Let’s get this out of the way. I’m not exactly the target audience for the Halo games. I played through Halo 3 on my Xbox 360 once and thought it was ok. The Mass Effect trilogy was my Xbox sci-fi shooter of choice. In short, I don’t have a deep connection to the games. Or the books. Or whatever other spin-off Halo media there may be. Which is probably why I latched on to the Halo TV series so hard. I know the big green guy is Master Chief. And the blue hologram lady is Cortana. And they stick together to shoot a group of aliens called the Covenant. There’s also something about a big ring in the sky?
Hardcore Halo fans are probably screaming at me right now. Trivialising and simplifying all the deep dark lore. Sorry, but I’m just not that into that stuff. I don’t have the time or energy to play through several games’ worth of story. Two seasons of nice and fairly concise episodes, though? I can handle that.
I’ve heard that people don’t like the show because Master Chief takes his helmet off. Is that not something he’s done in the games? I’m pretty ignorant of all this information, and that probably makes me a perfect candidate to enjoy the TV show fully. I am not weighed down by expectations and a burning desire to preserve the lore. Ignorance is bliss, as they say. There are some entertaining action scenes, the CGI looks pretty decent, the baddies are bad, and the good guys are mostly all tolerable.
To my understanding, there is a difference in continuity between the games and the TV show. I couldn’t honestly tell you what is different, though. Apparently, it’s on an alternate timeline? Cool. Master Chief still looks bad-ass. Cortana is definitely still blue. The Needler is something I remember. The Warthog, too. For all I know, EVERYTHING else could be different from the games. Or maybe just a few tiny things.
Although we can all agree on one thing. John-117 going down on Makee in the first season was…unsettling. A course of action that was both seemingly out of character and out of the blue. Something entirely unnecessary. All of which has stirred up some pretty big controversy.
As of writing, the Halo TV series is still cancelled. It hit season 2 and then was cut off. To my knowledge, no one else has picked it up. The first session became available to watch on Netflix, where I saw it. I will be watching the next season at some point, and I will no doubt enjoy it. Does that make the Halo TV series good? Hmmm no. Something like Arcane or The Last of Us has a much vibe. However, I have to be in a certain mood for those. With Halo, I can turn my brain off and watch some shooty shooty aliens go boom. And also watch the entirely enjoyable antics of Kai-125, who is the absolute best thing about the show.
