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While the trip was controversial, in the Halo finale, John 117 fans were more like the Master Chief of the games than he had been all season.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for gloriole episode 9
During gloriole TV series gave a glimpse of a Master Chief more loyal to the games in his finals, he’s late. Outstanding gloriole The television series drew criticism for its portrayal and characterization of Master Chief John-117, played by Pablo Schreiber. Although some fans of the original games and novels didn’t appreciate this new iteration of the SPARTAN super soldier, there was a semblance of a more accurate John-117 in the finale.
Although the gloriole Streaming the series on Paramount+ takes place in its own continuity known as the Silver Timeline. John-117’s personality and character choices were extremely bold, bordering on the bizarre. One of the most notable problems was the constant removal of the Master Chief’s helmet and armor. While this makes some sense in the context of episodes where Master Chief wasn’t in active combat, coupled with the new medium of a television series about a first-person shooter, it was a significant visual departure from what fans were expecting. Likewise, the games’ Master Chief is far more stoic than the series’ Chief, who engaged in an incredibly emotional battle to reclaim his past memories and humanity. While not inherently bad, an armorless and far more emotional John-117 is far from a faithful adaptation of the gloriole Video game protagonists.
Ironically, it took the eventual death of John-117 to provide a Master Chief closer to the version shown in the games. Unable to save his team and also recover the Forerunner artifacts on the Covenant world Aspero, Master Chief allowed his advanced AI companion Cortana to take over his body, knowing full well that they might not bring him back could. After a battle with the Alien Covenant that showcased John’s combat skills to the fullest, Cortana’s Master Chief saved the team and the artifacts, all without speaking and removing his/her helmet. While in almost every previous scene, John removed his helmet to pilot the team’s Pelican, Cortana left the helmet on, serving as an interesting visual cue. As such, this quieter helmeted Master Chief was more like the expected version, but didn’t appear until the very end of the season.
Cortana takes over John 117’s body halos Season 1’s ending might be an unexpected way to get there, but the result is a Master Chief that feels more like the “real” Chief than he did before. The change is presented as Doctor Catherine Halsey’s dream of transcending humanity through her SPARTAN program. It’s an ironic twist that Cortana discovered the benefits of humanity in its current state, rather than purging its emotions and flaws as Halsey felt was necessary.
While it will be interesting to see Cortana emote through John, one can imagine it being reduced due to her obscurity, which the more stoic and reserved Chief fans will know. The final shot also teased that she will keep the helmet on. It’s unclear if Cortana’s control will be a permanent change or something that’s only temporary before John-117 is somehow brought back. Either way, even with a Master Chief more realized with this new status quo, it’s doubtful the finale did enough to rouse viewers gloriole season 2 (which is already in development). The improved Master Chief at Paramount gloriole was simply too little and far too late.
gloriole now streaming on Paramount+
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