After the explosive ending to last episode I was very hyped to see how they’d follow it up in this week’s episode of Halo. There’s a massive battle, dozens killed, some of the supporting cast injured and the UNSC recovering Makee. So much potential, and how does this episode start. With John acting like an unstable psychopath and nearly killing Halsey. Look, I get the show’s trying to explore him remembering his past and regaining his emotions but come on. She’s basically his mother and even though she’s done some terrible things he’s not going to completely unravel. Same thing with him attacking her on Eridanus. It would be different if he was more inquisitive as to why and more distant to her, while still performing his duties but he’s just on some more crap. I’ve stated it once and I’ll state it again. I do not like this version of MC not just because he’s not MC but because he’s such a poorly written character and actions like these are the reason why.

There’s more BS happening in the UNSC beauacracy concerning the fate of the SPARTAN program due to the loss of the artifact and Kai and John’s actions. I”m not as against the politics here but the reasoning behind some of the conflicts between the characters is just so forced. The first few episodes were Halsey possibly losing the funding for the SPARTAN program (a program that has proven highly effective against human forces and Covenant forces), yet Parangosky constantly threatens Halsey. Why? Now, the conflict is Parangosky losing command of the Spartans and putting them under direct UNSC command (which is weird because of their extensive careers I’d somehow thought they already were).

Now, let’s talk about the highlight of the episode. John and Makee finally meet, the two Chosen Ones have a sit down. So how was the conversation? Awkward to say the least. One, why would Makee ask only to talk to MC? That just seems really weird because it’s so direct. It wasn’t like she was talking about the artifact, and he knows about it so he was brought in on the questioning. She literally asked specifically for him. If that doesn’t reek of suspicion. Then it’s the conversation itself. If she was a prisoner this whole time she probably wouldn’t be as knowledgeable about Covenant culture and language. I mean yeah, unless she was taught she probably wouldn’t be as fluent with their language as she is. Plus, I just thought about the fact that John’s not arrested for nearly killing Halsey. There’s even a smaller conversation between Halsey and Miranda that this comes into question. This is probably one of the few times Halsey’s shown any vulnerability to Miranda.

We finally have our sitdown between John and Halsey and the conversation was decent enough. Definitely better than John’s with Makee. I do like that Halsey isn’t emotionless in this scene. With most conversations with her regarding her decisions she’s pretty black and white, but here, she shows more gray. Knowing that her actions have hurt John and a lot of people she is remorseful. Natascha McElhone does a good job with this scene, balancing the scientific nature of the character with her humanity. John’s reaction seems better handled this time around. And he even talks to Kai about the situation. Halsey gets screwed over by Parangosky (who didn’t see that coming) but she still finds a way to get into things thanks to her creepy assistant, an easily manipulative daughter, and Cortana.

The episode ends with John damn near killing himself (and Makee due to their bond) while touching the artifact. What I don’t get about the artifact is how come when he touches it it’s just his memories. It’s not like he sees different parts of the universe where other artifacts are. It literally shows us nothing but his memories. That is until it gives us our first look at the Halo ring.

The Verdict: This episode definitely lacks the energy of the previous but there’s some decent moments. In terms of storytelling, I guess the episode was okay. Yeah, there’s a bunch of political drama that seems farfetched but that’s what the series is banking on. However, there are two highlights that were done okay in this episode. The first being John and Makee meeting and the second is John confronting Halsey. Could’ve been done better but they were decent enough. Solace gets 3 out of 5.