Four main characters in Season One of Fallout have their own separate Story Enneagrams. We don’t meet Maximus until halfway through Episode One when he’s thrust upon us. It’s not a heroic introduction.
ONE
Fellow companions of the Brotherhood haze Maximus. In class he fails tests and looks like a dunce.
TWO
Away from Maximus, the Brotherhood receives a dot-matrix communication of Wilzig’s face. It was a strange moment when we first saw it, and it continues to be an oddity. We can tell, though, by the way the editing pauses to settle on this moment that it is important. This is our first introduction to Wilzig, even though it’s oblique. His escape will change everything about Maximus’ life. It’s a subtle Two Trouble, but a good one.
We’re also shown the shredding of Dane’s foot. Everyone suspects Maximus of sabotaging Dane’s promotion. The viewer has no idea if this is true; Maximus is an angry cipher to us.
And one more thing. (I’m not a fan of a multi-layered Two, although I understand that the showrunners needed to establish a lot of storylines.) The Elder Cleric interrogates Maximus before promoting him. Our first instance of young Max emerging from the milk refrigerator happens. Every beat of this extended Two will come to fruition later.
THREE
The Three Mirror is Maximus’ ritual initiation into the Brotherhood’s Squire regiment. The branding on the back of his neck is our visual.
FOUR
At the end of Episode One, Maximus is given his mission with Knight Titus: find Wilzig and his dog. He gets a little revenge on Thaddeus by outranking him. He gets humiliated by Titus who tosses his codpiece in Maximus’ face. The point of this Four is very similar to Lucy’s: they each travel unconnected to other humans. They are alone. Early in Episode Two Titus suffers his fatal Yao Guai attack. This is the first moment that the camera can linger on Maximus’ face and we’re entranced by Moten’s expression. It’s a wonderful scene because we begin to genuinely sympathize. The rest of Episodes Two and Three involve Maximus pretending to be Titus. (He is not in Episode Four.) He rescues Lucy and mocks his squire, Thaddeus.
SWITCH
In Episode Five Maximus, feeling a connection now to Thaddeus, agrees to brand him and then reveals his identity. This is a storyline that chooses to include the Switch in the Three/Six Mirror. The visuals resonate with and reinforce each other because each ritual indicates an advancement in Maximus’ character. They’re markers of his progress.
FIVE
Although Thaddeus, who is a rule-follower, rejects Maximus’ identity, he doesn’t do so with malice. Maximus allowed himself to become vulnerable, and he’s rewarded for it when Lucy rescues him from the suit. They are now a team, a Five shared between both characters. This section is about Maximus learning from Lucy that an entirely different way of life is possible. On the bridge when they encounter the cannibals, Maximus is correct to be cautious. He saves them. However, he also learns from Lucy’s trust and diplomacy. In Episode Six we see his heartbreaking happiness at having a hot shower, a fluffy robe, and a bucket of popcorn. His existence from milk refrigerator to ascetic Brotherhood life is so meager. So much character is delivered in these sequences. And then he leaves it all behind in Episode Seven to support Lucy, his teammate.
SIX
In Episode Eight Maximus returns to the Brotherhood with the fake head and his fake Knighthood, and is almost executed for it. Here, as in the Three, is a BoS ritual. Some of the clerics appear to administer something borrowed from a Catholic sprinkling rite. Like at the Three, there’s a cruel and pagan aspect to what’s happening, and it eventually means something to Maximus that goes against the Brotherhood’s intentions.
SEVEN
The Elder Cleric makes a surprising offer to Maximus: become my sword and we’ll rebuild the Brotherhood. Maximus makes no decision here. In a way it’s the Brotherhood’s decision moment.
EIGHT
Throughout the battle to take the Observatory, Maximus acts in a straightforward manner. He follows the Knights in. When he finds Lucy he releases her father, thinking that is what she would want, and fights for her. He’s knocked unconscious by Hank’s sucker punch and spends all of Lucy’s Eight on the ground. Only after she and Coop leave does Maximus awaken. He sees Moldaver die from her battle wounds and he witnesses the launch of cold fusion. Both of these events, at which he’s passive, become credits to him in the eyes of the Brotherhood.
NINE
He’s hailed a hero. Implied is his mastery of the new power source. Lucy is gone and Maximus has the potential to reshape and control the Brotherhood.
ENNEAGRAM
What a character! What an arc. Throughout the episodes we see young Maximus emerge from his milk refrigerator, bright-eyed and hopeful, meeting a Knight who looks like a superhero. Adult Maximus’ anger at the beginning, his resentment, and then his gentle return to hope, is such an evocative journey. Throughout, Moten sells every beat.
My first instinct is to see an Envy person. He just wants to connect with others, yet he’s stymied throughout the first half of the season. The Brotherhood is a cold place. He is no Body or Head Type; his experience with a military/clerical organization would’ve been very different if he were.
And he’s no Three. That’s Coop’s role. Also, a Three would’ve never been the failure Maximus is at the start. So, a Two or a Four?
Oh, be still my heart. I’m going to say a Two. What is his collection? Milk refrigerator memories. They’re scattered repeatedly throughout this season. I don’t know what that says for him headed into Season Two. He’ll need to initiate another collection, which I think he’s ready to do. He’s a big man in a suit of intimidating armor, and yet his soul is tender and vulnerable. Look at how beautifully Moten captures that! Bless the showrunners for parking the camera on his face and letting him portray all of that dichotomy.