After the divisive reception of Season 1, “Halo” returns on Paramount+ with a two-episode premiere. The series jumps forward by six months after the end of Season 1, which ended with Cortana (Jen Taylor) seemingly taking over Master Chief’s (Pablo Schrieber) body and the apparent death of the Covenant spy Makee (Charlie Murphy). Episode 1, “Sanctuary,” starts with Silver Team on the titular planet Sanctuary evacuating civilians, now having removed their emotion-suppressing pellets. Master Chief is also dealing with Cortana being disconnected from his brain, losing the connection they’d built. 

The major event of this season has been revealed to be the Fall of Reach, a major event in the original Halo canon that’s explored in novels like “The Fall of Reach” and games like “Halo: Reach,” my favorite game in the series. Reach, a planet we’ve seen repeatedly in the show so far, is one of humanity’s last strongholds against the Covenant. To set this up, we see the planet Sanctuary being glassed early in Episode 1, showing how outclassed humanity is against the Covenant. 

The two episodes are a major improvement over the rocky first season, giving fans more action sequences in a series based around one of the most iconic sci-fi franchises of all time. Those scenes were a highlight of Season 1, and have been improved even more. In Episode 1, we see Master Chief fighting cloaked Elites on top of a foggy mountain, and in Episode 2, a group of Marines tries to take on a single Elite. Those sequences feel like they were ripped from a horror film and reestablish the Covenant as a major threat. 

Silver Team, the Spartan group led by Master Chief, gets more development here. While Riz-028 (Natasha Culzac) and Vannak-134 (Bentley Kalu) were mostly one-note characters last season, they have more of a focus here after removing their emotion-suppressing pellets during the time jump. Riz looks to be getting her own side-plot here, as she deals with injuries sustained during the last season. Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy) isn’t given as much focus, despite being a highlight of last season. And the Master Chief himself, John-117, is given a sort of reboot here. His characterization is much closer to the novels and games here, while still being fresh enough for a different universe. The best sequences of either season so far have been Silver Team interacting and fighting alongside (or against, briefly in the first season) each other. 

Unfortunately, the B-plots featuring Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) and Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) still play a part in the show. Like last season, it’s completely disconnected from the central plot of the series and takes focus away from far more interesting elements of the series. While Woodbine is a great actor, his attempts to maintain control of his pirate group are simply uninteresting. Kwan Ha is shaping up to be just as infuriating of a character as last season, and it’s honestly baffling as to why the showrunners decided to continue her story after her plotline wrapped up last season. 

On the political side of the series, James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan) is a great new addition as a secondary antagonist for the series. He’s filling Catherine Halsey’s (Natascha McElhone) position from last season, as she’s on the run from the UNSC after escaping last season. Ackerson plays a vital role in many events of the original Halo canon, and it’s exciting to see how he’ll be portrayed in this universe. 

While not all of the issues of last season are patched, the premiere is a good benchmark for the rest of the season. While the focus is still diluted, the plot and characters are stronger here, and the action is given more screen time. Episode 3 releases February 15th on Paramount+. 

The new episode of “Halo” on Paramount+ leans heavy on the impending Fall of Reach with references to the original Halo games, specifically 2011’s “Halo: Reach,” while the characters of the series become increasingly complex. After the Master Chief defied orders and went to look for Cobalt Team, who went MIA last episode, the episode deals with the fallout of those actions. Additionally, we get more backstory on the SPARTAN-II program headed by Dr. Catherine Halsey and the source of Col. James Ackerson’s hatred for the program. 

Ackerson continues to be a compelling antagonist for the series, and this episode gives him more material and backstory to work with. His actions are a gray area between the genocidal destruction of the Covenant and the heroism of Silver Team and Master Chief, adding more depth to the story. His role provides a window into the secretive Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), and we see how that group reacts to the knowledge that the Covenant is on Reach, while trying to keep civilians from panicking. 

Master Chief and Silver Team continue the character development that the beginning of the season kicked off with, with Riz again getting the bulk of screentime as she begins to learn life outside of being a Spartan. Kai continues to be a highlight of the series, as she starts to work more closely with ONI this episode. Master Chief himself has an interesting arc where he’s essentially gaslighted by Ackerson as he questions past events. Unfortunately, Vannak still doesn’t get much development, though it is great to see Silver Team work together as a team again. 

The B-plot about the residents of the Rubble, including Kwan Ha, takes up a large amount of the episode. It’s still uninteresting, and without Soren’s presence, the plot drags valuable screentime from the much more interesting political machinations and Silver Team action. A shorter eight-episode series doesn’t have the screentime to waste on boring characters, though the end of the episode points towards their journey converging with the main plot at some point soon. 

As the series races towards one of the biggest events in Halo canon, this episode deftly builds up the danger posed by the Covenant and the Fall of Reach. Episode 4 releases on Feb. 22 on Paramount+. 

After the last episode ended with a bang, this episode dives headlong into the event that’s been built up all season: the Fall of Reach. At this point in the series, the planet Reach is one of humanity’s last remaining strongholds against the Covenant outside, and the Covenant’s invasion of it kicks off the events of the original trilogy of games. 

This episode is practically nonstop action scenes, owing much to the nonstop nature of the games. Silver Team, minus the mysteriously absent Kai, are all caught relatively unaware by the invasion of Reach. The episode starts with them fighting through the city as we see each member work through situations that Halo players will know all too well: trying to track cloaked Elites as they take out allies, getting pinned down by a Wraith tank, and fighting against seemly endless waves of tough enemies. 

The show has been trying to ask what the difference is between John and Master Chief, the human versus the soldier. However, to work through that complex issue, you’d ideally want equal amounts of each persona. This episode is a step in the right direction, showing how the Master Chief is a source of inspiration to the marines. However, the showrunners chose to keep Master Chief out of his iconic armor for the whole episode, robbing the viewers of the chance to see how effective he can be against forces like this. We’ve seen Master Chief fight in his armor against small forces of Covenant, but never to the extent of the games, where you’re regularly tearing through armies, even on their own flagships. 

The supporting characters, like Dr. Halsey, Soren and Admiral Keyes all get notable screen time and development here. After Soren was imprisoned with Halsey at the end of last episode, we get to see their reunion after he had escaped her Spartan program as a young child. Their interactions give us more insight into the darkness of the Spartan program. We also finally get to see Admiral Keyes as a leader as he delivers a truly inspiring speech. Corporal Perez (Cristina Roldo), who Master Chief rescued at the beginning of Episode 1, is another great human perspective into the horrors of a full invasion. 

The show establishes the Covenant as a truly terrifying force as we see them easily overwhelm humanity, even at the site of their greatest military powers. Episode 5 releases on Feb. 29 on Paramount+. 

With the new episode of “Halo,” the series finally reunites the main cast and the B-plot, while wrapping up the plotlines of some characters and kicking off new ones for others. After last episode’s nonstop action, this episode takes a more character-focused approach, focusing on how the main cast deals with the Fall of Reach and the losses sustained. 

Kicking off with the immediate aftermath of the death of Vannak at the end of last episode, there’s a great action scene featuring Master Chief, Soren, and Kai fighting to escape from the Covenant forces surrounding their position. This sequence reintroduces viewers to Brutes, massive and barbaric members of the Covenant, with even the combined efforts of three Spartans barely being enough to stop a single Brute.  

After the confirmed return of Makee (Charlie Murphy) during last episode, we get to finally see what her plans with the Covenant are. While we still don’t know exactly how she survived her onscreen death, her storyline is a great way to give an insight to the plans of the Covenant. Additionally, Var ‘Gatanai, an Elite who has the title of Arbiter. The title is given to Elites as a badge of shame due to failure in combat and was most prominently the title of Thel ‘Vadamee in the original games. While we don’t know much about this new version of the character, the show appears to be setting him up as a major player in the upcoming episodes. 

Additionally, the episode sets up Master Chief to finally become the iconic lone wolf figure we know him as. While Cortana is still largely absent from the series outside of a brief scene with Makee aboard a Covenant ship, the absence of Kai and the death of Vannak both teach him about loss and move the plot forward towards the events of the first games. Riz also gets some major development relating to her plotline of dealing with her injuries, allowing her actress Culzac to shine. 

The major draw of this episode is reuniting the main cast of the series. We see Soren, his wife, Kwan Ha, Dr. Halsey, and the remaining members of Silver Team all regroup together after the Fall of Reach. This kicks off a new plotline for Soren as he attempts to find his son, who’s mysteriously gone missing. It’s a poorly handled plot twist, one that left me wondering if I’d missed some important context. Additionally, Kwan is once again seeing visions, ones that hint towards the introduction of a major antagonist in the games. I won’t spoil it here, considering how much of a twist it was during the original games, but it promises to take the series in a new direction if the plotline pans out. 

While it looks to split the main cast up again, this episode was a nice character-focused breather after the action of last episode. Episode 6 releases March 7 on Paramount+. 

Introducing an entirely new group of Spartans and setting the stage for the series to finally arrive on the Halo ring, the newest “Halo” episode takes a step backwards in quality after two solid episodes. While it sees some of the better characters in the series reintroduced, this episode struggles under plots that aren’t given nearly enough attention.

This episode focuses on the Spartan-III program, the successor to the program that created Master Chief, Soren and all the other Spartan soldiers introduced in the series. Within the original canon, Spartan IIIs are children who were orphaned in Covenant attacks, who were created to be expendable and cheaper to manufacture. Here, they are soldiers who were picked seemingly at random, including Corporal Perez, who has been shown to be an ineffective soldier in the past. While she’s still an interesting character in the series, her inclusion into the program makes little sense.

Throughout the episode, Master Chief is fighting to take revenge on Admiral Parangosky and Colonel Ackerson, who abandoned him and Silver Team on Reach. While it makes sense for this version of the character, it goes completely against the version of Master Chief that fans know. The show looked to be building up to a more game-accurate Master Chief before this, but this drained my goodwill towards the series faster than a wave of plasma fire drains Spartan energy shields.

The Covenant plotline of the show is thankfully much more intriguing than the Spartan side of things. This Arbiter, while not the iconic character from the games, is still an interesting character and a welcome glimpse into the mostly nameless aliens the Master Chief should be regularly battling. While we don’t yet know whether this Arbiter is a replacement for the version from the games or the one fans know will be introduced later, his story is still interesting and a positive element of the show.

Most of the side characters here are given very little screen time this episode. Soren and his wife, after the last episode set up their search for their son, are given what seems like three lines of dialogue this episode. Kwan and Dr. Halsey have a bit more screen time, but their story doesn’t progress much beyond a few minutes of searching in dark caves and reintroducing Miranda Keyes to the show.

Another bright spot of the episode is the action sequences. Multiple simulation training sequences with the Spartan-IIIs nod to the first-person roots of the games, while Master Chief shows off his brute strength while fighting through the ONI base. Additionally, Kai, who was revealed to be training the Spartan-IIIs, has a sequence where she trains in the simulation, showing off the power of a fully trained Spartan.

This episode was a step back from the previous episodes in quality, returning to the disjointed plotlines of Season 1. However, the next two episodes look to be action-packed and are pointing to finally reaching the iconic Halo rings. Episode 7 premieres March 14 on Paramount+. heck here on March 8th for the review of Episode 6!

Yet another step back in storytelling mars the newest episode of “Halo” as the episode plods along, existing only to set up the action-packed finale and journey to the Halo ring that the series has been setting up all season.

While last episode had a heavy focus on the Spartan-IIIs and ONI, this episode goes back to an equal focus on all the storylines. While this might sound like a good thing, most of the plots seem to exist simply to pad out the runtime and almost none of them substantially advance the story. The promises of action during the last episode are mostly unfulfilled here, though the final moments promise a huge battle, one you might see during the last levels of a Halo game.

Master Chief’s revenge plotline is quickly wrapped up here in a way that averts an actual ending, and the only major event for him is that he finally gets to suit up in his Mjolnir armor again. Even then, he doesn’t get to use it in combat, as most of his screentime is spent working his way to the armor. That’s a common theme for the episode, as most characters are awkwardly moved to their places for the finale like clumsy chess pieces.

Similarly, Perez and the Spartan-IIIs aren’t given much screentime to develop their story. We finally learn the reason for their existence in this universe, as Parangosky reveals they’re not meant to make it off the Covenant ships they were shown infiltrating in simulations. However, that plotline isn’t given much weight other than a brief scene and the promise of seeing their fight from Perez and Kai’s perspective next episode.

The plotline that gets the most development here is the story of Halsey and Miranda Keyes, their reconciliation, and the mysterious path discovered last episode. If you’ve played any Halo games, or have any media literacy, these doors are usually sealed for a reason, but these characters walk straight into what’s clearly dangerous territory in the name of science and discovery. Surprisingly, Kwan Ha is the only voice of reason here, though she’s mostly used as a tool to open the doors because of her mysterious visions and connection to the ancient technology seen throughout the season.

Finally, there’s Soren’s plotline. Woodbine is a great actor and Soren is a fun character, but he’s consistently shoved into the most boring plotlines the show can think of. He’s given little screentime here, and it’s once again uninteresting. While the show tries time and time again, it’s frustrating to have time taken away from better storylines to show us his son in danger once again.

The only really interesting part of this episode is the Covenant plotline. After the Arbiter and Makee betrayed the Elite priests at the end of the last episode, the seeds for the “Great Schism” from the games are planted. These events are some of the most iconic from the games, and it’s exciting to see where that plotline goes despite the mishandling of other events from the game canon.

The penultimate episode of Halo Season 2 seems to exist mainly to set up the final episode, with little character development and even less action. Next episode promises a return to action like in Episode 4, finally landing on the iconic Halo ring the series has been building towards. Episode 8 premieres March 21 on Paramount+.

With the season finale of Halo, the series finally settles into a rhythm that fans can recognize as the Halo games. New antagonists are introduced and old stories are wrapped up, and the series hits a new high point with the long-awaited arrival on the Halo ring and the introduction of the terrifying Flood. 

Master Chief is a highlight of the episode as he fights his way onto the Halo ring. This episode is nearly nonstop action, both on land and in space. We get to see his full, armored power as he fights the Arbiter and his heroism while rescuing Perez’s group of Spartan-IIIs. We also get to see him finally reunite with Cortana, quickly settling into familiar territory due to their close relationship. 

Like Master Chief, the Spartan-IIIs and Kai get lots of opportunities to show us close-quarters combat against the Covenant. While their story doesn’t have a ton of screentime compared to the Flood and Master Chief, the action in these scenes is exciting and engaging. However, I wish the Spartan-III story had been a bit more fleshed out. Kai’s transformation from warrior to trainer could’ve been a unique arc, and Perez going from a comms officer to a Spartan was never fully explained. 

By far the best part of the episode was the introduction of the Flood. The Flood are a parasitic species that infect and transform any organic material they can come across, and their introduction in the first Halo game is known as one of the best twists in gaming. As in the game, their arrival signals a sharp turn into horror, as we see large amounts of both named and unnamed characters turned into enemies straight out of a horror game. 

Halsey, Miranda, Ackerson, Kwan and Soren are all wrapped up in the conflict against the Flood here. Miranda and Halsey are among the first to encounter the zombie-like creatures after accidentally unleashing them from the artifact they uncovered last episode, and Soren and Kwan are fighting to rescue Soren’s family, who have been imprisoned with Ackerson, from a jail area infested with the Flood. Their stories this season are wrapped up in a way that leaves their plotlines open for a likely Season 3. 

This episode takes swings, dives into body horror, and finally gives us a game-accurate Master Chief, setting up a promisingly accurate Season 3. All episodes of Season 2 are now streaming on Paramount+.