Master Chief arrives in new Halo series

Video game fans have been looking forward to a live-action Halo series for nearly two decades. Today, the first episode of their dreams released on Paramount Plus.

I’ve never been a huge Halo fan. I played the original on the Xbox way back in 2001, but never finished it. It was fun in co-op mode with friends, driving around in a Warthog, but that’s all I really remember from the original. I then played a little of of Halo 2, but never really got into it. Most recently I played Halo Infinite and again, while it was fun, it never drew me in and I just stopped playing it. Although I was interested when the Halo series was announced, I can’t say that I was excited about it.

The Halo series itself

That said, I decided to watch it and overall, it didn’t disappoint. Knowing next to nothing about Halo lore makes some terminology a little difficult at the start – Who are Spartans and why are they hated? Who is the UNSC? How do they relate to Marines? – but just go with the flow and you’ll catch on in the first 20 minutes or so. The opening scene on planet Madrigal kind of reminded me of the opening scene from the Firefly episode The Train Job, and after a little exposition, things really took off with some shocking battle scenes. You know the studio isn’t pulling any punches when kids go looking for drugs on the planet, then one gets killed with a head shot moments later.

The CGI is a little rough in places, and some of the set pieces look very amateurish. It was a little distracting with some of the sounds clearly put in as an homage to the video game, such as when the Spartan’s shields deplete and then regenerate. The Spartan costumes occasionally reminded me of Power Rangers the way they moved. That said, none of this was overly distracting and the episode was still very solid and entertaining.

Mass Effect Easter Egg

Unlike Halo, I absolutely loved the Mass Effect trilogy. Apparently so do the creators of the Halo Series because at the 33:58 mark, you hear an announcement in the background saying, “Commander Shepherd, you are requested at the Skillian Response Center.” It has no impact on the show itself, but was still a welcome addition. We captured the clip here if you’re interested in watching it.

Unlike Netflix, it looks Paramount plans on releasing the episodes one week at a time which, in today’s day and age, is a bit of a disappointment. I’d rather binge the whole Halo series, like AJ recently did with Pam and Tommy.

Overall, I found the first episode of the Halo series entertaining. I probably won’t tune in on a weekly basis, but once all of the episodes drop, I can see myself binging all nine of them in one sitting.

Score: 7.3/10

Starring: Pablo Schreiber, Natascha McElhone, Yerin Ha, Bokeem Woodbine, and Jen Taylor

Where to Watch: Paramount Plus