The eagerly-awaited Halo television series is almost here and I recently watched the first two episodes of the show.
Based on the popular video game series the show opens with the introduction of a colony that has had conflicts with the UNSC and is bracing for what they believe will be a new wave of combat with them.
At the same time, a group of young people explores outside the colony and site a ship which in turn leads to very brutal and graphic combat which shows the series is not going to be family-friendly and will use a very adult tone to the content.
The attack is coming from a group of aliens and not the UNSC and they brutally dispatch all they encounter leaving few survivors when a group of UNSC Spartans arrive and effectively eliminate the attackers.
When the dust clears only a young girl named Quan (Yerina Ha) has survived and when an artifact with unseals abilities is found, she is taken by the Spartans to return with them to their base.
Naturally, this sets a chain of events into motion as Quan is a loose end that the UNSC command cannot allow and she is ordered eliminated which does not sit well with Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) who takes things into his own hands and puts him in conflict with his superiors.
The show may not have many overly familiar names but does have some solid action and good effects which should keep fans of the game happy with the adaptations. Some may have issues with the choice to show Master Chief with his helmet off but the action was graphic and engaging and gives the show a dimension that I was not expecting it to have.
While it remains to be seen how the series will unfold and if they can maintain the various threads that have been presented, what was shown was better than expected and should become a must-watch show for fans of the game and the genre.
Watch Halo on Paramount+ on March 24th.
