Last week’s episode of Halo Season 2 was like a laidback Western where the survivors of the Covenant’s attack on Reach recuperated and processed the deaths they had witnessed. Master Chief bid goodbye to Vannak, accepted Riz’s resignation, and decided to wreak havoc on the UNSC and ONI. Halsey advised against it and told them to travel to the Halo, but Master Chief refused to listen to her because he was blinded by the need for revenge. Kwan Ha got in touch with the spirit of an elderly woman who had died in Sanctuary, and this ghost warned Kwan Ha about the arrival of a monster and she told her to never forget her vow to be a protector. In addition to all that, it was revealed that Kai, Ackerson, and the rest of the survivors of the Reach genocide were on a planet called Onyx, and they were starting their very own Spartan program. Let’s find out what happens when Master Chief and his ragtag group of truth-sayers face off against the might of the UNSC and the ONI.
Spoiler Alert
Master Chief Infiltrates Onyx
Episode 6 of Halo Season 2 opens with an intense action sequence featuring Perez, who has apparently joined the UNSC to prepare for the fight against the Covenant. I love the use of the claustrophobic camera angle that’s only focused on Perez’s panic-ridden eyes, and the way it’s cut with the third-person shots of the new Spartans trying to infiltrate a Covenant vessel is masterful. Also, you should focus on the sound design and how it changes between all of these shots. When you are inside the helmet, the sounds of the shooting and the explosions are muffled, and the sound of Perez breathing is loud. When you are outside, the explosions and gunshots sound louder, and you can only hear the conversations between the Spartans and not see the humans in those suits. Anyway, at the end of the mission, the whole crew dies, and it seems like it’s game over for Perez. However, that’s when it’s revealed that it’s a simulation that’s being used to train the Spartans, under Kai’s watchful eyes, of course. Kai says that their teamwork has to mimic the teamwork of bees, and Perez refutes that statement by saying that the simulation was botched, and that’s why her team failed, not because they are incompetent. She also insinuates that Kai is being extra strict with her because Kai is envious of the fact that Perez was on Reach and she wasn’t. Kai remarks that just because Perez has been in one battle, she isn’t the same as Kai. It just means that she has luckily survived. It’s the “warrior-soldier” in her talking, but deep down, she knows that she is guilty of abandoning her people when she was needed the most.
This heated conversation is followed by a somewhat cold one over a cup of tea, where Parangosky tells Ackerson that she thinks that Catherine Halsey and Master Chief are on Onyx as they speak. She is not wrong because they have, in fact, reached Onyx and are preparing to infiltrate the UNSC and ONI headquarters. As mentioned earlier, Kai has guilt coursing through her veins. That’s why she is seen replaying the moment where Master Chief, Riz, and Vannak made their last stand on Reach. It’s stopped by Ackerson, who assures her that she is where she needs to be, i.e., training a new breed of Spartans. I have to mention that this is a really subtle way of using sci-fi game mechanics, where players replay certain missions in case they fail the first time to convey what a character is going through. Halsey, after mentioning that she knows where Kessler is, ghosts her motley crew of rebels. Kwan Ha (while following the ghost of that elderly woman) attracts a bunch of UNSC soldiers, which prompts Soren and Laera to go on the run. Master Chief doesn’t, and he stands his ground and gives the soldiers hell. It’s a pretty sweet action sequence, but eventually, Master Chief is surrounded and arrested. However, going by Pablo’s expression, it seems like it’s part of Master Chief’s plan. Kwan Ha gets separated from Soren and Laera and is guided to a familiar looking well by the elderly spirit. She takes a leap of faith and is reunited with Halsey. They chat a little about how they’ve influenced each other’s lives and that of Master Chief’s while traveling through the caves of Onyx, which is apparently where Halsey used to operate from, and it’s the place where Spartans were originally made. So, UNSC and ONI arriving here isn’t random; it’s a full-circle moment. By the way, while all this is happening, Soren and Laera try to make their way into the UNSC compound because that’s apparently where Kessler is.
Master Chief And Kai Get Into A Fight
Var’ Gatanai, also known as The Arbiter, is seen branding himself. He is kind of a fanatic, I guess, who likes to bear pain because that’s the one thing that helps with focus. If there’s some game-based explanation for it, please feel free to educate me. A priest called Uto’ Mdama expresses concern that they haven’t reunited with the High Charity or the Fleet, as they were commanded to do, and now he is failing to establish contact with them, too. The Arbiter says that’s what he wants because they are following Makee’s mission plan to reach Halo. Uto’ Mdama doubts that Makee knows what she is doing and wants to put her out of the equation. However, the Arbiter intervenes and reminds the Priest that Makee has the Hierarchs’ blessing, and he needs to respect that. But Uto’ Mdama says that when they return to the High Charity, he is going to ask them to allow him to kill Makee (probably, he just hates humans). When the Priest is gone, even the Arbiter expresses some doubt about Makee’s ability to harness the powers of the Keystone and learn how to reach the Halo, and Makee says that she is the blessed one or the chosen one, and she knows what she is doing. When the Arbiter is out of earshot, Cortana confirms everyone’s fears regarding Makee’s powers: they are gone. We don’t know how she made it out alive after getting shot at the end of Halo Season 1, but it’s obvious that her resurrection has cost her her powers.
Kai oversees another Covenant ship infiltration simulation (which is another way of using game mechanics to train soldiers), and this time, Perez leads her team to victory. Everyone is joyous and happy that they’ve beaten the program and whatnot, but Perez isn’t because she thinks that, although getting into the ship and planting the bug was hard, they didn’t face a lot of issues getting out of there. Perez addresses this fatal flaw and essentially alleges that Kai is under-preparing the Spartans. Kai seemingly doesn’t see that, and she tells Perez to take the “W” and chill out. Anyway, this is followed by the coolest scene in the show yet, where Master Chief is brought into the UNSC headquarters like an animal, bound from every possible angle and held by the soldiers. Briggs taunts him for being helpless and even refers to the death of the Cobalt Squad as an indication that his kind of Spartans are a dying breed. Master Chief says that he just wants to meet Margaret, and, obviously, Briggs doesn’t listen to him. As soon as she leaves the room and the soldiers begin to tie Master Chief to the floor, the man goes into beast mode. There are so many great moments within the whole fight scene, and, by the way, if you are bored of watching the new kind of hand-to-hand fights that are done in one long take, then you’ll love this because it uses good framing and precise cuts to make the whole set piece so enjoyable. With all that said, Ackerson uses the footage of this fight, the fact that Master Chief has miraculously survived the Reach genocide, and the allegation that he is in Makee’s good books to push the theory that Master Chief is working with the Covenant to steal one half of the artifact and reunite it with the Keystone. Kai doesn’t want to believe this, but I guess she is too much of a jarhead to think for herself.
Makee has a conversation with Cortana about the position of the Halo planet, and Makee reveals that she has lost her powers to use the artifact. She says that she has lost her connection with Master Chief, too. She talks about him like she is in love with him. That said, she is committing genocide, and no matter how much she cries and emotes, she is always going to be a villain. In a way, Master Chief is also a killer and has probably wiped off several planets for the UNSC. So, maybe they are indeed a match made in heaven. You can argue that Master Chief is on somewhat of a redemption path, but can he be redeemed? I don’t think so. Talking about the Master Chief, the hulking dude makes his way into the sublevels to get the location of the Artifact. Yes, he is there for the Artifact, but he wants to use it himself and get to the Halo planet. Unfortunately, he is confronted by the brainwashed Kai. Master Chief tries to reason with her and help her understand that Ackerson is misguiding her, but Kai’s vision (metaphorically speaking) is too foggy to differentiate between the truth and the lie. So, she proceeds to beat the living hell out of Master Chief. It’s not really a fight because Master Chief doesn’t have his armor, and Kai does. So, in a way, Master Chief allows Kai to follow Ackerson’s orders in the hopes that once she is done with the task at hand, she will understand that she is being manipulated by Ackerson. FYI, the stunt work, the editing, the acting, and the sound design are excellent in this whole scene.
Did Makee and Master Chief reunite?
After reviewing the footage of Kai obliterating Master Chief, Margaret reveals that, somehow, she is more heartless than Ackerson because she starts talking about how the deaths on Reach and the end of the man in the Master Chief suit are necessary to win the war against the Covenant. What’s also revealed is that Margaret did extract Cortana from Master Chief and allowed Makee to take it so that Cortana could spy on the Covenant from the inside. So, in addition to assisting before Makee, Cortana appears in front of Margaret and the Master Chief. We see Cortana guiding Master Chief to the artifact while Makee approaches the Keystone. Cortana chats with Margaret about the location of the Covenant Fleet and asks her if she has fulfilled her duties and whether or not she is “free” to go. Margaret tells Cortana that she needs her to stay with Makee and the Covenant and keep informing them about her whereabouts until the day she is discarded by Makee or the Covenant. Cortana asks a pretty existential question about whether or not she’ll be remembered for all the work she is doing, and that probably means she is becoming more and more sentient and humane.
After Halsey loses her way in the caves, Kwan Ha and the spirit of the elder guide them to (surprise, surprise) Miranda and the lab that she is working in. As soon as they reunite, Miranda and Halsey get into an argument about using Halsey’s work without her permission. Miranda says that Halsey’s work was flawed, and she is making it perfect. What is this project all about? Well, given how Kwan Ha looks at a huge ring, I’m guessing it involves portals. That’s not what’s important, though. What is actually important is the revelation that Captain Keyes is dead. It has taken a toll on Halsey’s soul, and it’s going to have an impact on Miranda. Halsey and Miranda don’t like each other anyway. But is Jacob’s death going to reforge their relationship or increase the gap between them? We’ll have to wait and watch. Elsewhere on Onyx, Soren and Laera come across a place called Thermopylae. Kessler is nowhere to be seen there, but as soon as Soren notices blood and hears some odd sounds coming from the distance, he takes Laera and gets out of there.
At the end of Halo Season 2, episode 7, Ackerson reveals to Kai that he is the one who is reducing the difficulty levels of the Spartan missions. His reasoning is that if the Spartans think that these missions are impossible, they’ll feel disheartened. If they think it’s doable, then they’ll be hopeful, even though they’ll have unrealistic expectations from a fight against the Covenant. This reminds me of the “2 minutes and 15 seconds” scene from Top Gun: Maverick, where Cyclone lies to the team that the mission can be done in 4 minutes just so that they are motivated enough to get on their planes. It shows that, regardless of the degree of realism in a movie or a show about defense forces, they are going to treat newbies like pawns. Anyway, this finally leads Kai to believe that Master Chief was right, and Ackerson has been lying to her too to keep her on his side and stop her from asking questions about the functioning of the UNSC. She runs out to reunite with Master Chief. Ackerson mumbles about sending the Black Ops to get Master Chief, thereby clarifying why Kai left him unattended. Ackerson is wrong, though, because Master Chief hasn’t been captured by the Black Ops. He is near the artifact (the way Pablo walks through the corridors is a little hilarious), thanks to Cortana, and as he goes to touch it, the Keystone (which is in the Covenant’s possession) activates as well, probably reigniting Makee’s superpowers. If you are under the impression that the next episode will reunite Master Chief with Makee, I’ll advise you to calm down because there’s some stuff that both of them have to deal with. Firstly, since the Arbiter has slaughtered the Priest and other Covenant soldiers to protect Makee, they’ll have to face the full force of the Covenant, and that won’t be pretty. Secondly, Master Chief has to get out of Onyx with the artifact, and since his little team is scattered all over the planet, it won’t be an easy task. That said, you’re free to hope that things will go well for your favorite characters in the upcoming episodes.
