The following article contains spoilers for the Halo TV series.
The long-awaited Halo television series has been out for a while now, and it’s taken the Paramount Plus production more than a month to finally address the biggest complaint fans of the games have been voicing for a while: TV Master Chief feels nothing like the hero they know and love, until now. While this show is still very much a wholly new interpretation of the Halo lore, at least it’s finally looking like it’s ready to deliver some action.
It’s almost unbelievable to imagine that scenario for a series based on one of the most impactful first-person shooter franchises ever, and yet since its premiere Master Chief had only stepped on the battlefield once, with the result leaving much to be desired. Beware though, Halo’s “Reckoning” might still not be enough to convince some fans that this Halo series is actually worth watching. Nonetheless, it does showcase some things that realize the dream of seeing a live action Master Chief.
Breaking The Mold
Considering the entire approach for the Halo show, it’s no surprise that when it’s finally bringing some action to the table, it’s breaking a lot of established canon rules. However, at the same time, the boldness to depict combat with mechanics never seen in the game’s 21-year history does add some freshness to it. Take the Kig-Yar Jackals that storm the UNSC’s camp, for example, who (unlike in the games) can actually wield the plasma swords that are usually seen in the hands of Elites.
It’s a big change from the games, but in the series it contributes greatly to the overall sense of brutality and fear inspired by the Covenant, still a relatively new threat for humans in their pre-Fall of Reach days. There are no Covenant pushovers — even Grunts face no problems when hijacking Warthogs and tearing through the human army with enough force to even overwhelm the Spartans.
Halo has, for the most part, always lacked that gory facet other FPS games like Doom have, but the series makes good use of its mature rating to display a gruesome type of war that is to some extent much more violent than what the games can offer. Take Master Chief absolutely beating the purple pulp out of an Elite in a frantic burst of rage enabled by this more emotional John — melee attacks in the games just don’t hit the same.
Lastly, there’s the surprising decision to include an unnamed Brute towards the end of the fight, a race of character that in the games doesn’t show up until much later but whose presence here makes the fight against the Covenant much more intimidating. Whether this is really an early version of Tartarus or Atriox, it’s a pleasant surprise for a show that’s already said its goodbyes to canon accuracy.
A Halo Simulation
The starting missions in Halo games tend to pack plenty of thrills, but sadly that was not the case for the series’ pilot. Even if directors were trying to translate the same feel of becoming Master Chief, the overall feedback from critics and fans was that the action had a long way to go, especially for such an expensive production.
Fast-forward four weeks, and Master Chief is suddenly dishing out punishment with his overpowered pistol, shotgun and stolen plasma guns, all while UNSC troops are getting blown away by a full round of needlers. The first-person shots that seemed corny on the premiere now fall into place. The entire battle looks more like something with actual Halo DNA, now with Cortana and Chief getting closer. Whether it’s the sound of a depleting or charging shield, or the warthog’s charging on against almost certain doom, these 10 minutes have done a much better job at recreating the interactive experience that is Halo than anything else the series has to offer. The Brute that easily dismisses Master Chief to steal the coveted artifact sums it up quite well: even humanity’s best weapon doesn't know what to do when he comes up against a Brute for the first time. The entire sequence where Master Chief's jumps off a Warthog only to hijack a Banshee that he then maneuvers to use as a kamikaze explosive is simply spectacular, it captures the might of John’s powers in the way that many would have imagined if a Halo movie was ever made.
There is still a lot of work to be done in order for Halo to become either a worthy sci-fi series or a beloved adaptation by fans of the games, and perhaps its destiny is to fall somewhere in between. It may only be a few minutes, but with this battle scene, the Halo series for once showed it can look and feel just like the games that inspired it. Now, it’s just a matter of seeing how many times it’s willing to do that again.
Halo the TV series is currently available on Paramount Plus.