by Justin Lakso ’25

Season 1 of Halo left much to be desired. From the amount of plot holes to deviations of the source material, fans of the Halo series were very disappointed with Paramount for taking a beloved video game series and bastardizing it on television. The producers recognized they had missed their target audience by a long shot and went back to the drawing board for their second season. Thankfully, this revision resulted in an improvement for the series. The writing is more concise, the acting is more focused, and the characters are more developed. However, there are still problems that need to be addressed before a third season is made. Mainly, the story must follow the source material better, and the many plotlines should either be resolved or combined into a single narrative.

Of course, the story must continue on from the trainwreck of season 1. The first four episodes are the series’ attempt to right the wrongs of the first season and streamline the plot forward. Avoiding any major spoilers, a hard reset of the world was definitely the right choice in order to adhere more to the series. Since his former Spartan unit is now largely disbanded, Master Chief can return to his lone wolf persona where he is guided but not completely controlled by the UNSC. Many events in this season foreshadow a convergence to the actual Halo canon such as the discovery of the ancient civilization and the Arbiter’s betrayal, which line up with the events in the 3rd and 4th games. Hopefully, these events will guide the series towards a more cohesive story that old and new fans alike will enjoy. Let Master Chief wear his helmet more, give him back Cortana, throw him on his own mission, and ratings will skyrocket 

Another issue with the series is the amount of subplots going on at once. In both seasons, there are various narratives with almost every major character (and some side characters as well). Halo has long been the story of a one man and one AI duo who attempt to take back the galaxy from imminent threats, but the series’ story includes: two parents rescuing their child from the government, a new and less corrupt spartan program, retirement conflicts, and a few more tangents that don’t drive the story forward in any meaningful way. The way that the camera keeps cutting to different characters on their own arcs makes the story as a whole a bit hard to follow. Some of these plots are necessary for character development or foreshadowing, but it’s almost hard to distinguish the side characters from the main characters since the screen time balance between them is nearly even. The series needs to converge into one coherent storyline in order to improve in both continuity and pacing.

Still, Halo: Season 2 shows significant progress towards improving the series. The recovery from season 1 was tough, but hopefully this will be the bridge to an even better story that both original and new fans will enjoy.

Grade: B