I’m going to come out and say that the first season of Halo was an absolute trainwreck. Outside of the production value and the action scenes (the few that we get) the season was riddled with nothing storylines, terribly written characters, garbage writing and girl bosses. Now the second season has been released and reception has been nearly as bad as the first season. But here’s our review.

The first story line follows Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) and Silver Team who are on a planet in the Branta System called Sanctuary where the UNSC are trying to evacuate the civilians due to impending Covenant forces. The scene isn’t bad initially with the soldiers trying to convince the people who don’t believe the soldiers due to many of the sins of the UNSC. Initially when the leader (an elderly woman) refuses, it makes sense. But when MC and Riz (Natasha Culzac) step onto the scene she starts spouting spiritual nonsense that’s best reserved for the Covenant. It’s stupid and boring and reminds me of the unnecessary crap that the writers keep trying to push into the show.

However, the necessary scene follows MC ascending a mountain side (Halo Infinity style) to find a group of missing soldiers. Why’d he go it alone when Riz was with him? I don’t know. Why did the missing soldiers go onto a mountain with zero visibility due to a thick fog? No reason given. But the scene is pretty tense with MC finding a group of soldiers who say they were attacked. Then we get the best scene in not only the episode and probably in the series. A group of elites are using the fog and their cloaking to take out the soldiers. MC takes on the group in an absolutely brutal battle killing multiple Elites. It’s fast paced, visually it looks great, and the action is top tear. This is what fans of the franchise want to see. None of that lovey dovey crap. None of that useless drama. We want to see MC kicking ass and taking names. Of course, most of the soldiers are picked off before the fight and the one that actually survived was completely useless. But after the battle, MC and the survivor are surrounded by another group of Elites who just let them go seemingly because of a robed figure standing in the distance. If this is some foreshadowing that Makee (Charlie Murph), a Covenant agent in season one, is still alive after Kai seemingly killed her, it wasn’t done right. And the fact that MC keeps hearing her (like MC kept hearing Cortana in Halo 3), it just seems too obvious. If it is her then the writers don’t need a special reveal. Just show that she survived. But I don’t believe it’s her cause that’s the writers want us to think.

Anyway, the Covenant glasses the planet, and the scene is brutal. Another moment that shows that the writers can find a diamond in a hill of garbage. We explosions, people evaporating in a flash, just an air of desolation and hopelessness. They try to be all emotional with the elders of the civilians allowing themselves to be killed as some moral and courageous thing, but it just comes off as contrived.

The biggest aftereffect of this is when the team gets back and while debriefing meet Halsey’s replacement, James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan). From the moment he steps on the scene you know what you’re getting. He’s a know-it-all, smug, overly ambitious, thick headed, and dismissive jackass he has no other motive than to antagonize MC. He and MC have a conversation three or four times throughout the episode and each time MC’s warnings are dismissed. Not only do these conversations seem meaningless and just show how big a dick the character is but they kind of come off as a red herring that Ackerson is a double agent, possibly working for the Covenant (I’m calling it now). But anyway, this along with the UNSC lying about what happened on Sanctuary and MC’s feelings about Makee have him doubting himself.

The Spartans themselves are given more time personality (due to them easily removing a pellet from their back and overcoming decades of military training and indoctrination). Like my complaints in the previous season, it just feels way to rushed with no struggle for any of the Spartans. I will say I’m glad to see them interacting more. Interesting enough, they come into conflict with Spartan team Opal which seems odd because the first season made it seem like Silver Team were the only existing Spartans. I’m glad that they’re more but it was never actually shown or even established.

The second plot follows Soren (Bokeem Woodbine) who’s having it rough with his wife as she doesn’t feel like Soren ain’t the big bad that he used to be. Personally, Soren comes off as more cool than badass. But the scene doesn’t make me for her. She’s married to a criminal, and her argument doesn’t make sense and seems to just be a driving point for subplots. She complains that he doesn’t treat his crew right, then changes it to he didn’t give them a cut of some bounty he received in the first season (though he did all the work). Then she changes it again about Soren focusing too much on finding Halsey. Then she changes it to none of the other families respecting (fearing) him anymore. Then she just wants to leave. She’s just all over the place and it just seems so contrived. Fine, I can give her his possible obsession with finding Halsey, and possibly the threat of the other families or resentment from his crew. But writers, sometimes too many things going on can be a bad thing.

Soren has a son, Kessler, and there’s a good moment where Soren decides to pursue Halsey due to a possible lead. But I liked that he knows that as a father he needs to be there for his family but as a leader he has to take that sacrifice for the good of his “family”. I was confused when they started talking about a monster that Kessler’s been worried about. Where did this come from? At first, I thought that perhaps the boy had seen an Elite or Brute or something. But we find out at the end of the episode that Kwan Ha is still alive and apparently still being useless. Why is she telling this boy about a monster?

Anyway, Soren ends up going with his pirate crew to find Halsey, when they find this wrecked ship. I mean the ship looks like it Unicron stepped out of the Transformers’ universe and took a bite out of it. So, Soren and this unnamed dude with the information board the ship and it turns out that the unnamed dude was a bounty hunter who led Soren into a trap. Honestly, I didn’t see it coming though his constant questioning about Hasley was annoying though it could’ve been a red herring due to some of the things he said. Before Soren’s capture, we see his crew abandon him and I couldn’t tell if it was because they saw the ambushed coming and ran, or they helped set him up (which is more likely the case).

Halsey is missing in action, MC still acts like a big baby instead of a highly experienced and decorated soldier, Keyes is there and given nothing to do and like the first season, has no agency. And what makes it dumb is that Danny Sapani is terrific actor and despite my reservations about the race swap, the man can easily kill the role if he had better material. I’m glad Parangosky is gone though she does come back behind the scenes to help MC as Ackerson’s presence as a nemesis continues to grow. Funny thing is, I believe she’ll make smarter decisions and be more cunning after losing her job due to Halsey’s scandals than she did as the commander-in-chief of ONI. Cortana is briefly brought up in a quick sequence in the beginning and in passing in a conversation between MC and Ackerson.

The Verdict: In the end, Sanctuary isn’t as bad as it could’ve been but it’s about what I expected. Of course, the highlight is the battle in the fog and the destruction of Sanctuary. Everything else just seems, okay but the poor writing is what kills the momentum. There are worst episodes. Sanctuary gets 2 out of 5.