Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Fallout season 2, episode 7.
Fallout just dropped a bombshell revelation about Steph Harper, and it could prove disastrous for the Vault Dwellers in Vaults 32 and 33. Steph was once Lucy MacLean’s best friend living in Vault 33, but after the death of her husband and the disappearance of Hank MacLean, she appears to have undergone a significant transformation.
Appointed to become the new Overseer in Vault 32 after a major conflict saw many other Vault Dwellers lose their lives, Steph appears to be a strong and decisive leader, but she is also immensely secretive. Even with her partner and fiancé, Chet, she appears to keep a distance from her peers, but Fallout season 2, episode 7, reveals why that is.
Fallout Season 2, Episode 7 Reveals That Steph’s Path From Canada To The Vaults Was Long And Challenging
While Chet previously discovered an ID card that confirmed Steph was actually from Canada, not the United States, episode 7 reveals what life was like for her as a Canadian before the war. Before the Great War that devastated and destroyed America, the US had launched a brutal attack on Canada, enslaving the locals and setting up internment camps.
It was from one of these camps that Steph escaped, along with her mother, before crossing the border and starting a new life in America. Unfortunately, the pair were almost captured as they fled, resulting in her mother being fatally wounded, and leaving her daughter with one essential piece of advice, “don’t think of them as human beings, think of them as Americans.”
Steph Has Always Been Fighting Against Everyone Around Her
This clearly shifts how Steph has always been perceived and how she has engaged with the people around her since that moment. Rather than being a willing and motivated participant who adored Bud Askins and believed in a company like Vault Tec’s vision, Steph has been all about survival since leaving her mother’s side.
Steph is willing to kill to survive, and has done so repeatedly. And if killing isn’t the best solution, she is capable of manipulating others and getting herself into the right place at the right time, like being hired by Vault Tec and appointed as an Overseer. But Fallout season 2, episode 7 sees her long-laid plans come crumbling down.
Steph Could Still Do Serious Damage To Vault’s 32 & 33
While Steph now appears to be cornered in her Overseer’s office in Vault 32, she still presents a significant threat to both her Vault and her previous home, Vault 33. Earlier in the same episode, Steph makes a deal to share water with Vault 33, which is presumably something she will need to do from her Overseer computer.
If she has the ability to redistribute water and likely access other vital systems in her Vault, she could be preparing to kill everyone in both vaults. However, she does still have her baby outside her office with the rest of the residents of Vault 32, and whatever was contained in Hank MacLean’s secret box in Vault 33.
Whatever comes next, it seems like Steph will be a significant power in deciding the fates of many Vault Dwellers, and potentially laying waste to the only home that Lucy and Norm MacLean have ever known. Unfortunately, they are dealing with their own issues ahead of the Fallout season 2 finale.
