Summary
Halo continues to plod along until suddenly, the action is back in the series’ fifth episode.
Read the season 1 review of Halo.
Halo season 1, episode 5 recap
The episode opens with a young-looking Dr. Halsey taking a tour of Eridanus II’s Reach for Life Installation. She views a school where the guide is raving about the children’s pioneer spirit. They see a rope and step bridge where the planks in the middle have given way. A bully is shaking the bridge, scaring John that he may fall. Suddenly, the bully falls and saves him by grabbing his ankle. He pulls him up with one arm. He’s a small child. But who is the man Dr. Halsey is with? We know him. It is Dr. Jacob Keyes.
Meanwhile, back in the present day, Keyes is waiting for his daughter, Miranda, to arrive. He picks her up to take her to the Eridanus artifact. Cortana has just told Master Chief that the Madrigal artifact has nothing on this one. The energy it can produce is far greater. Dr. Halsey then approaches and gives Master Chief an order to stay away from it because it is a safety issue.
The Kai has a “who’s on first” talk with Vannak wondering what the Covenant wants. This earns her ire from her Spartan mate and her dumb questions. When she leaves the barracks, that’s when Master Chief sees her from a distance. He confronts her about taking out the “pellet,” and she admits to now being “awake” to the world. He grounds her and says she isn’t fit for battle.
Master Chief needs to confide in someone, and he doesn’t trust Cortana. He approaches Dr. Jacob Keyes because he trusts him. He is his captain. So, he unveils the truth about Dr. Halsey being at his house as a child. Keyes plays it cool as if he has no idea of what he is talking about. Later, when talking to Dr. Halsey, they present Master Chief’s situation and if they should terminate him, Dr. Halsey blackmails the UNSC board to keep the Spartan program alive. Keyes says she wants Miranda off this immediately to keep her hands clean.
“Finally, we can agree upon a parenting issue,” Dr. Halsey replies.
That’s when they try to penetrate the protective barrier between the artifact and the rest of the world. The green laser pierces the glass and sends a sound wave that causes everyone to grab their heads and run around screaming. Master Chief runs for the artifact, and the protective barrier crumbles. Somehow, no blood is oozing from anyone’s heads. This sends an energy signal to the Covenant, and Makee can now feel where the artifact is.
That’s when Master Chief decides he has had enough. He touches the new artifact over Cortana’s objections. The energy is almost too much to overcome, but he sees Dr. Halsey in a memory kidnap him. He screams, and when Dr. Halsey comes running for him, he finally confronts her. She won’t talk about it now, but they have to leave later. The “pelletless” Master Chief tries to attack her, and Cortana shuts down his neural bridge.
The ending
When Master Chief wakes ups, Cortana explains that slip space has been penetrated. The Covenant has arrived. Master Chief and his team attempt to get the artifact out of Eridanus in a blistering siege scene, but Miranda’s ship is destroyed. The next best thing is Dr. Halsey’s ship, which orders Master Chief to get it to her immediately. As the Covenant begins to kill and destroy everyone in their wake, Halsey sees Miranda from a distance. In a rare scene of caring for someone other than herself, Halsey runs out of the ship to help her get to the escape.
Finally, Master Chief makes a choice that backfires. He chooses to try and save Kai, who has let the emotions get the best of her. She cannot handle all the death around her, lets down her guard, and now is being beaten by a Covenant bad guy. He leads off the jeep and allows Riz and Vannak to take the artifact to Halsey’s ship. Unfortunately, a Covenant ship intercepts them and sends the artist flying below. As Master Chief saves Kai, she points out the artifact is behind them. As he runs for the mysterious object, an alien ship descends below, and a member of the Covenant is there to hold off the Master Chief, so they make their escape. They lose the artifact because Master Chief now has found a heart.
The final scenes show Makee in the ship as the Eridanus artifact is now in Covenant hands. She says to them, “Make it look real.” She then is sent barreling to the planet below. She looks up at Master Chief and passes out. We can only assume she is pretending.
Things are finally going to get interesting in Halo.
What did you think of the Paramount+ series Halo season 1, episode 5? Let us know in the comments below!
