History Recap / Halo2022S1E9Transcendence

* IWantThemAlive: The Prophets order the "Demon" taken alive after Makee has been killed, as he's the only other known human with the ability to activate the Keystones.

* MortalWoundReveal: After carrying Riz and the Keystones back into the Condor and fleeing the planet, John, Kai and Vannak detach Riz's outer armour and start attending to her wounds from the Covenant plasma grenade that she was stuck with during the battle. It didn't seem too bad down on the planet, but it reaches {{Squick}} levels as her left side is basically ''flayed'' down to the ribcage from her chest down to her midsection, and John (being controlled by Cortana at this point) improvises a torch from a gas conduit to try and [[HealItWithFire cauterize]] it all. Ultimately subverted, as although it's a wound that would have killed any other human on the spot, Riz has the enhanced durability of a Spartan, and is still alive as the Condor flees the system to head back to better facilities on Reach.

John, Miranda, Cortana and Parangosky confer in the lab. Makee mentioned that the Covenant had taken the Second Keystone to the Aspero system, but there's an AbsenceOfEvidence there... in the sense that no readings are getting in or out due to gravitational distortions surrounding the system. John offers to lead Silver Team there, pointing out that four [=SPARTANs=] can sneak where 10,000 Marines would fear to tread, and Parangosky authorizes the mission. As they approach the NegativeSpaceWedgie, Cortana admits the entire "MeatPuppet" plan to John, telling him she no longer has any interest in it: She has seen John fighting to [[BeYourself Be Himself]], and believes this is a cause worth fighting for. They struggle through the distortions and discover precisely what they were expecting: a planet capable of supporting life, where the Covenant must be gathered.

The UNSC succeed at capturing Halsey's escape pod, and Miranda goes to her mother with news: the military tribunal has already concluded that Halsey is too dangerous for exile ''or'' imprisonment. Their only recourse is Article 72. Halsey accepts the news with equanimity... but later she begins bleeding from her nose and experiencing unexplained seizures. Miranda makes the connection: this is the exact condition that killed "John" and "Kai" and "Soren" and all the other abducted [=SPARTAN=] kids who were replaced with flash clones. This isn't the real Halsey. The real one, we learn, is somewhere on Reach, using her contacts to get offworld, and still planning the next step in human evolution.

* AnArmAndALeg: Riz gets stuck by a plasma grenade and severely wounded, with burns across her torso and what appears to be a chunk of her shoulder missing.

** After their confrontation in the hangar, Kai asks Riz and Vannak if they were ''really'' going to shoot her...

** Kwan Ha was targeted for Article 74, an extermination order with the caveat of MakeItLookLikeAnAccident. In this episode Halsey was given an awfully fast [[KangarooCourt military tribunal]] and pronounced guilty, and given how much she knows of UNSC secrets Article 74 was invoked on her.

* CurbStompBattle: Atriox manhandles both Riz and John with little effort.

* HealItWithFire: Riz's plasma grenade wound is temporarily sealed by an improvised torch.

* IWantThemAlive: The Prophets order the Demon taken alive after Makee has been killed, as he's the only other known human with the ability to activate the Keystones.
* ImprobableAimingSkills: As a sign that Cortana is taking direct control of Master Chief's body, he goes GunsAkimbo with plasma pistols and starts shooting enemies with ultra precision even for a Spartan, and taking out some [[OffhandBackhand outside of his direct line of sight]].
* InternalReveal: Riz and Vannak learn about the history of the SPARTAN program. All the Spartans learn that Jacob Keyes was also involved on an intimate level, as does Miranda.

** [[HatesTheirParent Miranda]] makes a point of telling her mother personally about the decision to terminate her. Too bad she's not actually their mother.
* MookHorrorShow: When Halsey tries to escape on her ship Kai has none of it, leaping onto the ship and smashing her way inside. Adun attempts to attack her from behind, which only makes her angry and she kills him by throwing him into the ceiling. Halsey only barely manages to escape by getting into an escape pod.

** Some of the combat looks like a FirstPersonShooter POV.
** The lead Brute, who challenges John in the final fight and is implied to be the one who retrieved the Keystones on Eridanus II, is identified by John's helmet HUD as "[[VideoGame/HaloInfinite Atriox]]."

* NotQuiteDead

** The Prophets are fuming over how their Brute has killed the Demon, removing their only other means of finding Halo, when [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor he suddenly gets to his feet again]] under Cortana's control.

** Silver Team is surprised at the low security on the Covenant's holy planet. Turns out [[JustYouAndMeAndMyGuards hundreds of soldiers]] are barracked ''inside'' the mountain where Cortana can't detect them.

** Hundreds of Elites vs Silver Team results in lots of dead Elites, though they'd have won through attrition eventually.
* SadisticChoice: John is facing the choice of trying to take the Keystones, which might save humanity from destruction, or helping his injured teammates evacuate. He does not have time to do both. He takes the third option of having Cortana take over his body which makes him fast and deadly enough to do both, as well as removing the obstacle of his touch activating the Keystones.
* SceneryPorn: The sacred Covenant world is in some sort of fractal nebula, just getting there shows the image of the Condor being pelted with cosmic streaks.

** John takes enough harm that his mind is functionally "gone" and Cortana takes over. Master Chief is functionally just a shell now, even with enhanced abilities they can no longer use the artifacts.
** Both Spartans and Covenant are privy to see the star map the artifact projects into the sky, showing the location of Halo.

* TakeThatAudience: Gamers have complained about John taking off his helmet in the first episode, instantly defining him as a RoundedCharacter as opposed to the FeaturelessProtagonist {{Narrator}} they had played as for 20 years. In this episode, John finally becomes the thing we're used to seeing -- TheFaceless SilentProtagonist -- but the transformation is framed as a tragic CharacterDeath. It is critical of the audience for wanting the Master Chief to be an EmptyShell that someone orders around -- in other words, a PlayerCharacter.
* TapOnTheHead: Subverted; Adun attempts to knock out Kai when she is demanding answers from Halsey but this only surprises her, and she kills him in short order. It's clear that Spartan augmentations are very thorough and even with her helmet off she is very resilient to blunt force trauma.

** It's clear that the real Halsey doesn't give a damn about her loyal assistant Adun and uses him and a flesh clone as a distraction, leaving them to their deaths.
** Mercy makes it clear that the Covenant is just using Makee to find the Halo and intend for her to burn with the rest of humanity. It becomes a moot point when Kai kills her.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The Brute first encountered in Episode 5 is affirmed to be Atriox, who was introduced in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'' as the leader of the Banished, an offshoot group of the Covenant. While in canon he did participate in the war, Atriox and the Banished were unknown to the UNSC until long after the Human-Covenant war ended, and never encountered Master Chief until ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite''. In this timelime, he recieves signature cheek scar is introduced when Master Chief shoots him with a DMR.

* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: The Brute first encountered in Episode 5 is affirmed to be Atriox, who was introduced in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2'' as the leader of the Banished, an offshoot group of the Covenant. While in canon he did participate in the war Atriox and the Banished were unknown to the UNSC until long after the Human-Covenant war ended, and never encountered Master Chief until ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite''. His signature cheek scar is introduced as Master Chief shoots him with a DMR.

* BrokenFaceplate: Master Chief's faceplate cracks after taking several hits from a gravity hammer.

* EyeScream: The lead Brute gets a bullet through the eye courtesy of John, though it doesn't stop him. Cortana has to strafe him with the Condor to win, and it's not clear if she actually managed to kill him.

* IWantThemAlive: The Prophets order the Demon taken alive after Makee has been killed, as he's the only other human with the ability to activate the Keystones.

* TakeThatAudience: Gamers have complained about John taking off his helmet in the first episode, instantly defining him as a RoundedCharacter as opposed to the FeaturelessProtagonist {{Narrator}} they had played as for 20 years. In this episode, John finally becomes the thing we're used to seeing -- TheFaceless SilentProtagonist -- but it is framed as essentially a tragic CharacterDeath. It is critical of the audience for wanting the Master Chief to be an EmptyShell that someone orders around -- in other words, a PlayerCharacter.

John, Miranda, Cortana and Parangosky confer in the lab. Makee mentioned that the Covenant had taken the Second Keystone to the Aspero system, but there's an AbsenceOfEvidence there... in the sense that no readings are getting in or out due to gravitational distortions surrounding the system. John offers to lead Silver Team there, pointing out that four [=SPARTANs=] can succeed where even 10,000 Marines would fail, and Parangosky authorizes the mission. As they approach the NegativeSpaceWedgie, Cortana admits the entire "MeatPuppet" plan to John, telling him she no longer has any interest in it: She has seen John fighting to [[BeYourself Be Himself]], and believes this is a cause worth fighting for. They struggle through the distortions and discover precisely what they were expecting: a planet capable of supporting life, where the Covenant must be gathered.

* ChekhovsGun: The Phantom hijacked by Silver Team in the first episode, and shown to be under examination in a hangar on the base in the previous episode, is used by Makee to escape Reach.

* FinishingStomp: Master Chief does a drop right on top of a poor mook.
-->'''John:''' [[BondOneLiner Apologies.]]