TL;DR – It was a season of highs and lows, but it ended in a wave of potential.  

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Halo Review –

Well, we have reached the end of Halo’s sophomore season, and oh, do I have a lot to say. It was a wild swing from impressive to frustrating as we both rose above the mess of Season One while also falling back into the same problems. In today’s review, we will first tackle the season finale, the titular Halo, before looking at the season as a whole.

So to set the scene, the conflict between Humanity and the Covenant is coming to a conflagration. The main Covenant Fleet has chased Makee (Charlie Murphy) and the Arbiter (Viktor Åkerblom) to a non-descript solar system, except for what is hidden orbiting around it. After being tipped off by the infiltrated Cortana (Jen Taylor and Christina Bennington), Admiral Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) implements her plan to wipe out the fleet, even if it means taking every Earth spaceship with them. Parangosky knows what is in the middle of this system, and it is better to destroy it than let the Covenant get it. But it would be a shame if the very dead on Reach Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) turned out to be alive, the one person that can hold Parangosky and Ackerson (Joseph Morgan) to account. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

While the past couple of episodes have been frustrating, I do think they found their form in this final episode by focusing on the story and delivering the promise that the series has been teasing. The primary way that it does this is by giving a reason for the odd plot lines that had been plodding around for a while. As Halsey (Natascha McElhone), Kwan (Yerin Ha), and Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray) make their way into the Forerunner lab and find a sample tray, I instantly knew what they were hiding. Given how the episode’s title gave it away where we would end up, I did like the switch-up and the seeding of The Flood in a place I was not expecting. Also, given that this show is called Halo, congratulations on finally making it to a Halo.  

The whole build-up to The Flood’s escape was a great part of the episode, hitting all of those zombie tropes if the zombies also had a mutated stabbing appendage and spit organisms into people’s eyes. It works well when you know what is happening, and I wonder how it played for people who didn’t know what was coming. However, I am not sure what quite they are doing with Kwan, something Precursor-y, Forerunner-y, or ancient human-y. I am not sure if this change-up reveal made up for the languishing at the end of the season, but it helped.

Meanwhile, we must look at the framing device that they have been using for this episode as Master Chief is talking to an unknown voice, which I suspected and was confirmed at the end was 343 Guilty Spark (Harry Lloyd). I liked this framing device because it helped pull the episode forward, refocus it on the Master Chief, and set us up for the potential next season. However, while we have done that, the presence and death of the Arbiter (in a pretty good action scene) and references to Gravemind make me wonder if we are going to skip all the way to Halo 2, and I am not sure how that will go down with people.

While the final episode was a step in the right direction, it is hard to say that this has been a perfect season. However, when it did work, it was fantastic. The whole build-up and battle on Reach in Visegrad & Reach were palpable with their tension. You were captivated through every moment, every explosion, and every loss. It could be that this is where the series lined up the closest to the source material or that the more focused storytelling was a real boon for the show. Add to this some reasonably sound special effects for a television show, strong action direction, moments that mattered, and you have what makes this show work.  

However, not all of this season was like this. Sure, we have the first couple of episodes that set things up, like Sanctuary and Sword, which were okay but not revolutionary. However, after the high of Reach came the quick fall, it is clear that the show had too many different plot lines going on for what it could contain narratively. These extra plot lines, like Kessler’s (Tylan Bailey) abduction, became anchors on the narrative, slowing it down, which led to whole characters like Soren (Bokeem Woodbine) feeling like a burden to the story, not an addition. All of this is not helped by the series continued focus on Makee (Charlie Murphy) when it is one of the weaker elements of the narrative, nor am I sure what they want to do with Halsey. If we do get a third season, I hope they can take one lesson away from this season: more is not always better, and sometimes less is more. Given how many characters depart during this episode, then maybe that might happen.

In the end, do we recommend Halo: Halo and the season? Well, for a season finale, I think it did a serviceable job. It set us up for the next season, it introduces a new villain, and had more than a few exciting moments. The season as a whole? Look, when it worked, it was on fire, and I think that was almost enough to recommend it, even with all the frustrations … almost.                 

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you seen Halo yet ?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.    

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Halo
Directed by – Debs Paterson, Craig Zisk, Otto Bathurst & Dennie Gordon
Written by – David Wiener, Ahmadu Garba, Marisha Mukerjee, Tom Hemmings, Basil Kreimendahl, Sarah McCarron & Ahmadu Garba
Created by – Kyle Killen and Steven Kane
Based on – Halo by Bungie & 343 Industries
Production/Distribution Companies – Showtime, 343 Industries, Amblin Television & Paramount+
Starring – Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Joseph Morgan, Shabana Azmi, Christina Bennington, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Fiona O’Shaughnessy, Cristina Rodlo, Danny Sapani, Jen Taylor, Viktor Åkerblom, Tylan Bailey, Harry Lloyd & Bokeem Woodbine with Jamie Beamish, Olwen Fouéré, Bill Paterson, Marvin Jones III & Christian Ochoa Lavernia and Nathan Wiley, Luke Polie, Benjamin Wainwright, Sam Gittins, Micah Karns, Genesis Lynea, Luke Davis, Blake Patrick Anderson, Josie Lawrence, Tomi May, Kamilla Szász, Franc Ashman, Sonny Poon Tip, Mich Todorovic, Ákos Inotay, Eliseø Barrionuevo, Sebastian Orozco, Maria Jose Bavio, Ivanno Jeremiah, Juliette Motamed, David Crowley, Iliasz Shweirif, Thomas Dominique, Karen Connell, Maria Luisa Costa, Bronte Carmichael, Olwen May, Lotti Kővári, Elijah Cook, Johnny O’Dowd, Cat Simmons, Lara Peake, Dani Klupsch, Attila Heltai, Narcisse Mame, Enikő Fülöp, Anna Koval, Ailsa Davidson, Tom Gaskin, Andrew Senesie & Audrey Brisson  Episodes Covered – Sanctuary, Sword, Visegrad, Reach, Aleria, Onyx, Thermopylae & Halo