by Alice-Ginevra Micheli, Contributing Writer
Halo has long been considered one of the top tier stalwarts of the video game oeuvre. So much so that there seems to be many rules as to how each piece of lore is shown, talked about, and interpreted on screen.
Now, I should mention that I am not a fan of the Halo video game series. Not because I don’t like it, but simply because I’ve never played it. Where some went Xbox, I went PlayStation, and so it wasn’t ever really something I had access to. Therefore, there is a significant amount of reverence that this IP gets that I frankly don’t care about. I watched the show to see if it was a good story that makes sense — I don’t care as much about the amount of screen time Master Chief gets without his helmet on.
With the first season having been enough of a success to warrant a second, there were plenty of loose story threads. Namely, with Halsey (Natascha McElhone) being found out as the low key megalomaniac that she is, Cortana (once played by Jen Taylor, and this time by Christina Bennington) separated from John (Pablo Schreiber), and all the Spartans now being able to feel, how would that affect the UNSC and Covenant in their eternal war against each other?
Season Two picks up pretty much where the first leaves off. The UNSC is in free-fall following the revelation of corruption and genetic testing across the corporation. The Covenant is still hot on the tail of the Halo, with a revived Makee (Charlie Murphy) by their side once again, and John is plagued with visions of destruction and death for all around him.
Much like the first, this season takes on a very John-against-the-world direction, which leaves him without supporters or people he can trust, even after everything that happened last time. He is being gaslit by the new hierarchy, and is losing the respect of his team. It’s a story we’ve seen before, and will likely see again before the end of pop culture, but given that this show is based on a video game that originated at the turn of the millennium, that’s not so surprising.
This time, however, the mistrust isn’t just centered on John, but across pretty much every character you can imagine being focused on. Whether it’s Soren (Bokeem Woodbine), and Laera (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) at odds regarding the circumstances surrounding their son, or the new “Halsey,” James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan), turning everyone against each other, there are many questions and fractures occurring this time around. But I wouldn’t say that they’re the strongest ones that could be played with.
There were many times throughout this season where I found myself confused regarding the relevance of certain tech or story developments, rather than hooked in as I had been last season. Where Season One deals in the manipulation of the mind, emotions and the soul, Season Two season plays more on power dynamics, without fully exploring where they even lie.
It’s possible that some of this comes from my lack of previous domain knowledge, but that in and of itself would be a negative. I shouldn’t have to ask my partner about certain elements in the show, given his game knowledge, to understand them. I shouldn’t have had to play 23 years worth of games to really get a handle on what is going on. Having small Easter eggs here and there as a treat for original fans is a given, and a great way to placate, however, if your storytelling relies on this previous knowledge to fully get a handle on what’s happening episode to episode, then there’s been a fundamental failure in the setup of this series.
Having said that, something that has only improved since the first season is the action. With plenty of long takes, creative fight choreography, and interweaving of alien technology, there are some truly stunning stunts being delivered this time around. Every time the story started to dip, or my eyes started to glaze due to it all becoming just a little too convoluted, an alien battle would ensue to wake me up again.
This can also be said for the big climactic scenes as well. Definitely shining points throughout the season, we can point to Episode Four, “Reach,” as rising above the rest given its emotional, dramatic, and violent payoffs.
Looping back around to the characters, beside the introduction of the sniveling Ackerson, there is a lot more focus on those we met last time around as well. We spend more time with pirates, Laera, Soren, and Kai (Kate Kennedy), as well as further explore the exceedingly more complex emotions and situations of our Spartan team. Schreiber does a great job once again as the foreboding John-117/Master Chief, helped significantly by his larger-than-life stature which perfectly fits the head Spartan persona, and Makee gets more and more unhinged with every episode. All that to say, the actors are all doing a great job
Overall, Halo Season Two is a solid continuation, with plenty of twists and turns which are sure to have diehard fans more excited with each episode. For the rest of us who have a low-to-no interest in the previous iterations of the franchise, and are coming to this new, it still has enough to keep us interested for a Season Three. I just hope they take a little more care to explain everything that’s going on, rather than hope we pick up on context clues that aren’t even there.
I mean, really, what even IS a Halo?
Rating: Low Side of Liked It
Halo is currently streaming on Paramount+
You can read more from Alice-Ginevra Micheli, and follow her on Instagram and Letterboxd