If you haven’t read my coverage of Halo: The Series thus far, click here to read my critique of the series, plus all previous coverage.

After last week’s stupendous episode, I hoped this episode would double down on the improvements to its pacing, refocusing most of the story to be about what all Halo stories about Master Chief’s humanity: his struggle with the atrocities that created them. And it does!

This week’s plot mainly concerns the aftermath of all the revelations from last week. The survivors from the firefight return to Reach, where John finally confronts Dr. Halsey about the revelations he’s been having.

Naturally, this story allows the show to dig even deeper into the political intrigue going on behind the scenes and reveal the darker mysteries the series has been hinting at all season.

However, to prioritize the intrigue and cement the revelations, characters like Riz, Kwan Ha, Vannak, Kai, and Soren’s storylines are either absent or present themselves in an appended manner. While this isn’t optimal for a show that only has three more episodes left in the season, I understand why.

All of this is wonderfully directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Moments of political intrigue that could easily have been a snooze fest are fascinating to watch. There are seeds of doubt sowed in each scene, and is only supported by the superb writing by Silka Luisa and Steven Kane. I was never bored, and some moments engaged me much more than the storytelling of the games.

This week’s episode features some great performances from Pablo Schreiber, Shabana Azmi, and Natascha McElhone.

For Pablo, there’s a scene where his hand shakes that had me absolutely floored. The viewer is in his mind, and it’s terrifying. I won’t try to diagnose what he’s feeling in this moment, but the closest analogy I can make is the feeling I get when I have an anxiety attack. Because of this overwhelming feeling, I would suggest anyone sensitive to things like these either read about this episode or skip it entirely.

Shabana’s performance is subdued but ever-present. She can convincingly take these moments and pull you in with her line reading. One moment where this comes through is in a conference, where she is required to vacillate between analytical to demeaning in a few seconds. There’s another example that I won’t spoil where her reading is full of sorrow, but with the touch of regret weaved within. Her performance is fascinating, and I hope she gets more screen time in the remainder of the season.

Natascha’s performance is, no surprise, great. She embodies the Dr. Halsey I imagined while playing Halo: Reach way back in 2010. She’s cold and calculating, but someone you can at the very least understand through her innate desire to help humanity evolve. Sure, Dr. Halsey may be entirely incapable of emotion, but she’s trying her best to act like how people expect her to.

The two performances that weren’t doing it for me were the performances by Olive Gray, Kate Kennedy, and Charlie Murphy.

Starting with Kennedy’s performance, while she’s not the focal point of the episode, she’s still a big part of the overall story, so when I saw her performance in the episode, I was stunned at how wooden her performance felt. She gets some big news, and her expression is a half-smile like she’s happy. It’s a head-scratching performance, and I hope as her storyline develops, her performance improves.

With all the others, they are the focal point of the episode. However, their performances are just as wooden as Kennedy’s. I don’t know if it’s the writing for these characters or what.

For example, for at least the third time in the season, Gray says a variation of “saving humanity at the cost of your own”. I could get it once or even twice, but the third time makes a pattern. With what seems to be an expanded role for Dr. Keyes, I hope her performance improves.

As for Murphy, I can’t identify the root problem with her performance, other than her character seems to not use logic in situations that require one. For example, Makee fears the worst has happened, and instead of asking politely or explaining why, she instead attacks a guard. Not the best plan. We’ve seen too little of her character to have an investment in her performance. I hope this improves, but given the trajectory of her performance in the season so far, I doubt it will.

If you are unlike me and cut plotlines and wooden performances don’t bother you, this week’s episode will provide you with the best adaptation of the Halo story.

★★★★.5

Episodes one through six of Halo: The Series are now available to stream on Paramount+.

Until next time!