Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome back to another episode of geek First Podcast.
I am one of your hosts, the Imdama Taylor Field, and I'm
joined by and the priest Kirklan Patzer. Hey, I'm Dylanas, Yes,
and we are here to continue our wonderful trek into Halo Season two TV show.
If you haven't watched all the episodes or listen to our reviews, you
can go catch up on all that stuff. They're all on our feeds available
there. But before we get into the wonderful world of Halo, you can
find us with your Internet connection in the search bar. Geek First dot ca
is our home base, geek First Cast is our Twitter, and geek First
is our Facebook going through a brain fart there. So the most important thing
though, out of all of those, is the Patreon. And what's even
more important than the Patreon the producers Aaron Braid in April of Darkness, Jack
Grant, MUDs, Sam and te fucking Money, money, you fucking money.
It's just you guys are fantastic. You all know it, and thank
you for everything you do. So without further ado, uh not for like
segue into Halo yet? What are some shows going on. We did Dune
review popping off an amazing side quest too that you guys did. That was
very fun. Yeah, x Men focused episode very good. Hell yeah,
Dreamcast. I was righting high after that episode. Mm hmm definitely. What
else is is lurking? Well, just we've been doing a lot of these
Patreon picks recently, these movies, these retros, so I'm not great with
the release calendar. I'm more of the I do the side quest side of
things. But I assume some of those are all up on Patreon. How
you can listen to uh so, yeah, you can go check those out.
Those are fun redtros coming out, a lot of those in the in
the Swing as well, in the Tank, Yeah, some mad Max and
Plan of the apes. There's definitely some some good stuff in there. And
oh, maybe I shouldn't say that because I don't know if Travis has announced
it and he likes the secrets, so maybe I'll say, like, keep
keeping secrets, keep it safe keeping his air. But yeah, Okay,
that clears up all of that. So let's get into Halo. Now.
What who wants to start? Who wants to give their non spoilers this episode,
how they feel you know what, can I just uno reverse you right
now and go back to Taylor, Because every week of this show in the
discord, sometimes the night of the episode, dropping like at midnight, sometimes
the day after. Throughout the day, you are just out here dropping all
sorts of passive aggressive comments of like haters online and just sharing your general disdain
for the Halo TV show. I think this is the first week that you
haven't done that. And maybe you did on Facebook or Twitter or some other
place. I'm not, but I have to wonder like, is were you
just busy today or or do you have different thoughts on this episode? Are
you more pond of this time around. No, that's actually that's a that's
a really excellent deduction because I am kind of positive. Yeah. I can
tell by your lead into the episode, You're like going to this amazing journey
into the Halo. Yeah, be's this guy. Yeah yeah, No,
I'm definitely on the more positive side. Surprisingly, while this show absolutely does
not feel like it's it's Halo, this feels like it's more. This episode
especially feels more like, Okay, we've taken a step back and are kind
of going into an anthology aspect now of the Halo Universe, which I kind
of like this anthology kind of tangent that we're taking, but I just feel
like maybe it's still there's so much going on, and I feel like this
episode alone has opened up a whole new can of worms that I don't feel
like they can properly with what they have left. I feel like we don't
have enough time to focus on these storylines, these new developing storylines. There's
so much that has happened. Everything that we've had in the season has been
pretty much a lackluster letdown for me, dealing with Reach in like an episode
and a half, and then so many other things too, with the characters
and certain decisions. It's all been really really unfortunate. So finally when we
get to this episode, there's some things that I really really enjoyed, and
there was some character stuff that was really really hitting home for me that I
was kind of enjoying too, but I was still nitpicking it and still running
into some classical issues that I have with the show. Yeah, but all
in all, I'm happy that they've actually done a little bit of some stuff
here that I enjoy albeit it still feels like they've just been pulling from multiple
aspects of the Halo universe throughout many different titles and just mushing it all together
into one story. So that's kind of how I feel. Lovely. Yeah,
I like the bar is so low now, like week to week for
these episodes that when I go into it, I just I have no expectations.
I'm expecting like that writing. I'm expecting just a very flat story,
and then I'm hoping for some some nice haloisms in there. I think this
episode had some of those haloisms, h for sure, which was which was
a pleasant surprise. Yeah, Like a lot of the dialogue just kind of
fell flat flat for me. There's certain just like I don't know if the
actors are just the way that they're directed to to have like certain like reactions
and like body reactions to scenes that go on. But like I was just
chuckling at so many times and or sorry at so many points in this episode
just with a character like staring at another character, and they just it seems
like they just freeze, like I don't know, I don't know if they're
like trying to have this like dramatic thing, but it just seems like they
like forget their line or something and they're just like they're just lost, and
I just I don't know, I get some humor out of that, so
I guess that's a positive in that sense. But for this show, it
like it's just it's just not a great show, you know, saying that
week to week, which is which is not great to hear. But that's
just how I feel, and I don't really feel any different after this one.
Like minor spoiler, it has like a cliffhanger at the end of the
episode, and like when it went to the cliffhanger and just rolled critis,
I was just like, you're fucking kidding me right now, Like okay,
I guess so so not in an exciting way of like ooh, I'm it's
more so just like itilated for what's gonna come next. It's like at any
point they like kind of get me feeling that way, they just like take
it away, and it's like I don't know, like I don't I'm not
expecting major things to come like after that moment, and I'm expecting next week
at the very start, it's just gonna be like, oh, okay,
that's what happened. Like I think the build up of the suspense never really
is worth the weight, and and that was just like another moment that it
feels like, Okay, that's that's what I'm expecting. I'm expecting to be
disappointed on the reveal there, but uh, that was a long wind winded
way of saying I'm not really loving the show, and this episode was not
really any different. Mm hmm. Yeah. I you know, now that
we're nearing the end of this thing, I think I can kind of look
at it a bit more holistically now in terms of just the rollercoaster that has
been this season, not a very like up and down roller coaster, just
like the minor bump every once in a while. But you know, like
at the start of the season, as with any show, whether or not,
like the first season or not, it's always like, Okay, what
is the season gonna be about? What are the new characters or the new
storylines kind of getting introduced to stuff, And that's naturally what happened here.
And I feel very early on, right we're like, Okay, we're getting
towards reach, Like that's what we're aiming for, that's what the scope is
on, and that's what we're building up towards and then a couple episodes passed
and like we had that episode and it kind of and then we just went
somewhere else right like it went. It kind of just went by very quickly.
And then after just the weaker episode that was last week, I feel
like that thing that I was laming for reach it's like coming gone, and
now I'm just like in the aftermath, I'm like an epilogue, but this
epilogue is lasting for like half the season, so it just the pacing of
it feels really weird. And last episode I was really really negative on If
you go back that episode, did not enjoy pretty much anything in it,
and so I feel like I feel like my hype or interest has really just
petered out. Like there's maybe a couple embers there at the bottom of that
campfire at this point and that's about it. And there was really nothing in
here that stoked the flames at all. I will say, I don't think
I have anything that I'm particularly super harshly negative about in the way that we've
been throughout this whole season, but there wasn't anything here that really brought me
back into it, like damn, I can't wait for the last two episodes
of this show. And really, yeah, the one thing there's really just
the one thing that I'm very negative on is is once again Pablo our main
character here. It's just such a frickin weak protagonist, like one of the
weakest I've seen in like any TV show I can remember, and I can
explain why I feel that way. But then yeah, the rest of the
stuff there's it feels like a very much like kind of like a politics episode,
a lot of different like side quests. It feels like everyone's in different
places. Whereas we talked about how last week we kind of like converged and
everything kind of became one storyline again, and then this week, as we're
just shooting like a shotgun shell of just like all these different storylines going on,
they're all progressing like two percent, right, So like it didn't feel
like a whole lot happened. So yeah, not my not my favorite episode.
I really I would be shocked if there's anything in the last two that
can pull me back in in a big way. I mean, maybe a
couple of big fun action sequences set pieces, Chief gets his armor back and
pops off, perhaps, But even then, I don't know if I have
it in me anymore to be too hopeful for such a thing. So so
yeah, there you go. Unfortunately, I wish I could be with you,
Taylor, but I'm excited to hear some of these things that you really
loved about this episode. Yeah absolutely. I mean, I'm definitely not holding
it against anyone that you know, is like you'd taken a U turn or
anything. I haven't taken a U turn, but yeah, yeah, So
don't feel bad dying by any means on my account. Well I guess yeah,
that does it. So we're gonna take a quick ad break and then
we're gonna be back with our spoiler soots and we are back. Okay,
So where do you guys want to start? Mm hmmm, I guess we
could uh get I was gonna say, Miranda Keys, we found her.
I was just kind of expecting to never see her again, so that it
was it was a pleasant surprise to have her in there. I was a
little bit like in hindsight let down that we didn't get her earlier on this
season, because that was a character I I was pretty positive on actually in
the first season. I thought her performance is pretty good and just the world
that she's wrapped up in was was interesting from her point of view. Uh
so it's a little bit unfortunately she just kind of was hiding, but here
she is. How Like, were you guys surprised? I was pretty surprised
to see her in that moment. I will admit, yeah, I'm at
a point where I kind of really forgot about the character. And we talked
about how she just had one mention and I think it was two episodes going
reach right, and maybe it was the start of last episode between her parents
there on the elevator. Was just like, she's a way that's so I
was like, okay, well, maybe you should just not in this season,
even though it seemed like on IMDb that she was so I guess yeah,
I didn't have the expectation there. So it was it was better than
nothing, for sure, But I'm I'm I'm curious what kind of storyline they're
going to tie together that's satisfying for her just in essentially like two more episodes
because she only had what less than five minutes of screen time here two minutes
maybe, So I don't really know, especially with all the other stuff that's
going on, all these other characters in their storylines, and we're still freaking
looking for Kessler and all this stuff. Like I don't know how much we
can really get done into episodes worth, but I'm curious to see what it
is. I don't know. I guess I don't know, like where her
allegiance lies. Where do you guys, where do you guys think she falls
in the whole political realm of things right like relations specifically to Akerson. I
guess I feel like she's she's no reason to really be like anti or for
Akerson, Like it's just kind of a separate entity right now because he is
the replacement of Halsey, and her and Halsey were kind of like button heads
multiple times in that first season, but it was mostly just because of where
they were in their positions. And now it's like, obviously Halsey is not
even with that team anymore, And I don't exactly know what Miranda's role is
right now in like the hierarchy of ONNY as a whole, I was really
confused as to just what was going on. It seems I'm assuming that was
just like all four Runner Tech that they were looking at there, But for
her allegiance, I would imagine she's eventually going to be against Akerson and team
just because he's super sus And I think that's gonna come to light for pretty
much all the main characters soon enough here. But as of right now,
I really don't know, just because she's been absent and don't really know what's
been going on behind the scenes. Mm hmm, I mean she she I
feel like she's literally been living under a rock at this point, literally so
because I don't think she's gonna she's not gonna know where Dad's gone. She's
not gonna know a lot of stuff, and so, I mean, the
only thing that I feel like she's gonna be aware of is that Halsey was
kind of branded as like a fugitive, and even so, I feel like
she's just going to be so embezzled in like her research and trying to study
the Shield world, She's not gonna really have much of an understanding of really
what's going on out in the outside world, like, oh my god,
reach fell what maybe something like that. Maybe I'm kind of hearing her,
Maybe I'm not giving her enough credit character, Yeah, it's crazy. It
just feels like she's just just with her popping out of nowhere. Like this,
I just really wasn't expecting it, and it just seems so kind of
at a place from me. But I'm happy to see her and her loyalties
though. I mean, you got Perengosky, who seems like she's really the
main ultimate bad guy, and it's making it seem like Akerson is not even
really the bad guy, but Perengosky was the one that was making is making
him kind of like the bad guy. So yeah, where where does Miranda's
loyalties lie? That's a good question, And I just feel like we need
to see a little bit more to really make that determine deduction. So I
feel like when she finds out that her dad's dead and maybe they'll learns the
truth about them just ditching Reach, that she'll she'll be like, Halsey,
I'm mom with you because as of right now, like Halsey knows all of
that stuff right, Like if we just had an extended scene, she probably
could have just told her that, But maybe that's not the height of her
motivation right now, like tell her about Reach falling or and like Onnye's decision
to just like abandon Reach right like that whole Sussery of taking away the chief
and cruise armor and just just leaving them to get get glass. And she's
one of the few people that actually saw her dad get killed too, Right,
So that's probably gonna a conversation at some point because I think that's it's
fitting that the two are connected. Yeah, I got cooked. Yeah,
sister, I guess daughter. Yeah. In terms of the I don't know
lore or pulling from books or games and whatnot, how do you feel about
what she's up to, Taylor? Like, is that relate to any storyline
you're used to her from and any of the other doesn't make any sense?
Any sense? What about like what she was working on? Like is that
a thing in the games? Like it seemed pretty thing? The thing?
Well last week, how off track they went with specifically her character and her
dad, right, exceptionally off track, Like, she's not a scientist in
the games or the books either, Like, and in that canon, she
is a UNSC military officer and she's following her father's footsteps, and her role
is literally after the events of Halo one and Halo two, she's introduced and
she basically leads one of the defensive forces on Earth, and then they basically
charge in and she plays a huge role with the Arc and Halo three and
activating the Halo rings from the Arc and the profits taking her host. It's
just so much going on with her character, and so here she's just playing
scientist. She was definitely not involved in the Ghost of ONEX book. The
whole facility of the Forerunners that's on on X that they're inspecting, that's definitely
pulled from the book. So this it makes sense. But that's where for
me it's very weird because this show is they're talking about Halo and you see
an image of it, but that's it. I feel like this is supposed
to be matter Chief's story supposed to be focusing on that Halo ring and getting
there, but we're not getting that. Now we're drifting off to the next
stage of Spartans and what's going on in on X. Now everyone's going to
be shifting their attention away from the key artifacts between McKey and Chief, and
they're gonna be focused on like, oh, how to Quan not explode on
impact when she fell on the well and what's this like vault right, Like,
yeah, the things we should be focusing on. Yeah, it's the
important stuff. So new questions, right, and that's where I feel like
all of these new storylines that have been introduced. Then did they confirm a
season three? I don't know. They probably did, but I just feel
like there's so much stuff going on now that's just let me take a look.
It just blows my mind that they expect people to follow all of these
side tangents. Yeah, because I heard after last I think it was last
week's episode, you were mentioning how they like want to it seems like we're
going in that direction of some ghost of Bonic stuff. And I've heard great
things, like phenomenal things from you and others about that novel, So like,
oh yeah, the fact that this episode was just called Onyx, I
was I was a little bit worried for like, you know, like you
and people that are like really knowing these stories going into it, because I'm
just like, I know nothing about this, but I'm assuming this is going
to be butchered horribly, And I mean, like the whole thing with like
the Spartan threes. You were mentioning that again last in last week's episode,
just like I guess, like, is that a big portion of that book?
Ghosvonyx it's a big portion. And that's again like Onyx was chosen as
the base to start the Spartan three program, and again I was by Akerson,
and they kidnapped and abducted a Spartan two called Kurt and he was basically
training the Spartan threes with Pitty. Officer Mendez was another character, And so
there's a lot of a lot of similarities here. Of course you have Kai
who seems willing to go and train. Yeah, and the Spartan Spartan threes
are basically supposed to be orphans, are supposed to be people that were from
destroyed worlds that don't have really anywhere to go, but they have a hatred
in this fuel, like you know, let's just go let's yeah, let's
sign me up, let's go fight. And they were meant to be more
expendable. And so I think, I like that's one of the story Nartors
that actually liked because when they complete their mission, it was just the simulation
was over. And I feel like there's many ways you could interpret that.
You can interpret that as Akerson like they played out that he said it so
that they would have a w they'd have to win. They could feel good
and they could go on, but whereas I I kind of felt and see
it. They they did the mission, but when everything kind of shut down
the simulation, and Perez was kind of feeling uneasy about it. It's because
they're not supposed to walk away alive from that mission. Like they were going
through a mission and your chances are you're going to die, and it's you're
expendable. But they don't know that. They're just they have to think about
getting and completing their goal. Mm hm, that makes sense. Were you
guys? I was really thrown off when Perez was there. I was so
shocked. I thought it was like a flashback or a dream sequence. I
was so shocked from where she was, like seeing keys just get crisped like
bear, like being so ptsd from losing her crew from earlier on in the
season and losing her family. She just seemed like such a broken down character.
And then like just like the scene of her, I thought she was
like an ODST trooper for a second, I was like, man, like,
what is going on here? And then it's just combat. She's like
diving into a Covenant ship. I was so confused when the simulation like ended,
I was even more confused because like, what the fuck is going on?
She's just being trained to be a spartan like what happened to the other
people on her ship, So yeah, you're not alone. Yeah, highly
highly confusing for me. I feel like I don't know. I wonder if
there was a scene cut in like at it was supposed to be maybe towards
the end of that episode when she goes off splits off from Chief there,
and maybe they just took it out because with the climax climax that we were
building to at Reach, maybe didn't really make sense or it took away from
it. But it just felt like a really weird pivot for me, and
one that doesn't really make sense for the character either, after she bonded with
Chief in this in this sequence, So I don't know. Maybe it just
feels like anything in this season is kind of like no one really knows what
Akerson is up to or that he's a bad guy, except for like he's
the only person who who seemed to know or have any sort of way of
conceptualizing such a thing. So maybe she's in the same camp of being brainwashed.
I can't remember exactly every dialogue seeing she had with Chiefs in that episode
and if that would turn her perspective, but it felt it felt really weird
for me. And then honestly, any sequence with her, like I don't
know, the first time they get to the simulation and she's like, that
was bullshit there. There shouldn't have been a covenant behind us there that snuck
up on us. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like this,
You're you're going talking about going into a covenant ship and there's it's not
conceivable too that a covenant would could pop up behind you or something. The
whole thing felt like really fake drama to me, like in a reality show
and they just yea, the producers plant some random storyline and these bad actors
have to go along. And it felt like that was like, what are
we talking about here? Oh man? Yeah, that's like what I was
saying earlier, where like just some of the dialogue amongst characters, I'm just
like semi shock that I'm seeing it, But it's also just on par for
the course. And there was one particular moment when Kai she just jumps in
the simulation too. I guess just punish herself, right, because she wasn't
there on reach and like maybe this could be touching for some people, because
you know, like she wasn't able to stay behind and like help her comrades.
But she's like in there, and then she turns around and it's literally
just Acreson like standing there wearing regular clothes, and I would like, I
don't know, I get it's a simulation, but it just like shocked me
and I just I burst out laughing. It's so funny him just being like
standing there, arms cross like pause simulation. They just like have a conversation.
I don't know. It's just super corey to me. And then later
on when Kai is again just in the simulation room, I guess it's like
they equiv into their danger room from X Men, but she's in there.
She's like about to spike the ship, and then Acresson's just like in there
talking with her again. That's when she kind of gets the somewhat truth from
him there, and then they're like having a heated conversation and she's like in
simulation and then she just like leaks up from her chair and then Acresson's right
across from and just like gets up out of his chair and they just continue
the conversation, and I'm like, this is so fucking corny. But however,
directed this episode thought that was the coolest thing ever too. They'll keep
going in the real world, though. I just find it so funny that,
like, yeah, like Akerson to like have these conversations like, Oh,
I'm just gonna look for an open chair, get in there, get
all comfortable. I don't know, it's just a little bit funny to me.
What do you guys think about the action of those simulated sequences outside of
the corniness of the actual story purposes of it. For the most part,
across the show, Like I always praise the action sequences because I think it
always looks good. But in this particular one, I don't know if it
was just me, but it and maybe it was because it was a simulation
or they're trying to do this like Iron Man cam on Perez a lot of
the time, it just seemed like I couldn't really see what was going on.
I don't know if I'm alone in that sense. It was just really
dark and like the blast Fire, shaky cam and very quick shots. So
yeah, I was with you on that and it's like, yeah, really
dark on the ship. But there's just a lot of reasons where it was
very weird looking. Once again, the gun, like the gun flash,
like when it just looks so like and like on the Battle of Reach when
they were getting like plasted by plasma shots, like it just it seemed gooey
and plasma, whereas this is just like, yeah, they're just getting shot
by something, and it's almost like the predators hunting them, like it's just
invisible enemies. I was super I don't know, looking forward to to some
good Covenant design because they like they can definitely do that. I've seen it
multiple times in the show, and even in this episode there's there's some there's
some good good looking elites with some energy swords. I yeah, I really
liked the opening of the the first one. I mean I was very confused
that like where the hell were we? I like, what is this time
jump? Or like where are we? But like that initial signals when they
all jump out of the ship and just like the fear on her face was
actually really believable, Like man jumping into like deep space like that, especially
if it's like your first time doing that must be terrifying, like flying down
being the what was it the Covenant corvette, right is what those are called?
Really really cool? So I like that initial sequence, but kind of
went downhill once once we got on the ship. For me, yeah,
I was trying to figure it out because again skipping over an episode to to
not really show that that bridge of her transition to this moment is really kind
of weird, like how does she get recruited? How did she get connected
with Onyx? Onyx is supposed to be a very secret facility, but nonetheless,
my mind immediately goes to she's on the transport ship with all the civilians.
It just opens up the fucking bay and I'm like, what are you
doing? You got all these cities in there, and like are you gonna
get blown up? But all of a sudden she's got this decked out Spartan
armor. But I also thought it like is this odscs that are like boarding
the ship raising their guns, Like what is going on? Uh? But
all in all, very very cool sequence. I thought it was fantastic seeing
them jump out of the ship. That's something that we've seen Master Chief do
in the games many times. Of course we can to see Chief do it.
It was the Spartan threes, but we can't always win all of our
battles. I do think it would have been Pablo, not him, even
though it's like how would you hold his breath? Then you can do it?
Oh my god. Just with the Spartan threes and their their combat there,
they get lit up the first few tries, and then uh Kai is
giving them a pep top and explain explaining how like she could she could take
out an elite twenty five hundred yards, but like she wouldn't be able to
get like a bunch of bees or something, and like that just becomes like
they're simple, it seems because like you now, oh my gosh, you
wish you were a bee. Those lines were just they're cracking me up.
And then fast forward to like a later simulation. It's probably the last one
when they actually win, but uh they're like yeah, go ahead, and
then like there's that one guy in the back that's just like b B guys.
These guys, I just was laughing so hard, like it just seems
so corny and not Halo at all in those moments, but uh, you
know that definitely sounds like some ant man humor or something like that. BPS
guys like come on, I don't remember that line from Hare never showing that
out. I'm in a military situation. I'm never showing that out to you
guys. Maybe how can they not register that? Like they're literally just cannon
fodder, Like yeah, like it were better in numbers as they're just all
getting lit up as they try and destroy this one ship over and over again.
But I don't know, they're they're kind of goofy. They kind of
reminded me of like a little bit of Starship Trooper vibes, which just how
corny some of them were, Like a cameraman in there, exactly, the
only good covenant is a dead covenant. Question about Onyx? So sorry,
Onyx? Is the name of the planet? Is the name of this like
facility? Name of the planet? Okay? And so I guess like last
episode in that town we're hanging out, was that that was on Onyx.
Presumably no am I forgetting something that happened the end of the last episode.
How they got here? How they found this place? Uh? I think
they alluded to it briefly with Peregovsky talking to Akerson that a ship snuck through
their like first of all, the ship they were found, but the ship
managed to get through their clearance or something through their their systems, and they
know that that would be Halsey that's responsible for that, okay, And so
who who of Halsey and Chief and this crew would have known about Would it
been Halsey that would know because she when they're in the mines of Mariia,
she's talking about how she practically lived down there and she knew who all the
stuff was and all that. So and two like it was, it was
tricky to kind of figure this out because I think they changed the storyline again.
They were talking about how this is like where Spartan's come to train and
all that kind of stuff. At least that's how Soren puts it. And
then but to my knowledge, because you have you have Spartans that are supposed
to be trained on Reach, that's where the Spartan twos were trained, but
sore And is acting like they were trained here by the way he's talking about
certain things, which doesn't make sense because when they're asking Chief, like what
do you know about about on X, He's like, whispers, you knows
maps? You know? Thought I thought he's gonna say ghosts. I was
waiting for him to say ghosts. He's very very mischievous about his response.
That's kind of funny. Let's see I uh okay, let me let me
rag on our boy Pablo. Also just like this character, like what what?
I'm just so curious, like what is the intention with this character?
Like are we supposed to have such a high amount of respect for this character
and love and reverence that no matter what, we just love him and think
he's so badass and cool because he just seems like such a dumb aw dufus
in this show, Like once again he's going around messing up all these troops
and he gets caught again, Like how many times this season has he been
captured? And like how many times does he break out of capture? Because
these people are too stupid to like realize you need to tie him down,
Like he just seems like such a fumbling idiot that he breaks out of here,
but then also makes the the antagonist feel stupid because they don't lock him
down correctly. Then I also just like what was his plan? Was he
like without any weapon, without any armor? Once again, bring up the
armor? Was he just planning I'm busting in this facility? He thought he's
gonna be able to do it all on his own once again, he didn't
even have a gun because he took that other guy's gun, So what the
hell was his plan? Like, I was he trying to get captured and
taken in and he was gonna bust out again. It's like that's seems really
risky. But I like, I don't understand what I'm supposed to feel with
this character, and it's really bothering me. I completely agree with what you're
saying when he when he opens up like the I think it's after he escapes
captivity when Akerson shows like the security tape to Kai and he's just like he
like opens up the door and he's like sneaking through the fucking main facility.
It's like this like seven foot tall man that like he's literally his posters of
him everywhere. Everybody knows who this guy is. Everybody knows that he's like
on the planet on the field, like they're on red alert, and he's
just like fumbling through the hallways like man. It's so it's like a mister
Bean type sequence. It's like you have this character that should not be should
not be able to sneak through this area with with how much everybody's after him
and and he just does because that's that's just how it works, I guess.
But for his like motivation, I really don't know. At this point,
it's just like vengeance. Like he's just he's like he's like John Wick.
He's after Paringosky and he's gonna just take around no matter what it is,
Like I I don't know. Like by the end of it, it
seems like he's going for the what are they called y, Yeah, the
artifact. Yeah, he just he's like he's like a drug act or something.
He just wants another hit of that artifact juice that makes him I feel
all trippy like that. That's what his motivation is, it seems like at
this point. And then yeah, Cortana whispering sweet things into his you see,
Oh my gosh, it's like his reactions to Cartana. It's like,
oh my old flame, Like, oh, I missed you so much Cartana,
Like just just when she is interacting with him, and when he's strutting
through the facility and the door's just opening and he's just like he's just walking
through there, like Chris Hamsworth and Bad Times with el Royale, with like
just just smiling, He's waving at like the people working there. I'm like,
what the fuck is going on here? But yeah, when that door
closes, a little wave with the guy. I got Cartana. Now we're
gonna fuck behind these doors. I did enjoy the like him just kind of
like walking through and like all the doors are unlocking and closing, and Krtana
was helping him with that. But the way he's just he's staring and watching
everyone smiling, Like I just don't like his his facial response to all of
this stuff in the situation. Like if you put him in armor, I
feel like it changes the whole tone of this scene. I think it becomes
okay, this man is like the Master Chief is like is scary and like
it's it's crazy just how he's just walking through this the way. I would
love that, But the one it's just Bablo and he's not even really smiling.
He just waves at the guy. It's just it's weird. But I
think that to answer your question, Dylan, I think him getting captured was
intentional because then it's easier for him to get inside the facility. And just
how he fucked those guys up was crazy. That was super crazy like his
a little restraint, whipped it around the guy's neck and pulled him halfway across
the room. There's blood all over the wall when the guy's head smacked into
it, So he killed that man pretty much. But but yeah, like
I agree though too that they don't really take a lot of care and securing
him because after uh, when he when he did that, and then it
cuts to like when he does the escape, and then it shows that it
was all recorded on this this hologram or whatever, and then you see Akerson
and Kai. Akerson is like, yeah, this is an hour ago.
It's like, why he waited an hour? It's like that's a long time.
He's been around your base for an hour. And then it goes kicking
down that door while you're watching this fuck an hour long footage, like and
then it goes to obviously Kai and that was in my notes. I hate
seeing these spartan twos go up against Chief because it's not in their character.
And while she showed her strain, she still kicked the shit out of him,
and they wouldn't do that. It's Chief, So needless to say,
she knocks him out and then she leaves and just leaves him there. I
mean the man could get up, which he did. What do you do?
He got up and he went to the fucking came to an Ackerson say
actions like what we said the black Black Ops squad, because that's gonna do
ship all too where she's like, you're all banged up, you don't have
your armor, just once again, like griderating it so often, the freaking
armor thing, like they should just leave it alone and realize that US fans
are never gonna be happy with that decision. So, I mean, I
don't know. Maybe the people on the REDIT are are praising I don't know,
Taylor, you don want to browse. But no, the people are
saying like, oh, great episode, can't wait to see when Master she
gets a suit back in the next episode. Stuff like that. Just mumbo
jumble. But like they reiterated it again because he's telling Kai the truth.
He's like, yeah, they took our suits. Kai got killed. It's
just wild, wild shit. I feel like she'd even really react to Vantage.
She was just like, what about rais? Yeah, more curious aloof
at that point too. I guess she thought Chief was you know, Akerston
planted the seeds in her head that Chief was still working with McKee, and
Chief is now part of the Covenant, and so she hears that Vanik died.
Is that Chief that really did that? Or like, what's what's the
catch here? Right? It's it's a bullshit plan, I mean, because
you can tell Chief was trying to figure it out the truth. I do
feel bad for Kai. I mean, this must be a difficult situation to
navigate. I mean, this guy is someone you've looked up to, trusted,
one of your best friends, and he lies to you several times,
you think he's dead. He comes back, he tells your other friend is
definitely dead. He's not dead, and then Akerson's out here on the other
side. Just yeah, the devil on your shoulder, the angel on your
other shoulder, that kind of thing. I feel for Kai to to some
extent, But I don't know, your your squad hates you, your pupils
no respect. Yeah with uh uh Kai like confronting Chief in that moment of
like accusing him of being sided with with McKee. I don't know. It's
just like just that like back and forth. Like I hate putting it on
the actors, but like I I feel like that could have been a better
scene even with the dialogue that was there, I wasn't really emotionally attached to
it. I feel like because of what's been shown in this show, I've
never like fully been like a super fan of like all all all the Silver
teams just chemistry amongst each other. I think it peaked in that first episode
and then kind of fizzled out, like first episode of season one, like
literally at the start of the show, and ever since then, it's been
lower. The fact that Kai just kind of like did we see her leave?
Like on Reach, because I like, in hindsight, I was trying
to remember, like while I was watching this, I was trying to remember
how she deviated from everyone and how she just got into the position she I
don't think we ever, Actually I don't think we saw it, because I
think we talked about that on the review, but we I think it was
still it was somewhat clear though, because I seem to remember that we assume
she was off with Afterson, But right, yeah, I don't think there
was an actual shot of it. And like on Taylor's point of like for
you, it's just so crazy to just see like other like Spartan two's like
going against Chief here I feel like it's even more insane to have like Kai
in that role because and like maybe it's supposed to be super emotional intense because
she has been like the most loyal out of everyone to Chief. It's just
it seemed like last season like she was the first one to take the chip
out right, and like really like that, like that's like that's that's a
major scene. Yeah, exactly, like all like all of that, it
just seems like it didn't happen with how she's reacting here. And maybe from
a show runner perspective, you can make arguments like, well that that's just
the hard the hardships that she's going through having to make these hard decisions,
but personally, I feel like maybe I either haven't seen those decisions really really
made or made well enough for me to palate, and uh so when it
got to the point of her confronting them, there is just I don't know,
like I don't have much major attachment for that. And it's you know,
it's like one of those things where like all of Silver Team, they
should all be very close, and they should all have like a dynamic as
a group, and then each of them should also have their very specific connections
between them, and we kind of see that with Chief and the rest of
them, except for like Chief and Vanic. I can't even really recall like
big scenes between them other than like maybe his death or something like that,
but we kind of get that, but we don't really have those dynamics between
like Kai. I can't think of a single scene between Kai and Vanic.
I'm sure it happened in season one, but I don't think we got anything
here, right, So it's like kind of so distant in my mind that
I can't remember these scenes. So it's like, I don't know, that
should be an emotional, interesting scene when we get it here, but it
just it doesn't really work because we don't really have that specific connection, even
though it's assumed to be pretty strong. I mean, she didn't just ditch
Chief, right, she ditched all of them when she went her way,
yea, So we have factor that into Yeah. I mean, I think
you hit that on the head there, because we really don't see much more
between Vanik and Chief, So that's definitely a downside. But Kai being the
one that has to I guess bring him in. I guess they're trying to
add more weight by as you mentioned kirklun just having those simulations and they're trying
to really add the mental toll on her for leaving everyone behind and all that
jazz. But like, yeah, I'm still so bitter about how they handled
Reach. It's supposed to be like a week's long situation, but it was
over and done within twenty four hours. And you see one little city get
destroyed, but really it's the whole planet we're supposed to believe. I don't
know, Yeah, pretty crazy, it's fair. Should we move on to
McKee? Yeah, well, let's jump to a quick ad break and then
let's fucking ma key it up and we're back. He loves a good ad
break, I think she does. Yeah, Man, McKee and the Arbiter,
I don't like hate what's going on with that, with that uh that
crew, But when the when it's when it opened up and I just see
Arbiter no shirt on, like going to do like a punishment thing on himself,
a ritual thing, but like it's just like like a top up shot
of him just like like basically naked, and in my mind, I'm like,
oh my god, they're gonna do it. We had master cheeks last
season. We're gonna get master Arbiter cheeks. Like That's where my mind went.
So I was like, no way, no way, we're gonna have
a zoom out shot. It's gonna be bare ass arbiter. They're actually doing
it here, it didn't happen. Part of me kind of wanted it just
for the meme, but I'm curious, what is what his cheeks would look
like a special site. At first, I didn't even know what that was.
Like, I know in Halo, it must be Halo too, right,
Like the Arbiter has no armor on when he gets branded, and there's
probably other shots of those elite with no armor on, but it just it
looked so strange to me. I'm like, what creature is is this here?
And also you couldn't really see the mouth at the time. It was
just like the silhouette of it. I'm like, it's a whole new alien.
But yeah, the Arbiter and their there little mission there to find the
Halo it and like, from the Arbiter's perspective, just give me some clarify
clarification here, Like he thinks that it was the High Arcs that like showed
them that vision, right, and like it's this is part of the mission
to like basically just go away from what's it called High Charity to to find
the Halo or or like like what happened there, because it happened in last
week's episode when they're when they're going to High Charity and then just the Halo
Ring pops up and then that's what really deviates their mission to get out of
there. Yeah, so I feel like seeing the Halo Ring, obviously you
have McKee and Arbiter that see that, and McKee was trying to plead with
Arbiter to kind of let's go out, let's find the ring. We're gonna
do it. And I feel like that's because she knows that if she she
goes up against the hierarchs, she's not going to be able to plead her
case anymore because for whatever reason, she can't use her ability to touch the
artifact and activate it anymore. And I feel like that's some of the profits
that want her to do and if she kind of goes out there front and
center, it'll be exposed that she doesn't have that power anymore because I'm assuming
she lost her virginity or something and she can't use it anymore us, because
I have no other reason why to suspect she has lost that ability. So
keeping it kind of one on one here and even Kurtana kind of helping fuel
the fire a little bit to arbiter and make him think, oh my God,
like yeah, McKee, you have the power here, and really kind
of convince the arbiter to kind of defect against the hierarchs. I think that
you have this this priest here, who his name is. I think his
first name was like udo im Dama, which I thought he was related to
another elite and Halo five Guardians juelim Dama, who is like the that's a
whole other story, but he becomes like a Storm Covenant leader. Very cool
character, but they're not really name Yeah, no kidding. So you have
this priest who's not buying into the ship that McKee's spinning, but obviously the
arbiter is, and that whole kind of twist allegiances and infighting. I'm a
sucker for that. And you see that happen many times at the Covenant,
whether it is like the Banished or it is the the the Elite rebellion kind
of stuff like that that's going on. There's so many different things that are
happening. And so when you see this briefly and the arbter is talking like
my brothers who choose to follow like the true way, and he just turns
and just fucking like kills the one a lead. I was eating all this
shit up and I hate them. I was actually enjoying this because I don't
I was eating that up too, though, because like it looked cool.
We had multiple energy swords popping off the endoma care like the priests, Like
do they have priests like that, like throughout the Halo series, like with
the Red Cloak they have. I've never seen one like that in a Red
Coach before. I mean, there's different types that hold different positions in the
Council and with the Hierarchs and stuff like that. But just to see him
like this, it was really that's something new that I'm not familiar with.
Maybe it's in the extended books and comics that I've never I've not read yet,
but he was super cool. He was like sass like the design,
Yeah, you have the mini like energy sore with him. I liked it.
He he had some sith Lord energy too with that hood on. I
quite liked it. Yeah, I I'm I guess one thing I feel weird
about with the Covenant is it kind of it feels very small scale to some
extent, because we have these scenes where they're glassing planets and whatnot, but
it's not like we're really seeing, like we're just kind of singing the beams
shot down. We had that one shot that I can remember where like all
those Covenant ships like rising through the fog. I think that was an episode
one maybe, And so at some points we are seeing like the scale of
it, but then most of it is like scenes like this where there's like
Max ten to fifteen in a room hanging out, and so I like this
idea that there's factions kind of in between them. That is something that's inherently
interesting. But I don't know. I guess I haven't been given enough content
from either side, and I don't have that scale yet, and it's hard
for me to kind of differentiate between some of these Leak characters, Like I
know, I can tell who Arbiter is at this point and this other guy,
but like I don't know anyone else, So I don't know, it's
hard for me to really feel like, Okay, I understand both sides of
this argument. Fully, it's really just like I don't know the Arbiters with
McKee and the other people aren't. And that's kind of the extent that I
feel like I'm invested in the story at this point. So I will say
that this is a very interesting point to leave off the episode, not just
for the artifacts, and that's a very cliffhangary thing. Also, I mean
McKee is like touching it too, so like, what is that gonna do
for powers? Is it because chiefs touching it at the same time, presumably
that will activate our powers and kick it into motion again, I'm assuming that's
something to do with it. But also just like from assuming the end of
this fight is like Arbiter and McKee are the only ones left and Arbor killed
all of them. I don't know if there's multiple factions within there, if
it was just Arbiter killing all the other ones, but I that's compelling to
see like what those two factions are looking like after this altercation and what it
leads to going forward. I don't know the idea that like Arbiter and McKee
could be like these lone wolves who are going off to find the Halo on
their own or maybe that's not what it is. Like I feel like I
once again I don't have like all the info there to make a decision yet,
but I think it's a it's a decent setup for next week, and
we have a couple episodes left, Like I hope we get more of this
Covenant stuff because I think it is to me a lot more compelling than like
whatever the hell Kwon's doing in the show right now, And like I don't
care about Kessler and finding Kessler, Like I would happily cut some of those
sides, those other side storylines to get more of this Covenant stuff. So
I know that's inherently those shots are gonna be a lot more expensive because of
all the CGI to just do those scenes. But I hope we can see
a little bit more of it in the next couple of weeks, because yeah,
it was a fun a couple of sequences here we had in this episode.
Yeah, no, I I completely agree. I think anytime that we
can maybe peer more into the Covenant lens and just just figure out more so
what's going on with them, I would take that over Soren and his wife
looking for the child. I like, just every time that they went to
them. I'm just like, I feel like I can pull up my phone
now and just like not really pay attention because I just do not care about
those characters, you know, like of course, you know, parents missing
their son. I feel like that is an emotional tie, but for for
where it lies in this show, it's just it's not something I'm interested at
all. And man like I keep forgetting about Kwanha and like this this like
shaman character that she's that she's like just chasing like every time it goes to
him, like is that Halsey, Like like who is that? And then
it shows like the old Woman. I'm like, all right, laws,
like she never met the old Woman. It doesn't make any sense why she
would be seeing there. Oh just you Waite Taylor. It'll be revealed.
It'll be revealed in the finale. She's gonna she's gonna kill the arbiter.
One of those things that doesn't feel like, you know, it's not the
A plot, B plot, c D. It's like a Z plot.
It's like so weirdly like disconnected from everything else going on in this show so
far. So hopefully in some way they tie it together or just give its
own satisfying arc. So even if it is out existing on its own and
at least connects in some way, but it's weird because it just feels so
unhalo like and yeah, it's not really seemingly connected to our main plot or
B plot any of the other plots in any way. So it's a really
weird inclusion. I mean, I thankfully at least there wasn't a ton of
it a ton of it this week in terms of screen time. But I
don't know. I don't know what they're gonna wrap up in two episodes in
that one either. Yeah, I don't know anything else that we mentioned.
I got a few few notes. I got one to One other line that
I just scratch of my head on was when here and Goosky and Ackerson are
just conversing and she's just like talking about tea like from eod food again and
like goes off about like how like the method of how it got from like
Earth to here, and then she finishes off as like, yeah, this
was made lab on level four and I'm just like the dialogue of the show.
It just seems like they're really trying to like like tantalize us with some
great one on one dialogue between two characters, and they just always fall flat
for me, and that whole substance with the tea did not work. And
she does weird flex too, because then she's kind of like Agresson's like,
oh when she tells the truth. But then she's like, but you know,
I told them to make it here. You know, you want to
know why. It's like, what are you fucking hinting at? Just weird
like power tripping and all of her all of her dialogue. Yeah, and
maybe that's what it is. They're just trying to make her seem intimidating or
something like that, and they're like, well, we don't have any other
actual like content for her to talk about, so let's just make it about
fucking food. I guess that's relatable. I can't stand it. Kessler turned
being turned into Spartan. That's an interesting dynamic. And it's funny because my
brother in law he text he texted me on Tuesdays like Taylor, I figured
it out. Kessler is gonna be taking He loves the show. He fucking
loves I see him at Family Shocked. I don't know. I don't think
he does. I'm sorry for our negativity. I know, I know.
I try to be I try to be positive because he genuinely just loves the
show. And so when I see him at our family dinners every week,
he's like, oh, what a great episode, What a great episode.
I'm just biting my teeth, like I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Like
wear are the suits? I try to throw a little bit in there.
I like that you change it to biting my teeth instead of biting my tongue.
And I like that. But he predicted that dinner. You're just like
staring at him. There's no but he predicted. On Tuesday, he texted
me while at work. He's like, Taylor figured out Kessler. The Uns
got him there. I'm gonna do a Spartan. Soren's gonna go in there
and boom like big battle. And I'm like, oh, well I didn't.
I didn't text him right away, And sure enough I watched the episode,
like many, He's fucking right. They got Castler, bitch did it?
I like that. It was a Tuesday text. It was like the
whole week. He's like racking his brain, like God, what could it
be. He's got like all his charts and like grab a whiteboard, writing
all these wires, like I got it, I figured it out. It's
great for him. I'm glad. I'm glad he's enjoying it. He's enjoying
it. Yeah, I wrote this, and I quote, so Kwan is
out fucking gallivanting on a military planette. That's what I wrote. As I'm
quoting myself, there's a quote from the show. I'm like, no,
I had a big problem with her just walking out and she's by She's just
yeah, gallivant. Take all of a sudden, these these guys start just
shooting like no tomorrow at her. So she's very like she shouldn't get head
shot. Said that was soalthy. That was another scene I was just laughing
at because it's like it seems like they were they were trying to have like
this old woman that she's seeing these visions of like it's leading her somewhere,
and then she sees these soldiers come in and it's like okay, like the
old lady warned me, I'm gonna go tell the rest of my crew.
And that is not what happened, because the next scene, like they're just
like open firing on her. I'm like, oh, my god, she
did not use like that advantage that she had to an advantage at all.
She just oh, yeah, they're coming, they're coming. Oh they see
me. Okay, I'm gonna run now. It was just I didn't really
understand the point of that except for just to start action. And that's yeah,
that's a good reminder that, like, if we think about this crew
that all teamed up in the last episode after all this shit that went down
at Reach, it's pretty funny how like how quickly they pivot this episode,
where within like the first five minutes episode, after the after the sequence with
Kai, they're like, Oh, where'd Halls you go? They're like,
oh, yeah, she's gone. It's like, oh, okay, I
guess halls he's gone. And then yeah, at some point she was just
like, oh yeah, you guys go look for Kesser. I'm gonna go
do something. And then he goes off the Onyx based Kuan's like miles away
at this point, so like they just immediately split up, have no plan.
I assume they have no way to communicate with each other either, no,
you know, a rally point if there's an emergency. It's just like
such a shit show in terms of their game plans here, they're not helping
each other out in any way. And like when when Kuan goes down the
well and like meets Halsey, they're they're they're going through like the darkness there
for a little bit, and she's she's saying to Kwan like like you just
re really changed Chief, like he was never the same after he met you.
And they keep coming back to like I guess it's supposed to be like
a strong connection and bond amongst those two characters, but like they've had almost
no screen time together and like no real dialogue even when they meet, like
uh yeah, it was just last last week's episode, like just no effort,
and like, I I don't know. It's like looking back on the
show, I feel like Kwan's inclusion into like the main story that's going on
with Chief and like those characters, it deviated so much with especially just the
inclusion of I don't know this this woman that she keeps seeing And we'll see
how they how they tie it back, you know, by by the end
of this season, and I guess just going forward. Yeah, another note
I got, uh Soren referenced Battle of Thermopoli when his wife's like Sword,
what's going on? What is this place? And Sore is out to lunch
like Thermopoli. That's that's the reference to what they used to show the Spartan
two's was the Battle against three hundred Spartans against the invading forces, the Battle
Thermopoli, the Little Last Stand. You know. Check out that Zack Snyder
movie. It looks like I don't know if it's accurate, but on IMDb
it says next week's episode is titled Thermopoli. Really okay, suits confirmed?
No suits says right there, do not expect suits. Yeah, door closed.
When the guard shot it, Chief as he approached, she gave him
a wave and then oh yeah. So this this made me laugh because when
Kai was fighting Pablo fighting Chief and like had him down and Chief just kept
getting back up. Immediately he was channeling his his Batman dark Knight voice,
like the Christian Bale like dark Knight voice, because he's he gets up like
where's the girl that up with? What's on the other side of the gun,
Like he's full Batman here. It was really funny. Get Ludy too
and just beating on him. He's just like bleeding and like smiling like he
literally is like the Joker or something like just the super villain. The subtitles
said, laughs, so he was laughing at this point too. Goddamn.
Yeah, Cortana just like cheese. And then no, I guess we know
too that Kuortana is I guess the sleeper cell. So Parangoski wanted her to
be working under cover with the Covenant to kind of like feed them secrets and
yeah, and like maybe this was discussed last season. I can't quite remember,
but like with Cortana, is she just like is she a santient being
like she's just a super AI that can think for herself, because like,
does she have her own allegiances? Because right now it seems like she's just
Team Chief all the way. And then she's doing her duty for Parangosky,
which in turn is having her like kind of a double agent with McKee,
right and the Covenant. But then because like as soon as that's over,
she's like, is my duty to you over? And it just seems like
she wants to run to Chief, although I guess by that point she's kind
of already with Cheap Chief. I'm trying to remember the order of sequences there.
I thought she was distracting Parangosky, so she could kind of join up
with Chief that Yeah, but yeah, it's hard. It's hard to say,
and there's it's definitely out there in the games and the books, the
level of like intelligence that Cortina has. As far as AIS go, she's
definitely one of a kind. She's I put her ahead of every other AI
because she was made with brain tissue from Halsey, So that's definitely a canon
factor. But at this point in time, we should be seeing other ais.
There were, there were a lot more other ais, and then AI
started popping up all over the place after the fact. But it's just it's
weird that she's the only one. I'd like to see some other ones that
have appeared too, and and whatnot. But yeah, she she was She's
designed for Chief. And that's something you learned too, very briefly, least
in Halo five Guardians, is that they developed these AI systems to help with
Spartan's socialize socio social pathic like they lack social skills, they do not have
the proper means of that kind of like social connection with people, and so
the AIS were able to serve as a method of them having that social companionship
to kind of help keep them more combat efficient and and and so forth.
But no, we got a fucking pill in their neck. That's the alternative.
So do you think, uh, do you think she was whispering the
chiefs or in chief's chief's ear to like get wave with them, like like
do that right now? Yeah, smile while you do it. Yeah.
I forget was the was because I remember us talking to last season about that,
that bit about Halsey's brain tissue being part of cortonas and way, is
that was that confirmed in the show or is that something you're just pointing from
the canon. I believe that was in season one when they because they had
the clone right, it was a flash clone of herself that they used to
I do remember that being covered at least uh yeah, yeah in the live
action mm hmmm, yeah, just it. It gets to a point where,
you know, we talk about this show as much as who spend time
watching it, and so sometimes I may be mistaken, like Taylor filling me
in with lower stuff for like what actually happens in the show. True that
the sound pretty familiar. Now, so the law is better, The law
is better, but yeah, anything else you guys got I think that wraps
us up. That's all for me, That is all for me. Well,
we'll be back next week fighting alongside Chief and Arbiter at Thermopylis, So
stay tuned. We'll see you next week and have a good one. Bye bye bye