'Halo' Season 2 Episode 6 "Onyx" Spoiler Review
Image Source: Halo Waypoint
Picking up where episode 5 left off, “Onyx” sees our heroes on the way to a mysterious UNSC controlled world with no records of what goes on planetside. Kai still believes the Master Chief dead and now leads the Spartan III program, with one stand out cadet, Corporal Perez. Meanwhile Admiral Parangosky and Colonel Ackerson discuss how stories, like empires, can come unwound with the slightest oversight over a cup of tea and a pile of propaganda.
The “A” Plot of “Onyx” focuses on the Master Chief and the feelings he has towards the UNSC after being abandoned on Reach with Riz and Vannak. Two members of not only his fireteam, but his family, one of which died defending their escape and the other taken out of the fight due to her injuries. And the episode uses Kai as John 117’s foil, when Ackerson deceives Kai to lead her to believe that John is now working with the Covenant Kai is ordered to neutralize Chief.
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During the fight between the two John tells Kai that she was lied to, multiple times, but he understands that she is just following orders like a SPARTAN should. Master Chief doesn’t attempt to fight Kai, instead relying on the truth to win the battle. He even goes so far as to ask Kai what happened to the girl he grew up with. While Kai has to struggle with becoming the leader of the SPARTAN III’s going so far as to accuse Ackerson of trying to get her people killed after Perez comments that the exfil of a simulation was too easy.
Image Source: Paramount
Throughout their fight the show cleverly uses Kai as a stand in for who the Master Chief was before the events of season 1. A good dependable soldier who produced consistent results. Which is more or less what Dr. Halsey says to Kwan Ha in a chamber deep underground that the unlikely pair have found themselves in. Halsey states that she used to basically live there during the early years of her research. And even remarks that Kwan’s first interaction with Master Chief may not be a negative as it yielded unexpected results. One of Halo’s strong suits this season has been the showrunner’s ability to tie together several separate plotlines in a coherent and satisfying way, and that was on full display this episode.
In contrast, the Covenant portions of this episode leave much to be desired. Makee still seems to be finding her footing in the plot. And while the fight at the end of the episode is a testament to the CGI animators working on the show, the overall story has yet to really unfold. It seems that the showrunner wants to keep the Covenant plot on hold until next season so it can be a main focus for the conflict in season 3.
For now it seems that Season 2 of Halo is committed to setting the stage for an interesting season 3. Between the Covenant plot and the changes to Master Chief’s story from season 1 it seems that this season will have an explosive end and next season a spectacular opening. Overall while this episode drags in some parts, the stage the show is setting for the main conflict is interesting enough to smooth over some of the questionable decisions in the adaptation.
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RATING: 6/10
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