Transcript
Speaker: Hey, welcome back, listeners.
Speaker: We are here to talk about Halo Season 2, streaming on Paramount+.
Speaker: We are at Episode 6, titled Onyx, and we're going to dive right into this.
Speaker: Rob, I watched the episode again today.
Speaker: I actually have...
Speaker: watched it twice.
Speaker: Now the first time was kind of in bits and pieces.
Speaker: So I really sat, watch this episode.
Speaker: Um, and yeah, it's still, it's more of the same for me.
Speaker: There's a lot that I really didn't understand.
Speaker: I actually thought there was a lot of bad shots in this episode.
Speaker: Um, like a lot of bad filming in this episode.
Speaker: Normally we really, um,
Speaker: praise some of the fights and the gunplay, so to speak, in this show.
Speaker: I thought this was one of the episodes, especially that ending where the camera work was just not what it usually is.
Speaker: I also kind of had a major issue with Cortana, her conversations with Master Chief.
Speaker: And boy, I tell you,
Speaker: this really did not, I guess the only thing that this did to give me any hope is maybe just maybe we are actually getting to the point where if they do a season three, we're away from all of this bullshit before, because this is before the first actual game.
Speaker: But yeah,
Speaker: To me, it was more of just a shit sandwich with this episode and one that I personally really did not like.
Speaker: I kind of felt going into this that I was going to like this episode more than you do, uh, more than you did.
Speaker: And I, yep.
Speaker: Safe to say I, I do.
Speaker: Um, and I understand where you're coming from and specifically based on some of your criticisms, um, and, and accurate and, and certainly valid criticisms of this series and this season so far leading up to it.
Speaker: There were certain things about this that worked for me.
Speaker: I think perhaps I've,
Speaker: done more to divorce myself from my expectations being unsatisfied overall of what I wanted.
Speaker: And I'm just kind of more taking this for what it is because really there's really like John hasn't been in his armor much this season at all, like a little bit in the first two episodes, but he's not been doing master chief stuff for a while.
Speaker: Nope.
Speaker: And that's going to be one of the things I want to talk about with you, but continue.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, so like, that's what we want.
Speaker: And we already know that that's not what we're going to get, but there was some things in this episode that, um, I was really hooked by and, uh, you know, I'm, I'll be, I'll be curious to get into that.
Speaker: Um, but I, I will absolutely understand what you disliked about this episode.
Speaker: All right, so let's, you know, I feel like we've talked about it ad nauseum, but since they continue to just put it in our face, let's talk about Master Chief.
Speaker: Let's talk about John.
Speaker: This is the third episode in a row now where we have only John, no Master Chief, correct?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: No armor, no nothing.
Speaker: And part of my problem is...
Speaker: the, we know master chief.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: You and I, we know master chief.
Speaker: We we've played through the games.
Speaker: I've loved his story.
Speaker: I've mentioned this many times.
Speaker: I worked at GameStop during the height of halo.
Speaker: I worked there when halo two was being released and it was a goddamn shit show.
Speaker: It was marketing.
Speaker: It was pre-orders.
Speaker: It was, believe it or not, folks, midnight releases when those were a thing.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And everything was Halo 2.
Speaker: This, you know, you talk about Grand Theft Auto 5, and I understand how much that game is sold, but like,
Speaker: Rob, unless you were around during that time, you really can't.
Speaker: And you saw it firsthand.
Speaker: You can't properly explain what it was like to be around when Halo 2 was releasing.
Speaker: It was.
Speaker: And I attended a midnight release.
Speaker: It was a whirlwind.
Speaker: It was incredible.
Speaker: Just and again, to be in the store and see that and having people ask what.
Speaker: When the game comes out, what are you guys doing with that?
Speaker: With that cutout of Master Chief?
Speaker: What are you doing with this?
Speaker: Can I buy that?
Speaker: Like, what are you doing with this?
Speaker: People wanting it.
Speaker: I mean, do you remember when video games?
Speaker: I mean, this had a soundtrack release, for God's sakes.
Speaker: There was a Halo 2 CD that was released.
Speaker: Like, yeah.
Speaker: I attended that midnight release.
Speaker: Oddly enough, I remember that.
Speaker: And I still to this day think the game I logged the most hours into on my Xbox 360 was Halo 2, which came out on the original Xbox.
Speaker: And I still managed to put more time into that on 360 than probably anything else.
Speaker: And it's very likely...
Speaker: that I put more time into Halo 2 than any other game I've ever played.
Speaker: It's entirely likely with the amount of time I spent in the online multiplayer.
Speaker: It's hard to describe to people because the online gaming world is so massive and there are so many options.
Speaker: But when true console online gaming, I know PC online gaming had been around for a while, but when broadband console multiplayer gaming really caught fire,
Speaker: It was predominantly Halo 2.
Speaker: That's what everybody was playing.
Speaker: And now there's a lot more options and things like that.
Speaker: You've got your Fortnites and things like that out there that everybody gets into.
Speaker: And that's maybe the biggest one right now.
Speaker: And Call of Duty certainly makes major waves every year when that comes out.
Speaker: FIFA and Madden, the EA Sports titles certainly have a huge, massive international draw.
Speaker: But Halo 2 was what everybody was playing.
Speaker: I mean...
Speaker: It's hard to describe it to somebody who wasn't there.
Speaker: And let's not forget, everybody played it without the bane of microtransactions.
Speaker: Oh, God.
Speaker: You remember what games were like before microtransactions?
Speaker: I...
Speaker: Well, just being a game that you could play out of it.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: Well, that's a that's just something for a different time.
Speaker: But so the point of all of that conversation right there was to to, you know, to listeners is, yeah, we know Master Chief.
Speaker: But part of my biggest problem with this episode, because you could start to see it.
Speaker: who the hell is master chief in this series?
Speaker: Because, oh, finish, finish his fight.
Speaker: Don't let it be in vain.
Speaker: I'm sorry.
Speaker: Unless I'm forgetting major things from season one.
Speaker: I know there's some little things, but like, who the hell is master chief in this universe?
Speaker: Because all we've seen is a guy with,
Speaker: great abs and a strong jawline.
Speaker: I mean, for the way that they are trying to rally people around and Eckerson's plan of we're going to rally around chief, he hasn't done enough in this damn universe for us, the audience, to believe that shit.
Speaker: And I'm just, I'm tired of it.
Speaker: Those propaganda posters do really stand in stark contrast to the fact that we, the viewer, have not really seen him do enough to be regarded as this, this, you know, mythical war hero.
Speaker: No, it's, it's all talk.
Speaker: It reminds me, it reminds me a lot with us getting closer and closer to this day.
Speaker: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars.
Speaker: And all we heard about, and even in Revenge of the Sith a little bit, all we heard about was Anakin and Obi-Wan's adventures.
Speaker: We didn't get to see anything as fans.
Speaker: We had books and things like that, but everything that they did that we were supposed to believe their relationship and, oh, it was so tragic for those two to fall out.
Speaker: Now, certainly they've done a lot of things to help with that.
Speaker: But yeah, like, us, the viewer, we don't see him as this, this just, oh my god, he saved us, he's done this, he's done that.
Speaker: Like, what has he done in-universe, in this show, for a casual viewer to go, why the hell does everybody care about him?
Speaker: For Christ's sakes, there's probably...
Speaker: There's got to be people who've never even seen that guy in his freaking armor.
Speaker: So who the hell is that?
Speaker: And what's strange is they still have yet in universe.
Speaker: And I and I this is still maybe my biggest problem with this season so far.
Speaker: They still have yet to really explain why Akerson just decided to.
Speaker: absolutely just give up on reach and just let the entire planet be slaughtered without any form of resistance at all, without, without trying to do anything.
Speaker: It almost feels like they're trying to do a little bit of like a false flag kind of thing where they're trying to rally the troops around, you know, out of, out of master chief being martyred and all of these, you know, millions of people on reach being destroyed.
Speaker: It's like you, you martyred all of these people to try to gin up the war effort, but
Speaker: When you were already in a fight for the survival of your species, it doesn't get more high stakes than that.
Speaker: You're not trying to generate a sympathy for a war effort against an against an unpopular opponent.
Speaker: Like it's it's an opponent who's trying to wipe you out.
Speaker: It's not somebody that's like, well, it's kind of complicated.
Speaker: Like, you know, like like like look at what's going on in the Middle East right now.
Speaker: There's a lot of sides being taken and things like that.
Speaker: Some people don't know how to feel and you know, what happens if this, what happens if that we're not talking about something like that, where, where it's a little complicated.
Speaker: We're talking about an alien species trying to eradicate humanity.
Speaker: You don't need to martyr an entire planet and your best offensive weapon against them in order to gin up support for the war effort.
Speaker: And that is so far the only thing that they have tried to
Speaker: to present as a reason why they're just like, Oh, all these people on reach me.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It was technology, weapons, people, resources, resources.
Speaker: Um, and again, I had, I had said earlier, I was actually a fan of Eckerson.
Speaker: And now I'm just like, after this episode, I'm like, all right.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You're, you're back to being an idiot as well.
Speaker: And, um,
Speaker: The simple fact, the other thing is, and again, this is what happens when it's like, okay, you have to maybe go through and you have to get to where you need to be.
Speaker: But to the viewer, again, for me, the viewer, and this is something I'm going to, this is another thing that I'm going to talk about on another review that you're going to hear from us with Ghostbusters 2.
Speaker: In terms of time frame,
Speaker: So Kai's already, Kai already turns on Eckerson.
Speaker: Like you weren't smart enough to stop for two seconds and then you sit there and you're sorry.
Speaker: You're probably going to hear this a lot listeners.
Speaker: So I apologize, but you're going to hear this bullshit from her when she confronts Eckerson.
Speaker: I always believed master chief.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Then why the frig are you with him?
Speaker: Why did you go and do this?
Speaker: Why did you just beat the shit out of John for five minutes?
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: Because it wasn't to put up a front to fool Eckerson.
Speaker: Like, I'm sorry, it wasn't.
Speaker: Like, where's the timetable for her to turn?
Speaker: Because for us, the viewer, you turned on John, you spent, what, six hours away from him, and then all of a sudden went, oh, no, I've always believed in John.
Speaker: Like, I've always been with you.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: Because if you were to stop for two seconds and actually frickin' talk to John,
Speaker: everything would have been fine.
Speaker: You would have realized that none of the shit actually lines up, but no, you're telling me, and maybe I'm missing something, Rob, because they were so easy.
Speaker: Like, maybe that's the point.
Speaker: Spartans are easily manipulated.
Speaker: They're supposed to take orders.
Speaker: They know one thing, but it's like, you've gone against that.
Speaker: This entire show, you've seen, you've shown the Spartans break free from there.
Speaker: You take orders, you do what I tell you.
Speaker: And that's the end of it.
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: To me, it's just, it was so dumb that she, in this episode, is like, no, I believe in Jon.
Speaker: Well, you just screwed yourself because guess what?
Speaker: You might have been able to help stop something about Reach.
Speaker: You might have been able to help your fellow Spartan not get killed.
Speaker: And it's...
Speaker: As you can tell, I'm so aggravated with this episode.
Speaker: I can see that.
Speaker: You're fired up tonight.
Speaker: I like it.
Speaker: So when they are trying to convince Kai that John was a turncoat,
Speaker: To me, I was very interested in that line because I could already see Kai and her confliction between being a soldier and and being a loyal friend.
Speaker: I saw that there was elements of of specifically her character journey that I was into.
Speaker: And I actually really think that she's.
Speaker: among the best characters on this show.
Speaker: She's, she's among the characters whose stories I am the most interested in, which considering that the halo games are literally about one character and one character only with like very, you know, a halo reaches about other guys too.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: but predominantly Halo is master chief.
Speaker: And the fact that the show that's about that game series, Kai is by far a more interesting character to me.
Speaker: I think tells you, you kind of, you kind of effed up a little bit when you were making this, but there was elements of that, that through the lens of how she was going to respond that I found interesting.
Speaker: And when she has to confront John, um,
Speaker: I found that to be very complex and I was really into that scene personally.
Speaker: I felt like to some extent, I almost felt like John needed her to kick the crap out of him.
Speaker: There was something there.
Speaker: I think there's a longer game there that's being played that he needed that to happen for what's going to come next.
Speaker: I think I could be way off on,
Speaker: But I think especially like as banged up as he still is, because he still is not all the way recovered from his injuries and he's barely getting around and yet is somehow still like trying to be super spy, which like, why did he think his thumbprint was going to work on that reader?
Speaker: Like, I'm pretty sure he's persona non grata everywhere in, uh, in the UNSC.
Speaker: Why did he think that was going to work?
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: But the dynamic between the two of them is among the stories I'm most interested in so far through season one and two, I would say.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, you're going to give the show more credit than I am in that regard because I don't trust them that that was really anything.
Speaker: But, you know, you have that.
Speaker: And what...
Speaker: One of my other major problems is this episode dedicates time to Quan, to Helzi.
Speaker: And my God, are we serious?
Speaker: The spiritual being guiding Quan?
Speaker: Oh, it's awful.
Speaker: Just...
Speaker: I'm tired of it.
Speaker: I'm tired of it.
Speaker: And Halsey, in this episode, and I've been giving her credit, kind of went back to that character that I don't like.
Speaker: And...
Speaker: I just love that she didn't even bother to pretend like she cared about anything.
Speaker: Quan had to say like, that was, that was kind of cool.
Speaker: I loved that.
Speaker: Like, she's like, listen, you are so insignificant to me and I am just not the kind of person that's going to care about this.
Speaker: And not only am I not the kind of person that's going to care about this, I'm, I care so little about you and your feelings that I'm not even going to bother to pretend that I care about you and your feelings.
Speaker: And that to me,
Speaker: was kind of awesome because you know what?
Speaker: I sympathize with Dr. Halsey because I too do not care about Quan Ha or her feelings.
Speaker: She was literally the audience.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: She's me.
Speaker: I'm Halsey.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I just, I was like, Oh my God.
Speaker: Like, sure.
Speaker: Whatever.
Speaker: Um, you know, we also have the, so they still haven't found this.
Speaker: They still haven't found the sun.
Speaker: Like,
Speaker: Everything side plots, all of the side plots, the optional quests, I'll call them, just were so boring.
Speaker: And so it just, it took me out of the episode because I was almost, you almost captured my interest.
Speaker: But then I also thought the acting from,
Speaker: McKee was very weak in this episode.
Speaker: Um, her sniveling, crying, Oh my God, you know what they'll do to me attitude.
Speaker: Um, I didn't like any of that at all.
Speaker: Um, again, I, I feel like this show kind of has its cake and eats it too, because again, Rob, you and I know what the Arbiter is.
Speaker: We, we know what that title, um,
Speaker: you know, what it means to us.
Speaker: Like, we don't know what it means to this show.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I feel like when I say they want their cake and eat it too, it's like, you know, there's a line in there like, oh, you're already, you're, you're already disgraced.
Speaker: You already carry enough disgrace with your name.
Speaker: So he's obviously failed a previous mission, but to us, the viewer who knows Halo and are taking it based on the game, his mission was failing to kill the demon, which is master chief.
Speaker: So what is losing the ring?
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: What is his failure?
Speaker: Like, why is he the arbiter in this?
Speaker: Unless we're going to be introduced to a different arbiter, which I don't think we are.
Speaker: But even that and, you know, I was like, oh, OK, I I'm not interested in that.
Speaker: I was also kind of confused with Cortana.
Speaker: whether, and maybe I missed something because I'm, I was so fixated on how much things were aggravating me that maybe I missed some lines of dialogue, but it is Cortana just helping for a means to an end to get back to John.
Speaker: She kind of seemed to genuinely care about what's her name again.
Speaker: I said it right.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: McKee.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Like she genuinely kind of seemed to care.
Speaker: Also not for nothing.
Speaker: Again, maybe I'm missing something here.
Speaker: Maybe I've got blinders on.
Speaker: So master chief and Cortana are so buddy, buddy.
Speaker: They're so cool.
Speaker: Oh, I remember.
Speaker: I'm didn't John not want Cortana.
Speaker: Like, yeah.
Speaker: What what am I forgetting?
Speaker: Like, I felt like there was some kind of gap there that they shouldn't have been that close.
Speaker: You know, it was like two years ago now when season one came out and they've kept the two of them apart for so long that trying to remember what it was like when they were together seems like a very faded.
Speaker: It seems like trying to remember something that happened when I was in middle school.
Speaker: Really?
Speaker: I thought I remembered him saying, like, get out of my head.
Speaker: He didn't want her.
Speaker: at one point there was that.
Speaker: And then eventually he does sort of just give himself over to her to, I think that was in the season finale.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And then they never really fully explained what happened.
Speaker: You know, there was some kind of surgical procedure to remove her.
Speaker: They don't really define that.
Speaker: And I feel like there's a lot missed there by, by having us just kind of guess what happened when, when really like the two of them working together was, was a high point of the game series.
Speaker: It's, it's what makes,
Speaker: the events of the fourth and fifth game and, and even the most recent one, infinite, like there's, there's a lot about the relationship between Cortana and John that drives the story of those games, particularly the fifth one.
Speaker: You know, that's, that's really the whole, the whole plot.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: they have yet to really do anything to make that seem important.
Speaker: You know, the situation between Cortana and McKee is interesting because it's like, what is actually Cortana's benefit here?
Speaker: It almost feels as though perhaps because John has some kind of good feeling towards McKee that maybe Cortana wants to...
Speaker: Do something that John wants like it's not really clear to me why that's happening.
Speaker: And I and I do have to say so the all the mystical stuff in this falls flat on its face, just completely flat does it's a total nonstarter does not go anywhere does not add value is not interesting is not compelling.
Speaker: And then you add this whole like dyad in the force bit between McKee and John, and it's just really bad.
Speaker: It's, it's, it's unnecessary.
Speaker: It's unwelcomed to this series.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I can't imagine anybody is really into that idea that is like, yeah, let's explore that further.
Speaker: It's really a major detractor of this series.
Speaker: And it's something that at times makes it hard to get into.
Speaker: Just when I think there's a couple of things that are really getting me into it.
Speaker: Like I said, I really enjoy...
Speaker: that situation with Kai and her having to choose between her sworn allegiances and duties and, you know, trying to question like, you know, she already had questions about John.
Speaker: She already was questioning some of, some of his mental capabilities.
Speaker: She's already seen him kind of be a little bit out of it.
Speaker: So it's possible she could be questioning some of that.
Speaker: I was interested in that.
Speaker: And then you go through all this mystical stuff and the, you know, the dyad thing.
Speaker: And it's like, come on.
Speaker: So the thing that I really didn't like right there is them, that ending where you said, Hey, they have a diet in the force.
Speaker: You know, the, the, the two of them walking towards the artifact at the same time, this is where I say you chose to go with that and where the arbiter sits there and he's like, first of all,
Speaker: What a terrible, terrible establishing shot, for God's sake.
Speaker: Where the arbiter says...
Speaker: and I can't remember the exact line, but like those of you who believe will follow, follow me, the rest will die.
Speaker: And then it's like, where the hell did everybody else come from on the ship?
Speaker: Because the camera angles are terrible.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But you can clearly see fighting in the background, but I'm like, as far as I knew from those establishing shots, it was the fricking arbiter versus what the four other people with the, what, what do you call the one character in the robe?
Speaker: Well, you know, he's really just a priest because he's not, he's not one of the hierarchs.
Speaker: So I would just say he's a Sangheili priest, which is kind of interesting because I don't remember any references to that in the actual game.
Speaker: You know, the elites were just a,
Speaker: you know, more of like a lieutenant kind of commander class within the, within the covenant cult.
Speaker: I don't really remember them having a lot of religious figures.
Speaker: So I thought that was interesting.
Speaker: I didn't mind that addition because it kind of makes sense.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I didn't mind that, but it was just, to me, it was like, okay, where did all these people come that are now fighting with the arbiter?
Speaker: And again, you chose to, instead of showing that scene,
Speaker: you chose to show the two of them walking towards the artifact.
Speaker: Like it just give us the action.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It seemed odd, but I don't know if maybe that would look good because I will say most of the time this show looks really good.
Speaker: Even the stuff that's, you know, whether it's practical, you know, some of the practical effects CGI.
Speaker: I did not think that shot of the arbiter without his armor on looked that great.
Speaker: I think that was maybe one of the least impressive shots of any of the covenant I've seen.
Speaker: Yeah, it seemed very, very jarring.
Speaker: So maybe they couldn't necessarily film that action very well, but it just seemed like a really odd choice that that's what we focused on.
Speaker: Yeah, don't show us the action.
Speaker: Show us the other thing, because that's what we want from this show.
Speaker: Yeah, I again, it's just it's weird.
Speaker: Oh, man, just really, really weird, weird, weird choices with this episode.
Speaker: And, you know, they kept this episode off with.
Speaker: To me, a really weird choice, but.
Speaker: That's that's kind of where I stand there is just this episode again, it follows suit for me where.
Speaker: these these choices are odd i i just i mean what we've got two we've got two episodes left i did not watch the preview it does kind of seem like in episode seven we might get chief back in his armor um but i don't know um
Speaker: I like I'm more convinced now than ever that season two ends with chief landing on the ring and that's all we get.
Speaker: And we have to wait for season three.
Speaker: I kind of feel like that makes sense.
Speaker: I think we could get some decent action.
Speaker: And then, you know, episode eight, it's called Halo.
Speaker: It could be the journey to get there.
Speaker: All of these different people that we've met so far converging on that one spot.
Speaker: I don't want to see an episode of them driving around the ring world in a warthog with...
Speaker: Quan Ha driving and chief gunning.
Speaker: Like, I don't want that.
Speaker: Like, Oh God, that's what we're getting.
Speaker: I can feel it.
Speaker: Oh, you mentioned it.
Speaker: You know, I'm, I'm hoping I didn't manifest something into reality, but like, I don't, I don't want that.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, I don't want it either, but I just, I feel that's what we're going to get.
Speaker: And I don't know.
Speaker: I just, and the funny thing is,
Speaker: You know, I am seeing because I'm looking and I'm reading and, you know, all across the board and good for these people.
Speaker: Honestly, I'm seeing people really enjoying this season because I'm looking at certain reviews for episodes and people and what they're saying.
Speaker: And it's just like,
Speaker: Yeah, I'm getting people are actually enjoying this and I'm like, you know, good for you.
Speaker: I'm never one of those people that are like, oh, I can't believe anybody would get enjoyment out of something.
Speaker: But it's just it's not me.
Speaker: I really did not enjoy this episode at all.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And rightfully so, I will be, you know, I'll be 100% honest.
Speaker: It is not the worst episode that this show has ever produced.
Speaker: But just every time something like this happens, it gets harder and harder for me to try and separate some of the good of these episodes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And that's where I'm at.
Speaker: But objectively, this is even close to being anything terrible compared to some of the other episodes between season one and two.
Speaker: We have seen way worse, but I also don't think I've ever been as adamant as I have about some other episodes.
Speaker: Maybe in season one, that episode that really just focused on Quan, I was like, what the hell are we doing?
Speaker: This thing sucks.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, there's just something about this that I just, I just don't, I don't like it and I can't objectively find anything good, like really good with it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, um, I don't think I actually watched this comes out on Thursdays and I think I finally got around to seeing this Sunday.
Speaker: We're recording this Monday.
Speaker: And I was like, okay, you know, I'll get to it when I get to it.
Speaker: I was busy.
Speaker: So I was like, yeah, I could do it now or I could do it later.
Speaker: Thinking back to like when, when terrestrial TV and satellite TV was really good before the streaming takeover of how we consume content.
Speaker: Sunday night at 10 o'clock was when everything good was on.
Speaker: Like when the walking dead was really good, it was Sunday night at 10 o'clock when game of Thrones was on, it was Sunday night at 10 o'clock.
Speaker: Like those kinds of things you just knew like at nine 59 at the latest, you were in your living room on your couch.
Speaker: Even if you had DVR, you still had to watch it live because you couldn't go to work the next day or school or whatever you do.
Speaker: and not have seen the most recent episode of the thing everybody was buzzing about.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean,
Speaker: You know, you talk about that.
Speaker: Rob, even for stuff that we've watched in the past when it was like, oh, man, like I'm watching it first thing, like the Mandalorian, when that dropped, it was no, I'm watching it the day it drops immediately.
Speaker: Like I immediately need to watch it.
Speaker: But, you know, you talk about right.
Speaker: The Last of Us.
Speaker: It was no, I got to watch it.
Speaker: I put my kids to bed early when that show was on.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: The sun's out.
Speaker: Shut up.
Speaker: that time get your rest um right exactly um you know it just you think about too now rob you know when when we work together in the same building um think back to game of thrones and the last season that that came out for game of thrones
Speaker: Not talking about whether or not it was a disappointment or anything like that.
Speaker: There was a goddamn.
Speaker: Like squares, pull pool that was done at work.
Speaker: Who's going to die?
Speaker: Who's going to get the iron throw?
Speaker: Like that's like a fantasy league.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: That's how popular the show was.
Speaker: And I know other places that had stuff similar to what was going on in that store.
Speaker: It was, oh my God, can you believe it?
Speaker: It's the final season.
Speaker: What's going to happen?
Speaker: And again, not talking about whether people liked it, hated it, you know, in between it was, you
Speaker: the hype of you're going to create almost a Super Bowl square for a television show, for God's sakes.
Speaker: And again, like you said, you couldn't you couldn't go into work or any place else without having watched it because you knew people were and not being dicks, but like people just couldn't not talk about it.
Speaker: You couldn't avoid people all day because you know you're going to run into somebody and hear about it.
Speaker: Or you're going to walk past and someone's going to be talking about it.
Speaker: Like, you know, and again, it's a totally different world that we live in from just what, I mean, Game of Thrones ended when?
Speaker: I feel like it was 2018, 2019.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: I mean, four years is a short period of time.
Speaker: Like, you know, it's a much different world is that then we live in, but you just don't have that.
Speaker: You just don't have that anymore.
Speaker: Yeah, it wasn't all that long ago.
Speaker: And yet I feel the closest we've come is The Last of Us.
Speaker: That was a show that I think everybody was absolutely it was everywhere.
Speaker: You couldn't escape it.
Speaker: The Mandalorian when it was really good.
Speaker: was everywhere.
Speaker: You, I mean, you know, baby Yoda was the most popular and probably still is the most popular figure in pop culture right now.
Speaker: And it's probably Taylor Swift to be honest, but after Taylor, you know, um, it's, it's baby Yoda still, I think it's not the master chief.
Speaker: No.
Speaker: Um, and it should be, it really should be like this, this show had so much, um,
Speaker: Potential to be something truly.
Speaker: groundbreaking again.
Speaker: And I'm not saying in terms of, Oh my God, like what, you know, what amazing set pieces, what like, no, just in terms of a story that you could sit there and go, wow.
Speaker: And again, fine.
Speaker: You're not adapting the first games.
Speaker: Maybe that's where season three is leading.
Speaker: And then it's like season three is literally almost sort of a carbon copy of the game, so to speak in a certain way.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: you could have adopted other properties from halo that would have made it more interesting.
Speaker: You could have done different stories and made this interesting.
Speaker: I mean, again, look at the video game.
Speaker: Halo reach might even be as popular, if not more popular than some of the other main entries.
Speaker: It's probably more popular than halo guardians.
Speaker: I would assume like, yeah, you know, and,
Speaker: Adopt that story.
Speaker: Have Matt, you know, again, you there's so much and it's, it's always, I will say this look hindsight armchair, you know, it's the same thing as armchair coaching, whatever the case may be, you know, I am not writing this show.
Speaker: I am not doing this.
Speaker: So it's easy watching it and saying, well, there's other things you could have done.
Speaker: I understand that.
Speaker: And I understand that there's a lot of people that,
Speaker: who have worked very hard to produce this.
Speaker: I am in no way, shape or form saying they haven't.
Speaker: I just feel like there, again, in my stupid, humble opinion, there was something to do.
Speaker: There was something that could have been truly groundbreaking about this show.
Speaker: And really put this on the map of, oh my God, no matter who you are, you have to see this.
Speaker: And I don't feel like even the people who really like this show, I don't feel like there's...
Speaker: I don't feel like there's that hook there for someone to really take anything from these episodes or season one and say, oh, my God, you have to watch it.
Speaker: I don't feel like any part of this show has that big of a hook.
Speaker: If you're not a fan of Halo to say this is why you watch it.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: What, what is this doing to bring in people who are not the, you know, fans of the game?
Speaker: You know, what, what is the, what is the way, you know, we mentioned it a couple of times, but the last of us was something that people watch that had no connect.
Speaker: We're like, Oh, that was a game.
Speaker: You know, like they were surprised to learn.
Speaker: Um, if somebody hadn't told them like, Oh my goodness, you know, that was incredible.
Speaker: You know, you mentioned the, the game fall of reach, um, or just reach it's, it's, there's also the novel, the fall of reach that, um, kind of covers this too.
Speaker: But.
Speaker: it plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy because if you think about the opening shot, it's a Spartan helmet cracked.
Speaker: It's the start of the game with kind of like a really interesting score.
Speaker: And then you finally see that same shot when you get to the end of the game.
Speaker: And by the time you get to the end of the game, you've forgotten that it even happened.
Speaker: But you already know going into it, there is a better than 90% chance that all of the characters you're meeting are not going to make it to the end.
Speaker: And at some points, maybe you convince yourself, oh, I'm sure they'll get evac'd at one point or another.
Speaker: But as members of the team begin to die, once one goes, then another, then another.
Speaker: And by the time that continues, you kind of get the general idea like,
Speaker: yeah, this is not a mission they're going to survive.
Speaker: All of them or any of them, really.
Speaker: And it really plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy in that way that you know that these characters are going to die.
Speaker: It's kind of like Rogue One a little bit in that way.
Speaker: Like they're not coming back from this mission.
Speaker: Like it's just it's not it's not intended to happen that way.
Speaker: And there's something almost beautiful about that.
Speaker: And the fact that it's so important for them to achieve this.
Speaker: And yet in this show, reach gets glassed.
Speaker: Did you feel anything about it?
Speaker: Did that resonate with you in any way?
Speaker: Like they really, I mean, they showed some of the characters be, you know, here and there.
Speaker: They, they had some really cool stuff when the covenant were on the ground.
Speaker: But then the bulk of the actual destruction takes place while Master Chief is like passed out.
Speaker: And then as he wakes up days later, did you really feel anything, though, about those millions of people?
Speaker: Like, no.
Speaker: Did it really tug on your heartstrings in any meaningful way?
Speaker: Like, oh, we got to get those coveys, you know, like, no.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I mean, look at The Last of Us and look at episode three.
Speaker: Look no further than that.
Speaker: For two characters that were not prominent in the game.
Speaker: I've even forgotten they were in the game until the episode released.
Speaker: I'd completely forgotten about it.
Speaker: Entire episode dedicated.
Speaker: You took...
Speaker: an hour, the episode was an hour, to dedicate to those two people.
Speaker: And man, the emotion that that drew out of so many people.
Speaker: Go back and look at the freaking reviews for that episode.
Speaker: And look at what they were able to do.
Speaker: Now think about how Reach ends for the game.
Speaker: I remember having genuine emotion when the game ended.
Speaker: Yeah, you could have done something so memorable there.
Speaker: So memorable.
Speaker: But again, that's not the choice they made.
Speaker: Yeah, it's not.
Speaker: So, Rob, did you have anything else that you had to say about this episode or any specific plot points?
Speaker: You know, the last thing I've got, you mentioned some of the camera stuff that didn't work, but the one thing that I think really did, it's right at the opening.
Speaker: There's some first-person perspective stuff that I sort of enjoyed and some inside-the-helmet stuff of the Spartan 3s when they're in that VR simulator.
Speaker: But specifically, there's a reflection on a helmet visor of a Spartan that's exploding from a needler shot.
Speaker: That was actually the way that was set up and you see it happen through the reflection of the helmet.
Speaker: I kind of thought that was cool.
Speaker: And I wanted to mention it because it stood out to me.
Speaker: Yeah, no.
Speaker: Yeah, I will.
Speaker: I'll give you that.
Speaker: That was cool.
Speaker: That was pretty cool.
Speaker: But if you don't have anything else, I'm ready to I'm ready to rate this.
Speaker: Yeah, let's get some popcorn.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So popcorn time.
Speaker: I'm just going to go and boy, it feels weird because, again, I said there are way, way worse episodes than this.
Speaker: But.
Speaker: for enjoyment wise, this episode brought me none that this episode brought me absolutely no enjoyment.
Speaker: Um, whether it was the training exercises, whether it was just any of the plot, I just, I had nothing.
Speaker: I had no emotion towards this.
Speaker: I had no feelings.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: Again, visually, it usually looks very good.
Speaker: But this is it.
Speaker: This is strictly enjoyment.
Speaker: This is a one bucket episode for me.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: Yeah, I just.
Speaker: It exemplified everything that I have wrong with this show.
Speaker: And this episode was really it was like the Cliff Notes version for me of everything that I do not like about this show rolled into one episode.
Speaker: So we're going to be a little different.
Speaker: This is three and three quarters for me.
Speaker: Good, good.
Speaker: I'm glad.
Speaker: Yeah, I was into Halsey just being a bad bitch.
Speaker: I was into Kai and her confliction.
Speaker: I was into all of that.
Speaker: There's even some cool moments when Master Chief is sort of like, they've got him like with the ropes, you know, kind of like tied down.
Speaker: There was some interesting creativity that was used with that fight that I sort of dug a little bit.
Speaker: We hadn't seen that before.
Speaker: There is all the nonsense that you mentioned, but I think for me, some of the other things that I was into just kind of landed a little bit better.
Speaker: And I forgave some of the stuff that I wasn't into as much.
Speaker: But it's like even just me saying that, like to say that I had to forgive parts of this episode to get to the parts that I do like is kind of an indictment on the effectiveness of the episode as a whole.
Speaker: Yeah, no, I you know, I am again for anybody that is.
Speaker: Yeah, for anybody that is enjoying this, you know, honestly, I am so glad I am so glad because I
Speaker: I wish I was getting the enjoyment out of this, but we have two more episodes to go.
Speaker: We will see what happens.
Speaker: Um, you know, uh, we'll, we'll go from there and we'll, we'll finish this up and we'll see if the last two episodes give us, well, give me, um, a turnaround.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: So, you know, listeners, thank you so much for joining us for this.
Speaker: I look forward to completing this series.
Speaker: One part because kind of sick of it.
Speaker: Two parts because maybe they'll do something to turn it around.
Speaker: But we will see you very soon.
Speaker: with another review, check out all of our social media and the show notes to find out how you can interact with the show.
Speaker: And we will see you very soon.
