Developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane
Written by Richard E. Robbins and Steven Kane
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman
Starring Pablo Schreiber, Yerin Ha, Danny Spani, Natascha McElhone, and Jen Taylor
New episodes airing Thursdays on Paramount+

by Emily Maesar, Associate Editor, TVJawn

We’re over halfway through the first season of Halo and it’s finally starting to really feel like the kind of action and story I expected from the adaptation. The fifth episode promised a “Reckoning,” and while I don’t think we’re actually there by the end of the episode, it’s certainly the start of something akin to Halsey’s reckoning.

As the excavation of the second half of the relic begins on Eridanus II, all of our key human players (sans Kwan and Soren) are off of the ship and on the planet’s surface. It becomes clear, through flashbacks and conversations not involving Chief, the extent to which John was selected by Halsey. Keyes was even involved, which gives the scene with him and Chief a sour, albeit somehow delicious, deception as John questions everything about his relationship with the good doctor.

And I say delicious mostly for the absolutely supreme drama that it will create, but also because it seems like they’re actually going to explicitly state Halsey’s very heinous crimes. In the lore of the game universe the Spartans, at least the first few generations of them, were all children. They take better to the physical augmentations that are needed to make super soldiers, after all. But more than making child soldiers, deeply dark and disturbing on its own, is how Dr. Halsey acquired them - a storyline they seem to be pulling from directly.

Because there’s hardly anything darker than making a clone of a child that’s primed to die quickly, and then swapping that dying clone with the healthy child you plan on turning into a killing machine. Which is exactly what Halsey seems to have done - and exactly what she did in the games. It’s darker than dark, really, and while John doesn’t fully understand the intricacies of the deception, the relic has shown him enough. He knows that it’s bad. He knows Dr. Halsey isn’t the person he thought she was, which is why he tries to attack her before Cortana does what she was made for in this universe and shuts him down like a machine.

Once John comes to, however, he can’t continue his siege against Halsey because the Covenant have followed the signal of the relic to Eridanus II. Which, of course, leads to an epic battle in the last half of the episode. This battle’s got everything, honestly, that makes this story iconically Halo. You’ve got practically every recognizable alien ship, all the races within the Covenant that we hadn’t seen yet, weapons that hadn’t really popped up, and the turret Warthog riding into battle with Spartans driving it.

And let me tell you that it is glorious. It’s incredibly fun and is infused with the fast-paced, emotionally driven (but also very cool) action that Halo has been known for - especially in the later Bungie games. And it’s these two things, the emotional drive of Halsey and her child soldiers and the balls-to-wall sci-fi action, that really elevate episode five of the series. Because while it might not be a shocking revelation to fans of the games exactly what Dr. Halsey’s been up to, the show is doing a good job sticking the landing - even if it sometimes feels like we’re moving in slow-motion to the inevitable conclusion.

Also, I have no earthly idea what Makee’s game is and that’s exciting enough - at least as far as truly new material goes.