Summary
There is just something off with Halo. The sixth episode is fine, but the series has become stagnant, and each chapter feels like they are just making things up as they go along.
This recap of Paramount+ series Halo season 1, episode 6, “Solace,” contains spoilers.
Read the season 1 review of Halo.
Halo season 1, episode 6 recap
The last time we saw Master Chief, he defied orders by leaving the artifact to save Kai, lost the artifact to an extra-large version of the Covenant, and Makee, we assume, pretended to pass out in front of him by acting like a released hostage. Tonight’s episode opens with our hero having flashbacks of his childhood while Kai squeezes his hand. It was not a day to write home about. Captain Keyes informs the Master Chief of what has happened. Like a good leader, when his star pupil regrets not doing his job by delivering the artifact, the Captain stops him. You saved 150 lives, including mine, he tells him. Master Chief follows the typical modest, deflecting comment that more will be lost if they do not get the artifact back.
Then Master Chief plays chicken with Cortana. He tried to vaporize the UV Decontamination system because it was the only part of the ship without a failsafe. As Dr. Halsey begs for her life, he pulls her out at the last second. He does this by testing Cortana to see her limits. It turns out she cannot override the system. Master Chief tells Dr. Halsey he has no plans of saving her from what is about to happen.
But let’s not forget about Makee. She tells her story that everyone believes, how the Covenant kidnapped her as a child. Makee tells him, John (that is how he introduces himself to her), that he is known as the “demon” to those who kidnapped her. She then pleads with him to be aware that he is in great danger if he has the second keystone. And she drops this little nugget. Her captors call her “the blessed one,” and she is just like him. (In episode two, a prisoner on Soren’s planet tells Master Chief he is a blessed one).
The Admiral and Captain Keyes listen to Dr. Halsey’s debriefing in the hopes of eliciting information to make her the patsy. Dr. Halsey explained how natural evolution is failing, and she was planning the species’ future. That is where the Spartan program comes in. They would protect the human race and them from ourselves. She needed children older than six to replace them with genetically compromised flash clones, which would pass away from an undiagnosed seizure disorder. So, Dr. Halsey had parents grieving over clones that were not their children. Then, when Master Chief asks who knows about it, Dr. Halsey takes the fall that it was all on her. The Admiral removes her from the program and hands Miranda’s keys for her efforts.
Miranda and her mother, Dr. Halsey, then have a moment. She denies her daughter access to Spartan records to lure her into talking. From there, she alludes to an apology for how she was an absentee mother. However, it turns out she is always about herself. She had a contact lens in her eye. We can assume she may be stealing a copy of Miranda’s retina to regain access to the Spartan program. She reports to Master Chief that he and Makee share rare genetic codes, including one that is two in a billion.
Makee then sets into manipulation mode, thinking she can turn the Master Chief. She explains how the Prophets told her to finally give herself over to the visions, which she did. This found her piece and the “keystones” became her servants. She asks John to take her to the one they have the same it can guide them to the one the Covenant stole. This is the only way John will find peace.
The ending
Master Chief then grabs Miranda so they can run a test. He holds onto the keystone, and with the intensity and pain he feels, so does Makee. John appears to be stuck to the artifact like he is being electrocuted while Makee passes out and her heart race races past 170. Dr. Halsey, now watching with the help of Cortana, sees all their vitals match perfectly. Meanwhile, Master Chief and Makee are transported to a mountain with a field. At its end, a strange, stone object reaches from that mountain and into the sky, where it cannot be seen beyond the clouds. (Could this be where the keystone is hidden?). Master Chief approaches Makee. They look into each other’s eyes, and he touches her cheek.
Their vitals lower when this happens as they have found peace, and John snaps out of it. Where did he go, Miranda asks? He is speechless.
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