In typical Paramount fashion, it seems the TV adaptation of Halo may finally become something great in its third season. Just like the past few decades of Star Trek, the first two seasons of Halo leave a lot to be desired, but at least Halo Season 2 has started to right the ship.
As we claimed just a few episodes into the season, Halo Season 2 is pretty good. It turns out that this sentiment has continued throughout the entirety of the show’s eight-episode run with some great changes alongside some annoying side plots that make for an entertaining, albeit slightly muddled, sci-fi action show.
Season 2 picks up weeks after the bombastic, but flawed finale of the TV show’s debut. John 117, the Master Chief, has seen Cortana reviewed and his team benched away from the Covenant war over as the snake-venom ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) engages in a campaign to turn the Chief’s team against him.
Halo Season 2 adapts a number of extended universe stories in its own way. For example, the first half of the story is a budget-focused adaptation of The Fall of Reach (the book, not Halo Reach) whereas the second is a vague retelling of Ghosts of Onyx. There are sweeping changes from core canon, such as Reach falling in a day like the original story and the removal of the Spartan III’s leader Kurt in favour of Silver Team’s Kai, but certain elements are lovingly recreated from core canon. The show even brings in some newer props such as Halo Infinite’s grappleshot grappling hook - used to great effect in the show’s finale - and the Commando assault rifle, which is weirdly favoured over the iconic Assault Rifle.
Just like the first season, Halo is at its best during its bombastic action scenes. However, most of the series’ action takes place outside of the iconic Mjolnir power armour with the Spartans having their suits removed by ONI during The Fall of Reach, forcing Master Chief, Kai and Vannak to fight the Covenant across the streets of New Alexandria in default marine slacks.
While action is sparingly used across episodes, Season 2 instead opts for infrequent hour-long action set pieces. Episode 4 is almost entirely The Fall of Reach, exhaustively pushing through hordes of jackals and elites (curiously, no Grunts to be seen). The series finale, Halo, manages to cram in a haunting space battle and even an energy sword duel between Master Chief and The Arbiter.
Unfortunately, Halo Season 2 is still remarkably unbalanced. While certain side characters have been tremendously improved — namely season one’s annoying Kwan Ha — the stories they’re engaged in detract from the overall narrative. Soren’s family drama is simply a vehicle to get the character on Onyx during the finale, and it takes up a sizable chunk of the season.
By far the worst part of Halo Season 2 is its characterisation of Master Chief. While Pablo Schreiber brings his all to the writing, and excels at action, his version of the Chief fails to feel heroic outside of set pieces. The first half of the season is great with Chief saving marines, going AWOL to save Spartans and Reach alike and fighting alongside marines in times of crisis, TV Chief is too quick to anger, often shouting and complaining, even when characters don’t deserve it. While the character turns around again by the end, jumping in to save the Spartan IIIs and Cortana, the character’s muddled characterisation is infuriating simply because Schreiber can be a great Chief when he’s written properly.
Impressively, Halo Season 2 manages to improve on core canon with the characterization of one particular inclusion: Colonel James Ackerson. A scheming, conniving ONI higher-up portrayed by Joseph Morgan, TV Ackerson is masterfully played and quickly became my favourite incarnation of the character. During a recent re-read of Ghosts of Onyx, Morgan’s comically untrustworthy British accent and cadence quickly became my internal voice of the character, and I hope we see a lot more of him in Season 3.
Halo Season 2 ends with Master Chief, Cortana and the somehow-still-alive Covenant human woman Makee on Installation 01 with The Flood awake and ready to spread its infection across the cosmos. Hell, even the adorable monitor 343 Guilty Spark makes an appearance, although he curiously seems more excited by the existence of The Flood than terrified.
While far from perfect, Halo Season 2 ends with a promise that Season 3 will be a bombastic adaptation of the original Halo: Combat Evolved. With the series’ backstory now adapted in its own, unique way, the stage is now set for an explosive third season on the iconic Alpha Halo ring. While it can’t be a one-to-one adaptation of the game - or even the novelisation book Halo: The Flood - fans are set to finally be treated to a live-action version of CE, and I’m incredibly excited for what comes next.
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