Fallout S2 Ep.7 Uses Canada Jabs to Reframe Steph Harper's Backstory

According to MovieWeb, Season 2, Episode 7 of Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout, titled "The Handoff," leans into pointed jokes about Canada and Canadian–U.S. relations while revealing more of Steph Harper’s origin story. The episode’s cold open establishes Steph’s Canadian roots—she’s shown with a "United States Annexed Territory Canada" passport and there’s a nod to the Canadian national anthem.

In flashbacks, Steph and her mother escape an internment camp, a soldier calls them "hosers," and Joan is fatally wounded, urging Steph to survive by treating Americans as less than human. Steph then crosses the border, works as a maid at the Lucky 38, encounters Cooper Howard, and asks how to join Vault‑Tec.

After waking Hank MacLean from a laundry cart, she becomes a Vault‑Tec assistant and later an overseer of Vault 32. The episode suggests her willingness to dehumanize others helped secure her selection for cryostasis and later fuels her vengeful behavior after losses in the new world.

MovieWeb notes the fallout when Chet discovers Steph’s passport and exposes her at their wedding: residents react more strongly to her being Canadian than to her pre‑War origins. The article ties the subplot to Fallout game lore—America’s annexation of Canada in an event called "The Big 51" or "Little America" (2067–2072)—and argues the jokes unintentionally resonate with present‑day political tensions without taking a clear stance.

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