2023/10/06

I never played the game, I’m not a gamer. I did “know” of the game and when it was announced about 9 years ago that a TV show was on the horizon. I was intrigued by it, but gaming has never been my cup of tea besides perhaps some racing games I played long time ago. When I initially started to watch the first episode, I was tired, so tired I slept through half of the episode. Because the first quarter of the episode didn’t grab me and I slept through most of it, I reasoned that it probably wasn’t that interesting. Six months later or so, a friend asked me if I had seen the first season. When I explained why I didn’t, he suggested to give it another try, so I did. I purchased the first season Blu-ray and a few weeks ago I started watching the 9 episodes in 4 weeks or so. I know, for most of you this is a very long period for just 9 episodes, but I am unable to do it faster with the time I have left to watch my rewatches. I have to say I was positively surprised! In fact, I really enjoyed it a lot! I was also impressed with the soundtrack, as if I was watching a blockbuster feature movie.

Cast:

Pable Schreiber is Master Chief aka John 117, he is the lead character, he is a Spartan, he leads a team of 4, these Spartans can handle almost anything. Master Chief later also referred to as the blessed one. After he came into contact with an alien artifact, he begins to remember things, something that never happened before, normally these guys are almost machines-like guys. A device called a pellet makes sure this stays that way but after all has experienced, Master Chief decides to remove it from his back. Natascha McElhone is Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey created the Spartan super soldiers. Her methods are not well liked among her colleagues, she doesn’t care for rules as long as she can do what she thinks is right. When the Spartan soldiers were just children, she was the mastermind in kidnapping these children from their families. With these pellets the Spartans don’t know and don’t care about this but after John and later on colleague Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy) removed their pellet, they start to remember. Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) is a young 16-year-old girl from the planet Madrigal. She is the daughter of rebel leader Jin Ha (Jeong-hwan Kong). After an alien attack, her people are all killed, except for her. Spartans, who at that time weren’t friends with the rebels, come in and slaughter the aliens but for her people it is too late. Master Chief decides to take the only survivor, Kwam Ha, with him.

Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) was also raised in the Spartan program alongside John-117. They were close friends, but at one point Soren wants to escape because he became self-aware after one of the dr. Halsey’s experiments where Soren’s left arm become deformed and partially useless. He convinced John to come with him but when it was time to go, he didn’t want to go with Soren and gave him a five-minute head start. When Master-Chief picked up Kwan Ha, he pays Soren a visit because he doesn’t trust the government regarding this girl because they are planning to kill her. He asks Soren to protect her. Dr. Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray), daughter of UNSC Captain Jacob Keyes (Danny Sapani) and dr. Catherine Halsey. She is a brilliant scientist, is commander at FLEETCOM, in charge of testing and evaluation in Lab Kappa. She is later promoted to the leader of Spartan research to replace Dr. Halsey…her mother. Cortana (Jennifer Taylor) is an artificial intelligence who serves as an advisor to the Master Chief. Cortana is a creation of Dr. Catherine Halsey. Cortana has a mind of her own and thinks differently than what is expected of her. She becomes an ally to John. Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) is the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence with the United Nations Space Command. She oversees sectors two and three. She definitely is against Dr. Halsey’s way of working. Makee (Charlie Murphy) was an orphaned human who was raised by the alien Covenant, and she shares their contempt for humanity. She was a Blessed One, capable of activating ancient artifacts that are critical in the Covenant religion. She and John-117 become very close, both being blessed ones.

Master Chief leads a team, consists of Kai-125, Riz-028 (Natasha Culzac), Vannak-134 (Bentley Kalu). Kai-125 definitely is the most interesting characters of his team. I also want to mention Burn Gorman who (again) plays a nasty guy Vinsher Grath. We know him from Torchwood, Forever, The Expanse and many more, he is a power-hungry guy who wants to control Madrigal. When Kwan Ha comes back to Madrigal, she is a torn on his side and he wants her gone.

Hard to compare:

I am trying to compare it with another SCI-FI TV show but that I find very difficult, but the first season really has impressed me, I’ve enjoyed it a lot. It is not an episodic series so every episode contributes to the overarching storyline, not one filler episode and I rated every episode higher than a 7.5/10. Every episode seems like a mini movie, big episodes, heavy action, and that great soundtrack which guides the stories. There are quite a few compelling characters which make the story more interesting. I particularly like Dr. Halsey, because she has her own agenda and she’s not afraid to speak her mind about it. Most of the episodes are around the 50 minutes, only one is around 40 minutes.

Episodes:

Well, as always it is difficult to really appoint a favorite episode when it concerns a full season story-arc. I really enjoyed all about equally, it was just one big story divided over 9 episodes. I would like to highlight 3 episodes, first one episode 5 “Reckoning”, where Master Chief finds out that Dr. Catherine Halsey has kidnapped him from his parents when he was a little kid. When a 2^nd artifact is found, which is cause for the Covenant to send Makee. I thought episode 7 “Inheritance” was a good episode where it is all about Kwan Ha and Soren. It was set mainly on the planet Madrigal. And the season finale “Transcendence”, was a very exciting episode where we witness heavy fighting between the Spartans and the aliens. Dr. Catherine Halsey is captured but she turns out to be something else and Cortana takes the side of Master Chief. As I said, all 9 episodes are very entertaining, it never bores, it is just a fine piece of SCI-FI television. It fits right there in the list of “The Expanse”, the various “Star Wars” TV shows.

Final Word:

Well as I said, really enjoyed myself. Wasn’t sure if was going to write a blog about my first watch but decided to try it. I can only recommend it, it’s a high-quality piece of television. Season Two is due to arrive sometime this year, I don’t know if the writers’ strike has any influence on it, I hope they were already done for the most part in the beginning of July 2023. Instead of 9 episodes, season two will consists of 8 episodes. Finally, I would rate the first season an 8+/10.

Screencaps taken from: cap-that.com