorce and Barb was a member of vault tech the most powerful company in America and what happens when you go against a powerful company you get labeled a communist I'm not a communist Mr Howard that's just a dirty word they Ed to describe people who aren't insane Cooper Howard was unlucky enough to get cancelled first by Hollywood because he was too capitalist and then by Corporate America because he was too communist which we again learn at the birthday party when one of the dads calls him a Pinko commi pink he still took my money he's doing kids birthday parties because he needs money to pay alimony after learning what Vault was really doing his principles kicked in and he couldn't be the face of voltech anymore even though he's the one who came up with the idea for the vault boys thumb up he refused to ever do it again because it was so iconically linked with vault tech C C do your thumbs up yeah you know given a straight of everything I prer not too official right why not that's what you're famous for why wouldn't you do it the thumbs up oh it's uh has grown up stuff and after everything he's been through with vault tech he just couldn't bear to do it Cooper Howard became the ghoul because despite being an American Patriot he was betrayed by Corporate America despite being an ethical man he was betrayed by Hollywood and despite being a loving and devoted husband he was betrayed by his wife the bombs dropped on October 23rd 2077 we see Cooper Howard on a horse racing off into the distance trying in vain to escape the nuclear fallout of multiple Atomic detonations we don't know what happened to his daughter Janie but we do know that here Cooper Howard dies but 219 years later the ghoul [Applause] emerges what has the ghoul been doing for these past two centuries well Cooper Howard was an actor and he was typ cast as a cowboy and so he leaned into to the only role he knew except instead of being a lawbringer instead of being a sheriff he became a bounty hunter and an outlaw the symbolism between the two characters is apparent Cooper Howard wore a white hat the ghoul wears a dark brown hat Cooper Howard wears a gold neckerchief and a sheriff star the ghoul wears a tattered leather jacket and a bandier but both characters wear the same blue and gold cowboy shirt it's the same shirt Cooper Howard was wearing the day the bombs dropped and he's still got it on 219 years later there is much about this ghoul that has changed but there's still something about this ghoul that's familiar he may now be a gunslinger like the man he pretended to be for Hollywood but he's not concerned with bringing Law and Order his only concern is survival the ghoul has spent 200 years making a reputation for himself as a Cutthroat No Nonsense Bounty Hunter who shoots first and asks questions later he'll work with anyone as long as the Price Is Right something we learned from sorl Booker a gang leader that the ghoul has worked for in the past you boys know who you just brought in this son right here used to be the best Bounty Hunter to ever shoot a man in the ass would you mind I come on now s we old friends a we he was extremely good at what he did and being a good Bounty Hunter being a good gun for hire made him a lot of enemies which is why he was buried in D Pedro Cemetery to begin with Don Pedro was a local warlord or gang leader somewhere south and east of California perhaps someplace in Mexico Don Pedro managed to apprehend him likely because the ghoul has cost him so much money in the past killing his people or maybe by competing with him he buried him underg ground and kept him from going feral by connecting him to an IV drip filled with medicine exhuming him every year or so to torture him and there he kept the ghoul for over 30 years how about we put you right back in that hole so Don Pedro can have his fun with you for the next 30 Years but once he gets his freedom we see that he doesn't like being anyone's servant he doesn't even like being anyone's partner he doesn't like owing favors and he doesn't tolerate being threatened he kills honcho and his thugs because they expected him to be their little servant and because he was sure that they were going to turn on him in the end the ghoul has become cynical he no longer believes in the good nature of humankind now that he's free what are his motivations well money the reason honcho freed the ghoul is because a new mercenary contract came on the wire to track down Wiig and get his artifact the ghoul takes up the contract and heads back to California we learned that there were six different mercenary agencies that had put out a contract for wising last night a bounty came in through all six agencies a hefty price on the head of a man it fits the description of that fellow right there and the ghoul is there to collect he doesn't care about the character of will zig he doesn't care about whether or not wizig is a good guy or a bad guy he doesn't care anything about The Enclave he cares about one thing fulfilling this contract and getting money which is why he's the first one to pull the trigger in the streets of Philly which is why he tried to kill Lucy an innocent Vault dweller in the streets of Philly the ghoul has become a cynical hedonist he exists to make money and feel good while doing it during the battle in Philly the ghoul is clearly having a good time with me will I do this for the Love of the Game he opened fire on Will's because Wilzig was the target of his contract but he didn't start firing at the people of Philly until they fired upon him first afterwards however he became flippant damn y'all ain't got me working up by [Music] appetite well the tomatoes he was in his element now the rest of the Town attacking him just made the entire experience more fulfilling for him this is what he wanted he wanted them to attack because he derives pleasure from combat we have to remember that he's been walking this Earth for over 200 years he's seen everything and at this point life is truly cheap to him he's seen generation after generation lie and steal and scavenge to survive only to ultimately die and have it all start all over again Cooper Howard was upset with westtech for a design flaw that led to the the deaths of individual soldiers that he fought with but now that he has the perspective of time what had once appeared to be a rare and finite resource now is common place and mundane there was once a Cooper Howard who believed in the sanctity of human life but that man is gone the ghoul sees human life as cheap and combat is one of the few things left on this planet that truly Thrills him he wears a broad smile on his face throughout the entire battle in Philly and he casually toys with the people he's just fatally wounded for the fun of it right off you one of these cherry tomatoes but you got a hole in your neck he admits that he's a frequent chem abuser well now that is a very small drop and a very very large bucket of groves and we see this on full display in the super duper Mart he finds a stockpile of chem and Gorges himself on them he finds alcohol and drinks it as if it was water this is all he has to live for now combat is the only thing that gives him any pleasure and abusing drugs and alcohol numbs the pain and it's only understanding what has happened to Cooper Howard that we understand why he's in pain the ghoul is not the first person to have had everything taken from him countless lives were destroyed in 2077 but so many of them roll pulled over and died so many of them lacked the will to survive to do whatever it took to see one more day Lucy asks a great question when she sees that the ghoul is a cannibal that he will stoop to any depravity just to see one more day she asks how do you live like this why keep going and that question pissed him off because the answer to that question was very personal we only learned the answer to that question much later when the ghoul is talking with Crime Boss soral Booker a man who has known him for decades a man who knows what he's been looking for look at you 200 years I don't know what keeps you going or maybe you're still looking for her he's looking for her the show leads us to believe that the her sorl Booker was referring to might have been moldava because immediately after this conversation the ghoul picks up a picture of moldaver but that's not who he was looking for that's not why he refuses to die we find out who he's looking for at the very end of the series we find out what still motivates him after all these years when he confronts Hank m Cain now I've waited over 200 years to ask somebody one question where's my family he's looking for his family and it's here we learn that Janie his daughter survived the apocalypse of 2077 or at least Cooper Howard thinks she might have survived the her he was looking for wasn't moldaver it was his wife because his wife must know where their daughter is and he's looking for them both had he just been looking for his wife he would have said where's my wife had he just been looking for his daughter he would have said where's my daughter but he didn't he said where's my family implying that he thinks at least that they're both still alive somewhere war never changes you look at at this Wasteland looks like chaos but there's always somebody behind the wheel and that's who I want to talk to the reason he's a bounty hunter the reason he's interested in money is because he needs money to afford a drug that prevents him from going feral we learned this when he finds an old friend in the ruins of a doctor's office you've lasted us all how long since you first started wastelanding a long time it's a lot of ISS well I've always been good at making money Roger he was always always good at making money he was always good at having enough of this drug to prevent from going feral and he needs to prevent going feral so he can keep searching for his family all of it everything he does is so that he can find his family the ghoul had been buried underground for over 30 years he was just now getting into the swing of things the first thing he did upon emerging is take up a contract so he could get more money so he could find more drugs to keep from going feral it was by sheer chance that he meets Lucy mlan a woman who was not a product of the Wasteland a woman who reminded him of the man he used to be and that reminder pained him and angered him he had become cynical there wasn't a place in the Wasteland for a person who thought like Lucy did there wasn't a place in the Wasteland for a person who thought like Cooper Howard did which is why Cooper Howard had to go and the ghoul had to replace him which I think is why he was so cruel to Lucy and his cruelty was really unnecessary one might be tempted to say that he was being cruel as a way to teach her a lesson to bring out that wastelander that she would need to become in order to survive n you get there you are you little killer but that's not how it turned out at all and his cruelty often backfired on him he used Lucy as bait it wasn't torture he even said so himself torture is wrong well I ain't torturing you sweetheart I'm using you as bait he used her as bait to lure the gulper but because he used her as bait in an effort to save herself she damaged his handbag which destroyed the drug that was keeping him from going feral I'm not sure how he would have lured the gulper without using her as bait but had he not used her as bait he wouldn't have lost his supply of drugs being cruel in this situation didn't help him it set him back and being cruel to Lucy on their march to find more of these drugs didn't make Lucy tougher didn't teach her any lessons she was dying of thirst and he drank in front of her and then poured the rest on the sand this of course forced her later to drink IR radiated water but that irradiated water didn't help her didn't make her better it made her sick to the point where she collapsed and would have died had Maximus not provided her with rataway hey you radiation sickness I I got rataway left in the sleeve of my armor you can have it if you let me out if you don't get this medicine you're going to pass out okay and if you lose Consciousness we're both going to die by not helping her find purified water he wasn't doing her any favors he was is just pushing her closer to death there was no need to taunt her here he did that for the sheer pleasure of shocking her if he was trying to teach her a lesson he failed to do so because Lucy instead ended up teaching him a lesson remember he literally sold her to Oregon Harvesters he had no expectation of ever seeing her again he was selling her to her death in exchange for this Wonder Cam that kept him from becoming a ghoul it doesn't make any sense to spend time and energy trying to teach somebody how to become a wasteland Survivor if your plan is just to have her killed anyway but despite this Lucy shows him mercy and he gets what he needs to keep from turning into a ghoul I may end up looking like you I'll never be like you something happens to the ghoul after Lucy leaves the first thing he does upon regaining his strength is take more of the wonder drug that keeps him from going feral but then he does other drugs then he drinks alcohol to push away his pain then he sits down and he finds an old holotape a tape with a film that he once starred in and the memories start rushing back for 200 years he's been living as a person that made sense to him given his cynical world viw but here Lucy proved to him that the man he became wasn't destined for every Survivor that you could survive you could meet your goals you could find success while maintaining your integrity that's why he took the heat when soral Booker thugs came to the Chop Shop destroying a legitimate business that's illegal around these parts they saw him there and they assumed that he's the one who tore up the place and he could have denied it he could have said that it was Lucy some evil member of vault tech did this but he didn't he covered for her he took the blame you know why these boys brought you in c i up a poor defenseless gang affiliated organ dealers ship yep but that super duper Mart you gutted was under our protection are you got anything to say in your defense guilty as Shores just like that just like that after being apprehended by sorl Booker he has to kill the men who kidnapped him cuz they were going to take him out back and feed him to the Hogs but he's not smiling anymore he kills them without an expression on his face he is not deriving any pleasure from this they're just in his way he finds the wanted poster of mold daver on the bulletin board and at last he has a clue that can lead him to what he really wants he recognizes her why do you have this picture on your wall that's mava that's not how I remember her as all he knows she was around before the bombs dropped like he was he knows she had dealings with vault at this point she's the most likely person to have any answers about his family but where does he go from here well he knows mul's reputation you were president now don't say why not oh this is a first I'm hearing about this outfit and what I am hearing is a whole lot of chatter about some woman name of malava he's surprised that sorl is calling himself a president because he's never heard of president sorl when it comes to reinstating the government it's mold's name that keeps popping up not sorl and being as old as he is he knows the government that used to be here he knows about the NCR therefore m D has to be part of the NCR and so he tracks down someone he knows used to be part of the NCR someone he fought years ago I probably still got some of your l in me somewhere but today I'm just looking for information he wants to know where moldaver is and from the boy he learns that moldaver is at the Griffith Observatory he kills the boy in this scene but this exchange is very different from all of the others that we we've seen in Philly he taunted the people that he killed cuz he was just having a good time in this scene he warns the boy he doesn't shoot first he gives the kid an opportunity to make peace but he doesn't what you think Tommy am I really walking out of here today or you going to try and draw me for what I did to your big brother you won't Maybe not today but maybe [Music] someday and when he kills this boy he's not smiling he's only doing it because the boy is an obstacle that doesn't make it right that doesn't make what he did here a good thing but his motivation for killing in this scene is different from his motivations for killing in previous scenes Cooper Howard changed after the nuclear apocalypse but after meeting Lucy and rediscovering a trail that could lead him to what he really wants he changes again but there are also Clues throughout the series that there's a part of Cooper Howard still in the ghoul somewhere when he finds his friend at the doctor's office he sees that his friend is going [Music] feral you turn [Music] it maybe there's no helping him now there's no cure for being feral once you're feral you're gone the safest thing for everyone is to kill him here but he does something else first you remember how good food us should taste blamco American cheese ice cream and apple pie damn apple pie you know my mom used to he brings up a happy memory the last thing on this ghoul's mind before he dies is a happy thought that was unnecessary kindness the ghoul gained nothing from doing that and then true after Roger was dead the ghou pulled out his teeth to sell for caps and made jerky out of his butt there is that but he could have done that at any time he could have killed Roger at any time in that conversation and then started to harvest his body but he took the time to make sure that the last thing on Roger's mind before he died was a happy thought remembering what food used to taste like and remembering his mom and the ghoul still has a fondness for dogs in the streets of Philly he's attacked by cx404 and he stabs the dog to defend himself but after the dust settles and all his enemies are gone he sees the wounded dog lying on the ground and his face is filled with regret yes there was a practical reason for Reviving dog meate he needed dog meate to hunt for his master so that he could fulfill the contract but that practical need doesn't explain the look on his face he's sad that he had to hurt this dog when he revives the dog with a stim pack he smiles the health of this dog makes him happy he travels with cx404 for a good portion of the rest of the series and the show juxtaposes scenes of Cooper Howard and Rosevelt with the ghoul in cx404 traveling with cx404 reminds him of Roosevelt and reminds him of his conscience I'm sorry dog meat but you ain't him when he says that cx44 isn't Roosevelt he's also telling himself something he's reminding him self that he's no longer Cooper Howard but he wouldn't have to remind himself of that if the old Coupe wasn't still in there somewhere after losing cx404 he finds the dog again at a super duper mart but by this time he's already headed toward the Griffith Observatory he no longer needs this dog in order to get what he wants he chooses to travel with cx404 because he wants wants to he releases the dog from the nuca colola machine as an act of kindness and even after wiig's head has been discarded and cx404 is no longer trying to find it at the end of the series we find the two traveling together a compatible pair at the end of the world I don't think the old Cooper Howard will ever come back and he probably shouldn't come back he misplaced his faith in vault tech he misplaced his faith in America he misplaced his faith in his wife because he was too trusting the ghoul developed a survival Instinct that is now necessary to navigate this world but I think the show has demonstrated that there's still part of the old Cooper Howard in the ghoul a part that can guide his conscience in season 2 as for his special stats I think he's got a threein strength he prefers handguns he doesn't use melee combat very often and he gets tossed around a lot in fights a seven in perception before the bombs he was able to perceive that something was wrong with his wife which led him to discover the truth about VTech and after the bombs his excellent perception helped him track wiig's head and find his way to the Griffith Observatory and eat in endurance and he'd have to have high endurance to last 2 19 years in a post-apocalyptic Wasteland to still be alive and not feral when so many other ghouls have gone feral a Charisma of 10 I mean he was an A-list Hollywood actor you got to have high Charisma to get to that point and after the bumbs he used his Charisma to elicit Mercy from Lucy and to convince sorl to cut him free a three in intelligence and this might not be very generous towards the ghoul I wish I had more points to give him in intelligence cuz I really don't think he's stupid but he wasn't really interested in science or technology or even politics before the bombs dropped and after the bombs he doesn't use any high-tech gadgets at all and eight in agility as a gunslinger he's going to have to have high agility and he uses it to great effect in every single confrontation and a one in luck I can't think of anyone else who's been more unlucky in life both before the bombs and after but what do you think of the ghoul do you find him as much of a sympathetic character as I do do you think he could possibly be redeemed in season 2 will he ever find his family and if he does will it be a happy reunion and what do you think of his special stats where would you put them let me know your thoughts in the comments section below I publish new Fallout videos each and every week on my channel so if you don't want to miss my next one be sure to subscribe and to click that Bell notification button if you have already but you still feel like you're missing out on YouTube notifications consider following me on Twitter at oxorn I update Twitter manually with every new piece of content that I publish I've got a plush for sale it's in stock and ready to ship but my inventory is limited and I'm almost out if you want to make sure you get one before they're gone snag one today I have also got a shirt shop with completely Unique Designs that you can't find anywhere else my designs come on shirts in a variety of men's Women's and Children's sizes and in a wide array of colors you can find them on other products as well like smartphone cases pillows posters mugs stickers prints Etc so if' interested you can find a link to my shop in the description below or you can click here and if you like what I do consider becoming a patron on patreon or a member here on YouTube YouTube members get little badges that appear next to their names in the comment section of my videos and they can use Ox emojis in the chats of my live streams and in the comments of my videos but more than anything I'm just so glad you're here watching this video with me today thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon with more brand new videos picking up high levels of radio activity over here ah [Music] [Music]

Channel: Oxhorn

Views: 343,264

Keywords: oxhorn

Id: 62kDlOeRrbA

Length: 52min 44sec (3164 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2024