Before we begin, I feel like I must preface this article by saying that I have never played a single entry in the illustrious Halo franchise. I know… shock! horror! But with the increasing rise of video game adaptations, it only made sense that after a while, one of the most successful game franchises would up and get their own live action TV adaptation. And after watching its first episode, I can say that it’s… interesting.
In the Beginning There Was a Spartan
Let me first give you a little context on what the show is about. Within the first episode, we follow the titular character Master Chief and his group of armored soldiers, The Spartans, who never take their helmets off by the way, as they assist the humans with their fight against the alien threat known as the Covenant. After rescuing an orphaned child, Master Chief is now faced with the challenge of obeying his orders, or taking off and looking after this youngling as they head out into the galaxy. Sound extremely familiar? Taking a page out of a story in a galaxy far far away? That’s where my issues start.
Halo feels like it’s trying to be something that it’s not. Now again, as I’ve mentioned, I have no context based on the games, so maybe there might be something I’m missing. But, it feels like a story that we have seen before, and seen done well. In fact, it’s so glaringly obvious, that you find yourselves being pulled out of it at points because you find yourself going, “I swear I’ve seen this before,” and more likely than not, you’d be right. The whole, two races at war, a group of saviors come to save the day, and then rebelling against orders to showcase how sometimes soldiers need to remember what it was like to be compassionate and human, is a formula that has been tried and tested, but isn’t always a recipe for success. Oh, and if you still haven’t figured out the subtle shade I’m throwing, Halo is essentially a rehashed reimagining of The Mandalorian.
Now that may sound harsh, but it’s true. Watching this first episode, you cannot help but call yourself back to possibly one of the best Star Wars shows out there. I tried so hard not the compare the two, but it’s undeniable how similar they are. The big difference is, Mando was fun. Halo, not so much.
Who May Have Lost His Way
Don’t get me wrong though. This series isn’t awful. After slowly just taking it for what it is, it suddenly became just a little bit intriguing. A space adventure filled with action and drama featuring characters I recognise from some video game. Yeah, I can get behind that. And while the writing can be a bit clunky at times (whatever humour they tried to inject, kinda falls flat), it is still decent enough for me to want to continue watching, if only to see where they are going to take this adventure.
Halo feels like an idea that should have worked on paper. But in practice, something just doesn’t feel right. Showrunner Steven Kane did admit at some point that, “We didn’t talk about the game. We talked about the characters and the world,” and I feel that hurt the development of the series. I completely get it if you wanted to focus more on the characters and it’s universe, but it feels like in the process, the heart and soul of the game has gotten lost. And this is coming from someone who hasn’t even played a single minute of the game franchise…
Now, here’s where I have to interject for a moment dear reader. I had written every word above, based on the first episode. And now with the second episode released, my views, have changed just that little bit…
But Eventually Rallies
Halo starts to truly come into it’s own in this new episode. What once felt like a fairly rushed, unplanned series riddled with Mandalorian comparisons, now feels like it’s finally coming into its own, understanding the route their taking and sticking with it. The story now feels like it’s going somewhere with the growing snapshots into Master Chief’s origin story, making us sympathize and connect with the character more, something that had been missing previously.
We also see the series begin to find it’s footing in terms of the tone of the show. There will still be comparisons to other space adventures (heck, there’s even a round table space politics session à la Star Wars Episode II), but there’s just something intriguing to me about the show at the moment. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet, but the fact that I’m now finding myself wanting to actually play the video game, says a lot. I think once we disconnect the show and the game from each other and accept that this is a series based within the universe of Halo, things tend to get a lot easier.
After watching the second episode of, I truly believe that all is not lost with the Halo series. With another 8 episodes to go (as of the writing of this article), it would be interesting to see where Master Chief will end up, if the stakes get higher, and the story pivots into something that will truly make the series come into its own. And who knows, maybe it might actually, get even better? I hope so at least. Video game adaptations truly deserve to a fair shot of success. Come on Spartans. Don’t let us down.
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