Warning: this review contains full spoilers for Halo: The TV Series Episode 4! If you need a refresher on where we left off, here's our review for Episode 3.
For all the many strengths of the classic, Bungie-developed Halo games, they never did a particularly great job of fleshing out Master Chief as a character. Chief is barely more than a cipher in those games, a superhuman powerhouse who lays waste to entire armies while rarely speaking and almost never showing signs of emotion. Compare that to Bungie's swansong in Halo: Reach, a game that manages to keep players deeply invested in the plight of Noble Team, all the while knowing these elite warriors are doomed to fail. But if developing Master Chief was never really a priority in those games, the upside is that it leaves plenty of room for the Halo TV series to leave its mark on the franchise.
"Homecoming" serves as another satisfying chapter in the emotional journey of Pablo Schreiber's Master Chief. It's to the show's credit that, a mere four episodes in, we're already to the point of seeing Chief return to his family home and uncover large chunks of his repressed memories. Compared to The Mandalorian, which went nearly an entire season before giving viewers any real insight into the main character's background, Halo is moving along at a satisfyingly brisk pace.
The fact that this episode places so much emphasis on the John/Dr. Halsey dynamic is just icing on the Spartan cake. The series is doing an excellent job of painting Halsey as a morally ambiguous, vaguely threatening character who cares for little beyond her work and her test tube super-soldiers. Thanks in large part to Natascha McElhone's enigmatic portrayal of Halsey, it's hard to actually detest this character, but she's certainly no friend to John and Cortana at this point.
This episode takes makes use of John's rapidly returning emotions as it explores the painful ordeal of returning to a home that now exists only as a forgotten ruin. Director Roel Reine takes full advantage of Cortana's abilities in this sequence, allowing John to be overwhelmed by a combination of digitally reconstructed imagery and pure memory. The Iron Man-esque shots of John's face framed inside his helmet are an especially nice touch. The series is not at all shy about letting Master Chief remove his helmet, but it's good to know there are other ways of conveying the tumult of emotions plaguing this otherwise inscrutable character.
"Homecoming" also addresses one of the bigger shortcomings of the first three episodes. Up till now, Master Chief's fellow Spartans have received very little time in the spotlight, but that finally changes this week. Kate Kennedy's Kai-125 receives the bulk of that attention, but there are a few fun moments with the rest of Silver Team as well. As an added bonus, this also allows the series to prioritize Olive Gray's Miranda Keyes for a change, who finds herself forming a bond with Kai almost in spite of herself.
Beyond just moving the UNSC vs. Covenant plot forward a bit, this subplot serves to lend new depth to all four characters. We get more insight into Keyes' resentment of the Spartans and the way they diverted her mother's attention. We also get a chilling look at what it means to grow up as a Spartan-in-training. Never underestimate the power of a good, tragic pet anecdote to build sympathy for a character. There's a lot of exposition thrown around in these scenes, but it's all handled organically enough.
Sadly, this episode does nothing to address the series' other recurring flaw: the underwhelming Kwan Ha/Soren-066 subplot. Those two take on a more prominent role this time as they return to war-ravaged madrigal, but the core problem remains. This storyline feels less like a vital piece of the larger puzzle and more like an unwelcome detour from more compelling plot threads. Why does Kwan Ha's obsession with avenging her father matter to the overarching Halo story? Why spend so much time with these characters rather than, say, the absentee Makee?
It would be one thing if this subplot at least functioned on its own terms, but even the key emotional moments fall flat. We're told her father was hiding a terrible secret that threatens to destroy his memory, yet all we learn is he went to the desert, stabbed some people and learned his "true purpose." Okay...? Presumably, there's point to this clunky subplot, but right now the Kwan Ha storyline plays like a Halo spinoff no one asked for.
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/32UiMwQ
This could be a real lead forward for personal gaming... Revolutionise gaming
No comments:
Post a Comment