In the sixth episode of Halo Season 2, Master Chief infiltrated the UNSC base in Onyx to get his armor. He was confronted by a brainwashed Kai and almost beaten to within an inch of his life. By the time Kai learned the truth about what Parangosky and Ackerson had done to survive the Covenant attack on Reach, Master Chief had approached the piece of the Artifact that was kept in Onyx. A Covenant priest, Uto’ Mdama, expressed his doubts regarding Makee’s allegiance to the Covenant, and although the Arbiter backed her up, the priest tried to get her killed. That forced the Arbiter to step in and battle the priest and his soldiers to save Makee. It was revealed that Cortana was working with various people. She was informing Parangosky about everything that Makee was doing. She was helping Makee stay on the path to finding the Halo planet. And she was guiding Master Chief to the Artifact in Onyx, as well as his suit. Kwan Ha and Halsey traversed the caves of Onyx and met Miranda. Soren and Laera tracked Kessler to a place called Thermopylae. Now, let’s find out what Master Chief and Makee saw after touching the Artifact.

Spoiler Alert

Parangosky Sends Spartans To Their Death

Episode 7 of Halo Season 2 begins with a conversation between Makee and Master Chief on a projection of the ring-like planet, and we finally get some confirmation of what it’s going to be used for. Makee says that if the Covenant controls the planet (it’s called The Ring), then they’ll use it to destroy humankind, and if the humans get to it first, they’ll do the same to the Covenant. But Makee theorizes that The Ring is capable of not just destruction, but creation as well. That’s why she doesn’t want it to fall into the hands of the Covenant or the UNSC. She wants Master Chief’s help to wield The Ring as a symbol of peace and life. Since Master Chief doesn’t respond, Makee interprets it as his way of saying that he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Makee. Master Chief doesn’t get the chance to explicitly state what his stance is because he is surrounded by the UNSC soldiers, while Makee is surrounded by Sangheili Elite soldiers. The shockwave of their separation from the Artifacts is felt by everyone on Onyx. The Covenant priest goes after Makee with the intention to kill her, but Cortana distracts him long enough for Makee to sneak up behind him and kill him. Then, Cortana proceeds to show the map to Makee, and she spots The Ring, probably because her powers have been restored. 

Ackerson informs Parangosky about Master Chief’s arrival, and it’s already clear that Margaret wants to push Ackerson under the proverbial bus for the debacle on Reach, thereby making him Master Chief’s target. Before Ackerson can process Margaret’s heel turn into absolute villainy, the UNSC learns that a huge chunk of the Covenant’s Fleet has surrounded the ship Makee is in, who is probably around The Ring, which is in the Soell system. Without giving it much thought, Margaret decides to deploy the newly-trained Spartans. Ackerson protests this decision, because the Spartans are not ready to take on an entire Covenant fleet, but Margaret apparently doesn’t care. She orders Ackerson to find Master Chief, and he storms out of the control room. The first wave of Spartans dies within seconds of engaging with the Covenant. Margaret doesn’t waste a second before sending the second wave, thereby causing Ackerson to wonder what her game plan is. 

Briggs goes in to arrest Master Chief. When he refuses to surrender, Briggs orders the soldiers to shoot him down. Since Master Chief has learned that blindly following orders is a bad practice, he gives the same education to those soldiers. Surprisingly enough, they listen to him and tell Briggs to get her own hands dirty if she wants to do something unethical. As Briggs pulls out her gun to shoot down Master Chief, Kai intervenes and knocks her out. Amidst all this warfare, we see Miranda, Kwan Ha, and Halsey trying to understand what the cave actually is and what is the function of gates that have some kind of puzzle-like lock on it. At Thermopylae, Soren tells Laera that the arena is essentially a Spartan training program where he, Kai, Riz, Vannak, and John went from being kids to being Spartans. He says that Kessler is going to go through the same ordeal, which is why they shouldn’t intervene and allow their son to get beaten up until he learns if he is a fighter or a loser. Laera points out how messed up all this is and tells Soren that he doesn’t actually want to unlearn everything that Halsey has put him through; he actually idolizes her, and that’s why he wants Kessler to become a Spartan and not a normal human being. This is a good way of putting things into perspective and showing how excessive warmongering and machismo can corrupt one’s mind.

How Does Parangosky Intend To Kill The Covenant?

Perez is seen suiting up to face the Covenant. She notices one of her fellow soldiers panicking a lot, and she does her best to calm her down. Kai tries to justify her actions to Master Chief, but he keeps moving towards his suit with the help of Cortana. Halsey gives a little insight into the experiments that she was conducting in the cave. Apparently, she found an alien DNA that was a hybrid of something human and otherworldly. So, she needed someone who had the same DNA structure as that’d help her unlock the doors. That was why she started, as Kwan Ha aptly puts it, collecting kids from all over the galaxy, experimented on them, and then prepared them to be the key that’d unlock these gates. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out the way Halsey wanted them to be. Hence, they have to take the conventional route and unlock the gates by solving the puzzles around them. 

As Kwan Ha proceeds to touch one of the buttons on the puzzle, it begins to glow, thereby indicating that she has the traces of the hybrid DNA that Halsey has been searching for. Maybe that’s why she has those visions of the old lady. Maybe she is one of the ancestors of the species that built these gates. How did this species with the hybrid DNA reach all over the galaxy? I don’t think that’s a big mystery because the answers are intergalactic travel and intercourse. Halsey and Miranda have a brief conversation about Jacob Keyes, and Miranda accepts his death in a pretty mature fashion. Kwan Ha pulls out one of the beads from the puzzle, and a holograph of the stars in space form before their eyes. While Miranda and Halsey think it’s a map of the stars, Kwan Ha comes to the conclusion that it’s actually a clock. She organizes the dots on the holograph according to her “feelings” (which is probably her psychic connection to the cave and those who have built it), and that unlocks the gate, which leads them to a bridge that connects to a chamber of sorts. 

By the way, if you have played some games, you will know that they have these puzzle-based missions. So, Kwan Ha, Halsey, and Miranda’s whole arc in this episode feels like an homage to that. Ackerson is also on a kind of puzzle-solving mission because he is trying to unpack what’s going through Margaret’s mind. When he runs a simulation on the Spike that is supposed to deactivate a Covenant ship (the simulation that the Spartans practice on), it is actually going to create an unimaginable explosion that will destroy everything in its vicinity: The Ring, the Covenant, and the UNSC. Basically, if the humans can’t get the Ring, then Margaret will not only disallow the Covenant from getting the Ring, but she will also stop the Ring from existing. As Ackerson decides to act on it, he is cornered by Kai and Master Chief, and the latter almost chokes him to death. He manages to somehow relay what he has learned to the two Spartans, but Master Chief doesn’t want to trust him; he just wants his suit. When they get to the chamber with the Spartan suits in it, Kai and Master Chief have a brief conversation about Vannak, and how Master Chief feels guilty for making him blindly follow orders and bringing him to his demise. Then, he turns to Ackerson and essentially orders him to go out and tell the truth about Margaret and their involvement in the destruction of Reach.

Master Chief Goes For The Ring

Kai and Master Chief have a conversation about what they need to do to deal with the matter at hand. Kai wants to enter the battlefield with her fellow Spartans, and Master Chief wants to get to the Halo to stop it from being controlled by the Covenant or the UNSC. How? I don’t know. Master Chief wonders what Kai will do if she is the one who has to administer the Spike, thereby killing everyone. What is she going to do? Kai tells him to focus on his mission and let her think about her mission. At Onyx, the unlocked chamber turns out to be a laboratory, and in that laboratory, they see a dead alien body lying there and holding onto a device of some sort. They don’t get the chance to explore the lab because it starts to crumble. Miranda, Halsey, and Kwan Ha make a run for it. While running back to the caves, Halsey notices a whole city underneath the bridge. Kwan sees that all the white dots in the holograph of the space are turning red. She says something vague about “growth” and runs away. What is Kwan up to? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Halsey does that stupid scientist thing with that stupid look on her face where she thinks that she is at the helm of something revolutionary, but there’s a good chance that, like always, she is going to make a big mess of it and then pretend like she is a victim of her own curiosity. Miranda and Halsey head back to the lab and pledge to figure out the history of that city in the caves. Miranda manages to partially unlock the device that they’ve acquired from the corpse of that alien in the lab, but Halsey ghosts her for some reason (Halsey is annoying). The Fleet begins their attack on Makee’s ship, and seeing how the Arbiter is still standing beside her, Makee decides to brand herself with the insignia that the Arbiter uses on himself to prove that both of them are bound to each other and the purpose of taking over the Ring. Kessler enters Thermopylae, but Soren doesn’t allow him to go through the grueling ordeal of fighting a bunch of grown men. Soren takes them all down and tries to save Kessler from any potential trauma. However, that plan backfires as Laera and Kessler are captured by the people conducting the fights in Thermopylae. 

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 7, Perez tries to convince Master Chief to join them as they face the Covenant. But they go their separate ways because their missions are different. Ackerson confronts Margaret, and it’s clear that she isn’t going to stop sending wave after wave of Spartans to their deaths. Master Chief takes one of the UNSC ships and heads over to the Halo. Ackerson tells Margaret that Master Chief is going to tell the true story of the destruction of Reach and that nobody is going to believe Margaret’s propaganda. Kai leads the Spartans in the general direction of the Covenant, while Master Chief heads towards the Halo. I won’t lie; this episode was a little messy. Except for the revelation that Margaret is truly evil, it mostly spent its time leaving open endings that will hopefully be resolved in a satisfying way in the season finale. Well, next week, we will certainly get to know what happens when Makee, Master Chief, the UNSC, and the Covenant converge on the Halo.

Last week’s episode of Halo Season 2 was like a laidback Western where the survivors of the Covenant’s attack on Reach recuperated and processed the deaths they had witnessed. Master Chief bid goodbye to Vannak, accepted Riz’s resignation, and decided to wreak havoc on the UNSC and ONI. Halsey advised against it and told them to travel to the Halo, but Master Chief refused to listen to her because he was blinded by the need for revenge. Kwan Ha got in touch with the spirit of an elderly woman who had died in Sanctuary, and this ghost warned Kwan Ha about the arrival of a monster and she told her to never forget her vow to be a protector. In addition to all that, it was revealed that Kai, Ackerson, and the rest of the survivors of the Reach genocide were on a planet called Onyx, and they were starting their very own Spartan program. Let’s find out what happens when Master Chief and his ragtag group of truth-sayers face off against the might of the UNSC and the ONI.

Spoiler Alert

Master Chief Infiltrates Onyx

Episode 6 of Halo Season 2 opens with an intense action sequence featuring Perez, who has apparently joined the UNSC to prepare for the fight against the Covenant. I love the use of the claustrophobic camera angle that’s only focused on Perez’s panic-ridden eyes, and the way it’s cut with the third-person shots of the new Spartans trying to infiltrate a Covenant vessel is masterful. Also, you should focus on the sound design and how it changes between all of these shots. When you are inside the helmet, the sounds of the shooting and the explosions are muffled, and the sound of Perez breathing is loud. When you are outside, the explosions and gunshots sound louder, and you can only hear the conversations between the Spartans and not see the humans in those suits. Anyway, at the end of the mission, the whole crew dies, and it seems like it’s game over for Perez. However, that’s when it’s revealed that it’s a simulation that’s being used to train the Spartans, under Kai’s watchful eyes, of course. Kai says that their teamwork has to mimic the teamwork of bees, and Perez refutes that statement by saying that the simulation was botched, and that’s why her team failed, not because they are incompetent. She also insinuates that Kai is being extra strict with her because Kai is envious of the fact that Perez was on Reach and she wasn’t. Kai remarks that just because Perez has been in one battle, she isn’t the same as Kai. It just means that she has luckily survived. It’s the “warrior-soldier” in her talking, but deep down, she knows that she is guilty of abandoning her people when she was needed the most. 

This heated conversation is followed by a somewhat cold one over a cup of tea, where Parangosky tells Ackerson that she thinks that Catherine Halsey and Master Chief are on Onyx as they speak. She is not wrong because they have, in fact, reached Onyx and are preparing to infiltrate the UNSC and ONI headquarters. As mentioned earlier, Kai has guilt coursing through her veins. That’s why she is seen replaying the moment where Master Chief, Riz, and Vannak made their last stand on Reach. It’s stopped by Ackerson, who assures her that she is where she needs to be, i.e., training a new breed of Spartans. I have to mention that this is a really subtle way of using sci-fi game mechanics, where players replay certain missions in case they fail the first time to convey what a character is going through. Halsey, after mentioning that she knows where Kessler is, ghosts her motley crew of rebels. Kwan Ha (while following the ghost of that elderly woman) attracts a bunch of UNSC soldiers, which prompts Soren and Laera to go on the run. Master Chief doesn’t, and he stands his ground and gives the soldiers hell. It’s a pretty sweet action sequence, but eventually, Master Chief is surrounded and arrested. However, going by Pablo’s expression, it seems like it’s part of Master Chief’s plan. Kwan Ha gets separated from Soren and Laera and is guided to a familiar looking well by the elderly spirit. She takes a leap of faith and is reunited with Halsey. They chat a little about how they’ve influenced each other’s lives and that of Master Chief’s while traveling through the caves of Onyx, which is apparently where Halsey used to operate from, and it’s the place where Spartans were originally made. So, UNSC and ONI arriving here isn’t random; it’s a full-circle moment. By the way, while all this is happening, Soren and Laera try to make their way into the UNSC compound because that’s apparently where Kessler is.

Master Chief And Kai Get Into A Fight

Var’ Gatanai, also known as The Arbiter, is seen branding himself. He is kind of a fanatic, I guess, who likes to bear pain because that’s the one thing that helps with focus. If there’s some game-based explanation for it, please feel free to educate me. A priest called Uto’ Mdama expresses concern that they haven’t reunited with the High Charity or the Fleet, as they were commanded to do, and now he is failing to establish contact with them, too. The Arbiter says that’s what he wants because they are following Makee’s mission plan to reach Halo. Uto’ Mdama doubts that Makee knows what she is doing and wants to put her out of the equation. However, the Arbiter intervenes and reminds the Priest that Makee has the Hierarchs’ blessing, and he needs to respect that. But Uto’ Mdama says that when they return to the High Charity, he is going to ask them to allow him to kill Makee (probably, he just hates humans). When the Priest is gone, even the Arbiter expresses some doubt about Makee’s ability to harness the powers of the Keystone and learn how to reach the Halo, and Makee says that she is the blessed one or the chosen one, and she knows what she is doing. When the Arbiter is out of earshot, Cortana confirms everyone’s fears regarding Makee’s powers: they are gone. We don’t know how she made it out alive after getting shot at the end of Halo Season 1, but it’s obvious that her resurrection has cost her her powers.

Kai oversees another Covenant ship infiltration simulation (which is another way of using game mechanics to train soldiers), and this time, Perez leads her team to victory. Everyone is joyous and happy that they’ve beaten the program and whatnot, but Perez isn’t because she thinks that, although getting into the ship and planting the bug was hard, they didn’t face a lot of issues getting out of there. Perez addresses this fatal flaw and essentially alleges that Kai is under-preparing the Spartans. Kai seemingly doesn’t see that, and she tells Perez to take the “W” and chill out. Anyway, this is followed by the coolest scene in the show yet, where Master Chief is brought into the UNSC headquarters like an animal, bound from every possible angle and held by the soldiers. Briggs taunts him for being helpless and even refers to the death of the Cobalt Squad as an indication that his kind of Spartans are a dying breed. Master Chief says that he just wants to meet Margaret, and, obviously, Briggs doesn’t listen to him. As soon as she leaves the room and the soldiers begin to tie Master Chief to the floor, the man goes into beast mode. There are so many great moments within the whole fight scene, and, by the way, if you are bored of watching the new kind of hand-to-hand fights that are done in one long take, then you’ll love this because it uses good framing and precise cuts to make the whole set piece so enjoyable. With all that said, Ackerson uses the footage of this fight, the fact that Master Chief has miraculously survived the Reach genocide, and the allegation that he is in Makee’s good books to push the theory that Master Chief is working with the Covenant to steal one half of the artifact and reunite it with the Keystone. Kai doesn’t want to believe this, but I guess she is too much of a jarhead to think for herself.

Makee has a conversation with Cortana about the position of the Halo planet, and Makee reveals that she has lost her powers to use the artifact. She says that she has lost her connection with Master Chief, too. She talks about him like she is in love with him. That said, she is committing genocide, and no matter how much she cries and emotes, she is always going to be a villain. In a way, Master Chief is also a killer and has probably wiped off several planets for the UNSC. So, maybe they are indeed a match made in heaven. You can argue that Master Chief is on somewhat of a redemption path, but can he be redeemed? I don’t think so. Talking about the Master Chief, the hulking dude makes his way into the sublevels to get the location of the Artifact. Yes, he is there for the Artifact, but he wants to use it himself and get to the Halo planet. Unfortunately, he is confronted by the brainwashed Kai. Master Chief tries to reason with her and help her understand that Ackerson is misguiding her, but Kai’s vision (metaphorically speaking) is too foggy to differentiate between the truth and the lie. So, she proceeds to beat the living hell out of Master Chief. It’s not really a fight because Master Chief doesn’t have his armor, and Kai does. So, in a way, Master Chief allows Kai to follow Ackerson’s orders in the hopes that once she is done with the task at hand, she will understand that she is being manipulated by Ackerson. FYI, the stunt work, the editing, the acting, and the sound design are excellent in this whole scene.

Did Makee and Master Chief reunite?

After reviewing the footage of Kai obliterating Master Chief, Margaret reveals that, somehow, she is more heartless than Ackerson because she starts talking about how the deaths on Reach and the end of the man in the Master Chief suit are necessary to win the war against the Covenant. What’s also revealed is that Margaret did extract Cortana from Master Chief and allowed Makee to take it so that Cortana could spy on the Covenant from the inside. So, in addition to assisting before Makee, Cortana appears in front of Margaret and the Master Chief. We see Cortana guiding Master Chief to the artifact while Makee approaches the Keystone. Cortana chats with Margaret about the location of the Covenant Fleet and asks her if she has fulfilled her duties and whether or not she is “free” to go. Margaret tells Cortana that she needs her to stay with Makee and the Covenant and keep informing them about her whereabouts until the day she is discarded by Makee or the Covenant. Cortana asks a pretty existential question about whether or not she’ll be remembered for all the work she is doing, and that probably means she is becoming more and more sentient and humane.

After Halsey loses her way in the caves, Kwan Ha and the spirit of the elder guide them to (surprise, surprise) Miranda and the lab that she is working in. As soon as they reunite, Miranda and Halsey get into an argument about using Halsey’s work without her permission. Miranda says that Halsey’s work was flawed, and she is making it perfect. What is this project all about? Well, given how Kwan Ha looks at a huge ring, I’m guessing it involves portals. That’s not what’s important, though. What is actually important is the revelation that Captain Keyes is dead. It has taken a toll on Halsey’s soul, and it’s going to have an impact on Miranda. Halsey and Miranda don’t like each other anyway. But is Jacob’s death going to reforge their relationship or increase the gap between them? We’ll have to wait and watch. Elsewhere on Onyx, Soren and Laera come across a place called Thermopylae. Kessler is nowhere to be seen there, but as soon as Soren notices blood and hears some odd sounds coming from the distance, he takes Laera and gets out of there.

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 7, Ackerson reveals to Kai that he is the one who is reducing the difficulty levels of the Spartan missions. His reasoning is that if the Spartans think that these missions are impossible, they’ll feel disheartened. If they think it’s doable, then they’ll be hopeful, even though they’ll have unrealistic expectations from a fight against the Covenant. This reminds me of the “2 minutes and 15 seconds” scene from Top Gun: Maverick, where Cyclone lies to the team that the mission can be done in 4 minutes just so that they are motivated enough to get on their planes. It shows that, regardless of the degree of realism in a movie or a show about defense forces, they are going to treat newbies like pawns. Anyway, this finally leads Kai to believe that Master Chief was right, and Ackerson has been lying to her too to keep her on his side and stop her from asking questions about the functioning of the UNSC. She runs out to reunite with Master Chief. Ackerson mumbles about sending the Black Ops to get Master Chief, thereby clarifying why Kai left him unattended. Ackerson is wrong, though, because Master Chief hasn’t been captured by the Black Ops. He is near the artifact (the way Pablo walks through the corridors is a little hilarious), thanks to Cortana, and as he goes to touch it, the Keystone (which is in the Covenant’s possession) activates as well, probably reigniting Makee’s superpowers. If you are under the impression that the next episode will reunite Master Chief with Makee, I’ll advise you to calm down because there’s some stuff that both of them have to deal with. Firstly, since the Arbiter has slaughtered the Priest and other Covenant soldiers to protect Makee, they’ll have to face the full force of the Covenant, and that won’t be pretty. Secondly, Master Chief has to get out of Onyx with the artifact, and since his little team is scattered all over the planet, it won’t be an easy task. That said, you’re free to hope that things will go well for your favorite characters in the upcoming episodes.

Episode 3 of Halo Season 2 was a masterclass in terms of tension-building, and Episode 4 provided the payoff with tons of action. Master Chief and Perez spent most of the episode trying to reach Fleetcom while fighting the Covenant invasion. Soren and Halsey did the same, but they also caught up on everything they had done in each other’s lives after parting ways decades ago. Makee stole Cortana. And then there were a lot of deaths. Danilo, Louis, Jacob Keyes, and Vannak all laid down their lives to make sure that the maximum number of civilians got out of Reach before the Covenant glassed the planet. Master Chief was severely injured, and he was about to be killed by Var’ Gatanai, but Makee stepped in and stopped Var’ Gatanai from killing him. That was where the episode ended, but given how the survivors weren’t out of harm’s way yet, let’s find out how they managed to not die with their planet.

Spoiler Alert

Master Chief Is Unable to Process Vannak’s Death

Episode 5 of Halo Season 2 opens with the fight on Reach still going on. Soren, Master Chief, Riz, and Halsey are cornered. They have nowhere to go. To make matters worse, a Hunter (at least that’s what I think it is) makes its way to the survivors and almost kills Soren and Riz. But that’s when Kwan Ha and Laera make a heroic entry into the picture with their ship, and Kwan Ha shoots down the Hunter. Riz and Soren pull Master Chief into the ship, but the sight of Vannak’s lifeless body lying in the rubble prompts Riz to go get him. She gets injured, but somehow, she gets into the ship with Vannak’s body. While passing out, Master Chief remembers Margaret Parangosky extracting Cortana from his body, thereby establishing the theory that not just Ackerson but even Margaret was aware of the impending destruction of Reach and did nothing substantial about it. By the way, in case anyone feels that the showrunners have MCU-fied Soren, in his defense, he is the only character who quips and does silly stuff. So, it’s okay.

Makee and Var’ Gatanai get into an argument for not letting him kill Master Chief and extracting only one of the pieces of the artifact. Makee says that they have Cortana in their possession, and given how rich that is in human history and knowledge, it’ll help them in their quest. Var’ Gatanai tells Makee to see if Cortana can give them the location of the keystone, which I guess is in Ackerson’s possession. John wakes up after 2 days of induced coma and shares his conflicted feelings with Halsey. He is angry that Spartans can’t process death because they have been taught to function like machines. He is frustrated because, after all this time, when they are starting to think for themselves, there is a war going on and people are dying. He feels helpless because he has nothing to defend now that Reach is gone. Seeing him getting all worked up, Halsey tells Master Chief to lie down and rest so that he can heal.

Makee has a brief conversation with Cortana, and, initially, it seems like Makee is jealous of Cortana’s proximity to Master Chief. It is supposed to be sweet because Makee apparently loves Master Chief, but she is committing genocide all across the universe. I think the only way this can end is with Master Chief killing Makee. But we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it. Makee orders Cortana to show her Master Chief’s memories of The Ring, and Cortana refuses to do so. Makee warns her that even though she is A.I., Makee and the Covenant have ways to break her. John wakes up after three days, and Soren informs him that they are going to a busted mining outpost called Aleria because, apparently, that’s where Kessler is. Before they land there, Kwan Ha tries to help Master Chief make peace with Vannak’s death, but Master Chief acts aggressively because, as mentioned before, he doesn’t know how to deal with his complex emotions. By the way, I noticed something for the first time, even though I have been watching sci-fi movies and shows for decades: almost every planet is a mining outpost. Which means that no planet has been left untouched and has been robbed of its resources to benefit the fascists and capitalist overlords. It’s an explicit way of predicting that, no matter where humans go, they are going to destroy it.

Soren And Laera Search For Kessler

As soon as Laera lands their ship in Aleria, Halsey rushes Riz into the operating chamber so that she can be saved. Laera, Kwan Ha, and Soren go to a convenience store of sorts to learn about Kessler. Master Chief hangs back at the hospital, seemingly haunted by Vannak’s death, as he sees a bird soaring in the sky (Vannak used to feed birds). Kwan Ha comes back with a shovel so that they can bury Vannak, but Master Chief refuses to do it because he wants to think that he doesn’t care about these human rituals after one’s death. Kwan Ha tells him that these rituals offer closure. Since she didn’t get it when her family was killed, she is trying to give Master Chief the opportunity so that he doesn’t regret not giving his friend his final regards. Master Chief refuses to budge, so Kwan Ha goes away to bury Vannak herself. The bird continues to haunt Master Chief, thereby implying that maybe Vannak’s spirit is actually watching Master Chief and subtly coaxing him to do something humane.

McCoy, the owner of the store, looks through his records and finds the term Bodegraven in them. Based on that, Soren and Laera ask McCoy to tell them everything that he knows about the kid’s whereabouts. While traveling in Kessler’s general direction, Laera and Soren get into an argument because Laera thinks that Soren isn’t serious enough about this search-and-rescue mission and the fact that he has just survived a genocide. For some reason, this prompts Laera to throw away the silver wig that she has been wearing all this time. I guess she is done keeping up appearances for her and Soren’s sake. Now, she just wants to be a mother and find Kessler. Riz finally wakes up. As Halsey checks if her vitals are alright, Riz expresses how angry she is because she knows that she is in this state because of Halsey. If she hadn’t come up with her Spartan program, none of this would’ve happened. Halsey informs Riz that the damage to her body is immense, and it’s possible that she won’t be able to go back to active duty if she doesn’t try hard enough to recover. Riz turns away from Halsey to protest against Halsey’s advice.

Kwan Ha has a one-sided conversation with Vannak’s body while trying to bury him. But the burial process is interrupted by the locals of Aleria. Meanwhile, Master Chief gets into yet another argument with Halsey because he just can’t digest the fact that Halsey mercilessly abducted and killed kids to make Spartans, and now she is sitting in front of him, acting like a motherly figure. They don’t get to complete the conversation because they notice Kwan Ha being hounded by the Alerians. Apparently, the people of Aleria don’t believe in burials; they do cremations. During this commotion, the cloth that is covering Vannak’s body comes off, thereby forcing Master Chief to look at his friend (something that he was refusing to do because he knows it’ll break him), and he decides to cremate Vannak. Soren and Laera walk up to the house, which is inhabited by two women who claim to be Kessler’s new parents. They refuse to believe that Soren and Laera are Kessler’s actual parents, and they send them away. Soren tries to reason with them by relating to the women’s daily struggles, and they eventually agree to let him and Laera see Kessler. Laera goes on a bit of a wild goose chase because she spots a kid wearing Kessler’s Master Chief helmet, only to find out that Kessler had given it to him before being “taken away.” It means that the women are lying to Soren, and they actually don’t have him in their possession.

Has Riz retired as a Spartan?

The people of Aleria, Master Chief, Riz, Kwan Ha, and Halsey gather at the cremation site to pay their last respects. Even though they only have Vannak’s body before them, Halsey uses this opportunity to remember everyone who has passed away during the genocide at Reach. Master Chief touches Vannak’s body and vows to avenge him. And, while everyone is mourning, it’s evident that Master Chief still isn’t dealing with Vannak’s death in a healthy way. He is using it to fuel his need for violence and war. Halsey actually points this out and tells him that his plans to get to Margaret or Ackerson are only going to lead to more deaths. Halsey suggests that they should go to the Halo (the fabled ring-like planet) and learn from it instead of going on a suicide mission. Master Chief says that, technically speaking, he is dead and he is free to do what he wants to do, and what he wants to do is find Margaret and Ackerson and make them pay.

The elderly woman who sacrificed herself in Sanctuary speaks to Kwan Ha in a vision. She talks about the emergence of a monster, and she asks Kwan Ha to protect her and save her. I don’t know who or what this is. What is the monster? The Covenant? Who is the elderly woman? Some kind of spirit from the artifacts? Well, I guess we’ll get the answers to that in the subsequent episodes. Makee asks why Var’ Gatanai has brought them to the High Charity. Var’ Gatanai says that he has done what he has been ordered to do. Makee warns him that if they go to the Hierarchs, they are going to shut down their plans to embark on the Great Journey. Var’ Gatanai doesn’t believe in Makee’s prophecies and almost tries to kill her. Cortana intervenes by showing him a vision of the ring-like planet, which is the titular Halo, I suppose. This somehow prompts Var’ Gatanai to go rogue and stick to Makee’s plans. Cortana was connected to the artifacts, and she has Master Chief’s memories of seeing this ring-like planet. So, maybe she has used all that to conjure this vision in front of Var’ Gatanai. By the way, this means that Var’ Gatanai and Makee don’t have the Covenant’s protection anymore, and they’ve taken the risk of making the Covenant their enemy.

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 5, Laera confronts McCoy regarding Kessler’s actual whereabouts, and he reveals that Kessler has been abducted by the UNSC. Why? Well, moments later, we see Kai heading teams of soldiers for the UNSC and Ackerson. We know that Ackerson wants to start his own Spartan program. Much like Halsey, he’ll need kids to experiment on. So, maybe he is sending UNSC operatives to go to these mining outposts and planets to get unwanted children and induct them into the program. This makes UNSC and Kai the enemy, and it remains to be seen if the Master Chief rebels against his former employers and his friend to help Soren and Laera. Riz tells Master Chief that she has chosen to retire and live in Aleria. Master Chief doesn’t want to accept that initially, but he understands Riz’s decision and hugs her (this moment hit me in the feels). Pablo Schreiber and Natasha Culzac absolutely nail it in this scene. Halsey acknowledges Riz’s decision. As she picks up her dog tags, she watches Riz already enjoying her retirement with the people of Aleria. It’s a haunting and bittersweet conclusion to a brilliant, Western-esque episode, and I am both scared and excited to see what will unfold in the next few weeks.

Last week’s episode of Halo Season 2 was what the kids call “a banger.” It played out like a true-blue conspiracy thriller as Master Chief was accused of leading a fake mission just because he wanted to raise the alarm about the rising Covenant activity. While he was punished for it and the entire Silver Team was disbanded, Ackerson revealed that he was aware of the fact that the Covenant had invaded Reach. That was why he was conducting simulations to calculate the chances of their survival if they met them head-on. Since Cortana said they’d fail, Ackerson got the details of the Spartan program, killed his own father, left Catherine Halsey with Soren, and then jetted off. Master Chief’s fears turned out to be true as a massive explosion inside Reach indicated that the Covenant was there to initiate a genocide. So, let’s talk about what Master Chief has done in today’s episode to deal with this disaster.

Spoiler Alert

Master Chief And Perez Try To Reach Fleetcom

Episode 4 of Halo Season 2 opens with Vannak’s pigeon feeding session being disrupted by the Covenant attack. Perez and Master Chief rush towards Perez’s home to save her family, but an explosion absolutely decimates the building that they were in. Perez’s mother’s last words to Master Chief was a request to not break her heart and to take care of her, and in a really tragic way, her wish has come true because now, Perez and Master Chief have to stick together. Soren and Catherine Halsey’s reunion is interrupted by an explosion that causes the virtual reality that’s imprisoning them to switch off. That allows Soren and Halsey to leave the place and search for some kind of a shelter from all the explosions. Even though Soren doesn’t want to trust Halsey again, he has no option but to do so because he doesn’t know the way out of the prison facility, and Halsey does. So, he reluctantly follows her. 

Master Chief makes his way to Fleetcom to rejoin the defense forces, but Perez is unable to process the death of her family and the fact that various sections of Reach are still unaware that their planet is being attacked. Reality hits hard when invisible Sangheili soldiers infiltrate the market area. Master Chief takes one of them down, and then he and Perez continue their mission to try to reach Fleetcom. They momentarily hide in an antique shop. Perez tries to convince its old owner to leave with them, but the lady refuses to do so because all her memories are intertwined with that shop. So, if it goes down, she goes down with it. Master Chief seemingly understands her decision, and even though Perez doesn’t want to leave behind a person who can be saved, she has to agree with her stance. This little moment shows why people don’t leave their homes even though death is imminent. Logically, it’s true that surviving is important. But when you’ve lived a long life, and your whole identity has become synonymous with the places you inhabit, then the concept of survival seems fruitless. Alas, inhuman fascists who commit genocide don’t understand stuff like this. That’s why they do the things they do.

Halsey Reveals The Truth About Soren’s Escape

While making their escape, Halsey reveals something startling. She initially tries to show that she is impressed that Soren has made a name for himself and that he has a family too. But when she talks about how she allowed Soren to escape by lowering the security after his Spartan integration program malfunctioned, Soren is shocked because he was under the impression that he had done the impossible as a kid by escaping Halsey’s workshop of horrors on his own. Soren understands that Halsey is trying to put her stamp on an integral aspect of his origins, and she is trying to make it all about herself instead of giving Soren any credit for making it out of her clutches. So, he doubles down on his narrative and lets her know that even though she is responsible for who he is (especially since she kidnapped him as a kid and thrusted her into an inhumane program), she doesn’t get to define his life. They are forced to put this argument on the back burner and deal with the ongoing invasion as they find dead bodies strewn all over the prison facility. Halsey and Soren grab some guns so that they can defend themselves against any Sangheili soldiers. Halsey tries to acquire Cortana, but Makee gets a hold of Cortana first. She unleashes an Elite on the duo, but Soren sets off an explosive to save themselves from the Sangheili soldier. By the way, that’s an impressive wire pull to sell the impact of the explosion. 

While making their way to Fleetcom, Master Chief and Perez come across Riz, who is also trying to do what he is doing. They are joined by a bunch of marines, Louis, and Danilo. Unfortunately, Danilo is killed, and angered by his death, Louis sacrifices himself too. I don’t think I have to say this, but this whole segment is fantastic. The camera work, the stunt work, the CGI, the VFX, the SFX, the sound design, the twists, the tension—it’s all amazing. Could it have been lit a little better? Sure. Does that stop the sequence from being engaging? Absolutely not. After reaching Fleetcom, Master Chief and Riz proceed to join the defense forces while Perez takes care of the wounded and starts getting them into the evacuation ships. Vannak joins Master Chief and Riz and informs them that their gear is gone. Apparently Ackerson has taken it while escaping the planet because he intends to start his version of the Spartan program. Kai is nowhere to be found (throughout the episode), and they just assume that she is out there fighting the Covenant. Keyes kind of apologizes to Master Chief for not trusting him, even though Master Chief was constantly warning him about this very day. However, instead of getting into a war of words about who is right and who is wrong, Keyes begins preparing the defense forces for the inevitable. He knows that they are not going to succeed, but he has to give the evacuation party enough time to get the citizens out of Reach. So, he and his soldiers pledge to focus on that instead of thinking about whether or not they’re going to survive this whole ordeal.

Are Captain Jacob Keyes and Vannak Dead?

Although Keyes wants to join the Spartans and face the Covenant, Master Chief tells him to go help the civilians because if he dies, then someone like Ackerson might replace him and give nonsensical orders. Keyes understands Master Chief’s reasoning, and he wishes the Spartans the best of luck, and they go their separate ways. Halsey and Soren come across Keyes, and he takes them to the hangar so that they can get off Reach. It’s an awkward, albeit hilarious, ride to the top because Soren’s presence isn’t allowing Keyes and Halsey to bicker like a couple. By the way, we get some vague information about Miranda. Her current location is a question mark, but she is not on Reach, that’s for sure. The Spartans and the Marines deal with the Covenant soldiers on the bridge, and things get pretty overwhelming for them. To make things worse, another branch of Covenant soldiers, known as Jackals, hit the hangar, thereby prompting Soren, Keyes, and the rest of the evacuation party to take up arms. When the Spartans learn about this, they leave the bridge and go to the hangar to protect the civilians. Perez informs Keyes that the civilians have boarded the ship, and they are ready to take off. However, Keyes notices that the fuel lines haven’t been disconnected, which pretty much means that he is going to die while trying to get the ship full of civilians airborne. Sadly, that’s exactly what happens. 

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 4, Keyes goes out in style by lighting up his smoking pipe and taking down a bunch of Jackals. Perez is devastated, but the sight of all the civilians that have been saved because of his sacrifice makes her realize that he didn’t die in vain. For the first time ever, Halsey shows emotion as she is devastated by Keyes’ death and the state of Reach. I think the realization that she could’ve done more to protect Reach and her family has hit her. Master Chief and the Spartans are also sad, but they don’t get the opportunity to mourn as they are attacked by a bunch of Covenant soldiers. This leads to a brilliant and dynamic hallway fight sequence. Master Chief puts up a good fight against Var’ Gatanai (at least that’s who I think it is), but he is thwarted by a random Sangheili soldier who shoots him. Var’ Gatanai tries to use this opportunity to kill Master Chief, but Makee stops him. Does that mean that Makee still has feelings for Master Chief? Probably, yes. Vannak puts up a good fight too, but he is killed off in a merciless fashion. The episode ends on a poetically sad note as Vannak looks at one of his pigeons flying in the sky as the life fades away from his body. Even though I think that the episode delivers the unhinged violence that the last episode promised, I have to point out that two of the most prominent deaths are those of two characters played by black actors. I don’t know what that says about the underlying politics of the show, which has gone from being an extension of Starship Troopers to an unironic praise of what soldiers do during the war, but I just want to say that the artistic choices of the showrunners aren’t going unnoticed. As for what I expect from the next few episodes, it’ll be interesting to see how Perez functions on her own, the evolution of Soren and Halsey’s dynamic, and whether or not Master Chief manages to save some more souls before the Covenant glasses Reach.

The first two episodes of Halo Season 2 showed us that the Covenant was conquering planets more aggressively. During the Spartans’ evacuation mission at Sanctuary, Master Chief came across around 50 Covenant soldiers and apparently saw Makee (even though she was supposed to be dead). But his suspicions turned out to be true when Makee, accompanied by a Sangheili soldier, infiltrated Reach and got her hands on a piece of the artifact. Ackerson, Halsey’s replacement, was against Master Chief’s theories. Hence, he decided to bench Master Chief’s Silver Team. In addition to that, he was running experiments on Cortana and Halsey in an unspecified region of Reach. That didn’t stop Master Chief from orchestrating an unsanctioned mission to check if the Cobalt Team had run into the Covenant. Trouble was brewing on The Rubble too as Soren’s team members were under the impression that he had gotten his hands on a large bounty from Madrigal, but he didn’t share it with everyone. So, they decided to give him up to the UNSC, and somehow, Kwan Ha, who was living in The Rubble’s caves, learned about this and became concerned. Let’s see what’s next for Ackerson, Soren, Kwan Ha, Master Chief, and the Silver Team.

Spoiler Alert

Master Chief And His Team Are Suspended

Episode 3 of Halo Season 2 opens with Master Chief leading Kai, Riz, and Vannack towards Visegrad because that is where he thinks that the Cobalt Team has faced off with the Covenant. The sound of static interference, which Perez seems to be listening to and is similar to what was heard on Sanctuary, pretty much confirms the Covenant’s presence. But when the Spartans finally get to the facility, they notice that it’s weirdly empty. On top of that, soldiers from the UNSC Fleet Command, led by Briggs, descend upon the Spartans and tell them to drop everything and return to the headquarters because Master Chief has breached several protocols on a whim. Master Chief tries to prove that he is right, but, unfortunately, there’s not enough evidence to show that the Covenant has visited Visegrad. Keyes gives Master Chief an earful and shows him that Cobalt was sent to a place called Atkis IV, not Visegrad. Master Chief smells a conspiracy, but Keyes isn’t interested in listening to his explanation, and he strips the Silver Team of all its privileges. Riz, Kai, and Vannak are also hurt by the fact that Master Chief didn’t tell them the truth, and they cold-shoulder him.

The scene shifts to Ackerson and his father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Quite a few things are revealed during this conversation. Ackerson’s father and his uncle were the architects of Reach. Julia, the girl who shows up in Halsey’s simulation, is actually Ackerson’s deceased sister. Ackerson is going away somewhere, and he doesn’t intend to take his own father with him. The only request that Ackerson’s father has for his son is that, before he goes away, he wants to be put out of his misery. Ackerson seemingly doesn’t object because he knows that a peaceful death will be better than the confused life that the old man is living. On The Rubble, Kwan Ha corners Laera and advises her to get the hell out of the planet (or collection of meteors) along with Kessler. She alleges that Ruby Ann (probably a pirate) has purchased Antares and Carina’s allegiance, and they are planning to twist her arm in Soren’s absence until she blurts out the location of the bounty from Madrigal. When Laera comes face-to-face with Antares and Carina, and they obviously lie about going on a mission to rescue Soren so that they can imprison Laera in their ship, Laera tells them to go ahead and start boarding and that she’ll join them in a bit. Antares and Carina have no option but to oblige, which gives Laera enough time to run away with Kessler and Kwan Ha.

Laera, Kwan Ha, And Kessler Try To Escape From The Rubble

Ackerson apparently sends two puny little guys to escort Master Chief to his office, and that plays out in a hilarious and predictable fashion, with Master Chief knocking out the guys with a single blow each. I think it subverts the action genre trope where the protagonist gets into a gritty and exhausting fight in an elevator (Mission: Impossible 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Drive) by making Master Chief do the same in a very effortless fashion because he is a bloody Spartan. While all this is going on, Riz goes to Louis, and it’s revealed that Louis and Danilo (the Spartan therapist) are in a relationship, and Riz has “ruined” date night for them. However, since they both sense that Riz is under a great deal of stress, they decide to give her a seat and serve dinner to her so that she doesn’t feel awkward. By the way, in this scene, it can seem that Natasha Culzac is under-acting, but her pitch is perfect. She is playing a character who is opening up properly for the first time in her life. She isn’t used to caring and loving. So, she can’t wrap her head around something as simple as having dinner with her new friends.

Kai has a conversation with Ackerson in which she asks him to cancel their suspension because Spartans aren’t meant to be benchwarmers. She seemingly requests that he at least revoke her suspension and let her do her job because she can’t bear to look at the Master Chief in this state. But Ackerson doesn’t listen to any of it, and he even implies that Master Chief is suffering from some form of dementia. Ackerson is clearly speaking from experience, but I think his feelings are clouding his judgment of Master Chief. On The Rubble, Kwan Ha subtly reveals that four ships were used to evacuate the people of Madrigal (due to a Covenant attack), but only one managed to complete its journey. And once any refugee gets to The Rubble, they are treated like slaves. Kwan Ha is clearly sad about failing to save her planet, especially after making a bold claim to be Madrigal’s protector, but she wants to wash off that feeling of depression by saving Laera and Kessler. That’s the least she can do for Soren. Sadly, their efforts to escape from The Rubble are botched by Antares and Carina. Laera orders Kwan Ha to get Kessler on the ship that’s going out of there and goes to confront the turncoats.

Why Did Ackerson Abandon Reach?

The Cobalt Team is dead. The thing that Master Chief was warning everyone about has happened. The question is, why is it being brushed under the rug by Ackerson? Well, apparently, he was using Cortana to run simulations on Reach’s survival if it’s attacked by the Covenant. Actually, Ackerson is aware of the fact that the Covenant is already on Reach. So, he knows that Master Chief is on the right. He doesn’t want to spread the word because he thinks it’ll cause “panic.” He doesn’t want to put up a fight because the A.I. says that they don’t have a chance of winning. He wants to get out of Reach because that’s the only option. He doesn’t even want a mass evacuation because that’s not a viable option, according to Cortana. He is like a mixture of the mayor from Jaws and every Elon Musk-esque character that has been portrayed on-screen. Thankfully, instead of bowing down to his “masterful gambit,” Keyes tells him to shove his plans where the Sun doesn’t shine and walks out on him.

Master Chief has a meeting with Margaret Parangosky, and he confides in her that the Covenant is on the Reach and has taken down the Cobalt Team. He thinks she is going to listen to him, but when Margaret advises him to follow “protocol,” he loses faith in him. He accuses her of working for the ONI and leaves. It seems like Margaret wanted Master Chief to stay in the UNSC as her insider. But, given the urgency of the situation, Master Chief just isn’t in the mood to take things slow. Ackerson tries to break Catherine Halsey’s resolve by informing her that he is leaving Reach with her work on the Spartans and he expresses some fake sadness because Halsey won’t be alive to see what he does with her work. Halsey does the same to Ackerson by reminding him that his sister, Julia, died because he tried to put her through the Spartan program, and she was there to comfort her during her dying moments. As a parting gift, Ackerson brings in Soren, thereby forcing Halsey to confront her sins.

Kwan Ha saves Laera from Antares, Carina, and the rest of the crew in quite a dramatic and cold fashion. The way she lures everyone away from Laera and then stabs them off-screen (Carina dies on-screen and Antares kind of dies on-screen) is awesome. She tells Laera that Kessler is on a ship going out of The Rubble, which means that Laera and Kwan Ha are going to rescue him in the subsequent episodes before he gets into some kind of trouble. Ackerson gives his father a death pill and leaves him with a clone of Julia so that he doesn’t feel completely alone while slipping away. As much as I hate Ackerson, I’ll admit that this is a really heartbreaking scene. At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 3, Master Chief meets Perez, and the latter translates the Sangheili speech that she has been listening to all this while. The words are spine-chilling as the narrator (Var’ Gatanai) talks about invading the Reach and massacring everyone to achieve the Covenant’s goal (something regarding the Sacred Ring). The montage of Kwan Ha and Laera plotting their next move, Riz sitting with Louis, Ackerson leaving Reach, and all of it ending with a massive explosion is straight-up masterful. I am definitely hyped and scared out of my mind. I can’t wait to watch what happens on Reach and how every character tackles the threat of the Covenant in their own way.

The first episode of Halo Season 2 came with a lot of surprises, some of which might seem like a bit of a copout as we go along. Cortana was not controlling Master Chief anymore. Master Chief’s Silver Team had their emotion-and-memory suppressing pellets removed, which led to a bit of bitterness with the Spartan teams that hadn’t removed their pellets. Makee was allegedly alive. Catherine Halsey was nowhere to be found. Ackerson, the head of ONI, was in charge of UNSC, and he grounded the Silver Team and didn’t miss a chance to cast doubt on Master Chief. Soren was arrested by a dude called Felix. And Kwan Ha wasn’t on Madrigal anymore; she was on The Rubble, hiding in the caves. Let’s find out what other surprises Episode 2 has in store for us.

Spoiler Alert

Kai is concerned about Riz and Master Chief

Episode 2 of Halo Season 2 opens with Catherine Halsey interviewing a girl named Julia while playing a round of backgammon. When Halsey starts asking her about what lies beyond the room that they are in, the man that’s controlling everything, and whatnot, the girl starts bleeding out of her nose and then dies. During the concluding moments of Halo Season 1, after faking her death, Halsey was seen writing about humanity in Manassas. So, maybe this is part of her analysis? If it’s killing people, then maybe it’s just another one of her sinister plans. Well, more on that later. The focus shifts to the Spartans as Kai notices a scarred but recovering Riz preparing for a training session. Kai tells Riz to take a break, or else she is going to get some permanent injuries and spend the rest of her life as a vegetable. Riz refuses to listen to her and walks away. Kai goes to Master Chief, who is staring at the mission information display system.

I find it interesting that on this uber-futuristic planet, where almost everything is digital, this display system is analog, with the status of each of the teams being manually changed by a guy via physical cards. It’s dramatic. There’s a sense of tension and anticipation about it. So, when the card-changer changes Cobalt’s status from “Deployed” to “Standby,” Master Chief gets angry because he suspects that something has happened to them, and the UNSC doesn’t want everyone to know. Hence, he heads over to Ackerson’s office to have a little chat. By the way, while standing there, Master Chief admits to Kai that he saw Makee in Sanctuary. Going by Kai’s expression, she is concerned about Master Chief’s mental state because he is saying that someone who was killed by her has come back from the dead.

On The Rubble, it seems like refugees have been marked with a tracker that’s attached to their ear, like an earring. Two guys, Oswyn and Clive, claim to be a part of a faction known as the Spiffs, and they are keeping track of these refugees. Kwan Ha has this tracker on her, and it seems like she is trying to get rid of it by forcefully removing it from her ear. When Oswyn tries to get a hold of her, she runs away, and Oswyn and Clive go after her. It’s a pretty great chase sequence—with some excellent stunt work, camerawork, and editing—and it ends with Oswyn and Clive’s deaths (Clive’s death is really good). Also, Kwan painfully manages to get rid of the tracker. Back on Reach, Louis (a former Spartan who is blind) advises Riz to take a break instead of spending her whole life as a Spartan. Of course, Riz refuses to do so, but going by her expressions, she knows that Louis is right, and she has to look for an alternative in the near future.

Catherine Halsey Interviews Clones

Master Chief goes to Ackerson to learn about Cobalt, and, as expected, Ackerson continues to aggravate Master Chief while not giving him the answers that he wants. So, Master Chief threatens to bypass him and sanction a mission, and Ackerson reminds him that that venture is futile because he is the be-all and end-all of the institution that he is a part of. To rub salt in Master Chief’s wounds, Ackerson informs him that Perez (the survivor of the Covenant assault on Sanctuary) has contradicted Master Chief’s claims about the Covenant attack. Everyone knows that it’s a lie, but the question is: Why is Ackerson entertaining it? What does Ackerson have to gain by pretending that the threat of the Covenant isn’t real? If the UNSC and the ONI are overprepared, what is wrong with that? Isn’t being overprepared better than being underprepared? Maybe this is what “powerful people” do when they know that the enemy that they’re about to go up against is a lot stronger than them, because it’s easier to say that anyone who says the truth is mad instead of facing the truth itself. Elsewhere, on the Rubble, Laera confronts Soren’s crew and realizes that they’ve abandoned Soren, and they’re not in the mood to go on a rescue mission. Probably Laera is going to track down Soren herself or leave with Kessler for good, just like she had planned.

Talking about Kessler, he is seen taking care of Kwan Ha. However, they get into an argument because little Kessler thinks Soren is coming back, and Kwan Ha knows that Soren isn’t coming back. Hence, she is frustrated that she can’t do anything to get Laera, Kessler, and herself off the Rubble. Back on Reach, the Silver Team is seen going through some rigorous training, with Riz being put through the wringer because she is currently the weakest member of the team. When everyone asks Master Chief why he is going so hard on them, he says that he has a feeling that the Covenant is training extremely hard to do something radical. So, they have to be equally ready. By the way, this whole sequence with the Spartans is excellent. Everything from the setting to the way Riz tumbles from great heights—it’s all great stuff. Also, this scene is proof that the show can do what the fans of the game are asking them to do: Don’t make the Spartans take off the helmets. The actors, the directors, the writers, the editors, and the cinematographers clearly have the ability to convey everything that the Spartans are experiencing without making them take off their helmets way too often. Who knows? Maybe by Season 3 (if there is one), they’ll do exactly that and have the actors double down on their helmet acting skills.

After the training program, Riz goes to a therapist named Danilo, who is there to take care of Spartans who have physical and mental injuries. This whole section and the conversation between Ackerson and Kai about Master Chief’s mental health shed light on government-sanctioned killing machines and how they are being used while totally disregarding their health. The anti-military and anti-war propaganda isn’t as on-the-nose as Starship Troopers (which is something you should watch if you haven’t already), but it’s there. Does Danilo have any superpowers? I am not very sure. It’s possible that he simply knows what to say and what to do to convince a Spartan to part ways with the pain that they’re holding onto. Anyway, the focus briefly shifts back to Catherine Halsey interrogating another version of Julia, and she dies as well, thereby proving that it’s some kind of cloning program. I know that the show is trying to make Ackerson come off as someone who is more sinister than Halsey, but Halsey is something entirely different. Maybe I feel that way because I’ve seen her go through a very detailed, emotional arc in Season 1 and not change in a good way. I know that the show wants me to hate her, and they have done a good job so far because I do hate her.

Is Makee alive?

Master Chief confronts Perez about the lies she has peddled. This leads to a cute dinner scene with Perez’s family, who are ecstatic because Perez has won such a huge prize. But then things get somber again as Perez admits that she lied because she knows the UNSC or the ONI wouldn’t have believed her. I mean, she isn’t wrong. The UNSC and the ONI don’t believe the Master Chief. So, what chance does a communications officer have? They haven’t jailed Master Chief because he is the poster boy of the Spartan program. Perez is nothing compared to him. Who knows what they’ll do to her if she starts talking about how dangerous the Covenant is and how the UNSC and the ONI are not prepared to face them?

Here are some big reveals: Halsey is actually within Reach. She is imprisoned in a VR program that is being monitored by Ackerson. He is sending clones of Julia to Halsey for an unknown reason. Ackerson has Cortana in his custody. How has he trapped an AI program? By putting her in some kind of closed-loop system from which she can run a limited number of simulations. What are the simulations for or about? I don’t know, but it sounds ominous and apocalyptic. It’s unclear if Ackerson is happy that Cortana has served her purpose or not, but if he is using Cortana, it’s safe to assume that he doesn’t have a fruitful outcome on his mind. In addition to all that, the episode shows us that one of the two pieces of the artifact is in the facility, which is housing both Cortana and Halsey. Based on how Ackerson touches it, I guess he’s trying to become a “chosen one” like Makee and Master Chief.

At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 2, Master Chief finds out that the Cobalt Team hasn’t left Reach. So, he assembles his teammates and tells them that the Covenant has breached the planet’s barriers. He isn’t wrong, as we see a small group of UNSC soldiers getting absolutely slaughtered by a single Covenant soldier. And the individual who stops his rampage is none other than Makee. She asks him to open the vault door. As she walks into the vault, we see another part of the artifact. That means Makee is the leader of the Covenant, and she intends to use the artifact for her personal needs. However, how the hell is she alive? Good genes? Clones? Advanced healing powers? To be honest, it’s impossible to know because the show doesn’t give a single clue. We have to wait till next week to get a concrete answer. It’s a shocking twist, but is it more than that? Will Makee 2.0’s arc be as substantial as her arc in Season 1? I truly hope it is because I like Charlie Murphy’s acting, and I don’t want her to have a bad emotional journey.

Season 1 of Halo took sci-fi fans as well as fans of the hit game franchise to the 26th century, where an intergalactic war was unfolding between the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) and the Covenant. The UNSC was in charge of protecting every planet that came under its jurisdiction, while the Covenant was in the business of invading planets and collecting artifacts for an unknown cause. The poster girl of the Covenant was Makee, and the poster boy of the UNSC was Master Chief. Apart from that, there were a lot of political issues that were covered. There was a lot of personal drama between the primary and supporting characters. Kwan Ha, a rebel who was saved by Master Chief, was placed under Soren’s guardianship on The Rubble. Dr. Catherine Halsey, the mind behind the Spartan program (that was headed by Master Chief) and Cortana (an A.I. to control Master Chief), went on the run. Makee was apparently killed. And Cortana had allegedly taken over Master Chief’s consciousness for plot-related reasons. Let’s see what all of them are doing in the first episode of Halo Season 2.

Spoiler Alert

Master Chief Has An Harrowing Altercation With The Covenant

Episode 1 of Halo Season 2 opens in Sanctuary, which is located in the Branta System, and it’s being evacuated by the UNSC because the Covenant is about to “glass” it, which basically means that they’re going to turn it into a puddle of molten lava. The Spartans (Master Chief, Riz, Kai, and Vannak) are keeping an eye on the proceedings from a distance. When the natives refuse to budge, Master Chief and Riz head over to the village to quicken things up, while Vannak and Kai hold their positions. Kai notices something in the mountains and decides to “call it in,” but Vannak advises against it because it doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal. One of the elders of the village says some ominous stuff to Master Chief about family and home because Master Chief was orphaned by Halsey. Master Chief doesn’t get the chance to ponder on it because he has to head to the mountains to check for any Covenant activity. Instead, he finds a bunch of UNSC soldiers who are part of the communications team who got lost in the fog. Master Chief tries to get them out of there, but they are all attacked by a bunch of Covenant soldiers who are equipped with some kind of cloaking technology, thereby making it hard to locate them until they are too close.

It’s a great action scene, which is slightly hindered by the bad lighting. I understand the need for darkness, but this is a fictional show and not a documentary. The showrunners can change the atmosphere to make the fight sequence more comprehensible. They don’t have to keep the fog that consistent if the work of the stunt choreographers, VFX artists, CGI artists, SFX artists, and actors isn’t all that visible. Anyway, just when Master Chief thinks he has killed all the Covenant soldiers and is about to take Perez (one of the survivors) back to the ships, they are surrounded by at least 20–30 more Covenant soldiers. However, they don’t attack and simply retreat. Master Chief notices a hooded figure that looks a lot like Makee, but going by the opening scene of the episode, it’s possible that he is hallucinating after his consciousness was taken over by Cortana. Before Master Chief can go after this figure, the Covenant begins to “glass” the planet, thereby prompting everyone to escape. The elder and her followers decide to die on the planet, but she gives Master Chief some parting advice. She tells him to find his faith, or else he’ll die very soon. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I am guessing that Master Chief has lost his psychic ability to connect to the artifacts that the Covenant is after because of Cortana. If he doesn’t recover that ability, he won’t be able to survive in this great war.

James Ackerson Suspends Master Chief and the Silver Team

Master Chief tries to explain that the Covenant’s activity on Sanctuary was weird because they were on the ground for some reason. They were going to destroy the planet. So, why did they land there to inspect it? Captain Jacob Keyes is apparently not in the mood to entertain Master Chief’s questions, and he tells him to take all his queries to the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence). Miranda Keyes is nowhere to be seen, by the way. Maybe she is still dealing with her mother’s betrayal somewhere on the Reach. The debrief session between the Spartans and Jacob is interrupted by Halsey’s “replacement,” James Ackerson. He talks about believing in the Spartans because he is a fan of the Silver Team. He talks about respecting the Spartans’ needs. But he also talks about keeping the people of the Reach and those who are under the UNSC oblivious to the war that’s going on because that’s his definition of “peace.”

Master Chief tries to have a personal conversation with Ackerson, as he wants to inform him about the Covenant’s erratic behavior and how it can be a sign of something sinister. But Ackerson steers the conversation in the direction of Halsey and Cortana and explicitly blames Master Chief’s vague insinuations about the Covenant on his messed-up mind. To make matters worse, the UNSC doesn’t award the Spartans for evacuating Sanctuary; they credit Perez for doing so. And they ground the entire Silver Team and sent the Cobalt Team to do some kind of repair work without warning about Covenant activity. Master Chief does his best to give them a heads-up, and that’s it. Elsewhere on The Rubble, some kind of auctioning is going on, and a guy called Felix claims that he knows about Catherine Halsey’s whereabouts. That piques Soren’s interest, but his wife, Laera, advises against it and tells him to focus on “saving the galaxy.” Laera also warns Soren that his crew is silently turning against him, especially after he didn’t share the bounty he had acquired from Madrigal. Laera suggests that they should take their son and go on the run. Soren chooses to do the exact opposite.

Was Soren arrested?

While taking a trip into the city, Master Chief comes across Margaret Parangosky (she has seemingly been fired from her job and is living as a regular citizen). He tells her about Sanctuary, and she warns him about Ackerson’s apparent lack of initiative. So, Margaret advises Master Chief to pursue any evidence he gets about the Covenant’s evolving war tactics and then relay it to her instead of relying on Ackerson. After parting ways for the time being, Master Chief goes to a virtual lap dance room, where he pours his heart out to a shallow facsimile of Makee. This makes it clear that Cortana has been washed out of his system and that he is in full control of his head. Does that undermine the tragic ending of Season 1? Yes, kind of. It feels like a very bad copout. Since this is a show, I understand the need to keep Master Chief humane and not an AI-controlled murder machine. But maybe they could’ve extended this arc of his, instead of doing it off-screen and forced him to struggle to regain his consciousness. I still think they’re going to do that this season, but they should’ve started things off by keeping Master Chief a little robotic and then allowing him to come to his senses.

In an attempt to re-establish his chemistry with his crew and send out the message that he is still the boss of The Rubble, Soren decides to follow Felix’s lead and capture Catherine Halsey. That obviously turns out to be a hoax because Soren’s crew abandons him, Felix reveals that he is an UNSC officer, and he arrests him with the help of several other officers. To be honest, the VFX and CGI in this whole sequence are decent. At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 1, Soren’s family learns about his fate. I think they are under the impression that he is dead because his crew makes it seem like he and Felix died while trying to get Halsey. And it’s possible that those who captured Soren are going to kill him. But he is alive, and he’ll be tried for his crimes, and that truth should’ve been conveyed to Laera and Kessler. A sad Kessler goes into the caves, and we see Kwan Ha etching stuff on their walls. Yes, she was supposed to become the protector of Madrigal, but I guess she had to run when Madrigal was allegedly glassed (off-screen). She had forged a connection with Soren. So, it makes sense that she came to The Rubble to stay under his umbrella. With Soren gone, what is she going to do? Is she going to fill the power vacuum? Who knows? In addition to that, we see the Covenant’s sky fleet rising through the clouds and heading for an attack, which proves that Master Chief’s apprehensions are right and the UNSC is clearly underestimating the danger on the horizon.