Summary
“Sanctuary” is a good start to this season, improving the action, introducing Joseph Morgan’s dubious James Ackerson, and cutting loose some dangling Season 1 threads. But to a lesser degree, it still struggles with the same issues, leaving its more interesting conflict to deal with overly talky side scenes.
The return of Halo gets off to a promising if slow start, as Episode 1 catches audiences up to where everyone is now. Season 2 isn’t a full reboot, but it’s retooling certain aspects that didn’t work in Season 1. It’s a necessary change, even if means cutting some of the dangling threads that the first season set up.
The first of these changes is evident with the removal of Cortana from Master Chief’s/John-117’s head, bringing Chief back from death relatively unscathed (though occasionally hearing voices). On the planet Sanctuary, Silver Team (John-117, Riz-028, Vannak-134, and Kai-125) helps United Nations Space Command (UNSC) marines evacuate villagers out of the Covenant’s path of destruction. The marine leader, Shepard, isn’t being delicate, and the village leader refuses to be moved, saying the UNSC already scattered their people once. The situation becomes dire when a radio alert says a Covenant warship is inbound to glass (orbitally bombard) the planet.
Chief is sent to rescue a group of marines by a communications relay, scaling a cliff with a grapple straight from Halo Infinite. He links up with the marines (Bravo Team), led by Corporal Talia Perez. The fog obscures their vision, and a marine says he sees something in the fog. He’s ignored, but suddenly Sanheili warriors (Elites) with active cama and energy swords start picking off everyone but Chief and Perez. Chief engages them in a fast-paced action scene. Perez is injured and Chief is knocked over. Several Sangheili ignite their swords, but a mysterious figure holds them back. The Sangheili and their leader (possibly Thel ‘Vadamee/The Arbiter) melt away into the fog, and the Covenant fleet unleashes beams of plasma, glassing the planet. While Silver Team and Perez escape, a lot die in a visceral showing of how deadly the Covenant is. It’s a brilliant way to start.
Back on Reach, Silver Team is debriefed, with Admiral Keyes explaining the Covenant has glassed several other outer world colonies, including Kwan’s home Madrigal. Oh no. Anyway, the briefing continues, and a man walks in and listens. Kai-125 demands he identify himself, and the man says he’s James Ackerson.
Who is James Ackerson?
First introduced in the book Halo: The Fall of Reach, James Ackerson is a minor antagonist, part of the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). He attempted to kill Master Chief during training once. Here, he’s taken over Doctor Halsey’s position as head of the SPARTAN program, and he says the war with the Covenant must be kept in the Outer Colonies, away from Reach, where people feel safe. Silver Team isn’t convinced by this, leading to an icy first meeting with their new boss.
Back on Reach, Chief and Ackerson have a one-to-one. Ackerson reveals he used to serve in the army, gaining Chief’s respect. Chief attempts to tell him what he saw at the comms relay on Sanctuary, but he’s ignored, with Ackerson questioning Chief’s mental stability after Cortana was removed. Chief gets defensive, which only gives Ackerson reason to ground Silver Team until Chief is better. Once dismissed, Chief heads to the barracks. On TV, he watches Ackerson peddle lies to the public, claiming that the war against the Covenant is going well, and saying that Master Chief is out fighting.
Another SPARTAN team, Cobalt Team, jests with Silver Team for removing their emotion inhibitors. Cobalt’s leader says Ackerson is sending them to fix a comms relay on some nowhere planet, which prompts Chief to warn them of potential danger. Chief storms to Ackerson, demanding he warns Cobalt to encounter heavy Covenant resistance, like on Sanctuary. Ackerson gets annoyed and pokes holes in Chief’s story. How did Chief manage to defeat over 30 Sangheili warriors? Why would the Covenant invade a planet right before they glassed it? Ackerson is adamant Chief was experiencing side effects from Cortana being removed.
What happens to Soren-066?
On the Rubble, the inhabitants are watching a slave auction for people seeking shelter after their homes are glassed. One of those up for sale is a skinny man called Felix from Harvest, who claims he knows where Doctor Halsey is as she’s on the run from the UNSC. This gains the attention of former SPARTAN and Rubble leader Soren-066, who asks what Felix wants in return. When he says freedom, everyone laughs at him, and he’s taken away. Soren-066’s wife Laera chastises him for thinking he could chase Halsey and accuses Soren-066 of mistreating his crew, who might mutiny.
Soren-066 takes Felix up on his offer to find Halsey. Felix claims that Halsey is in cryostasis on a derelict UNSC ship. Soren-066 and Felix take a spacewalk on the ship, talking about Soren-066’s past. They arrive at where Doctor Halsey allegedly is, only for Soren-066 to find nothing, watch as his crew flies away, and is overpowered by soldiers. Felix arrests Soren-066.
What does Margret Parangosky want?
On Reach, Chief covertly meets with Margret Parangosky, former head of ONI. She warns him Ackerson will be unresponsive to his concerns, as Ackerson wants to avoid controversy and is overly ambitious. Parangosky wants Chief to pursue his theories about the Covenant, and report them to her. Chief agrees, leaving. He goes to an AI prostitution service, where he gets the AI to look vaguely like Cortana, and he says he feels like something is missing from him. It’s a super weird scene, and it feels out of place. Chief realizes the mysterious figure on Sanctuary might be Makee.
What is the Covenant doing on Sanctuary?
Chief argues that the Covenant might have taken the comms relay on Sanctuary just for the experience of doing so, perhaps as part of training for a larger operation. It’s implied this might be for the invasion of Reach, humanity’s fortress world, and this makes sense. The Covenant’s advantage is based around their superior fleets, and they often just glass planets from orbit.
The Covenant only commits to planetary invasions in specific circumstances, such as when Forerunner artifacts are present. Covenant troops are on par with UNSC soldiers, so they might practice on easier targets first to try and get an edge.
How does Halo Season 2, Episode 1 end?
Soren-066’s crew returns to the Rubble without Soren-066, upsetting Laera and their son Kessler. Kessler runs off to a cave-like structure to reveal Kwan, who comforts Kessler. On a distant planet, a Covenant fleet ominously rises from the ground. The Sangheili leader watches on.
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