Julian Recaps: ‘Halo’ Episodes 5 And 6 Are Still Just Middling, And It’s Getting Annoying

Olive Gray as Dr. Miranda Keyes and Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief in Halo Season 1, Episode 6, streaming on Paramount+. Photo credit: Adrienn Szabo/Paramount+

Hello Internet, I am back with another review of Halo. I was hoping that something exciting would happen in the next two episodes to make me like this series. So far, I am still mildly to borderline annoyed and bored with the “Halo Silver Universe”.

There are some action scenes that looked cool, yet they came 5 episodes late and I was already bogged down with the uninteresting flashbacks of Master Chief’s (Pablo Schriber) childhood, and Kwan Ha’s (Yerin Ha) meaningless crusade to free Madrigal from Vinsher (Burn Gorman). Only two people who were done right so far are Cortana (Jen Taylor) and Catherine Halsey (Natasha McEllone). These episodes show Halsey was always a terrible person and the series is doing a great job at making me like the character a lot less on screen. These next two episodes exacerbate my negative feelings about this show.

Episode 5, “Reckoning,” portrays the UNSC’s efforts in retrieving a forerunner artifact on John’s homeworld of Eridanus II become interrupted when the Covenant attacks the site. It switches back to Madrigal for brief moments, showing Kwan Ha is still intent on her mission to free the planet from Vinsher. Soren-066 (Bokine Woodbine) doing his best to not lose his cool and keeping this kid in check in order to find a ship off-planet. Yet, Kwan incapacitates Soren and seemed like she was about to kill him and then the screen cuts to black (sigh…screenwriters and directors, why are you guys still perpetuating this useless side story any longer?). 

Admittedly, the action scenes with the Master Chief in this episode were pretty cool and had a joke with Master Chief saying to Cortana, “I know how the game is played, Cortana!” I wished we had more of these types of action scenes with the UNSC and Covenant. Family drama ensues with Jacob (Danni Sapani) and Miranda (Olive Gray) when he takes her off of the alien research division with the latter becoming really bitter. 

Episode 6, “Solace,” picks up immediately after the Eridanus outpost attack with Master Chief still intent on confronting Halsey about John’s revelations of his abusive upbringing in the Spartan Program. He is progressively getting sicker after touching the artifact in the last episode. He then interrogates Makee (Charlie Murphy) who descended on Eridanus II on a secret mission for the Covenant and was captured by the UNSC, revealing that she and John share the same connection with the artifacts in relation to the Halo ring.

Meanwhile, Halsey reveals the extent of her control-freak tendencies by discussing how she believes she can help humanity evolve beyond what we already are. Paraongosky (Shabana Azmi) effectively relieves Halsey of her position as head scientist on Reach with her daughter Miranda as her replacement. John touches the artifact for the seventh time and has a vision with Makee on the aforementioned Halo. It was back to the discussion-filler episode formula that the series engages in for the rest of the episode.

Overall, these two episodes are good. I still do not like the fact that we will have to catch up with the Madrigal side story that I could care less about in the next episodes. I am still curious about how it fits with the rest of the plot because so far, it has not. Despite me not liking John taking his helmet off in every episode, I have kind of grown into it because we do get to see a little bit of personality. However, it has been proven in the games that he has shown his personality with the helmet on. But what do I know? Apparently, the series believes we have to see him without his helmet at all times. 

Review: 3/5

*Julian Jones is a University of Alabama at Birmingham graduate with a degree in Sociology and minor in Public Health. When he is not watching films, he is an Assistant to Ashley M Jones, Poet Laureate of the State of Alabama. Let him know what you thought of his review by leaving a comment below!

*If you want to do your part in supporting families during the Ukraine Crisis, go to https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/ukraine-disaster-and-refugee-relief/ and donate to the Salvation Army for families in need.*If you want to do your part to help the worldwide effort to stop COVID-19, go to https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/ and donate towards the Salvation Army in their relief efforts. As always, wash your hands, observe social distancing practices, stay indoors, stay healthy, and stay safe.