Television Halo: Season 2 (Paramount+) - Official Trailer

[Greatoneshere]

51 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

Maybe I need to re-watch the beginning of season 1 and I just didn't pick up what they were giving us, but I feel like they did a terrible job of setting the stage. Episode 1 we had Spartans, including Master Chief, saving (or at least attempting to save) insurrectionists from Covenant. It was really not clear if humanity was still in some civil war, what exactly was happening with the war with the Covenant, to what extent MC was already some legendary hero, or why. I think some of that is their failing, and maybe some of it is that it conflicts with the games.

 

I'm fine with dropping the audience off in media res, but I feel like that works best when things are simple and it's easy to get your bearings. You don't watch the opening of Star Wars and wonder who the good guys are. It felt to me like they wanted to make Halo more complex in different ways than the game did, when I think it would have worked better without all the mess. So I completely agree with you that the "UNSC does bad stuff" threads were so weirdly the core of this show, arguably until the very end of season 2.

 

I agree with you - they did not set the stage well at the beginning of season 1. They basically hint that the outer colonies and humanity at large are not that aware of the existence of the Covenant, as if they haven't already been fighting them for 27 years like in the games. The revolutionaries consider it UNSC propaganda to quell unrest. But the Spartans and UNSC are fully aware and have already been fighting them for some time (for how long is never mentioned, but it doesn't feel like 27 years, that's for sure). And yeah, I don't know why but the show loves the UNSC is bad and McKee plot threads a lot. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

One characterization it sounded like the show changed that I am not too fond of is where they have chief out of armor so much again and now trying to come to terms with what happened to him as a child and whether he even wants to be MC. As if he’s Bruce Wayne looking at the Batman cowl wondering if he still wants to be Batman. 

long rant

 

John 117 came to terms with it as a child. Like the night he was taken and ran through orientation. He felt a sense of purpose and from that point forward was raised on military discipline, the others in the Spartan II program the closest thing to family he has. But at the end of the day he knows they are all soldiers and the mission comes first. The armor is only symbolic to US the audience. To MC it is no different than an assault rifle in that it is a military issued tool to complete his missions. It was also how he initially saw Cortana. Only after the events on Halo seeing her as a squad mate. It was a very interesting way to explain a 2 dimensional character.  

 

For some reason it became not ok for MC to be a 2 dimensional character. I had read that the actor for MC and his agent ensured it was in his contract that his face was shown throughout the series. But that could just be conjecture as I never read an industry or investigative article saying it. Either way he seems vehemently express how necessary it is despite examples where it most clearly is not. 
 

But the people involved with the show can’t wrap their head around the fact that Halo is not about John. It is about the war and world around John. John is an instrument of war moving through the world to win the fights against the threats of humanity. 
 

all this is fine for a Tv show or movie. Nobody serious wants or needs John Mcclane having deep reflections on whether he should be trained and so ok with killing as a Police officer. John Wick didn’t need deep introspective thought by him. “Yeah, I guess I’m back” in film 1 was it. So if you don’t want to make a show that isn’t just MC in the armor blasting his way through Covenant bases or ships on missions or as part of an effort to hold important UNSC points of interest, then don’t make the show with MC as the central character. Make it another Spartan on Blue team, an ODST or a group of ODSTs, a Spartan 3, or even Dr Halsey.

 

Dr Halsey is a more suitable character to be the lead because she was closely involved with all aspects of the Spartan II program and kept up with their deployments. Regarded by most if not all Spartan IIs as the closest thing they had to a mother. She had political enemies within the UNSC upper leadership who wanted their own super soldier program to be adopted and wanted to shut her down. She’s the character that can ask and asks of the audience to answer the questions; is it right to sacrifice your humanity to save human civilization? Can your prior sins be absolved by future needs for what you’ve done? 

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

One characterization it sounded like the show changed that I am not too fond of is where they have chief out of armor so much again and now trying to come to terms with what happened to him as a child and whether he even wants to be MC. As if he’s Bruce Wayne looking at the Batman cowl wondering if he still wants to be Batman. 

 

Dr Halsey is a more suitable character to be the lead because she was closely involved with all aspects of the Spartan II program and kept up with their deployments. Regarded by most if not all Spartan IIs as the closest thing they had to a mother. She had political enemies within the UNSC upper leadership who wanted their own super soldier program to be adopted and wanted to shut her down. She’s the character that can ask and asks of the audience to answer the questions; is it right to sacrifice your humanity to save human civilization? Can your prior sins be absolved by future needs for what you’ve done? 

 

I mean, unfortunately one has to accept this is a show, not a movie, and to cultivate any sort of character arc for John-117 over the course of the show you have to have his helmet off to emote, etc. This isn't a one off movie like V for Vendetta, Dredd, etc. That being said, I agree with you, to make all this child soldier/spartan stuff be at the forefront of season 1 (he's moved on from it in season 2) is strange, as if they wanted to bridge the Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn web series and the current timeline. The Spartan program stuff is some of the better stuff on the show because at least that stuff lines up better with the Halo games but yes it's weird the show focuses on that. It doesn't come off as Bruce Wayne-like or comic book-y, but it is there.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I mean Pedro Pascal emotes just fine with a Helmet on. Master Chief in Halo Infinite emotes just fine with a Helmet on. And there are ways you can convey emotion with cinematography like lighting, camera angles, camera moves. Then there’s the music too. Is it unorthodox to have a character who’s face you cannot see for an entire season? Sure. But they chose the franchise and character. 
 

to quote gamers: “skill issue”. 

[Greatoneshere]

2 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I mean Pedro Pascal emotes just fine with a Helmet on. Master Chief in Halo Infinite emotes just fine with a Helmet on. And there are ways you can convey emotion with cinematography like lighting, camera angles, camera moves. Then there’s the music too. Is it unorthodox to have a character who’s face you cannot see for an entire season? Sure. But they chose the franchise and character. 
 

to quote gamers: “skill issue”. 

 

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it was highly unlikely that they were going to do it with Halo. You're naming a one in a billion exception. I'm not saying Master Chief doesn't emote just fine in the games, I'm saying you need to look at it from a producer's perspective - they're stupid and will assume audiences can't connect to the character and so here we are. It's the same stupid reason why we have a human character for the Covenant POV or why the Transformers movies or the American Godzilla movies have random, usually uninteresting human characters as the main POV rather than just focusing on the monsters or robots with no need for a focus from a human perspective. I don't agree with it at all, but that's how studios and producers think. He does have his helmet on a decent bit, if that's any consolation, but it's nowhere near all the time.

[Keyser_Soze]

You can't kiss and have sexy times with a helmet on.