A very quick recap.
After an attack on planet Madrigal Master Chief and the Spartans found a Covenant artifact. Realising its importance to the Covenant that attacked the planet and after Master Chief’s interaction showed a somewhat unwanted response the artifact was taken to be studied by the UNSC.
Master Chief saves the only survivor of the attack on Madrigal Kwan Ha and hides her with the only Spartan he knows who left the program as a child Soren – 066 who is now a bit of a rebel leader of sorts. Kwan isn’t a fan of this and convinces Soren to return her to Madrigal to join up with the rebellion and retake the colony from the new leaders.
Master Chief (John) returns to the UNSC to face the consequences of his actions to flee with Kwan and get the artifact studied. Dr Catherine Halsey has always had a soft spot for John and decides to use his connection with the artifact to understand its power better. She introduces him to Cortana and AI system that resides within the Master Chiefs brain stem allowing them to interact whenever necessary.
John realises his need for his memories to fully understand what the artifact was trying to tell him; Master Chief removed his inhibitor chip with the help of Cortana to better access them but not before being seen by another Spartan.
Caught up? Good. Let’s get into Episode 4
Episode 4 kicks off with a flashback to our favourite spartan as a youngster in training. The Spartan training and conditioning not to mention enhancements robbed the Spartans at a young age of the ability to feel emotion or have memories. During this flashback, we hear a young John remember his home in what we can assume is one of the first interactions between the future Master Chief and Dr Halsey.
Flash forward to the present and Master Chief and Dr Halsey are travelling towards his home planet to look for another of the artifacts hoping it will help them further understand what they are leading them towards.
Now that Master Chief has removed his inhibitor chip it is refreshing to see him start to experience certain things for the first time. Schreiber really goes deep on this one and the robotic performance of him as the Master Chief melt away for a more human look. It is a refreshing change to also see the interaction between him and Cortana as their relationship begins to move into the territory we know from the games and books.
While this is all happening Kwan and Soren have made it back to Madrigal. Kwan is set on reuniting with the rebellion that fought alongside her father and believes they are the key to removing Vinsher Grath from power.
Episode 4 further expands on the interwoven stories of the first 3 episodes. We find out more about the early life of the Spartans, not only John but Vannak – 134, Riz – 028 and Kai – 125 all get more screen time and an insight into their characters and what they went through to become the Spartans they are all while continuing to progress their story arc within the Halo universe.
I do hope I am wrong but the plight of Kwan and Soren feels a little forced and like an add on. With now 4 of the slated 9 episodes out of the way it will be interesting to see how the plight of Kwan and those on Madrigal plays out.
Once again the episode finishes with me wanting more not only from the story but with so many questions to be answered. Will John and Dr Halsey find what they are hoping to? How does the actions of this episode impact the other Spartans and where to next for Kwan and Soren?
Keep it locked here at The Novastream Network for your weekly updates on all things Halo.
