Adapting one of the biggest videogame franchises to a TV series was always going to be a risky endeavor, but if HALO Season 1 Episode 1 is the shape of things to come, then the long wait was worth it.
Off the bat, the biggest surprise was in how the series managed to humanize Master Chief in a way that felt organic to the story.
I had many questions about whether the series would keep Master Chief’s helmet on throughout in a similar vein to The Mandalorian, but removing it was a successful way of showing the emotion on his face.
Pablo Schreiber steps into the iconic role, and you’d think he played it for years. This iteration of Master Chief has similarities to the videogames, but there are more human qualities here that allow us to connect with him.
We don’t know a lot about the alternate timeline employed by the TV series, but what we do know is that the people of Madrigal were anti-UNSC, and who can blame them?
Thanks to the Covenant, the events that unfolded on the sand-heavy planet were truly horrific. Many TV shows don’t kill children off, but the intent was clearly to show how far the Covenant would go to get their hands on the object.
Kwan finding the Covenant was never going to lead to anything good, but I didn’t expect the events that followed to be so gruesome.
The teenager will have emotional and physical scars from that fateful day for the rest of her life, and let’s just say she’s going to want to dole out some revenge on the UNSC as well.
Cara: Slow down! I didn’t sign up for this! I am completely shanked. This better be worth it, Kwan.
Kwan: Less talking, more looking, Cara.
Cara: Look, if the General finds out we left the outpost…
Kwan: What my father doesn’t know won’t kill him. I told you I’d find it. Madrigal, the galaxy’s highest concentration of heavy hydrogen. Power your ships… and power your drugs.
Cara: This is why you have to stay, Kwan, to find shit like this!
Kwan: Too bad for you, soon as I find a way, I’m getting off this stupid rock.
The mystery surrounding what the UNSC wanted with her wasn’t as surprising as expected. Kwan being the sole survivor of Madrigal and sharing a video supporting the UNSC would go a long way of making the other communities think the UNSC are better people than the media portrays them to be.
But, the fundamental issue was in the way they so flippantly decided that Master Chief should kill the teenager and be done with the Madrigal’s perfectly encapsulated that they are not to be trust.
Master Chief has been constructed as this weapon of mass destruction that should be receptive to being overrun when he doesn’t follow orders, but it’s clear touching the object had a profound effect on him.
The flashes of what looked to be his life before being used as a machine will undoubtedly confuse Master Chief, but at least he recognized that killing Kwan was not in his best interests.
The fanfare surrounding the order to kill Kwan was shocking because it certainly makes you think the UNSC has made decisions like this before.
The Admiral likes to be in control, and you could see her patience for Halsey and her band of supposed heroes wearing thin.
Halsey is an excellent character who questions authority and focuses on her own interests, which makes for good TV, but there will come a time she’ll be rumbled and put in jail.
From her side projects, to telling the Spartans to protect Master Chief at all costs, trouble will not be far behind.
Master Chief: When was this?
Kwan: When you killed my mother. She was at a meeting. Outer Colonists getting together to talk about how the UNSC was stripping us of all our natural resources. But before they got into all that, you and three other Spartans showed up, responding to an insurrectionist bomb threat. But, see, that never made much sense, because…
Master Chief: Why would insurrectionists blow up a meeting for insurrectionists?
Kwan: Yeah.
Master Chief: We were ordered to eliminate the organizer. And the orders changed.
Kwan: To what?
Master Chief: The assembled were deemed an imminent threat.
Kwan: My mom seemed like an imminent threat to you?
Master Chief: What I can see on the ground may not reflect the entirety of the situation.
Kwan: What does that mean?
Master Chief: Sometimes… others know things I do not.
Admiral has given Halsey a long leash to work on her projects, but I expect that to be reined in throughout the coming episodes.
The artifact is intriguing because it has a connection with Master Chief, and it saved his and Kwan’s lives when they least expected it to.
The tremendous power inside it will likely be why the Covenant wanted it so badly, but we as viewers know little about it, and what it could do to the rest of the world.
The premiere successfully set up this world and the conflicts between the characters, but the whole Master Chief taking Kwan under his wing and defying orders was familiar.
There are many comparisons to The Mandalorian to be made, but everything else going on away from this plot is enough to tune in.
The series needed to switch things up because a carbon copy of the video games would not have translated well to the small screen.
“Contact” introduced us to the world fairly well, introducing sub-plots, the conflicts, and everything that will be the driving force throughout Halo Season 1.
While there are some big departures from the videogame, there is enough nostalgia peppered throughout to offer something for new and older fans.
Admiral: Dr. Halsey, what’s wrong with 1-1-7?
Halsey: Nothing, it’s just a neurochemical glitch caused by a power surge to his prefrontal cortex.
Admiral: It’s not nothing. Rather than execute the rebel as ordered, he has decided to kill the video feed from his ship. What’s going on?
Halsey: I think he’s having memories.
Admiral: What? Of?
Halsey: His parents.
Admiral: I thought you’d sealed those memories.
Halsey: He’s not even certain that they’re his memories. For the moment, they’re just visions.
Admiral: Then why violate procedure?
Halsey: I don’t know.
Admiral: Not knowing why a walking killing machine is doing what it’s doing is a risk that cannot be taken.
Another strong point is the production values. The fight scenes, locations, and special effects are out of this world.
Thankfully, Halo has been renewed for Season 2, so we can buckle up for the turbulent drama ahead.
Halsey will have a lot of explaining to do, while Master Chief will do whatever he can to keep Kwan safe.
Hopefully, the episodes to come match up to the fun of the premiere.
What did you think of this iteration of Master Chief?
Do you think Schrieber pulls off the role well?
What’s your take on how faithful the series is to the videogames?
Hit the comments with your thoughts!
New episodes of Halo stream Thursdays on Paramount+.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
