![]() The series picks up at what is probably the ideal point in the series' timeline, essentially acting as a prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved and 2010's Halo: Reach. That aside, Season 1 is generally successful at adapting the sweeping mythology of the games without ever becoming too bogged down in world-building or extraneous back-story. If there's a larger purpose to compressing the Halo timeline so that the Insurrection plays out concurrently with the Covenant war, Season 1 doesn't show it. ![]() Even by the end Season 1, it's not clear why so much attention is being paid to these wholly unremarkable supporting characters. That's especially true in the disappointing Episode 7, which devotes its entire runtime to Kwan Ha's hijinks on Madrigal. The series almost invariably loses its momentum whenever Kwan Ha and Bokeem Woodbine's Soren-066 step into the spotlight, as their storyline never feels terribly relevant to the larger plot. While this character serves a useful purpose in the series premiere, the show fails to justify her continued presence beyond that. ![]() Yes, that includes the much-discussed sex scene in Episode 8.įar less compelling is insurrectionist Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha). The series humanizes John without fundamentally betraying the qualities fans love from the games. Schreiber capably plays John-117 as a hardened soldier slowly coming to grips with his simmering emotions and a flood of unlocked memories. As much as the decision to show Master Chief's face stirred up some initial controversy, it's hard to imagine the series working as well as it does without Schreiber spending so much time out of the armor. The TV series, on the other hand, is perfectly willing to explore the man underneath the imposing armor. He's a man of few words and even fewer displays of emotion. Iconic or not, Master Chief as he exists in the games is not an ideal protagonist for a TV series. It allows the show's writers a certain amount of leeway in terms of altering characters, condensing the timeline and generally reworking the Halo mythos to better suit the television format. That decision generally works in the series' favor. But whereas previous live-action Halo fare like Forward Unto Dawn and Nightfall was set specifically within the universe of the games, the Paramount+ series exists in its own continuity, dubbed the "Silver Timeline." Pablo Schreiber stars as Master Chief, a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier who exists as humanity's first and best defense against the fanatical military theocracy that is The Covenant. The premise is still more or less identical. The TV series doesn't fundamentally alter what fans know and love about the games. Halo: The TV Series is no Castlevania or Arcane, but it's a solid adaptation of an iconic franchise, and one that succeeds in blazing its own trail in the process. Not only has prestige TV come a long way in the special effects department, but it's only been within the last few years that Hollywood studios seem to have figured out how to craft a decent video game adaptation. Paramount+'s Halo series was a very long time in coming, but that years-long development cycle was probably for the best.
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