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“Halo” Episode 8 Reaction
“John and Makee come to terms with their shared vision. Halsey has one last chance to save her mission, and herself. As things come to a head, everyone must choose […]
“John and Makee come to terms with their shared vision. Halsey has one last chance to save her mission, and herself. As things come to a head, everyone must choose a side.”
Folks, we have a situation here. We have a good episode of Halo. After the bad (not as bad as many people said, but still bad) episode seven, Halo gets back to Master Chief, Makee and the UNSC. It has been a minute since we have been back with the spartans, the doctors, and our mysterious blond hair mystic. We left of in a place of chaos, but by the end of episode eight, we finally have some answers.
At the start of episode eight, which is titled Allegiance, we are immediately reminded that Master Chief and Makee have this connection with the artifacts. They met in the field and we are notified by the show makers that they are part of a unique circle with Master Chief making a circle on a steamy mirror and Makee staring into a circular shaped mirror.
At this point in the show I wrote down in my notes: “Are They Going To Bang?”. If you have seen the episode, then you know the answer.
Master Chief takes Makee on a walk into the city and I am here to say that they look the same. Has anyone ever noticed? They look like brother and sister, which makes their eventual romance even a bit weirder. While out amongst the humans, Makee tells of a prophecy about how those who are worthy will be uplifted by the Halo…but those who are not…AKA humans…will be “cleansed”. Folks, we are talking genocide.
I also can not get passed the fact that on Planet Reach…the city name is Reach City. Like I am sorry, but can we have so more originality, please?
Alright, back in the city, Makee gets barked at by a dog and she flashes a nasty finger weapon thing out of instinct. The dog sensed with his nose that Makee is different, and she didn’t like that. We go back to her finger later, post coital experiences.
So the covenant are bad people. They destroyed an entire planet, killing millions of people. Rather ruthless. The UNSC are on their heels, and they have come choices to make. Do they wait for more answers, or do they take the fight to The Covenant? There are opposing views, but the winning side has the weight of Master Chief behind it. MC wants to use Makee (as a teammate) to locate where the other artifact is, AKA, where the Covenant is. Combined they will be able to talk with it and it will provide them with necessary answers.
Will Makee help? Time will tell.
While MC and Makee are making friends in the city, we are reminded that nearly everyone was involved with the abduction of John as a child. This goes for Admiral Margaret Parangosky and Captain Jacob Keyes. The pair are trying to fight the same fight and while there is a battle in front of them, they are also tackling one from their past as well.
John convinces the higher ups to let Makee help them. John goes to tell Makee this…and there we have it. The kiss. The after nap. I have an earnest question. Is this the first time either of them have had sex? Makee has been with purple aliens her whole life, and John had the inhibitor chip in him until recently. That is quite a moment then for the pair of them.
It was very nice that John initiated this romantic
After the love-making, Makee dismantles her fingernail…to reveal a metallic chip underneath it. Is this a tracking chip? Is this the weapon thing she flashed to the dog that barked at her? Either way it was a bit of body horror that we haven’t seen in the show thus far, so it was a bit jarring to watch. Also, if we are being honest, why would she ever do this in the room with John? That would just allow her to be caught faster as someone who can not be trusted.
Another weird part about the sex thing. Cortana was watching it. Cortana, who is already in John’s head, was watching him have sex with Makee.
Cortana begins the episode working for Halsey…the one who is being excommunicated for her radical ideas on how to use the weapon of the artifacts. She wants to harness this power to make the humans not as feeble. She wants to fix the mistakes of humans.
Halsey is crazy. She marks herself for doom and Cortana’s eventual betrayal when she said “John was never alone. He had me.” Cortana is like WHAT GIRL?? That makes no sense when you have made him so incredibly lonely for so much of his life. Halsey is really fucking high and mighty on himself, huh?
Part of her ego comes when she hacks into Makee’s TV and tries to convince her to go along with John. Makee doesn’t know who Halsey is. Did the doc really thing she was doing to be able to do anything? Halsey makes it known to everyone who will listen to her that she is willing to sacrifice everything for her mission. She has reached the point where it is hard to root for her now in any way possible.
A great conversation that takes place in this episode is the idea that attachment is a design flaw for humans. Cortana points out love to Halsey, but the doctor notes how she has to save humans from themselves because they loose themselves with attachment. This is some rather heavy stuff, but it is a moment where Halsey is actually somewhat correct. I can see how attachments can become human’s weakness.
Before we reach the big climax, there are some other things we just gotta touch on first. The two still inhibited Spartans Riz and Vannak were seen examining a banshee ship. That is going to matter somewhere down the line. That is not just a random throw away to remind ourselves that they still exist. Kai is doing a lot better as well in her recovery after the battle of episode five. She is pulling cars up on pulleys, winning bets, and feeling much more up to herself.
Miranda Keyes is trying to decipher the message from the destroyed UNSC ship…still. For reminders, that is the ship that Makee destroyed in an effort to get closer to the humans and the UNSC. This is going to come back down the road…ahh fuck it let’s get to it now. Near the end of the episode Miranda finally puts it together that it is Makee speaking the tongue of the Covenant. This comes just as Makee gets into the room with the artifact she was do desperately looking for.
It is a this moment that a solider shoves Makee down and starts cattle-prodding her with a taser. This reminds Makee of when she was embarrassed as a kid and needed help. The humans pinned her down then and did nothing to uplift her. The same goes for right now. Humans are assholes…so what does Makee do? She touches the artifact. She sends the UNSC station into a flurry of chaos. That is really how this episode ends, with Makee saying goodbye to John in their dreamy Halo Eden. Sides have been chosen.
Alright, so what happened in the rest of this episode besides Makee? Let’s take a quick look.
Halsey initiated Zed Protocol….which is essentially a Spartan override button. She is going to use the Spartans against the UNSC…at least those that she thinks still have an inhibitor chip in. She messages Riz, Vannack and Kai…then cuts Kai out and has the two under her thumb handcuff her to a bench. There shall be no pitfalls in Halsey’s plan…
Too bad she didn’t plan on Cortana siding with John. Before Makee is brought to the Artifact, Jon is helping her and leading her through the military base when Cortana pops in his head (for the first time in a minute) and lets him now that Riz and Vannack are waiting around the corner to take them down. John sends Makee away and meets up with his two fellow soldiers…but they are decked in their armor and are armed to the teeth. Luckily for John, Kai in her new found strength has broken free of the bonds of the bench. She comes to save the day.
So John is fighting for his like and now he his love interest Makee is leaving him too for her own ventures. Perhaps this is a good thing thought. Master Chief is focused on finding Halo, but he really doesn’t know what he wants to do with it after the fact. Makee on the other hand, she has her prophecy to follow. She has a journey she wants to walk. All she needed was a reminder that humans are the worst, and that didn’t take long at all.
I will say it. This was a good episode of TV. Is it a coincidence that it doesn’t have Kwan in it?. No, these are directly correlated.
Episode One Reaction
Episode Two Reaction
Episode Three Reaction
Episode Four Reaction
Episode Five Reaction
Episode Six Reaction
Episode Seven Reaction
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