Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Halo’ On Paramount+, A Series Based On The Hit Video Game About A Rebel And A Soldier Gone Rogue

It’s hard to believe that the original trilogy of Halo video games came out over 20 years ago; that’s a lifetime ago in the video game business. It was one of the first games to actually have a plot, where characters have story and dialogue, and its enduring popularity is due to its well-drawn story of rebels, super soldiers, and people who live in ethical grey areas. That means there was a lot of material to work with for a series adaptation streaming exclusively on the new(ish) Paramount+ streaming service.

HALO: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An overview of a desert environment. “Planet: Madrigal. Tier 4 Heavy Water Extraction Planet. UEG Outer Colonies. Year 2552”.

The Gist: The 150 or so people who populate the outpost on Madrigal have been fighting the ruling United Nations Space Command (UNSC) for decades, because they think their rule has been oppressive. The UNSC has been fighting back with their highly-trained Marines, but in rare cases, some of the veteran rebels have fought super soldiers called Spartans, who are so skilled and heavily armored, it’s impossible to kill them.

While out with her friends, looking for some plants that can help them get stoned, Kwan Ha Boo (Yerin Ha) sees ships in the distance. But it’s not Marines or Spartans; its massive soldiers from the Alien Covenant, and they start laying waste to the colony. To combat the aliens, the UNSC sends down a four-person squad of Spartans, monitored by their creator, Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Natascha McElhone) and led by Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber).

After the Spartans defeat the aliens, Kwon is the only one left alive; both her father, a rebel leader, and brother are killed in the battle. When the squad explores the cave the Covenant were using, John touches an object that lights up and gives him something that Dr. Halsey never anticipated: He sees memories of his childhood.

As he transports Kwon back to UNSC headquarters on the planet Reach, John is shaken by what he saw. When he gets orders to eliminate Kwan, John decides to spare her and make an escape — including showing Kwan who he really is. In the meantime, Dr. Halsey defies orders from Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) to eliminate John, despite the fact that he’s gone rogue.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Halo is based on the popular video game, and it tries to adhere to the look and feel of the game, down to scenes where shot from the perspective of a first-person fighting game. The story itself isn’t all that far off from the Star Wars franchise, though the forces of good and evil aren’t nearly as clearly-defined in Halo.

Our Take: Our approach with Halo was  from the perspective of someone who never played the game and has no idea who the characters are or what the plot is. Would we get lost in all the world building showrunner Kyle Killen and co-creator Steven Kane had to do, or would they assume that the game is so widely played they could skip most of the exposition?

Coming from that perspective, we appreciated that the first episode didn’t get bogged down in some of the world building that trips up other sci fi series. There’s no paragraphs-long graphic that sets up the scenario, and no alphabet soup of acronyms and character names to keep track of. In fact, the battle in the show’s first 15 minutes, where everyone on Madrigal but Kwon is annihilated by the Covenant, sets up the relative simplicity of the story nicely.

It leaves room for action and characterization, which helps story-focused weirdos like us get into what’s going on, and it’s not just limited to John, Kwon or Dr. Halsey. There’s Miranda Keyes (Olive Grey), an UNSC officer tasked with negotiating with Kwon. She’s close to her father, Captain Jacob Keyes (Danny Sapani), but resents the fact that her mother, Dr. Halsey, has chosen her work with the Spartans over spending time with her. And there’s intrigue with the Alien Covenant, where a human named Makee (Charlie Murphy) is considered the “Blessed One,” who reads Earth literature to get to know her enemies better.

The complications are kept to a minimum, though; there’s plenty of time to go deeper for all of these characters. Especially intriguing is Schreiber as John; he has to play a guy whose memories were erased as he was genetically modified to be a Spartan, but now has to deal with these fragmented memories coming back. We don’t see his face until well into the first episode, but Schreiber makes John more than the automaton he’s been made into, even from the first minutes he’s on screen.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As John takes over the shuttle craft and escapes capture with Kwon on board, Dr. Halsey has a tiny smile on her face, strangely proud that one of her own has gone rogue.

Sleeper Star: If you recognize the voice of Cortana, the computer that helps monitor John and the other Spartans, then you have a good ear: Jen Taylor played Cortana in the video game. She also voices the Cortana virtual assistant in Windows (which was named and modeled after the one in Halo, another Microsoft product).

Most Pilot-y Line: When Kwon leaves her fellow teens to help her father battle the Covenant, she leaves the hatch open. The point is moot, we guess, because the Covenant soldiers are strong enough to rip open the front door of the bunker where the humans are hiding, but you’d think that someone with her level of awareness wouldn’t leave such an obvious opening.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Halo sets up a complex story with a relatively simple first episode that kept our interest throughout.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.