Last time I was here we saw the Fall of Reach, specifically while Master Chief wore a t-shirt. So, yeah. And now we have this week’s episode on top of it.
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. Since the last time you saw us here, I got COVID. It’s funny, because throughout the entire pandemic it never caught me. Two vaccines, a booster, still never caught me, until finally it did. The worst part is I actually felt really good. It wasn’t even an issue of feeling bad. My voice was gone. This is the first time I’ve been able to muster together enough voice to do anything, and we’re two weeks into Halo now, so you’re getting both episodes.
Reach Isn’t the Game, and It Was Never Going to Be
Last week’s episode was Reach, and Reach is essentially this story universe’s version of the Fall of Reach. Those of you familiar with the games had a certain level of expectation, and this clearly, probably, didn’t meet it, even though it was a very exciting episode.
Like I’ve said on a lot of other occasions, you have to take the entire scenario when it comes to Reach and what’s been going on, and you have to take it at its own pace. They’re clearly trying to tell some kind of story, if you can get past “this isn’t the Halo video game I played.” Well, of course it’s not. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to play, verbatim, a scenario I’d already seen or experienced numerous times. I want an adaptation, and that’s what this has been to this point. They’re calling it the Silver Timeline, whatever that means.
They made a big deal out of the fact that everybody from ONI stole the suits. The team goes to get suited up and the suits are gone. Command bugged out, took the high-ranking personnel, and took the suits with them. Kai has disappeared too, the assumption being she’s with ONI, and we find out this week that’s actually true. So there’s a lot happening in the story, and ultimately I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
There were interviews with Pablo Schreiber where he was saying he doesn’t know how in the world you can really establish a character and an actor’s look without being able to see their face. And I’m like, bro. This is the way. Right?
All that being said, I feel like they’re definitely trying to do something. Whether or not we understand what that something is leaves much to be desired, and we’ll eventually find out what the something is or isn’t.
Chief Finally Picks Up a Weapon
Honestly, it was a really good episode. Vannak buys the farm in it. And we get to see the Arbiter, who is pretty awesome, right as he’s about to face the demon. Which, I’m like, how do you face the demon when he’s not even in his full form? He’s not in his suit or anything like that. You’re literally facing a dude.
And finally, oh, I was waiting so long for this: Chief picks up a weapon. One of the coolest parts of the game that I ever saw, when my son used to play, was the fact that no matter what weapon was lying around, you could pick it up and go. I have expected that from Master Chief in this, and in Reach he finally picks up the energy sword. Then the Arbiter shows up, and they’re going to fight, and then Joe Blow decides to jump in the way and shoot back. And what does the Arbiter do? Done. He’s like, look man, this is my kill. It’s incredible.
We also got Soren, so there was a whole bunch of pieces moving, and the whole thing ends with them basically cornered in this hallway overlooking the entirety of Reach. You see those giant energy beams, the Covenant just ripping into the planet, fires everywhere. It’s bad. And of course the jerkoff decided to leave with ONI and all of them, because he knew.
They do a lot of interesting backstory work that I enjoyed in Reach. We may not have gotten Master Chief in the suit, but you get Master Chief being Chief. The minute they have weapons available, everybody gets into form and he’s immediately, you know, on my six, let’s do this. He’s giving orders quickly, and he does a very good job. At least I thought it was a really good job.
If you’re coming at it like you’re wanting to watch the video game, you’re missing the point of an adaptation. We’re getting a story, and while it’s not the story they originally created for Halo, it’s a story I’m finding fascinating nonetheless. If you take it at face value and meet it where it’s at, you may get more enjoyment out of it than you think.
This Week Feels Like Filler, and It Isn’t
This week picks up basically right where it left off, and you get a couple of interesting callbacks. You get to see the Arbiter and Makee go head to head for a bit, and she tells him she’s got this thing, which is human knowledge, and it’s Cortana, obviously. Cortana still looks different than Cortana from last season, but whatever. I read it as a nod to the games, how in every iteration of the games she looks different. I half expect her in Season 3 to look even more different. Either way, the Arbiter’s not even hearing it. He’s just, yeah, whatever, I’m going to leave you, because the hierarchs have decided it’s what we’re supposed to do. What nonsense.
Then you get back to the team, and they’re still in the same spot. Soren’s wife shows up in the ship she took back, and she’s sitting there blowing them away, fighting, because one of those big dudes shows up, the Elites or whatever. And Chief is in rough shape. He’s not himself this whole thing.
This entire episode is essentially, I hate to say filler, because even though it feels like filler, it’s actually giving a story arc and plot and character development. I have the sneaking suspicion that by the end of all of this, whether it’s this season or whenever, he’s going to become the Chief we know. He’s going to stay in the suit as a form of isolation, whether it’s because Cortana is located there or whatever. He’s evolving. He took out the emotion chip, or whatever the little thing was that was giving him all that stuff, and I think there’s much more to the character than that. At least that’s the benefit of the doubt I want to give the series, because the series is still doing a wonderful job of being what it is, especially if you’re not judging it according to the other stuff.
Now, obviously I’ve skipped a few details. Chief there at the burial of Vannak. Soren and his wife trying to track down Kessler, that’s their kid, and more of that storyline I don’t care about. Kwan Ha has finally come back into the main storyline, and she helps Chief understand that he can’t just shut off. And Riz decides to leave. So an awful lot has happened in terms of trying to make the series evolve.
Chief has a mission. He wants to go find Parangosky and, what’s his face, the guy who runs ONI now. He wants to go find them, and the truth is, dude, get it together.
Where Was This Army at the Fall of Reach?
Then we have this moment at the very, very, very end. Kai walks up to a doorway, they open the door, and I half expected to hear Yoda. Begun, the Clone War has. Because you see this massive UNSC army, and I’m just like, where was this army at the Fall of Reach? Seriously.
I don’t know if they’re trying to say that Kai is the new Chief, at least to them, or what’s going on, but they’re building her story now around all of that.
I’m Ready for the Halo Show to Start Haloing
I’m ready to see Chief back in the suit. I’m ready to see Chief being Chief, kicking butt and taking names. I’m ready to see the storyline progress. The problem is we’ve paused for all this character development, which sounds like a really crabby thing to say. This character development is just getting in the way, can we please just stop.
Okay, the truth is, I’m down. I’m totally down. I love the character development stuff. I think it’s exciting. But at the same time, I’m kind of ready to see the Halo show start haloing.
The closest thing they’ve gotten is Makee. Apparently the Arbiter was about to turn her over, and so Makee, with the help of Cortana, has now convinced the Arbiter that it’s his destiny to go find the Halo. They’ve left. They’ve gone rogue. Where all that fits together, we’ll see. I’m down for seeing it next week.
There you go, now you know, and if knowing is half the battle, you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
The Verdict
Halo Season 2 gets two numbers on the Know-It-All Index: Episode 4, Reach, is a 9 out of 10, and Episode 5 is a 7 and a half.
Reach gets the 9 from me despite him not being in the suit. It did a wonderful job of moving the story forward and of having events actually pay off. They paid off everything they’ve laid out thus far, and I liked and appreciated that.
This week’s episode I’m leaning closer to a 7 and a half. It wasn’t so much that it’s slow, because it absolutely is slow, but we got interesting character beats, and I feel like we got enough of them to tell me where I see this thing is supposed to be going.
Thank you so much for being patient with me. We’re finally going to be bringing back the Know-It-All Files, as well as some other stuff. Hopefully Mrs. Know-It-All and I will get to do a live show very soon, because I’ve enjoyed doing those. And of course the Oscars are coming up. Keep all of that right there under your hat.
Never forget, everyone loves a know-it-all.
Let me know your thoughts on the whole thing. What did you think of the episode? Did it do something for you, did you enjoy it, or did you not care whatsoever? And tell me what you make of Kai and that army, and what you think is coming. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
