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Halo TV Series | Discussion

D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
I thought this episode was pretty strong too, maybe as good as the last in spite of zero action? At least what was happening was interesting, though it makes zero sense Chief can just about murder Halsey then be walking around and barking orders like nothing happened right afterward. There are a number of aspects like that which are kind of eyeroll inducing, but overall it’s been entertaining
 
F

FunkyPajamas

Member
Thaedolus said:
(...)it makes zero sense Chief can just about murder Halsey then be walking around and barking orders like nothing happened right afterward.
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Yeah, that's one of my major issues with the show. He's tried to do that twice now, and there are basically zero repercussions. It's just shoddy writing. Then you have Master Chief clearly in pain/not functioning correctly _literally_ in front of Miranda Keyes, a *scientist in a laboratory*, and somehow the writers think her thoughts should be "yeah let's go interact with the item that's messing you up" instead of "let's run some tests on you and see what's happening to your body/brain".

Why would the UNSC want to keep the Spartans around if they're such a liability as evidenced BOTH by Master Chief and Kai's actions in battle? Why design that emotion inhibitor or whatever it was, so poorly as to be installed in a way where the Spartans can just reach around and take it out? It should have been designed to be placed somewhere in the base of the brain where taking it out would basically mean death (as Cortana hinted at in today's episode).

But whatever, the writers wanted their soap opera manufactured drama, and by god they're going to stick to it.
 
HoodWinked

HoodWinked

Member
The murmurings about this show initially was about how the showrunners didn't play the games and how this was woke, I really didn't have much interest in the show, but I randomly gave it a watch for a couple minutes ended up watching the first 3 episodes and man this show is kind of decent.

But ya as others have pointed out that the show being its own thing like the MCU but having certain characters and things be familiar, there's a reason why they take this approach because it ends up giving the best result. also finding out that MC is Nick Sobotka from The Wire gave it bonus points. Also this actually ended up being pretty much not woke and may even pushed in the other way.
 
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ResilientBanana

ResilientBanana

Member
HoodWinked said:
The murmurings about this show initially was about how the showrunners didn't play the games and how this was woke, I really didn't have much interest in the show, but I randomly gave it a watch for a couple minutes ended up watching the first 3 episodes and man this show is kind of decent.

But ya as others have pointed out that the show being its own thing like the MCU but having certain characters and things be familiar, there's a reason why they take this approach because it ends up giving the best result. also finding out that MC is Nick Sobotka from The Wire gave it bonus points. Also this actually ended up being pretty much not woke and may even pushed in the other way.
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I don't find it woke, but I do not appreciate the deviations from the lore. They even fucked up when John played King of the Hill and knocked all the kids off the hill. Instead he jumped on a board and saved a kid from a fall. Fuckin' bullshit.
 
MachRc

MachRc

Member
I do like the show better when theyre not shooting everything. It seems to go well with 2 episodes of character development and one episode of action.

like someone mentioned early in this thread.. those two.. they gonna' f
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Banned
Man when you see Halo for the first time.
i got chills feeling GIF
 
deriks

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
Episode six is strong. Starts kinda boring, and the writing still is with a lot of cliches... But ends nice

I still finds the direction poor. I mean, one scene they're talking about how the firewall is the best ever and Cortana will find a way, next scene Cortana appears... Fuck me
 
D

Danteyke223

Member
ResilientBanana said:
I don't find it woke, but I do not appreciate the deviations from the lore. They even fucked up when John played King of the Hill and knocked all the kids off the hill. Instead he jumped on a board and saved a kid from a fall. Fuckin' bullshit.
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You're not allowed to see toxic masculinity mate... thats an offence in London and get you sectioned.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
Episode 6 was great, I'm ready to eat crow and say that while I still don't think it's amazing, I quite enjoy this show.

With that said I think Episode 6 also showed how much better this could be if every episode focused on the main Masterchief plot instead of wasting a third or more of the runtime on the terrible Madrigal subplot.

If next episode opens with a card saying "Kwan died in the desert and Soren got back to his family" this show will go from a 7/10 to an 8/10
 
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TheDreadLord

TheDreadLord

Member
FunkyPajamas said:
I still don't agree with the characterization for the most part, either as a Halo adaptation, or as standalone militaristic sci-fi content. But ok, they've 100% set their path and they're going with it, no course correction six episodes in, so I'll have to make my peace with it. I guess I should focus on the good?

No Kwan subplot this episode! Yay!
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Unfortunately they couldn’t help themselves and had to show her face for like 10s because of reasons.
 
Havoc2049

Havoc2049

Member
As a Halo fan, this series is garbage tier. Capt. Keyes looks more like a UPS truck driver than a military officer. I loved the strong Miranda Keyes military officer in the games and books, but the new meek Amanda Keyes scientist with mommy issues is as exciting as a room tempature cup of water. I'm also not a fan of all the insubordination amongst the Spartans and the fighting between Cortana, The Chief and Dr. Halsey. Hood needs to shut the Spartan program down in the TV universe.

RIP the cool Miranda Keyes.
 
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Ozzy Onya A2Z

Ozzy Onya A2Z

Member
The last two episodes were enjoyable for the most part. The action in ep5 second half and the completely absent madrigal and Kwan in ep6 gave rise to the consistent and long form scenes with Chief, Cortana and Halsey that was great and so much of what this series needed.

Then Ep7 is totally crap and a complete waste of time. The action is braindead action once again with shite writing. I thought they had turned the corner to bring it home. Nope the parts of the trailer we saw Chief jump are obviously the finale. Oh crap.

I fast forwarded half of ep7. Literally the least Halo thing they could have put up. The entire Kwan, Madrigal, Villain and mystics should never have been in this series. Fuck me.
 
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F

FunkyPajamas

Member
The best thing I can say about today's episode is I scanned the progress bar for any indication of Spartans or Reach, and then decided to just skip to the end.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
Oh god I read online it's a Kwan episode. I almost half expected it after we got a good main plot only episode last week.

Does anything relevant happen or can I just skip it?
 
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cormack12

cormack12

Gold Member
Fbh said:
Oh god I read online it's a Kwan. I almost half expected it after we got a good main plot only episode last week.

Does anything relevant happen or can I just skip it?
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You can skip it.

Having said that it's probably the best kwan/soren/vinsher episode (but it's a low bar).
 
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Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
cormack12 said:
You can skip it.

Having said that it's probably the best kwan/soren/vinsher episode (but it's a low bar).
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I guess since it's available anyway I'll skip through it.
But man, this sounds really underwhelming after the last 2 episodes which really felt like a step up for the show.
 
Ozzy Onya A2Z

Ozzy Onya A2Z

Member
I cannot take credit for this but I think this Reddit comment is a great ending to episode 9 -

fuck it, have the season end with the Rings firing killing everyone
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While the joke is awesome, fuck it, bring on a new games based timeline for season 2. Fire and forget.

7 out of 9 episodes down and I've liked about two halves total all together. Shit tier confirmed. I hope there's now enough spare budget to at least give us some awesome battles and perhaps space scenes for the last two episodes. I don't even understand this budget BS, space battles give them so much bang for their buck in terms of not having to animate characters or environments etc.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
Ok I left episode 7 running in the background as I did other stuff around the house.
Lol yeah that was so bad, the Madrigal plot is just so bad and Kwan continues to be extremely unlikable . Since a Season 2 is already approved I really hope they take the almost universal dislike for this side story into account when writing season 2.

Shmunter said:
So should I bother checking this out? Not a halo lore fan or anything
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I think the main story is pretty fun, specially if you are ok with ignoring the established lore and taking this as a separate standalone franchise that just has Halo elements in it.
The biggest issue with the show is that it has one of the worst side stories I've seen in a while. Not only is it bad and comes across as filler, but it's so different from the other stuff it almost feels like someone messed up in the editing room and mistakenly added 15 minutes of footage from another (much worse) show into every episode.

It became all the more obvious in the last 2 episodes since last week was the first chapter with no filler side plot and it was great, and this week it was all filler side plot and it was the worst episode by far.
 
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Pantz

Pantz

Member
Eh, I kind of liked that Kwan episode. Sick of Emo Chief anyway.

Best characters are the two Spartans that kept their emotion blocker chips in.
 
deriks

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
Remember when episode six was great? Well, episode seven is shit. Just bad in basically everything

The mystical thing is bullshit. The "fight" with Master Chief is bullshit. The dialogue is bullshit. The dictator was the best part and still ends on a load of bullshit

I really hope they exclude her next season
 
ElRenoRaven

ElRenoRaven

Member
Without a doubt this last episode sucked total ass. I'm a fan of the show and even I hated it with a passion. I feel for the woman playing Kwan because this subplot is total shit and her character is so poorly written. I can't help but hope whoever is running season 2 cuts her out quickly.
 
D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
The last episode wasn’t bad for a Kwan episode. Dave Chappelle has grown on me as a spartan. Glad the space nazi guy is dead, got sick of his stupid comically evil looking wardrobe and Tahoe with a body kit on it
 
Ozzy Onya A2Z

Ozzy Onya A2Z

Member
Cooler than the show itself -



The props and production quality are awesome and mad respect for those aspects. The show just wastes so much of this so far. 5 minutes in the first episode and some action in the 5th I think it was. Fingers crossed these last two episodes really bring the production values out front and on show in a real Halo combat way.
 
Ozzy Onya A2Z

Ozzy Onya A2Z

Member
THE GOOD
  • Production quality is insanely good this episode for a TV show. Superb for 98% in fact. Respect.
  • Acting is solid throughout, honestly felt on the money across the board. Chief perhaps a little rigid given he lunged at Halsey out of control and now his Spartans turn on him and stone faced really.
  • Tension was there at times and at a palpable level too, solid step up from many other episodes.
  • Finally some Covenant great journey chatter/discovery and at least the exposition here was well executed between Chief and Makee.
  • Halsey willing to trade everything was fairly well done. I don't mind this arc for this character, potential for partial redemption as the series moves on too.
  • Kai with the marines was hilarious and well done. She deserves far more scenes that Kwan crap.
  • No Kwan, fuck that arc. Do the poral opening and drop that shit permanently.

THE BAD
  • Where is the Covenant exactly? Holy shit, what a farce for the series and a huge area they need to address in Season 2.
  • Chief without Armour is a total joke at this point. Dial it back 50% already.
  • Zero emotive music. Total miss episode after episode. Even the Halo reveal was so subdued for the main theme or so many brilliant OSTs to arrange or remix for this show. Nowhere. Halo is famous for its scoring, make it happen Season 2.
  • Voice print matching isn't a thing anymore in the future? No AI, no Cortana, no algorithms etc. Just Miranda hearing the similarity. FFS.
  • Makee and Chief able to be alone together at all. Come the fuck on. Makee not under in person guard and video cameras the entire time. At least you could have written Cortana being persuaded to Chief's tactic/sympathy to get intel or comms with the artefact/ring etc. Nope just Chief troping two guards the fuck out of there. All of humanity rests with Chief or Makee but fuck it let the unhinged Spartan have the room and freedom entirely. WTF.
  • Chief shagging Makee. I didn't need Chief the 40 year old virgin, at least add some comedy, could have had a grunt spying making stupid wise cracks. FFS.
  • Nothing shown of the glassing of Criterion or struggle or even a shot on the ground, shit even the reaction and UNSC HQ/Chief was very corporate like. At least have the balls to glass Madrigal. No Covie ships, weapons, commander scenes, nothing. FFS.
  • This episode would have been fine as say episode 4 or at a stretch 5 but second last episode and we didn't get shit. Just humans in fighting once again and Chief getting some R&R. I call bullshit. This whole series is out of serious whack where the pacing and progress should be. All 8 of these episodes should have been edited down to 4 or 5 and far less filler. It would have made far more sense pushing the major elements as condensed ones and got a move on with things.
  • Makee's finger plasma sword and removal. The suspension of disbelief here failed hard. It setup the betrayal by UNSC against Makee which worked alright but this part really didn't hit home. A Spartan trained and augmented for his whole life just falls asleep after his first shag, open for the kill. FFS.
  • Spartans turning on Chief. I get they'd turn on UNSC but on Chief? Then they contradict each other during the fight, this was just all over the place and silly. Sure it's a different universe but Spartans have been done pretty dirty here.
  • What a waste Cortana has been this entire series. Hearing her in action while Chief is getting smashed was just annoying. They really didn't setup her infiltration systems prior to her locking out both the UNSC and Halsey while siding with Chief. It again fell flat and was poorly executed. Cortana went from wanting to take over Chief to now not wanting to, really without any subplot; which would have been far more interesting that 4 episodes of Kwan shit.
  • Perving Cortana was pretty funny for a cheap laugh but given she comes and goes (pardon the pun) between Chief and the UNSC base systems seems weird she didn't alert someone or talk to Chief etc.
  • Makee touching the artefact and basically having trope space magic again is just insulting to the audience.
  • Bunch of Spartan rigs to suit up and all we ever get is marines and Silver team. This should have been a break out episode heading into a strike, a plan, finding/seeing Covies, something....instead it busted a cherry.
 
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