My Brutally Honest Thoughts on Halo TV Series EPISODE 2: Unbound - Is It Good? 

A kinda meh 6/10 for this one from me friendos. To have a filler episode be only your 2nd episode is kinda rough, and some of the liberties/retcons made I am NOT a fan of at all. In fact I might even lower that to 5/10 tbh, still mad about Reth

Thought this was an awful episode. The fact that Chief now knows, before even discovering the ring, that Halo is a weapon, is just such an awful creative decision -- Halo CE is all about discovering this incredible and strange superstructure, and trying to figure out what it is... and only at the end does he try to destroy it... now what? He's going to go in and try to plant a bomb on it lmao? It's also really frustrating how every conflict is moved from large scale shit to interpersonal conflict -- select humans as 'blessed ones' reclaimers, Covenant led by a human, Cortana is illegal, etc. So disappointed in this show.

“Don’t think any of us expected to see nudity on high charity of all places” The Arbiter: “Was my suffering a joke to you?”

It’s very annoying that Chief has more time without his armor and helmet on than the opposite

My favorite was chief walking around in an hostile environment with his helmet off... talk about being a Halo show that couldn't feel farther from Halo.

"regret, regret, regret" "dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards, we regret coming to earth, and we most definitely regret the core just blew up our raggedy ass fleet" - one of my favorite lines from Halo 2 :P

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed the Covenant door sound effect. Very cool even if it wasn't accurate to the games

I feel like the Arbiter will show up at some point, but instead of being some sort of major character, he'll just be some sort of high-ranking Spec Ops Elite dispatched to kill Chief after he manages to get aboard High Charity. Will probably end with a cool fight between the two, and when it looks like Chief might actually lose, Covenant girl shows up & kills Arby because of her & Chief's "special connection." I really hope they came up with something a little less contrived, but from what we've seen so far, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Agree with you on everything here. As a major lore fan I found myself wanting to yell in anger at so much of this episode. I know “iTs iN iTs OwN tImEliNe” but if they aren’t going to follow the basic story principles of the game the show is based on then why call it Halo. As a fan I just feel like I’m getting the middle finger while watching this. It doesn’t feel like the show was made for us.

I find it hilarious that the directors felt that Master Chief needed to have his helmet off to be humanized & empathetic, yet its already been a couple years since we got Mandalorian, a show where our main character spend the vast majority of his screen time: Masked- AND it was recived better than just about any Star War live action adaptation since Lucas' Star Wars.

I love that you kept the BRUTEally pun ever since your first Infinite marketing reactions

I'll never understand why writers find the need to steer away from pre-existing source material. All you needed to do was adapt the first game as a tv show and it would've blown people's minds. Or adapt one of the books. Or one of the graphic novels. Or set something inside the universe in a part of the lore we've never explored before. But no, they had to go and make a brand new timeline? And change all the characters? Why is this even called Halo? You could change some names and Chief's armor and I would have no clue this was supposed a Halo show unless you told me. If you're changing so much, why even make a Halo tv show? Why not make your own orignal series?

Love seeing my favorite franchise get turned Into everything via: bland, creatively bankrupt, and made by people who think they know better than those who've been with the series since the beginning. Gotta love it.

I don't understand how 343, the production team, AND FANS are okay with the helmet being of to make him "human and relatable". HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE RELATABLE OR HUMAN!! He is a brainwashed, augmented, and wears armor that costs more than a single star ship! You where supposed to start to relate to him as time goes on not from episode one.

Sneak peak of the halo TV show writers coming up with this plot: “I think Halo is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills aleins and doesnt afraid of anything”

I'm still confused about how this got made the way it did. This show has been anticipated by the fanbase for over a decade. All they had to do is put a poll out on social media or do a reverse reddit ama to find out what the fans wanted.

That Glock has an attachment that is just there to hold a spare mag. In the Rubble you can see a TON of regular modern day weapons (as you mentioned) but with ridiculous attachments, such as an MP7 with a 12x scope. I'm also fairly sure the rifle used by the soldier at the start of the episode (outside with Soren) was using a Malyuk, but can't say for certain.

I just don't understand the direction they took with this, like "let's make a Halo show" but it doesn't have even remotely anything to do with Halo. Just generic sci-fi.

It's really a shame they think Chief has to has his helmet off to be relatable all the time. Plenty of emotion can be expressed through body language alone, and can sometimes be even more powerful than just having Chief go " :( "

This episode was 90% "PUT THE DAMN HELMET ON"

They better not replace Thel. You want literally the entire Halo fan base to actually hate you? That's how you get literally the entire Halo fan base to actually hate you. I hope that if that is the direction they're going, someone over there realizes what an absolutely insanely absurdly monumentally cataclysmically stupid idea that is and get it rewritten.

They dropped the ball less then they did in episode 1. But just because you dropped the ball less doesn't mean that you didn't drop the ball. Like the episode started strong in my honest opinion then the mid point happened and the ball carrier got their head smashed in with a gravity hammer, then someone picked the ball up off the ground and slowly carried it to the finish line.

It looks like everyone except for the writers is doing their best on this show. The acting is great, the CGI is good (for a TV show), and the show overall is just a general step up from other Halo movies and TV shows. But the writers are really the ones bringing this whole experience down.

10:30 "I feel like what they're trying to do with this is create a contrast between the insurrectionists and the UNSC" - I wish I had that much faith in the producers' intentions. Personally, I feel what they are trying to do with this is to cut the costs associated with making more UNSC weapon props or through adding CG weapons, exactly the same motives for all the human characters replacing Covenant ones. I agree with you though, it has bugged me since the first episode. Especially the AK's as I feel any AK's still in use in the 26th Century should at least have polymer furniture rather than literally 500 year old wood.

Tbh “Innies” are the least exciting aspect of the Haloverse for me, especially when compared with the more fantastical Covenant and Forerunner societies to explore. It’s for good reason that they’re kept to at most a footnote during the Halo games, especially Halo Reach

If you've played the original triology and loved the plot, you may not like this. The Silver Chief is strange

The nudity scene was kinda odd tbh, of all the things your expect to see frm a halo tv series, nudity is not one of em(especially on HIGH CHARITY, THE COVENANT HQ OF ALL PLACES)

I think the Innies having modern weapons is mostly because they didn’t have enough props to arm all of them. I think even differentiating from the UNSC is just a cheap excuse to save money

The mandalorian does it really well in terms of keeping his helmet on and still emoting and conveying the emotions required, only removing when absolutely necessary, shame this show just hand waves it away for face = emotion

I had the same vibe when watching episode 1 about not every human is a reclaimer I’m really hoping it doesn’t

I’m truly confused on where they find these writers.

Imagine if that elite suddenly started speaking english with Keith David's voice

Why is nobody questioning that a captured human by the Covenant knows so much about their plans with halo and the blessed ones? Were the covenant guards talking casually about their plans in the covenant prison within the range of captured enemies? and didn't Miranda say she was making progress in understanding Elite Language? how does this guy understand them so well if even the UNSC doesn't even know? and how did he escape? BRUH. The covenant doesn't seem that menacing anymore, they feel like dumb bad guys.

Stalwart Dawn is also the frigate that Sergeant Major Duvall was trying to get help from at the end of the mission Exodus in Halo Reach.

Adapting to TV requires a fair amount of changes, but this show is just screwing with everything for absolutely no reason. This isn't halo, this feels more like an expanse ripoff

I haven't watched the show but basically what I'm hearing is that legit halo fans might not love the show, but people who don't know halo, this show might get you into it. It's a shame they didn't look at the games lore beyond what I assume was a cursory glance.

12:17 The Stalwart Dawn was also the UNSC Frigate that Sergeant Major Duvall requested air support from (to no avail) at New Alexandria during the Fall of Reach. In Halo Reach's campaign level Exodus.

Man…. As someone who has played every game since 2001 , went to midnight releases and really fell in love with Halo… I feel like us as fans are always being pushed to the back.. why do studios feel the need to have to drastically change things to appeal to “new” audiences… because I’d be willing to bet the audience of halo fans in general is already huge, so do it for them and they can spread the word for you if the show is good..

Idk, to me from all I've been hearing up until now, sounds like the writers just dont know what they're doing, such a shame

This is what's wrong with Halo. Everyone who's gotten there hands on it after bungie has tried to make it into whatever they want it to be while disregarding what makes it good and ignoring what we actually care about.

The problem with her being a "replacement for the Arbiter" is that, at that point in time, Thel'Vadam didn't have the mark of shame yet, he was still a shipmaster, not the Arbiter. So she could be a "arbiter", just not the one we know and love... Yet again, they are completely disregarding the official lore, so who knows. I still think it was a massively missed opportunity to make the show non canon.

In terms of only certain humans only being able to use forerunner tech, I think that they maybe taking the Stargate approach. As there was an ancient human race, which interbred with modern humans. Because of this, some humans had a stronger connection to ancient human tech. Or, it could be that only certain humans can only activate certain forerunner tech because they were part of the military or ruling class.

I really did not like how apparently everything that was done to the Spartans can basically be undone by not taking a pill that he has in his bag. Why couldn't the kid just be adopted and why couldn't he have just said that it was a lot of hard work to undo the mental damage. Hollywood seems to love having one magical solution that fixes everything like how they will have a massive enemy Fleet outnumbering them ten to one but then they find out that it's all being controlled by a single ship and if they blow that up they win

One thing that bothered me is that in episode 1 we see those fancy mjolnir equipping machines when silver team gears up, but in this episode Chief seems to somehow remove his own armor offscreen. Soren is also seen with and without armor with no explanation as to how that was done.

Sorens house being a small rock in the middle of an asteroid field with the only access being a cable car that can get snapped by any rock flying through is one thing, but to LEAVE HIS FAMILY IN THAT?

I was disappointed when the Mandalorian took his helmet off, and I'm really not all that invested in Star Wars. I am, however, very invested in Halo. Hearing that Master Chief takes his helmet off is simply a deal breaker for me. There's a mystique with the Master Chief. Never knowing exactly what he looks like. His armor is him, and he is his armor. They, together, are what make him the Master Chief. Seems I remember something in one of the earlier books about the Spartans wearing their armor so much that they actually become more comfortable IN their armor than out. It may sound like a petty complain to some, but for me... no. Just no. I will absolutely not be watching this series, and I've been a diehard Halo fan for nearly 20 years. I'm not sure why Hollywood feels the need to remove the helmets of iconic characters who are KNOWN for never exposing their faces. They could've played with this concept for a long time. Like the end of Halo C.E. when Chief removes his helmet as he's flying away, but you just see his helmet beside him, you don't actually see his face. The ending in Halo 4 when he removes his armor, including his helmet, but the screen fades to black as it's coming off, so you never see him. They could've littered those "almost" moments throughout the entire series... but they choose to pop his top in the first AND second episodes? It's just stupid IMHO. I don't currently have Paramount+, but I was planning on signing up just to watch this show. Now... nah, not gonna happen. Just my two cents, of course. Maybe I'm a purist. Maybe I just have my own ideas about what Halo and Master Chief should be, and I'm struggling with change... IDK. Either way, everyone else can watch the series. I haven't watched a single episode, and I'm already disappointed enough to not care if they even continue making it.

There is no reason for the Human/ Covenant war in this series. Zero The fact they are using a human to interact with the artifact begs the question why they didn't invite Humanity to join with them? Clearly the prophets are not hiding the fact humans are forerunner... so why is there even a war in this series???

The script is just plain meh, its generic sci-fi. It's honestly just Halo in name only with some nostalgia bait in terms of visuals and sound design. There's a lot better sci-fi shows out there right now, never mind Halo.

6/10 is way too generous, personally I think it only deserves as high as a 4/10

the helmet of thing seems to be more for the actors sake and less of the character. Just like in the Mandalorian the actor wants to be seen and remembered for the role they are playing and not just heard

"Hello, I'm here to fix the space cable tv." Dude looks like a cable tech. My Halo 3 helmet is only sentimental, but the monetary value just plummeted for a 2nd week in a row.

Totally agree with ya here. I’ll add we needed some got dang combat! This is Halo. Usually we’re planning and shooting or getting shot at.

Just watched the second episode too. Loved the explanation in it for those who do not know Halo and it wasn't painful for those who might know some. Yes he needs to put his helmet back on. Would liked to have seen more in this episode and am fed up with being left on a cliff hanging. Also didn't Chief take a condor not a pelican. Pelicans can't slipspace can they?

One of the first, before even watching the video I'm giving a 5/10 rating on this

Love your videos You know so much about de halo universe and its interessting listen to you Greetings from switzerland

In Halo the Flood, chief hated taking his armor off being in his normal uniform.

It seems these creators didn't learn what made something like the mandalorian great. A faceless actor is intriguing and makes their dialog and actions more important than constantly seeing his face.

If I had a nickel for every time arbiter has been screwed over by 343 after halo 3- well, I’d have too many nickels to count.

Dude that intro animation is badass 🔥

I’m not really seeing this as a real halo show but I’m still kinda enjoying it as it’s own thing just to see how this pre halo game timeline goes

Being honest here....this episode was a huge disappointment, they barely gave us any info on that human living in the high charity, besides stuff we already assumed were true about her. If that's the treatment of who i assume will be a main antagonist then i'm really concerned about how they are going to represent the flood, if they even include them in the series. I am also kinda annoyed that we are yet to see the iconic grunts, i love seeing the little guys.

Im losing interest in the show tbh. I saw it as a joke when they had a Spartan II walking around with no armour, in public, face in the open for all to see.. Forward Unto Dawn looked so much better and it was so much shorter. A Spartan that's actually tall, holds himself like an actual spec-ops level soldier. Moves and talks like one. These Spartans though.. just nah

Bro your a great critic and you definitely know your stuff, wish you could work for them to tell them what they need to do and not do. Keep it up man, you have great content!

The Stalwart Dawn was also mentioned in Halo Reach in the mission Exodus. I know the UNSC contacted the Stalwart Dawn to help them combat the corvette.

A point about the innie weapons, idk if its mentioned in the books much about a civilian weapons market? Ofc military weapons can be stolen, but are "regular" firearms that arent 500 years old mentioned much?

“Filler episode” means just that, filling weekly time slots to make a certain number of episodes for a season. Using an episode to do world building and character development is not a filler episode

Well considering that i played all the halo games, and that the timeline of the series is set long ahead of halo 2, makes me still hope that I will be seeing the Arbiter in the Next seasons, and that she is just an additional character in order to have a human in the covenants for them to manipulate and use in order to activate forerunner tech, also because the Arbiter is essential in halo 2-3 i want to hope they really don't fuck it up.

OMG totally agree on the armor with Chief

I thought it was a good episode. Not Great... But it was really focusing on Master Chief and his commitment to the UNSC... showing how it was tough for him to do what had done and why he would be so quick to return. Showing his relationship with Soren is also adding to his human side for the viewers to connect better with him. This was a Necessary episode. You need to establish things like that as well as the motives of the UNSC and the Covenant. Let's not forget that there are people who have never played or read anything Halo before watching this. I will say.. I want to see Grunts and Jackals soon though... Maybe even see a Brute or two to establish they are around.

I refuse to watch the show because it’s not cannon. “We didn’t look at the game” is equal to we didn’t study the characters were going to make a show about. It’s just lazy. The fact they said “we didn’t want to be limited to the current story” is infuriating the Halo universe is so expansive they could have gone anywhere with it. But all the did was pick up the box of CE and went off that. Just another nod to tell old fans to piss off.

I Love How We’re One Episode in and Already Getting Filler

The Stalwart Dawn is actually another reference too. In Halo Reach, the Stalwart Dawn assists in the evacuation of New Alexandria. You can hear the captain request an airstrike on the Covenant Corvette over Starport Exit through the radio during the turret section.

After I watched the first episode I instantly hated it. As someone whose read most of the books, nothing in this mess a show makes any sense at all. The righting is so lazy it makes halo 5 look good in comparison.

I think you need to be realistic about telling this story and be aware of familiarity bias. There’s no reason for master chief to keep his outfit, armor and helmet on at all times because no person would be comfortable living their life like that. He’s not din djarin, there’s no compunction he has to keep his face covered. Master chief always wears his helmet and armor in the games because it’s a narrative device used to help you as the player identify with him, oh and it also means less to animated in cutscenes, DUH! Fans need to realize that simply doesn’t translate to live action, and if master chief is adapted realistically, he’s going to be unfamiliar

Stalwart Dawn was also the Frigate called in to provide air support during the Halo Reach mission Exodus.

Seeing Chief having an existential crisis by screaming like Batman was just fucked up

I like how people are all "they need to do ___ to make it better" when everything is already shot and done. They can tweak an edit, but the show's in the can, we'll get what we get this season.

Personally really enjoyed the episode. Main thing to keep in mind is that this isn't canon so things will be switched up here and there from the characters being different. Also, I've always been more into the more mature style of halo (1-3) than 4-infinite, not to say they're bad but the mature variable adds a touch of realism to it. 8/10 for me. I do agree with the rebels needing more weapon variety to them.

You know, the happy-go-lucky attitude of Soren makes sense since Spartans are supposed to be very good at compartmentalizing emotions. It's how they're able to push through excruciating pain. Also, humans are remarkably good at 'forgetting' major trauma in their lives without extreme exposure to indicators of the original trauma

The Rubble works with Jackal pirates. Soren also says he himself is a pirate to his son. This may explain the covenant door sound effect in that setting.

I must be in the minority. I’ve liked both episodes and don’t have an issue with helmets being on/off and the different timeline/storyline. I view it as a Halo inspired tv show and an happy with what ive seen. Is it everything I’ve ever wanted? No. But honestly, it seems better than I originally was expecting.

I feel like the spartans in this were too robotic if thats possible for a spartan. I looke at fedrick, linda and kelly I see a family. spartans are normal personalities without their armor. they have likes and interests, I just don't really see the individual soldier personalities for these silver team spartans sadly. And the established character rewrites of Keyes, Hood, and wreth switch was just meh. Feels likes season 1 is trying to be a weird Alt universe hybrid of Fall of Reach, Cole Protocol, and the Evolutions short story with Soren

The part in the episode where silver team was escorting chief after turning himself in, it’d be cool if the spartan gave chief a spartan smile

Technically, the Arbiter was naked on high charity in halo 2(I say that like you don't know that already). But yeah, wasn't expecting that.

Every time I see Chief with his helmet off I just think "What did they do to you?" Or "EW, NO, PUT IT BACK ON!" It's so hard to describe the fact that it is ***genuinely painful*** to see the face under the helmet. This iconic character fans have connected with over the course of the series being, in a sense, mocked and forced to show something we have come to recognize as a staple of the character. I am literally in pain from this, send help.

I kinda like the different direction they are heading. The show is dropping a lot of esoteric and transhumanism vibes. I have no doubt in the future episodes and seasons the chief will become the hero we know in the games, this is just like a different origin story.

12:26 Idk if you missed this or just didn't think it worth mentioning, but UNSC Stalwart Dawn is also the frigate which is heard over the radio being unable to provide air support to the evac ships in the Reach mission Exodus. I thought this was a cool reference because clearly in both timelines Stalwart Dawn is stationed on Reach.

I’m pretty sure Hidden is wrong on the reclaimer thing, pretty sure core canon does not have every human being able to deal with forerunner artifacts?

i just finish watching it, its huge improvement than first episode that was too fast ...and showrunners had been change to a better person to take notch down and put more focus on the lore than actions happen to fast and too short....what i like about this episode, it shows more detail on planets, our future government, and alien leadership system that this take place on novel that is way before halo 1 game, but it different than the games...story is well written to bring many fans from all scifi series been made like the expanse, startrek, and many star wars fans might be interest in this series than direction disney taking starwars they don't want...i feel this show is lot better than amazon expanse...it go more depth that i never seen before in any games i been playing since 20 years ago, and this is more a compliment than bad feedback from halo fans are only into gaming...for me, i am not gamer to say this...i came from other scifi series from amazon prime...as expanse fan...i can understand why halo fans rather want game narrative but as cinematic ...it wouldn't work with this series ...it has to go slow since they already have 2 seasons made and working on 3 and 4 ...this gonna be 10 seasons in total to keep entertaining us more than rush product idea that showtime want that many many believe directors could not do it that way in one movie when story is so deep into the lore with alien factions and human colony factions

I’ve been a Halo Fan since the first Halo game came out in 2001. I’ve read a lot of the books and played all the games. You can’t expect things to be the way you want them to be. All these die hard fans commenting when they didn’t even watch the show. Has anyone ever told you, “you can’t always get what you want.” I actually like the show, yeah there are some mistakes with CGI, yeah chief takes his helmet off, and yes Reth isn’t a jackal, so what. If you go into anything with a fixed mindset in life you’re 100% going to be disappointed. Have an open mind and just enjoy the show.

I could be wrong, but I think they will change the Arbiter into a generic Elite with a higher position in covenant military. Considering that the human covenant girl just took Arby's place. On that note Master Chief. Have to say, never saw the undersuit except that one scene from Halo 4 or during the promo movies. The actor still managed to portray his robotic brainwashing through subtle motions. Like, when Sauron was hugging his wife and kid Chief just looked on like a machine. And when he asked Sauron to keep Kwan on the rubble, the way chief nodded putting on the helmet sold the idea that chief didn't really know what to make of his recent human awakening so he went to the only thing he could trust. His programming. The moment chief put on the helmet he transformed from a human into a machine. And this I think will be the significance of master chief's helmet in this series. Chief will convey his humanity helmetless, while when he is in machine mode he will put on the helmet. Finally when Dr. Halsey held John's hand, he guided his right hand away from the smiley symbol on his left hand, showing that she wanted him to forget about his recent human awakening and give in to his programming. It's a subtle hint.

I haven't seen anybody mention the "mind the gap reference" along with the "not a natural formation" clearly some of the writers know what they're doing

Still maidenless

To many Things that make no f***ing sense And Lady gaga talks to the prophets like a equal is also nonesense This is not halo This is like stargate with better cgi but worse storytelling 🤣

Even in the Lore, Not all humans could activate forerunner tech.

I wonder if the one off line by Miranda, on how she is breaking the saangheeli language, we will see the covenant start speaking English or other language we understand when she does break it

The one thing I liked a lot more about the second episode is how they show how halo is a UNIVERSE and not just an empty ring. Halo infinite shrank the universe so much that people new to the franchise would not understand all the different places. That’s one thing I liked about halo 5, was that they showed lots of different places.

My favourite franchise of all time is Halo, and as a diehard fan i’m not fucking watching this. This isn’t Halo, and my standards for the franchise are astronomically higher than this mediocre wet fart of a show with the Halo name.

Did anyone else feel miffed that Soren was just chill with Chief being there, even after he knew the UNSC was on their way? its implied the UNSC doesn't know about the rubble, and with the UNSC's greatest asset just walking around it, you'd think Soren would have AT LEAST mentioned "Hey man, you should leave before you endanger this massive community I worked hard to put together".

Surely they could have made a spin off of Halo following marines or something. Chief could pop in from time to time. Maybe they hear him on the radio as he's taking down something huge. The Marines would see him as a mythical hero in the war. It would be cool. As the story progresses, more and more of the chief is there. I've only played the Bungie games, but that sounds like a good show. I'm giving myself chills...