Halo (TV Series)

Yeah, my parents and I had a similar reaction.

My mom said that if they'd kind of implied they'd maybe had sex but never confirmed it, it might have worked, but the show built in the perfect metaphor and then completely bungled it for no apparent reason. Like, just skip the sex, use the Halo hallucination...thing as the way to show they have a connection no one else shares.

It felt like it was just there as a leftover from when it was a Showtime project and, everyone knows premium cable shows aimed at adults are supposed to have sex scenes, right?

Edited by Zendervai on Jan 19th 2024 at 3:48:22 PM

I've seen the theory across different places that it was an artifact of when it was to air on Showtime, they demanded mature content to be on brand. Similar things happened 25 years ago with random nudity in the pilot of Stargate SG-1 but the show moved to Sci-Fi channel with only a few edits.

Probably also why the show was much more violent than the games, which conversely few complained about.

Edited by EmeraldSource on Jan 19th 2024 at 2:02:53 AM

Oddly, my only problem with the sex scene is it detracts from the Cortana/Master Chief ship.

...how? John doesn't start fully trusting Cortana until after the fallout of everything that happened with Makee, in part because she finally makes it clear what she's been doing to help him.

I mean, it's more a feeling than an actual legitimate argument but the show was extremely overpacked and giving Master Chief a Foe Yay romance with the villain distracts from developing his relationship with Cortana.

Chief/Cortana is the core relationship of the franchise, often described as a very unusual romance, so Makee can definitely come across as a Romantic False Lead for fans. The show also staggers out their relationship, seeing them learn to trust each other.

The two-episode season 2 premiere is out now, what are y'all's thoughts on it?

I really enjoyed it and my mom is just as compelled as she was with Season 1 (I'm familiar with game canon, she is not, for whatever that's worth). Feels like a step up from the first season, which I did find enjoyable enough despite the stuff I didn't care for.

Looking forward to seeing how things unfold.

Literally just finished the second episode. Basically, if seeing Master Chief without his helmet is your number one sticking point then the show won't work for you. But I felt the first season was about 80% there, it just made a handful of (non-helmet) mistakes that was bound to be deal breakers for fans and maybe not even smart for casual viewers. With these episodes I do feel it manages to breach most those problems, there are still fundamental limitations in being a TV show (leans more towards political intrigue than shooting aliens) but the tonal balance is much more on point.

Sanctuary

• The opening action sequence sets a nice look to the show, no Iron Man-esque HUD for the Spartans or even POV HUD. In armor and in combat, the helmets stay on and they only remove them when out of combat. In turn this means more effort is given to body language and dialogue, things that was merely okay the first season is heightened in quality. The action is a lot faster and feels more tightly directed, Chief got a Bulltrue medal without looking (kill an enemy mid sword lunge).
• The Time Skip makes it feel like a Soft Reboot, a lot of things have changed and been glossed over in order to get to the start of this season. Cortana was removed from Chief's head almost immediately after the last episode. Silver Team is back to full function and Riz is healed. Madrigal was one of three glassed planets in recent months. The following episode shows Halsey is back under UNSC confinement. That said, nothing has been entirely abandoned, just shifted in where we last left them.
• All four members of Silver Team are getting a little more fleshed out, and we briefly meet Cobalt Team. I'm not sure I liked how Jerk Jock it felt with the interactions between both teams, but I liked the acknowledgement of other Spartan teams and how everyone respected Chief and he was concerned for them.
• Given the memes from the last season, not sure how people will feel about Chief visiting a virtual brothel and recalibrating the holographic consort to look like Cortana while also thinking of Makee, but I felt it was clear he was looking for a non-judgemental place to express his feelings, it's certainly not played as sexy.
• I liked Soren well enough in the first season, but there is just a major separation of plotlines between him at The Rubble and the UNSC stuff. There is some more Worldbuilding as refugees are pouring in and there is an influx of human trafficking, but we need something more concrete than a minor subplot in every episode that won't pay off until the end of the season.
• Ackerson is doing quite well balancing being Jerkass Has a Point while obviously having his own agenda.

Sword

• The stuff about Soren is doubly so for Kwan. Thankfully her story is only about 10 minutes of the runtime and not a full subplot.
• I like Riz's story as she was the most underused Spartan in the previous season. We meet Louis, a Spartan recruit who ended up blind but now acts as a trainer is a nice continuation of that bit of lore. Also, Spartans don't take fall damage.
• I am liking the expanded depiction of the Spartan Program, it makes it feel like a real organization while also placing Chief in the center as the leader.
• Halsey's subplot has an interesting bit of atmosphere, but I am mostly confused over what is being accomplished. I can assume Ackerson is looking for firsthand advice on creating the Spartan III analogs, but sending flash clone after flash clone to talk to her isn't making sense.
• As soon as the subtitle said "Sword Base" I got a little giddy, as this is the first moment they have intersected with the games story with Halo Reach.

Third episode is pretty solid too. Answers one of the questions had, namely the clones being sent to Halsey were just for Ackerson's satisfaction; they're clones of his sister who was taken for the SPARTAN project and died from the augmentations. He wants to torment Halsey as much as he wants to get information from her. Beyond that, we get Kwan actually being really competent and sympathetic — I get the feeling this season is gonna do a lot of work to redeem her in the eyes of the fandom.

Episode also sets up some intrigue surrounding ONI's trademark infighting; Parangosky and Ackerson seem to represent two opposed factions within the organization, though what exactly they're in conflict over remains a mystery. One thing that is clear is that whatever it is, both sides put individual human lives near the bottom of their priorities, which Keyes and the Chief are not fans of.

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Feb 15th 2024 at 12:15:18 PM

It seems like they are trying to reserve the big action sequences for the next episode, but compensates for it with a lot of atmosphere in this episode. The opening scene at Visegrad and the final scene with the Arbiter's message is almost an action scene with the intensity. Not a big fan of Chief going rogue...again but the different plot lines are mostly doing a good job of pacing out the exposition, I like it when a scene gives you some questions that are only answered later and if you were paying attention. The highlight scene though is the Winter Contingency talk between Ackerson and Keyes, making it absolutely clear where the lines are being drawn and a well-earned Precision F-Strike.

Kwan is slightly more tolerable due to some Character Development while also being more efficient in her screen time, but this whole subplot just feels like spinning wheels. I was a little amused that the mutiny hinged on believing Soren was hording a massive payout from Madrigal when it was really just barely enough to pay for expenses.

I think a major problem with the first season was that the first episode seemed to be setting up a "Master Chief and Kwan Ha Show" vibe a la The Mandalorian only to discard it in the second episode. Not saying it would have been better (probably worse), but that always gave me the impression there was some last minute rewrites that killed the pacing, not the show itself thinking what they were making was top tier. This season just feels like it has a better idea of where it is going. I have been thinking that the first season liberally pulled details from Halo: The Fall of Reach, mostly the Spartan Program stuff, while this season is proving to be a remix of Halo: Reach.

I didn't hate Kwan in the first season, but felt like the execution of her arc had significant issues that did it no favours (off the top of my head, it felt like there wasn't enough for how many episodes it took). So far, I think this season is handling her character a lot better, but I'll second that the Rubble arc feels like it's going around in circles.

Found the episode fairly solid in general, and that ending got my mom hollering "We have to wait another week?!"

Edited by MisoraMiyazaki on Feb 15th 2024 at 12:11:57 PM

Massive praise for today's episode on social media. The series is trending on twitter in a good way for once and it's great to see. A little surprised they killed Keyes this early but it was really well done; I suppose Miranda or Halsey will take his role as the "commander" on Halo.

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Feb 22nd 2024 at 12:32:54 PM

I wonder if Soren will train the Spartan II Is.

I believe far more likely that's the job Kai was recruited for.

Whew... that was pretty intense. From the start of the series I could tell the show was trying to build up Reach as a location so that the battle would be as big a gut punch as possible, and it definitely delivered.

• Having Chief out of armor for this episode really made it that much more intense. Plus I really like the synergy in body language between Chief in armor and out of armor, he fights identically and is a detail many movies don't pay attention to.
• You can see an X Box in the antique shop.
• It was incredibly smart to combine all the different plot lines together, it adds to the Wham Episode factor not just for the big battle sequence but also the sense of betrayal and other complicated situations adding a lot more layers than just shooting at CGI aliens.
• Keyes Rousing Speech was also surprisingly heartfelt, between being completely honest about their odds while showing them the face of Master Chief.

Really good episode. The ending left me devastated.

Using the first season and the first few episodes of Season 2 to build up Reach as a place was a good decision. Made the Fall of Reach hit like a freight train for me.

Excited to see where we go from here.

Rewatching with my dad (couldn't wait and watched it in the morning lol) and I do have a small sinking suspicion about this season, namely that it may actually be one of those "we crammed two seasons of planning and plot into one because we're concerned about cancellation" scenarios

It's just a general vibe, but something about the past four episodes has felt like a condensed season of development. Like, the way this episode resolved several plot points and killed off Louis, his husband, and Vannak felt like season finale stuff.

This is pure speculation but I feel like they may have been intending for the Fall of Reach to be the season finale, with the overall season being a slow burn character drama/thriller similar to season 1 with the focus being the Cobalt team conspiracy, building up Ackerson as a mysterious antagonist before a twist reveal of his sympathetic motives, intrigue over Chief's mental health and whether Makee is really alive, and developing Riz and Vannak as characters (Riz in particular through Louis and his husband), plus whatever it is they had planned for Kwan and Madrigal in the background.

Then season 3 would be the Spartan-IIIs as teased in some trailers, the search for Halo, finding it in the finale, etc. But the massive critical and fan backlash gave them cold feet and made them concerned about the longevity of the series, so they cut it down to eight episodes that hit all the major story beats so that, if nothing else, they can end on a relatively satisfying "they did it, they found the Halo™" note in case of early cancellation.

This is usually the death knell for a show, but the thing is... it's really working in their favor? The slow pace and intense focus on character drama over action in an adaptation of a decidedly fast-paced, action-focused franchise was one of the biggest issues fans had with the first season, and they're executing these major story beats and action sequences so well that critics are sure to have a higher opinion too.

People actually like the show now; if the network knows what it's doing they'll renew and if the showrunners know what they're doing they'll be taking notes. Against all odds the future is looking bright for the Silver Timeline.

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Feb 22nd 2024 at 9:48:45 AM

I get what you're saying but I don't think your assumptions really pan out. We have documentation where there was a lot of behind-the-scenes turnover, so I believe the basic structure of at least the first three seasons of the show were built in but the writing and production crew were swapped out. Based on what season one was doing at the time I assumed the Battle of Reach would be a Sequel Hook but that was not the case (Foregone Conclusion, yes, but the story itself didn't tease it). Season One was so focused on the mystery surrounding the Halo that getting there by the end of the second season was guaranteed, waiting until late season three might be a bit much. It also looks like the battle of Reach is ongoing and not done after a single episode, as it should be, so it will be interesting to see the twists of the second half of the season.

I had thought that it might have been an interesting switch up to have them find Halo before the fall of Reach, spacing out the conflict a little before going straight to Earth as the last stand like Halo 2 did.

I mean I think you're onto something but I imagine it was the conceptual stage rather than the rewrite stage.

Which is to say they saw how slow paced Season One was and decided to go much faster.

The episode is largely a recovery from the previous episode, but still has some excitement at the start. The season has done really good building up all the characters and also finds a lot of personality in the different locations, Aleria feels naturalistic without a generic city vista. Recurring themes this season has been human religion as a comparison to the Covenant, which I think does really well to prevent humanity as being just UNSC soldiers and nothing else matters.

General thoughts:

• Laera and Kwan coming to the rescue is a bit too convenient, not to mention how would they know where to find them. One of those necessary contrivances to get to the next stage.
• Reach seemed to fall quickly, but that should be expected since ONI left it open with no proper countermeasures. Chief did suggest there is still resistance going on, but Makee's view of the planet doesn't bode well.
• The Arbiter is not Thel 'Vadaam but an original character. They do manage a lot of personality in his limited time, capturing the complexity needed while also setting up the Schism early on.
• Kai was recruited to train the Spartan III analogs. I'm guessing she was kept in the dark about what happened at Reach, cause there is no chance in hell she's going to take what happened to Vannak and Riz well.
• I liked how brief Chief and Riz hug in their goodbyes. Spartans aren't sentimental, any display of affection is odd but in this case it works.
• It's funny, I've generally thought that all of this material so far is setting up a traditional depiction of Combat Evolved (landing, Flood, destroy it), but given the deviations we are likely going to get something different there too. So long as the Flood are faithfully shown that should be good enough.

A major point of controversy in the show is the Pinocchio subplot.

The show is about Master Chief becoming more human and emotional while many fans are annoyed he's so human and emotional versus The Stoic.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Mar 1st 2024 at 7:05:02 AM

There is certainly a difference in how he is written and portrayed, most of which was a necessity for a serialized show where he is the main character and not subservient to the supporting cast.

But I think a lot of fans have some blinders on both with regards to the differences between the EU Master Chief vs the Games as well as the Bungie era vs the 343 era. Bungie Chief was every Stallone and Schwarzenegger character rolled into one, they literally said every line of dialogue was meant to reflect what the player is thinking ("I need a weapon" "Calm down, I'd rather not piss this thing off" "You know me, when I make a promise..."). 343 Chief tried to maintain the spirit of that idea but allowed the lore to bleed into the character, highlighting that his hyperfocus action hero persona has a tragic element to it. In 4 Cortana literally says "One of these days we'll figure out which of us is the machine."

I think I do agree that the "Pinnochio Plot" of Season 1 is a sore point for fans, but I don't think portraying him as possessing emotions and struggling with loss and such is necessarily something people are against.

Chief being a generic stoic action movie hero for most of the original trilogy wasn't necessarily something people actively liked and expected all subsequent works to retain no matter the circumstances, I think. It's more just something that didn't really bother people because it was perfectly serviceable and inoffensive. Season 1 tried to give him additional character depth beyond being The Stoic all the time, just like 343's games have, but I feel like it was more the way they did it that bothered people.

They had him essentially going from the surface-level personality of his OT self (pure stoicism broken up by the occasional moment of sarcastic wit — "What do you eat?" "Nuts. Bolts. Microchips.") into something completely different and honestly at odds with both that and 343's version of him — a man who must discover his destiny and hidden past, and is plagued with longing for the innocent life he suddenly realizes was stolen from him.

It's not a bad direction to take a Spartan — heck it's not even unfamiliar ground for canon stories about the program's victims — but it's decidedly not who Chief ever was in the games or novels. The little characterization he had until 343 started experimenting with him was that he was a selfless and dedicated soldier who would heroically risk his life to save another person without a thought, because he truly believes that's what a soldier should be.

343, for the most part, took that used it as a core to develop his character out from IMO. Season 1 felt more like they wanted to take that and use it as the conclusion of his arc throughout the series. Like, that as the seasons go on and he discovers his humanity, he learns the meaning of heroism and becomes a selfless person who protects the innocent, rather than that being a core aspect of who he is from the beginning.

And a big part of why Season 2 is working, I think, is that they've stepped back from that and are going more in the direction of letting that be who he is — Chief so far in Season 2 has been a decidedly heroic figure, and his motivation at every point so far has been either saving lives or avenging them. His arc is no longer that of a mindless drone slowly learning to be heroic, but of an intrinsically heroic person struggling against a system that treats individual human lives as expendable, which I think is something that fans are much more receptive to.

Edited by Dirtyblue929 on Mar 2nd 2024 at 7:28:18 AM

Even season one I got the impression that the whole Pinocchio aspect was written to try and highlight that no, he cannot go on to live a normal life. The ill-advised sex scene with Makee was designed with that in mind, as that relationship ends tragically and Halsey has the line "John has a girlfriend, how ordinary."

A comment I heard was one of those small changes that actually goes a long way is wardrobe design. In the first season when out of armor Chief is either wearing the Mjolnir undersuit or high collar/long sleeve casual wear. This season he's wearing T-shirts with low collars and short sleeves, which is always exposing the surgical scars on his neck and arms. There is also more exaggeration of his height compared to other people. So even when not wearing the armor a casual viewer can see that there is something unusual about him.

So this may be the best episode of the show so far, I think foremost because it's balancing the UNSC politics with actually going into Covenant politics now. By the end I was thinking this is probably the closest it's gotten to really deliver on a Halo TV show.

• The primary purpose of Makee was to lower the cost of the aliens by having a real person to cut away to, this Arbiter is pretty cool and Elites get some more characterization in general by having a Sangheli priest with a higher pitched voice and otherwise a lot of personality. They probably didn't go with Thel 'Vadaam as the Arbiter because his motivations are significantly different ( he is still trying to reach Halo for religious reasons but Makee has convinced him the prophets have misled them, thus he scars himself with the mark of shame and signified the start of the Great Schism).
• I was surprised to see Corporal Perez as a trainee for the Spartan III analogs. She was last seen doing a civilian evac, thus we can assume maybe two weeks since the fall of Reach given travel times and the length of time spent on Aleria. I guess she does fit the "angry orphan from a glassed colony" standard.
• The show has pretty well made the transition from some of the more controversial changes of season one into something closer to the games, all while not retconning or ignoring those original changes. It's actually quite impressive. Foremost, Parangosky has cemented herself as worse than Ackerson, the exchange "Are you a religious man?" "Not really" "Then you'll be fine." was cold. I always felt in season one her opposition to Halsey was political, not moral, and knew the Spartan III's would show her true colors.
• I really didn't want another Spartan versus Spartan fight, but Chief's Sheathe Your Sword and Break Them by Talking was a nice change of pace.
• I like it too that some people complained about Cortana being left behind on Reach as that is a Cole Protocol violation, but the revelation that this was a Trojan Horse was perfect. It also managed to bring Chief and Cortana back together, the casual way he strolled through security and she secludes everyone else was great.