Paramount Plus’ big budget prestigious Halo series has just ended its first season run and the show has already been renewed for season 2. Developed by Kyle Killen and Steven Kane, Halo is based on the popular military science-fiction video game series. The show is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment serves as one of the producers. Stuck in development hell for a period of 7 years with Spielberg attached to the project, the show finally debuted on March 24, 2022 on Paramount+ streaming service.
WARNING: The following article contains mild spoilers to Halo season 1.
How is Halo Season 1?
Halo season 1 is a feast for sci-fi lovers and audience who want to see more big budget television spectacles like Game of Thrones and The Expanse. The visual effects for the most part were top notch and make the lovers of the game hooked with a similar style of VFX.
On the cast front, Pablo Schreiber is perfect as Master Chief, the leader of the Spartans, humans who were genetically engineered and evolved as killing machines to fight the minions of the alien species called Covenants. He is accompanied by fan favorite Cortana, an Artificial intelligence implanted in the brain of Master Chief and who yearns to secretly take over him in full capacity. The fan favorite, Jen Taylor who voiced Cortana in the Halo games returns for the series to provide Motion capture for the character. The show neither follows the books or the games accurately, instead it tries to carve out its own path on the small screen, while hitting some familiar plot points from both those sources.
Natascha McElhone plays Dr.Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartans and a mad, manipulative scientist who ultimately turns a betrayer of the Spartans for her vision. A recurring plot point in both the games and books of Halo. The writers also added their own mix to the lore by creating a human assistant to the Covenant, called Makee(Charlie Murphy), whose loyalties were tested with her feelings for Master Chief.
What’s the Plot of Halo Season 1?
The first season of Halo starts with Master Chief retrieving an artifact on an outer colony planet of Madrigal, while he’s on a mission to combat the alien invaders, who were killing all the occupants in search of the artifact. Master Chief touches the artifact and it unravels the childhood memories he long forgotten or wiped out, which is detrimental for Halsey’s plans. She wants her Spartans to be cold and emotionless killing machines. But soon Chief starts to sense through Halsey’s deceptions and take control of his will. His co-spartan and team member Kai-125, takes him as inspiration and follows his actions. Halsey soon starts controlling of Chief and her creation Cortana can’t help, as the artifact only reacts to Chief. Meanwhile, the alien overlords agree to send their human servant Makee to retrieve the artifact from the clutches of the humans.
There is also a secondary plot line taking place on the remote planet Madrigal, whose rebels were almost vanquished in the attack from alien monsters, leaving only a teenage girl called Kwan Ha(Yerin Ha) as the only survivor who is rescued by Master Chief. She doesn’t comply with the wishes of UNSC, and they order Chief to eliminate the girl. Master Chief goes against his orders for the first time, under the influence of the artifact and makes his own decisions to save the girl. After parting ways with Master Chief and meeting his pirate friend Soren-066, who’s a Spartan deserter and insurrectionist leader to a place in space called Rubble. Together, they travel to Madrigal, trying to find the remnants of Kwan Ha’s father’s rebellion, to launch a new resistance against UNSC and Vinsher Grath(Burn Gorman), a politician and UNSC collaborator who suppresses any uprisings of a new rebellion. Kwan and Soren have their differences, but ultimately they team up to destroy Vinsher, after Kwan Ha having an enlightenment about the true purpose of her lineage and secret of Madrigal.
What is Good?
The show has good sci-fi elements and spell binding action set pieces. It is made on a huge budget and scale. Some of the action sequences were on par with big blockbusters of Hollywood. The plot twists keep you hooked. The sequence of Master Chief traveling to the star system of the Covenant is spectacular in the final episode along with the climax battle.
What Could Have Been Better?
Some of the action sequences looks very video-gamish, which can be odd to normal audience who weren’t familiar with the games. Also the changes writers made to the show might not appeal to some hardcore Halo fans. Kwan Ha story line is a weak link in the first half of the show, though it ends with a bang and keeps us interested for season 2.
My Take
Despite of some minor flaws, Halo is one of the most spectacular action sci-fi shows in recent times. You can watch it if you are a fan of science-fiction genre and want to have your fill.
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