History Recap / Halo2022S2E8Halo

-->Parangosky: ''"John, you can't save them."''\\
Master Chief: ''"You have no idea what I can do."''

** Kai rams the main Covenant assault carrier in a move framed as a HeroicSacrifice but she's later seen floating motionless in space. Given about the same time Chief crashes on Halo while inside a Covenant ship and survives, this leaves her fate open.

* ArtEvolution: The Flood in the original games is high on the BodyHorror, with characters mutating in front of you into a barely recognizable form with grotesque fungal bulbs and tentacles replacing their limbs. To portray this in live action would either be prohibitively costly CGI or an absurd number of practical monster puppets, so the show relies a little more on blue TaintedVeins, jerky movements, and more sedate uses of makeup for sweat and skin lesions, though specific individuals do display fungal mutations and explosive tentacle growths. This changes the [[ExplosiveBreeders aggressively infectious]] Flood in the games into something that needs just a little more time for the infection to take shape, and we are only a few hours into the outbreak at this point. [[ZigzaggedTrope That said]], the infections of the initial victims are based around miniscule Flood spores instead of dedicated Infection forms that supercharge the assimilation rate to mere seconds, so it leaves the door open for a more classical Flood transformation in future seasons as the Onyx Flood have more time to develop and mutate.

** Master Chief survives a crash landing on Halo from high orbit. This is a recurring event in the franchise for various Spartan characters with ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' opening with him crashing into the forest like a meteor, and high altitude drops were common practice as depicted in the first season.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: The Flood have been unleashed on the galaxy, Parangosky and Laera fall to the Flood, Halsey is put in cryo-stasis before her own infection can take hold, Kai commits a HeroicSacrifice, the Arbiter dies at Chief's hands, and Master Chief and Makee are now in a race for control of the Halo - and the fate of the entire universe.

* ArtEvolution: The Flood in the original games is high on the BodyHorror, with characters mutating in front of you into a barely recognizable form with grotesque fungal bulbs and tentacles replacing their limbs. To portray this in live action would either be prohibitively costly CGI or an absurd number of practical monster puppets, so the show relies a little more on blue TaintedVeins, jerky movements, and more sedate uses of makeup for sweat and skin lesions, though specific individuals do display fungal mutations and explosive tentacle growths. This changes the [[ExplosiveBreeders aggressively infectious]] Flood in the games into something that needs just a little more time for the infection to take shape, and we are only a few hours into the outbreak at this point.

** Kai rams the main Covenant assault carrier in a move that definitely seems like it should have killed her, but she's later seen floating motionless in space, leaving the possibility of her survival open.

* BadassBoast: Chief decides he is going to help the SPARTAN-[=III=]s and Parangosky objects, saying there is nothing he can do to help them. Chief's response is "You have no idea what I can do."

* WhamEpisode: The Flood debut, swiftly infecting the entire base on Onyx, resulting in Parangosky's death and Halsey's infection. Kwan, furthermore, is revealed to be part of a long line of Protectors against them by the vision of the Mother. Kai seemingly gives her life to cripple the Covenant fleet. The Master Chief reacquires Cortana at last and finally makes it to Halo in pursuit of Makee and the Arbiter, who he kills after a long duel. And in the final moments of the episode, a Forerunner Monitor - presumably this timeline's equivalent of 343 Guilty Spark - is shown conversing with the Master Chief.

** Twofold for Kai. First, her HeroicSacrifice has her ram a Covenant corvette into an assault carrier to destroy it and cripple the Covenant fleet, evoking Jorge and Carter from ''VideoGame/HaloReach''. Her final fate, if she did indeed survive the collision, brings to mind Linda-058, the sniper in the main continuity who was wounded and placed in cryostasis, but was abandoned in space before the ''Pillar of Autumn'' crash-landed on Halo.

The SPARTAN-[=III=]s managed to get back to the main fleet, but Perez realizes Kai stayed on the Corvette and she drives it into the Covenant assault carrier, destroying it and giving the UNSC much better odds. Chief recovers from the crash on Halo and converses with Cortana, who directs them to a nearby pillar. He confronts Makee and the Arbiter at the front door. In a pitched battle he manages to beat the Arbiter into submission, who accepts his death as penance for his shame.

** The Master Chief gets part of his chest armor scored in his fight with the Arbiter. His design in ''VideoGame/Halo3'' and ''VideoGame/Halo4'' included similar damage on his chest to indicate how long he had been fighting.

** The voice Chief is talking to in the FramingDevice belongs to a Forerunner monitor.

* SequelHook: Chief has landed on Halo, but so has Makee and they have both met the installation's monitor. The nearby space battle appears to be sending a number of ships their way.

* WholeEpisodeFlashback: The episode starts with Chief in the dark, his helmet off and some scarring on his armor, talking with an oddly calm and melodic voice about what has happened recently. This set-up is returned to only a couple times, before the ending implies to have been a short TimeSkip and Chief had encountered a Forerunner monitor.

* LastOfTheirKind: When reunited with Chief, Kai notes that they are the only two Spartans left from their generation. Riz iand some others are still technically out there, but since she's retired, the two are clearly honoring the latter's choice.

* BadassBoast: Chief decides he is going to help the Spartan III's and Parangosky objects, saying there is nothing he can do to help them. Chief's response is "Don't tell me what I ''can't'' do."

* LastOfTheirKind: When reunited with Chief, Kai notes that they are the only two Spartans left from their generation. Riz is still technically out there, but since she's retired the two are clearly honoring her choice.

* BadassBoast: Chief decides he is going to help the Spartan III's and Parangosky objects, saying there is nothing he can do to help him. Chief's response is "Don't tell me what I ''can't'' do."

* DramaticIrony: Halsey admires the Flood due to believing they created the civilisation under Onyx. In reality, she's both EntertaininglyWrong and RightForTheWrongReasons if the main canon still holds, where the Forerunners created that civilisation in both the main and Silver Timelines and the Flood were spawned from the remains of the Precursors.

* TheReveal: Kwan Ha is descended from a long line of protectors whose goal is to stop the Flood. The mysterious religious figure speaking to her is her ancestor.

The voice he was conversing with is floating machine sphere, a Forerunner Monitor, who mentions that something has awakened because he is there and flies off deeper into the facility.

* LastOfTheirKind: When reunited with Chief Kai notes that they are the only two Spartans left from their generation.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Halsey and Miranda unwittingly brought the Flood into the universe when they brought the container up from the Forerunner city. In doing so, a biologist named Janine looks inside without thinking and gets infected, soon becoming PatientZero of the subsequent zombie outbreak.