The first season of Halo was disappointing, to say the least.
After over a decade of pre-production hell, which saw filmmakers like Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg, and Neil Blomkamp attempt to create the epic game series on the big screen, it felt like Bungie’s space opera would never make the crossover.
When it did arrive, it was at the hands of people who didn’t seem interested in telling the story of Master Chief, or the titular Halo, for that matter. Instead, the plot centered around trade routes, squabbling politics, and newly invented characters who had little to do with the lore. Everything that worked for The Phantom Menace.
It’s not a surprise, then, that Halo: Season 2 scraps almost everything from the first season and attempts to right the ship with a heavy hand. But this is still a second season, and a complete reboot takes time. In its attempt to both reboot things and keep the momentum going, the first four episodes of season 2 are so packed with exposition it all feels a little breathless.
The good thing news are worth celebrating. Almost every new thing this season is markedly better than last time. Characters feel more like their game counterparts, although Master Chief still has quite a ways to go, and the general tone is closer to the grand mosaic of heroism of the source material.
The things that don’t work can be traced back to Season 1. Characters like Makee, Kwan, and Soren are all from a completely different series. One that doesn’t fit the tragedy of the planet Reach, which serves as the main focus of Season 2.
We’re witnessing the beginning of the end for humanity. The darkest period, where The Covenant forces seem to overwhelm the entire galaxy. In the game, The Fall of Reach is one of the most recognizable and terrifying events of its fictional history. A catastrophic loss that changed the entire course of history for humankind.
This is the kind of thing that takes time to set up properly, and Halo doesn’t seem interested in that. By the fourth episode of the season, we’re already barreling towards the inevitable. It expects that despite the muddled first season, we viewers are acquainted enough with the material that we care about Reach, and the characters facing certain defeat.
With another four episodes to go this season, I genuinely hope that Halo can stick the landing. The building blocks are there, but it has so much work to do in fixing the limp narratives from last season, that I can’t imagine it will be able to fit everything into another four hours.
Especially since it still drags along characters who have no purpose in the story. Every time they’re on-screen, the series drags to a grinding halt. Even as the great Pablo Schreiber is finally free to inject Master Chief with the character and charm that made him such an icon.
Is it worth your time? Based on this first half, yes, I’d say so. It’s certainly far better than the previous season. If this is how the series had started, I’d imagine there would be a far stronger fan base clamoring for more.
But if you skipped out on the first season and don’t know Halo at all, be prepared for a rough landing. Despite heavy exposition and some clunky re-introductions, Halo: Season 2 can prove nigh impenetrable for those unwilling to parse its lore. As such, it’s stuck in an odd place of finally reaching the space opera that’s accessible to everyone, and still clinging to the alternative take on the material that no one seemed to enjoy.
I have high hopes for it, which is more than I would have imagined possible two years ago. This is a good place to start over.