The episode opens with a younger John-117 attempting to stop his friend Soren-066 from defecting from the UNSC. In the main canon Soren was a recruit who underwent the same augmentation as other Spartan IIs except his were not successful, thus twisting his body to the point he was denied active service. Because of this he was relegated to a desk job, despite his insistence he could still serve. Eventually, he becomes resentful of his position and falls into the Insurrectionist ideology from a technician named Partch before defecting.

This scene is important as in the previous episode, MC and Kwan escaped the UNSC forces attempting to kill Kwan, the two of them going to where Soren’s located present day to seek refuge. From the moment MC and Kwan appear, the scene is tense with all the Insurrectionist ready for a fight. By far the best part of the scene is when a forklift operator blocks MC’s path only to have MC push the forklift out of the way. It does a good job of not only reminding us as a viewer but also showing the characters that Spartans are badass. I like Bokeem Woodbine, I think he’s a bit of an underrated actor. But I don’t like Soren. Most of the conversation is Soren telling MC that he’s a slave and could be free if he wanted to. There’s no good back-and-forth with the dialogue, no good conversation defending the other’s actions or beliefs. Yeah, we get some info about the artifact but reveal’s nothing special.

One downside of the episode is that despite the story not much happens. There’s a power struggle between Halsey and Parangosky that was introduced in the first episode. With MC on the run, Halsey uses it as an opportunity to gain the upper hand. In all honesty, there’s no reason for the animosity between the two. And it just feels like contrived BS. The Spartan program works, it’s effective; so where’s Parangosky’s resentment coming from?

I also couldn’t help being annoyed at constantly seeing MC without his helmet on. It just feels like I’m watching Batman with him wearing his cowl less and less. Or like the 1995 Judge Dredd film, where it turned out to be more Sylvester Stallone than Dredd. That’s why the 2012 reboot was so highly praised because Carl Urban played the character of Dredd. So yeah, every time Pablo Schreiber removed his helmet it just felt like a slap in the face to such a devoted fan of the series. Nothing against Schreiber, but it’s just the writing. The writing is trying to humanize the character but how can the games do a better job of humanizing him without removing his helmet?

It’s also pretty damn slow. Nothing really interesting happens and even though I like seeing characters and subplots being fleshed out, I found nothing compelling happening. On one side, there’s Makee. Because of the discovery of the Forerunner artifact and MC’s acquisition of it, the Covenant make it a priority to get it back. Makee volunteers to retrieve it despite push back from the Prophets. But I’m actually curious as to how. From our understanding she’s spent most of her life with the Covenant. So, despite her research into human culture, customs and society, she’s going to stick out. And how is she going to infiltrate one of the most highly secured facilities in the USNC. We don’t get much insight into the character, but I do recognize that it’s an interesting thread to pull on.

Another element of the episode is that Cortana takes some focus. Or at least the idea of the character. In the Contact, Halsey and Parangosky have a conversation about the AI, we get several shots of a bald, naked woman who’s seemingly a clone of Halsey. Cortana is one of the most recognizable characters next to MC in the games, so her introduction has to be on point. However, like MC currently, it seems this incarnation of the character will probably be different. Halsey’s explanation of Cortana sounds more like a mind control device than an actual interactive AI.

In the end, Unbound was how I felt about the episode. I felt no real connection nor compelling feeling. There was some potential here and there but nothing really edge of your seat. Despite that, it was still decent. Unbound gets 2 out of 5.