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After months of waiting it’s finally on our screens and the second season of theHaloTV show has made just as much of an impact as the first one, and not in the way you would hope unfortunately. It had a less-than-stellar reception in its first few episodes before a return to the bizarre writing of the first season with some more retconning of established Halo lore.
But before getting into any of that yourself by watching the show, it’s worth catching up on where things were left off in the first season. Although, it is worth noting that a lot of what happened in the first season, minus one or two things here and there, doesn’t particularly carry over. So to catch you up, here’s what you need to know before watching season two of the Halo show.
Season One Recap
Whether it’s been a long time since you last saw the show or if you justwisely decided to skip it alland are just stopping by out of morbid curiosity, it’s worth catching up on how season one went down. But don’t worry,you didn’t miss muchas there was a lot of build-up over pretty much nothing,plenty of questionable decision-making moments,and liberal amounts ofcharacter assassinationsall around.
All in all, it was arough time for Halo fansthat were expecting something substantial as instead we got fanfiction. But enough griping, here’s how everyone was left off at the end of the first season of the Halo TV show.
Master Chief
To set things up, our version of ‘John’ is introduced at first as his typical super soldier self,minus a personalityas he tears through Covenant Elites with ease. Then the writingdrives the plot right off a cliffand we quickly see how much this version of Chief isn’t the ‘John’ we all know.
What follows isa story of ‘John’ finding out his past, how he was abducted forthe Spartan programand him generallyturning against the UNSCand Halsey. All whilst also taking out hisEmotional Inhibitor Pelletwhich lets him be a very angry and emotionally unstable boy, to everyone’s detriment.
The show’s version of ‘John’ has him spenda sensual night with Makee, a Covenant Spy, put the entirety of humanity at risk bystealing a Forerunner artifact, and also almost go rogue. By the season finale ‘John’ is supposed to beunconscious and controlled entirely by Cortana, but he takes aBrutes Grav Hammerstraight to the chest before snapping his spine almost in half on a rock face.
So either he was supposed to be dead andthe show wrote itself into a corner, or there was supposed to be controlling Chief, or we’re supposed to assume that once he’s inside the armor, ‘John’ is just unkillable.
It’s less Mjolnir Armour, and more Plot Armour.
Kwan
Everyone’sfavorite character from the first season, Kwan, is back once again in season two. Whilst she doesn’t sideline the story as much as she did the first time around, we still get a lot ofjumping back to her side-plot with Sorenand an odd payoff to Kwan’s ancestry Spirit Quest from the first season.
For those not aware,Kwan’s Father was killed whenthe Covenantattackedand before that he had led a rebellion against the planet’s corrupt Politician. But withthe rebellion failed and her Father dead, Kwan’s entire arc is about rekindling the fires of rebellion. Which she doesn’t really do.
Kwan in the first season spends her time on a Spirit Questand angrily shouting at people for not rebelling against the UNSC. Even though the Covenant has now shown up andthere are now much bigger stakes, but because Kwan’s Father died she still has a grudge.
Kwan mostly gets somevengeance against her nemesisplayed by the talented and sadly always-underused Burn Gorman. But then all her efforts are rendered null and void asher planet gets ruined offscreen between seasons. Kwans isnow on the run from Slaversin Soren’s asteroid hideaway.
This then kicks off herunderwhelming side story with Soren and his familyfor the rest of season two.
Soren
Not a lot of characters make it through the Halo show without some sort of character damage, but becauseSoren is an original creation of the showrunners, there’s no background to break. But what we do get is mostlySoren trying to figure out his place in the universe, a little doubt in his current role and somepalling around with Kwan on Madrigalto help overthrow the planet’s corrupt politicians.
It all culminates withSoren leaving Kwan whilst heading back to his Asteroid Field hideawaywith his wife, son and cadre of criminals. However, in season two that metaphorical table gets flipped andSoren is once again on the runwith just his trust revolver and shattered power armor to help him. Kwans also there, unfortunately.
Halsey
Halsey is aniconic and deeply impactful characterto the Halo lore outside and inside of the games, yet the show side-lines her to vague villain status. Halsey stilllongs for the evolution of mankind, but this time around it’s an obsession that is more detrimental than helpful.
Halsey wants tofind the ring before the Covenantand throughout the first season she aids ‘John’ in getting more information on its whereabouts.
However, that’s afterhe threatened herwith a lethal dose of radiation. Moving on, after trying tostage a coup against the UNSCwith members of Silver Team who are inexplicably loyal to her,Halsey fleesinto the wilds of Reach.
The next time we see her she’s beingarrested by the UNSCbefore being interred in a hologram-enshrouded prison by the high-ranking member of ONI known asJames Ackerson. With her tenure as a prisoner involvingdaily visitation from flash clonesof her new Warden’s dead sister.
Something thatonly serves to irritate and frustrate Halseywhilst also distancing the audience further from caring about this particular character in any way. It’s something that alsoremoves any emotional impact at her fate in the finaleas you simply don’t care about her welfare because of herportrayal as a monsterup until that point.
The girl in questiondied after her body rejected augmentationsduring the Spartan program’s early days. We’venever met or heard about her before now, it’s just delivered as a thing that happened offscreen decades ago.
Warning: Potential spoilers for Season Two of the Halo TV show below
Things Worth Knowing Before Starting Season Two
Now that everyone isall caught up on our characters and where they left off, it’s worth knowing a few things about what awaits you in the second season. If you’re looking foranswers to your questions from the first time around, or are still holding out hope that Chief would keep his helmet on for more than five minutes, you’re going to be let down.
Season two is anothergreat example of wasted potentialon the part of the showrunners and no huge fan bait likeThe Flood comingin for season threeis enough to turn this ship around from those big rocks its dead set on colliding with.
Smart decisions go out the window,iconic characters are unceremoniously cast awayand throughout it all, Pablo Schreiber stillrefuses to put that Spartan helmet on, or even his suit.
If you’ve made it this far andhave your expectations low enoughthat you could do with a laugh or at least a heads up for what to expect and how bad it gets, then here area few minimal to mild spoilersfor the second season of Halo.
Drastically Lower Your Expectations
The first thing worth pulling out from the mire is the premise of seeingReach get turned into a giant ball of plasma-fused glass and whilst it does happen, it comes across a lot more subdued and localized than how it was shown elsewhere.
The prime example that always referenced asa great showcase of the fall of Reach is Halo: Reach, and rightly so. In the Halo show wemostly follow John’s perspectivein short, sharp streetfights withsnappy shaky cammaking it all look indistinguishable. To the point it’s clear thateveryone is on a setthey can barely move around on.
The Violence Is Toned Down
Whilst the first season of Halo has its fair share of problems, one feather in its corroded cap is that at least it got theviolence and goreright. Plasma bolts turned people intoseared fleshy stumpswhilst Needlers viscerally exploded someone into pink mist.
Fast forward to season two and we’ve got someonetanking a Needler round to the heartwith a small fist-sized hole being the only sign. Granted he was a Spartan, but without armor, skin is still skin. We also havenot one but three characters blow themselves up.
But we get the classic last second cutaway or fireball from a distance, a small complaint sure but it makes everything feel that bit more pantomime and ‘safe’.
We do get some scenes ofthe Covenant ‘Glassing’ a planet, but it’s shot from a distance and they don’t hold on it long. So you don’t get much perspective or impact from it.
It’s most notable towards the end of the second season when we see some ‘Spartan V’s’ have alethal laser tag match with the Covenant. But instead of being blasted apart, everyone just falls over because it’s sleepy time for Spartans.
Why that’s worth nit picking is thatthese are just regular people, no augments, wearing what looks like ODST armor with a Spartan full visor helm. They’re notbigger and taller like Chiefwho could take a laser blast to the chest, turn, and evaporate the cheeky blighter that tried to take him down.
These are justregular Joes strapped up with combat gearand given a pat on the back. The basic physics of that much mass in an energy ball hitting them at speed should easilyshear off some limbs, turn them into a Jackson Pollock painting, or at least ragdoll them across the room.
But instead, they just fall down.
We do get somevery, very mild body horrorwith The Flood but a lot of it is quick cuts or in the dark to hide the choppy cg.
The Helmet Comes Off Again
The biggest criticism that the first season of the Halo show had,other than the inaccuracies, was that our main man in power armor couldn’t keep his helmet on for more than a few minutes at a time. To the point where he goesalmost entire episodes without wearing itbefore plonking it on his head within the last few minutes or even seconds.
In season two it’s worse.
In a move that almost feels like it’s out of spite, the showrunners have Master Chief, a.k.a ‘Mister Jimmy Rings’, gohalf the season without not only his helmetbut his armor too. Throughout the entire destruction of Reach ‘John’ isrunning around like a generic action hero, punching Covenant and barely registering any emotion on his face.
We have an entire breakdown of every timeMaster Chief takes off his helmetin season two of Halo.
Kwans Home Planet
A minor note but something worth mentioning for the dozens that are still holding up a candle for Kwan, seems her home planet has suffered froma visit by the Dark God of Writersknown as Retconnicus. As the second season plays out, it turns outKwan’s home planet was glassedby the Covenant.
Madrigal getsall the build-up in the worldfor season one, but it’s now deleted from the timeline. Like a lot of things from season one, like Master Chief being apparentlytotally fine six months after having Cortana removedfrom his cerebellum, it’s something that we don’t find out anything about other than that.
We’re justtold to accept that this is how things areand the plot moves on regardless.
Throw Your Lore Books Out The Window
In season two of the Halo show you’re in for essentiallythe plot of Halo: Reach and the opening ofHalo: Combat Evolvedsmushed into a few episodesand fumbled as much as you would expect. Lore wise they’re still forging their own path.
For example, if you were looking forward to seeingJacob Keyes covered in Flood Fungus, you may be disappointed. Also,The Flood now operates like the Cordyceps Virusfrom The Last of Us and also a little like John Carpenter’s The Thing’. We’ve already mentionedthe changes to Spartan V’s, and the UNSCgoes a little propaganda and power armor mad.
Not that they weren’t questionable to begin with sincethey did repress people, but it’s doubled down with season two. Onyx Base also makes an appearance, kind of, and we do geta version of The Arbiter, but he’s underused, manipulated, and killed off in an ill fitting manner by the end.
The Endings A Cliffhanger
Speaking of the end of the second season, it’s clear thatthe showrunners are desperate for people to come back. How are we so sure of this?
Because the storysets itself up as a big dramatic cliffhanger, puts story central characters in ‘Plot Comas’, anddrops a random scene from a third seasonthat hasn’t even been filmed yet right at the end to entice us to come back. All of that factored together shows how little faith there is for a retained audience and how big of aproverbial key janglethat has to be used to bring people back.
For those that are curious or just don’t want to go through the whole season,Chief is shown very briefly talking to 343 Guilty Sparkinside the Halo Ring with half his helmet smashed in.
There’s a reference toa darkness below a.k.a The Flood or a Grave Mindand a stare at the camera by Pablo Schrieber that they thought looked grim and foreboding. But just comes across aspleading for everyone to come backfor season three.
