Halo Season 2 is not only not awful, it’s pretty good

As a lifelong Halo fanboy, I sadly watched every episode of Paramount’s Halo TV show, and it was insulting. With the release of Halo Season 2, expectations were lower than low, but drastic improvements have been made to the point where Paramount’s expensive adaptation of Xbox’s iconic sci-fi franchise can actually be recommended.

Adapting The Fall of Reach, (the book not Halo Reach) Halo Season 2 is following one of the darker and more dramatic stories in the Halo universe. It’s not a straight adaptation: for starters, this season still has to play with the foundations left by its infuriating predecessor, but it’s also a completely separate timeline with its own characters and takes on the lore.

Two episodes in, Halo Season 2 isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good. Master Chief and Silver Team have essentially been benched after the events of Season 1, and the Spartans’ creator Doctor Catherine Halsey has been replaced by ONI snake James Ackerson.

While the show starts with Master Chief acting like the stoic action hero you know, masterfully fighting a horde of Elites to save a small squad of marines, the series still spends a lot of time with John outside of his armor. For those who are invested in Halo lore, this isn’t surprising — Master Chief spends a lot of time outside of his armour when not in combat. However, unlike the first season, the helmet actually stays on in combat environments.

So far, the new season has essentially moved the bar up in every way. What was bad in the first season becomes mediocre here, what was okay becomes good, and what was good becomes great. Performances are solid, the action is snappy and well choreographed and the story actually has dramatic weight to it. Unlike the first season, the show doesn’t just tell you when things are bad, you can feel it.

There is a subsection of Halo fans who can’t deal with anything that isn’t a 1 to 1 adaptation of the games, and Halo Season 2 isn’t going to change that. For starters, it never could be as books and games don’t typically translate entirely to TV, and alternate takes are fine as long as they don’t replace the original.

There’s also some weird decisions, some of which are left over from the show’s first season. For example, Master Chief is still weirdly mopey, something that will hopefully be fixed after Reach falls, but it results in some bizarre scenes such as visiting a virtual prostitute to talk to a reconstruction of Cortana. At least there wasn’t a sex scene like in the first season.

Outside of some weird moments and the rather boring sections set in The Rubble, Halo Season 2 is a drastic improvement over the show’s debut. In all honesty, it still hasn’t found its footing, but it’s getting there. By the time Reach falls and Master Chief sets down on the iconic Halo ring, I’m confident that Paramount‘s TV adaptation will be in a decent place to adapt Bungie’s original trilogy of games.

Read More: Halo Infinite Season 5 is the start of something great

Halo Season 2 is far from perfect but, so far, it’s an enjoyable TV show. It’s not great drama like HBO’s The Last of Us, but it’s also not a 1:1 recreation of an already cinematic-driven game. It’s an adaptation of books based on games that started when stories in FPS games were still a new idea.

If you can’t handle any deviation from the Halo games, Season 2 will only make you mad. If you can deal with a different universe that has its own take on Halo, Season 2 is a pretty damn good time. At least for now.