John, Soren, Riz and Halsey remained trapped in the corridor and facing bad odds. Laera and Kwan bring in Soren's ship for a Gunship Rescue, exfiltrating the SPARTAN contingent while providing covering fire with ship's guns (Laera) and a SAW (Kwan). Riz refuses to leave Vannak behind and retrieves him, but ends up shot in the back in the escape. Reach has fallen.
John spends several days in a medical coma while the group travels to the planet Aleria to regroup. After surgery, Riz is able to walk with crutches, but it quickly becomes obvious from the severity of her injuries that her days of fighting on the front lines as a Spartan are over. John asks about Kai, but Halsey replies that amongst all the chaos of Reach's demise, they have no way of knowing if Kai survived or tracking down her current whereabouts if she did. Soren and Laera find records that Kessler had arrived and indicate he went to a different settlement. It turns into a case of mistaken identity, and further investigation reveals that he was taken by the UNSC.
Makee converses with the Arbiter, who laments that killing the Demon was to be his redemption and they were also unable to recover both artifacts. Makee explains the value of Cortana, though she has little incentive to help. When their ship returns to High Charity, Makee panics, knowing the Prophets will kill her. She explains to the Arbiter that the Prophets are sharing a lie about the Great Journey, and with help from a projection of Halo from Cortana the Arbiter is convinced to defy the Prophets.
Master Chief is dismissive of Vannak's body and rejects any attempt at a grieving. Kwan ends up projecting her own failures and lost ones onto him, and local religious figures assist in a funeral, where John gives his blessing for a funeral pyre. In the eulogy Halsey offers his true name and home planet, while John expresses the loss of a brother and vows revenge. Kwan sees a vision of the mystics on Madrigal, cryptically reinforcing the myth of an ancient monster. Riz, knowing she can't help the way she used to, decides to stay on Aleria despite John's misgivings. Halsey reminds him that he is a link to finding Halo, but he insists on taking the fight to ONI.
On the planet Onyx, Kai walks down the hallway of a UNSC complex and acknowledges Ackerson before exiting to an airfield filled with hundreds of soldiers in new armor.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Late Appearance: In the game canon, the SPARTAN-III program began in 2536 during the earlier days of the Human-Covenant War, and they saw action during nearly every major conflict, including a group called Noble Team whose actions during the Fall of Reach — which involved getting Cortana to the Master Chief prior to the events of the first game — ultimately allowed the UNSC to win the war. In this continuity, they aren't ready for action until after Reach falls.
- Bilingual Backfire: Makee demands Cortana show her the Chief's memories of the Ring in Sangheili, seemingly slipping into it out of habit in her anger. Cortana fires right back at her in that same language, showing that she both understands and isn't intimidated. Makee is briefly caught off-guard, then switches to a different tactic.Cortana: It doesn't belong to you. [in Sangheili] I don't belong to you.
- Canon Foreigner: The new Arbiter is Var 'Gatanai, a character original to the Silver Timeline. In the previous canon, the title was held by Irsu 'Labat, Fal 'Chavamee, Jeht 'Lcmutee, Ripa 'Moramee in Halo Wars, and currently by the most famous holder to the title, Thel 'Vadam, in Halo 2.
- Career-Ending Injury: The damage Riz sustained on Reach, coupled with her previous injuries, leaves her using crutches to get around. While she may eventually heal and improve, she will never be anywhere close to Spartan level again. Consequently, she decides to retire to a normal life.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Deconstructed. Chief is so detached from losing Vannak, it makes him unwilling to properly mourn his lost brother-in-arms.
- Cooperation Gambit: Cortana displays Chief's memory of the Halo after previously refusing when it becomes clear that Makee will do anything to avoid being punished by the Prophets, thus allowing Makee to talk the Arbiter into rebelling. Cortana's cooperation, however limited, thus serves to isolate Makee and the Arbiter from the Covenant as a whole, making her possible rescue that much more likely while denying the enemy critical intel.
- The Dead Have Names: At Vannak's funeral, Halsey reveals that his birth name was Vannak Amadi. John, however, points out that the Amadis buried him when he was six years old, and to the only family he ever really knew, he was Vannak-134.
- Deadpan Snarker: After Makee tries and fails to call Cortana out several times, Cortana appears and points out Makee could have just pressed the obvious button on her storage device.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Chief's canon counterpart, which Season 2 makes him more in line with. Chief has only ever known how to be a soldier, and has lost far too many a comrade to the Human-Covenant War. It's greatly affected him, especially when he's lost nearly all of his fellow Spartans, but he keeps pushing on because he feels its his duty to keep fighting. But after he spent the first half of the season being gaslighted by ONI, left without his armor, seriously injured as a result, losing Vannak and Riz, and not knowing where Kai is, the toll it's taken has put more of a strain on his psyche than he can cope. His detachment from losing Vannak and treating his corpse as an empty shell makes him come off as heartless to Kwan Ha (though it is implied she's pushing her own failure to save her people onto him), and him pushing on despite being rendered as helpless as possible is not treated as him being the epic badass he's known to be, but as someone who's willing to go to dangerous lengths to try and punish those responsible.
- Defiant Captive: Cortana refuses to bend to Makee's whims while she's a prisoner under the Covenant. While she does help Makee eventually, it's clear that doing so is in the interest of humanity as a whole, not just herself.
- Enemy Mine: Cortana is at odds with Makee but decides to help her because they're both working against the Covenant.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Var 'Gatanai, the current Arbiter, has a booming, bass voice befitting of his stature.
- Faking the Dead: Riz decides she can't help the group any further and stays on Aleria to join the community. Halsey sees that she left her dog tags and picks them up, so for all anyone official will know she died on Reach.
- Foreshadowing: The couple who claims to have taken in Kessler won't let Laera and Soren see him, saying he was half starved to death and beaten. While they assume the two beat him up, the audience knows that they're both Good Parents and wouldn't lay a hand on their boy. This hints that the boy the couple took in isn't Kessler at all.
- Gunship Rescue: Kwan and Laera arrive in Soren's ship, using its cannons to gun down the Brute about to kill the Spartans.
- He Knows Too Much: Discussed. ONI left Silver Team (aside from Kai) to die on Reach, and Chief surviving that battle means he can't be allowed to live lest he contradict whatever narrative they're pushing in the wake of Reach's fall.
- Hope Spot:
- Double Subverted in Riz's case. She runs off to retrieve Vannak's body, and seemingly perishes in the dust cloud where the Jackals lie in ambush. Then she emerges with the body, triumphant. ...only to be shot In the Back just as she reaches the boarding ramp.
- Laera and Soren have seemingly found their son, but when the former goes off in chase of a boy who's wearing Kessler's helmet, she pulls it off and sees it's not him.
- I Choose to Stay: Riz decides to remain on Aleria because her injuries are too severe to continue fighting.
- It's All My Fault: Chief feels responsible for what happened on Reach, but Dr. Halsey assures him that even he couldn't have prevented the tragedy.
- Mama Bear: Laera is considerably pissed when she figures out that her son was sold off, and is prepared to beat the man responsible to a bloody pulp with a pipe wrapped in barbed wire.
- A Million Is a Statistic: Kwan expresses that she was entirely unable to mourn Madrigal, especially after already losing almost every friend and family member beforehand and it's impossible to comprehend that loss of life. She becomes obsessed with getting Chief to acknowledge Vannak's body and give him a burial, saying "We put them in the ground and leave them there, otherwise they follow us."
- Mythology Gag:
- Chief stands next to a poster of himself in armor, which depicts the player's default position in Halo 3. Other posters including a reference to the Tag Line "Finish the Fight."
- Makee claims to 'Gatanai that the Prophets' entire religion is a lie, having been denied the right to be Chosen. He sees it as blasphemy; the players know she's right, since Truth started the entire war as a means to hide the fact that humans were indeed the Chosen by the Forerunners and not his people.
- Makee's statements that the Arbiter is going to serve a greater purpose beyond the Prophets is exactly what happened in the original games: The Arbiter eventually forms an Enemy Mine situation with the Master Chief, dividing the Covenant in a way that the UNSC can exploit, and — most importantly — becomes the default second character in the third game's Co-Op Multiplayer mode.
- Enemy forces go quiet before a Brute Chieftain drops down on top of the heroes. Due to Interservice Rivalry in Halo 2 and Halo: Reach Elites and Brutes would lead separate teams, and Chieftains in particular would be given a wide berth.
- Kai is leading the next generation of Spartans on the planet Onyx. The original lore has the Spartan III program developed on Onyx and Halo: Ghosts of Onyx was their first introduction.
- Once More, with Clarity: The first scene of the season where Cortana was removed from Chief is revisited again, this time Chief remembers Cortana being handed to Parangosky and some cryptic remarks about a deal they struck.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: 'Gatanai believes only he can defeat Master Chief, as it would earn his redemption in the eyes of the Prophets. It just makes him even angrier at Makee for denying him that honor.
- Put on a Bus: Riz stays behind on Aleria to live a normal life.
- Real Men Hate Affection: When Riz says she is going to make a new life on Aleria, John orders her to stand up. She does so, with crutches, but repeats what her plan is. John's facade then cracks a bit as he says she is all he has left and she gives him a hug, a very foreign action between Spartans. John accepts it, but only for a few seconds before pulling away and leaving without a further word on the matter.
- Relationship Labeling Problems: Makee asks what Cortana is to the Chief. Cortana is briefly stumped, then simply says "We work together" for lack of a proper description.
- The Reveal:
- Admiral Parangosky was the one who removed Cortana from the Chief, and spearheaded the efforts to keep Reach in the dark about the Covenant's invasion.
- The identity of the Silver Timeline's Arbiter is named Var 'Gatanai, and he was responsible for bringing Makee back to life.
- Kessler had been sold en route to Aleria, and is now in the hands of the UNSC.
- Kai didn't die on Reach, but escaped with ONI to head up what appears to be the beginning of the SPARTAN-III program.
- Revenge Before Reason: Chief swears on Vannak's body that he will kill those responsible for his end. Except as Halsey points out, those responsible (Parangosky and Ackerson) are out of reach, and Chief is attempting to take on the entirety of ONI without his armor, especially since they would wish him dead before he could expose what they did to Reach. She attempts to persuade him to focus on finding the Halo ring, but it's clear his mind is made up.
- Scenery Porn: Thanks to Cortana, Makee is able to present 'Gatanai an image of the Halo, and it looks absolutely gorgeous with the ring overhanging a lush mountain landscape.
- Shout-Out: Laera wraps a cyllindrical item in barbed wire and threatens to beat the outpost trader with it. She might as well have called it Lucille.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
- As much as 'Gatanai has found a powerful ally in Makee, it's clear he has little tolerance of her presence, especially for denying him the honor of killing Chief.
- Chief has not forgiven Halsey for what she did, but given the circumstances there are more important things to deal with.
- Tempting Fate: When the Covenant forces suddenly stop firing at the group despite having them cornered, Soren yells out a challenge asking if that's all they have. The Covenant promptly respond by deploying a Brute to finish them off. Soren lampshades that he should not have said it.
- There Is Another: With Vannak's death and Riz' decision to quit, John believes he is the last remaining member of Silver Team. The ending reveals this isn't true: Kai is still alive, and she's on Onyx helping Ackerson train the SPARTAN-III recruits.
- Viking Funeral: The Chief decides to allow the natives to burn Vannak's body after seeing his face, having initially been unwilling to see him as anything other than a corpse.
- Wham Shot:
- Kai is shown in armor marching towards a door at a base on Onyx. When she walks out, she's greeted with hundreds of soldiers in a new suit of armor, prepared to follow her lead. The SPARTAN-III program has begun.
- The same woman who marched to her death on Sanctuary appears to Kwan Ha, calling her "Protector".
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Kwan is infuriated that Chief is refusing to bury Vannak, but he just brushes her criticisms off as a lack of understanding of what it means to be a SPARTAN. However, it seems those criticisms get to him, as he does ensure Vannak is given a proper send off.
- Laera is displeased at Soren's lax disposition after having survived Reach, arguing that this attitude is precisely what turned his crew on him in the first place.
- Kwan herself is given this by the deceased spirit of the religious leader from earlier this season, chewing her off for abandoning her family name and the responsibilities that go with it.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- 'Gatanai makes it painfully clear he can and will execute Makee if she no longer proves of use. He almost does so until an image of the Halo is presented to him.
- Makee tries to threaten Cortana into compliance by explaining that they will both be subject to this fate is Cortana doesn't provide something useful. Cortana's first response is to simply shut herself off without a word, though she does eventually help when Makee tries to turn 'Gatanai against the Prophets.
