Halo Episode 5 Review: Master Chief Continues To Unintentionally Wreak Havoc Within The Spartan Unit
Cast: Pablo Schreiber, Jen Taylor, Shabana Azmi
Director: Steven Kane, Kyle Killen
Streaming Platform: Voot and Paramount+
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four star)
We needed, after seeing very little of it in the first episode, some action. We needed it because Halo is this: it’s a first person shooter that has taught us how to fight the Covenants for numerous years, without worrying too much about what was going on in the Master Chief’s head. Now Paramount wants to overturn the situation, allowing us to find out what happens under that iconic helmet. After three episodes that seemed more like introductory in a story ready to explode, we needed – we repeat – we needed to have a little more action and finally we had it. With all the pros and cons of the case.
Halo Episode 5 Review: The Story
In the Spartan team, Kai begins to take on importance: her choice finally has consequences, not only on her, but also on what happens around her, starting with the relationship with the Chief. Her having changed the color of her hair, with the blood that has spread over some locks in the previous episode, begins to be a cause for confusion. The Spartan realizes that not only is there a big difference with her other battle colleagues, but at the same time she lets John discover, aware that something has changed in her colleague: the contrast between the two becomes evident in the moment. in which Master Chief sees in Kai the risk of being compromised and conditioned by some events extraneous to the battle, an aspect that could also affect him.
The soldier’s rigidity, however, does not allow him to understand that the extraction of his implant, which took place in the third episode could compromise him too. As indeed happens. Chief’s doubts and worries, meanwhile, continue to target Halsey’s behaviors, but his reactions and his wanting to confide in people he has always believed to be faithful will end up playing a trick on him. The UNSC is an entity, like the Committee, which believes above all in the need to safeguard its operational unit, not so much of individuals: willing to sacrifice everything for the good of their species, they end up further doubting sanity. and physics of John, who is now the target of numerous concerns, for their part.
Doubts also emerge on the Cortana project, born with the aim of keeping Chief at bay: results are struggling to arrive and concern around Katherine also increases. That role of scientist intent on convincing every one of her of her ideas, and continuing her path without any bother, creates the first cracks in what seemed like a condition of perennial trust.
I try my best to avoid spoilers to talk about Halo or any other series and movie here on the site, so consider that you will not read anything related to the outcome of the conflict and whether someone ends the episode alive or dead. However, I will mention some scenes that draw a lot of attention and show how much progress we have made in relation to the characters that are being presented.
One of them is Spartan Kai There’s a moment that really draws attention to how distant she is from the others, with a simple question to her teammate: why are we and the Covenant facing each other? The most avid fans will say it’s for peace in the galaxy, a fight between good and evil and everything in between. However, we have already seen that the UNSC is not the charitable agency that many believe. Questioning the motivations that put her and others at sacrifice, as well as the extraterrestrial side, was a great point and made me think about the countless wars and conflicts that we also see in the world.
The other is a short dialogue between the Master Chief himself and Cortana, which may be disguised by humor, but it does raise big changes for their relationship. As the artificial intelligence presents various data, John exclaims that he wants his silence, as he cannot hear his own thoughts. Cleverly, she replies that she was listening to them too and that they wouldn’t make any difference there. I laughed, and if you’ve watched it, I’m sure you laughed too.
But, if we stop to analyze, it reveals how much both are starting to accept each other already. You can see, the hero is completely unresponsive to hear that. However, she is also silent, complying with the request. In previous episodes, they were already getting lost in the middle of an argument, but perhaps they realized that they would not be able to escape this coexistence and began to try to reach a certain and discreet agreement. Halo didn’t even have to spit it out in our faces, which I thought was a much more elegant option to show the evolution of this relationship.
The incessant search for answers to what happened in his past also leads the Master Chief to very interesting scenes. We get a small glimpse into his childhood and the moment he was noticed by Halsey and her husband, the current commander of the Spartan unit. Brave since childhood, he obviously attracts attention and we can see how he ended up in the middle of the UNSC. However, there is still some confusion in your mind and I don’t believe this will be resolved simply. Everything continues to lead me to believe that there will be a direct conflict against Halsey and that could expose complications in all cores.
Halo Episode 5 Review: And Analysis
After an episode of stasis we also return to pay attention to the Beata, always in contact with the Covenant and intent on recovering the keystone that the Chief has stolen from them from Madrigal. She is entrusted with the task of tracing as soon as possible the site of the operations that the UNSC is carrying out, and the signal triggered by the discovery of the second artifact on John’s original planet pushes the battle towards its climax, towards that action that we have been waiting for too many episodes and it has been slow in coming. The most exciting aspect of the episode is finally this, then. Tracing the coordinates of the object, the Covenant manage to reach the Master Chief, starting a battle that, beyond what is the ending and the result, allows us to put various crucial aspects of the evolution of the game in the spotlight. series, starting from the emotions experienced in battle by John.
We always return to the predominant aspect of the removal of the implant that allowed him to reacquire them as a normal human: following the instinct, the goal dictated by Halsey is temporarily lost and overshadowed, with the Spartan that turns out to be almost of the all disoriented in his choices. We do not know how decisive we can consider the relationship with Kai at this juncture, but there is no doubt that in his choices John ends up letting himself be conditioned by the fact that the Spartan has decided to follow him in the action of removing the implant and – consequently – reducing it. of concentration in battle.
The final cliffangher is represented by the order that the Blessed gives to the Covenant: the one that remains on the ground would seem to be, from how everything matures, a double of her, a copy to distract John and push him to ask further questions, while the keystone disappears in the skies, in the hands of the enemy. There is no doubt that the will of the subtext transmitted here is to make it clear that, deprived of his psychology as a soldier, Chief is a very strong man, very powerful, but subjected to his human reactions and sentimental reasons. Aspects that the UNSC cannot afford at the moment, which will have to somehow stem with the support of Cortana.
We spend a few more words on the AI created and implanted in John’s head: his presence is very feeble, mostly passive. His power, however, is finally unleashed on the orders of Dr. Halsey, who at a specific moment demands his coercive action, demonstrating that if she wanted to, she could turn off any harassing action by the Master Chief in a single second, his puppet. On the other hand, however, Cortana’s presence is now relegated to a simple voice in John’s head, as a harassing guest to ask for information that, however, is not provided: it is likely that her double game will force her to not being able to grant access to a huge archive of which she is certainly aware, but in the long run the little faith that John already placed in her could be further undermined.
Halo Episode 5 Review: The Last Words
In Halo the action returns, finally, albeit briefly. An action that we hope will be increasingly central from here on, given the outcome of the meeting with the Covenant by the Master Chief. The fifth episode allowed us to get back in touch also with the Blessed, increasingly central in the antagonist ranks, but to see even more clouds around the events of Madrigal, which now seems far from being able to intertwine again with what is happening to John. The desire to move further on the still dormant past of the Spartan begins to represent a trickle that we trust can be resolved as soon as possible.
