Sanctuary
In Halo Season 2 Episode 1, “Sanctuary,” Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) lies on an examination table, eyes open but seemingly unaware of his situation. He’s surrounded by scientists and/or doctors who are injecting him and sticking patches to his body.
Cortana’s (Jen Taylor) voice is heard. “Chief? Wake up. I need you to wake up. Please wake up.” When there is no response, she says, “He’s dying. We’re losing him.” A tear rolls out of John’s eye. Cortana demands, “Sever the connection.”
In Sanctuary, Banta System, a group of armored Spartans stand ready in the rain for Operation Shepherd. Master Chief responds to a request for support in the village with Riz (Natasha Culzac) but orders Vannak (Bentley Kalu) to maintain the watch. Vannak is unimpressed, calling his assignment “babysitting.”
RELATED: TV Review: Halo Season 2
It’s been six months since Cortana merged with John. Kai (Kate Kennedy) reminds Vannak that they are there to keep John safe. Vannak repeats, “Babysitting.”
The Mother
In the village, UNSC is evacuating the civilian population of a village, but a group led by a silent white-haired woman, The Mother (Olwen Fouéré), refuses to comply. When the soldiers try to lay hands on her, the people around her rebuff them. Kai reports that Captain Nix (Luke Polie) is antagonizing the locals. John and Riz continue their approach on foot at a fast run.
Kai asks Vannak if he has removed his pellet. He admits he pulled his three weeks ago. She asks if he feels different, which he denies. However, he shares that he likes to watch animal documentaries in his downtime since pulling it. Kai notices flashes of light above the village and tells Vannak to call it in.
In the village, The Mother finally speaks to the Captain and tells him her people were evacuated “for their safety” 42 years earlier from a much more hospitable planet. She tells him they won’t need the UNSC’s help this time.
RELATED: GGA’s 8 Until Dawn Character Survivor Predictions for the Film
John arrives, and the Captain leaves to investigate a missing group of Marines, Bravo Team. The Mother begins to preach about how their planet has a soul, and they refuse to abandon it in its time of torment. She asks John if he has family or faith.
An alert comes in that a Covenant ship is approaching Sanctuary. John tells the Captain he will bring the Marines in the hills back.
Bravo Team
He runs towards the hills, guided by Vannak’s directions. He ascends a cliff face with a grappling line. Kai and Vannak lose sight of him as he gets lost in the fog at higher altitudes. In the village, many residents are fleeing at the news of the Covenant approaching. The Mother and her followers remain calm, standing in the center of town.
John finds Bravo Team’s vehicles empty on a plateau in the hills. His communication with Vannak is encountering interference. He refuses to turn back when Vannak advises him to, ordering Vannak and Kai to help with the evacuation.
RELATED: February’s Most Anticipated Video Games
As John moves further into the fog, shots are fired at him, missing by a wide margin. He realizes he’s found Bravo team and shouts at them to hold fire.
Four unit members recognize John and explain they got separated from the rest of their team. One member, Private Rand (Luke Davis), is very jumpy and doesn’t move when John orders them to follow him. Another member explains in a patronizing tone that Rand saw something in the fog and is scared something will get them. Suddenly, something snatches him.
An Unseen Assailant
One by one, the members are snatched by an unseen assailant. John only has one Bravo team member left, Corporal Perez (Cristina Rodlo). Back to back, they keep an eye out for whatever is hunting them.
Perez postulates the enemy’s gone, but John tells her they’re still near because he can smell them. Suddenly, two Sangheili soldiers attack. John fights and kills one and then discovers Perez is gone. He ventures further into the fog and is attacked by several more zealots.
RELATED: 6 Horror Queens From the Resident Evil Video Game Franchise
He dispatches them all and continues to search for Perez, finding first the dead bodies of the other members of Bravo team. Perez is still alive. He gets her sitting up, but she sees something behind him and scrambles to hide again. John turns to see many more Covenant soldiers gathered behind him. They prepare to attack, then suddenly deactivate their weapons and leave.
In the distance, through the fog, John sees a woman swathed in black. She turns and walks away.
The Covenant ships attack the planet with plasma blasts. John shields Perez from the one closest to them. In the village, Vannak and Kai are loading the residents into the evacuation ships. Kai runs out to see The Mother and her followers kneeling in the center of the village.
They stand suddenly and walk towards the destruction just as John returns, carrying Perez. The Mother stops John and tells him, “Find your faith, Spartan. I have seen your death. It comes soon.” Kai gets John to the ship, and they take off, leaving The Mother and her followers behind.
RELATED: GGA’s Top Video Games of 2023
Reach
At the Reach of Fleetcom in the Inner Colonies, John showers, trying to clear his head of strange static he’s hearing and a voice calling out to him.
Waking suddenly during a debrief session with Admiral Keyes (Danny Sapani), John demands an explanation for what they encountered on Sanctuary. Admiral Keyes explains they are encountering the same on multiple planets. Besides Sanctuary, they’ve lost the planets Madrigal and Estuary as well.
John protests that the Covenant had soldiers on Sanctuary before they glassed the planet. Why would they invade before glassing it? Admiral Keyes tells him to put it in his report for examination. They are interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Ackerson (Joseph Morgan), Dr. Halsey’s (Natascha McElhone) replacement, the new head of the Spartan program.
He introduces himself, clarifying that he knows Team Silver’s members and abilities. Ackerson reveals Halsey is still alive and on the run. He states their mission is to keep the fight in the Outer Colonies to make those in the Inner Colonies feel safe. John questions whether that’s true.
RELATED: 10 More Badass Female Characters We Love in World of Warcraft
After Ackerson leaves, Admiral Keyes sets the team on a 10-hour leave to get medical clearance. When Kai asks for a second time who Ackerson is, Admiral Keyes states that he’s the boss.
The Rubble
At The Rubble in the 23 Librae System, people flood into an arena where refugees seeking asylum offer themselves for indentured servitude for two years. One career criminal is selected out of the group. As another man, Felix (Blake Patrick Anderson) from Harvest, is led off, he offers the location of Catherine Halsey in exchange for freedom. After Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) questions him, his offer is rejected. However, Soren makes eye contact with one of his minions, who leaves quietly.
John enters Fleetcom for his medical evaluation and sees Perez in another examination room. There’s a flashback to the encounter with the Covenant soldiers on Sanctuary. John snaps back when Ackerson calls him. Perez looks up briefly.
RELATED: Geek Girl Authority Crush of the Week: For All Mankind‘s Danielle Poole
Ackerson and John talk. John presents his theory that the Covenant soldiers were on Sanctuary training, practicing taking down a comms relay. Ackerson processes this and then changes the topic to ask John about his mental state, bringing up the allegations against Halsey.
He questions whether John’s time being controlled by Cortana makes him a liability. John prepares to leave, but Ackerman insists he stay.
To Run
Soren returns home with Laera (Fiona O’Shaughnessy), discussing how he has no one to whom he can delegate his responsibilities. They find Kessler (Tylan Bailey) wearing a Spartan helmet and playing with a Master Chief figurine. When they say hi to him, he leaves the room.
Laera and Soren discuss all the people needing help. Soren tells her it’s ridiculous to contemplate trying to save them all. She bridles at that and tells him his dream of bringing Halsey to justice is ridiculous. Laera warns him that his crew doesn’t feel appreciated and the other syndicates don’t respect them like they used to. She expresses a desire to leave this life behind. He considers that running and reminds her that they don’t run.
RELATED: GGA’s 8 Favorite Groundhog Day-Themed TV Episodes
In the Fleetcom locker room, Kai draws John’s attention to the viewer, where Admiral Keyes is awarding Perez an award for her courage on Sanctuary.
On the screen, Ackerson is still talking, and Vannak tells them to turn it off because he’s tired of the guy. Cobalt Team comes in, talking trash at John and his crew. They tell him they’re being sent to escort a tech team to a nowhere planet where the comms relay has gone down.
A Confrontation
Cobalt Team leaves, and on the screen, Ackerson is saying that they’ll beat the Covenant because humanity has heroes. John looks grim and leaves. He enters Fleetcom headquarters and confronts Ackerson about Cobalt Team being sent into danger. Ackerson questions him about his report wherein 30 Sangheili surrounded him. He wonders how John survived.
They argue as to whether John imagined the Sangheili. Ackerson tells him that if John won’t admit he’s experiencing side effects to Cortana’s control over him, Silver Team will not be authorized to fight.
RELATED: 8 Star Trek References in the Futurama DVD Movies
Soren is getting his armor on, and Kessler asks why he needs to go to work anymore. Soren reminds him that he’s the boss and needs to remind people of that sometimes. He wants Kessler to be brave and to stop believing in monsters. Kessler tries to get him to swear there are no monsters. Soren changes the topic. When Kessler persists, Soren tells him he’s too old for this and leaves.
Soren boards his ship and greets his crew. Felix is at the table in the mess. Soren sits down with him and gives Felix a moment to get his story straight. Felix reassures him that he knows where Halsey is.
Parangosky
Wearing a hood pulled up as a disguise; John gets on a lift in the city market that empties of everyone but one woman. She turns, warning him that he must be more careful, revealing ex-Admiral Parangosky (Shabana Azmi). Parangosky questions him about Sanctuary, but he tells her it’s classified. She warns him about Ackerson.
She directs him to learn more about the Covenant’s other activities and report back to her. Then, she gives him a tracking chip to let her know when she should come find him.
RELATED: Check out our Quantum Leap recaps!
On Soren’s ship, Felix tells the crew how he learned Halsey’s whereabouts when the side panel fell off her cryo crate and he recognized her face. Arriving at the coordinates, they find a decrepit ship adrift. Soren tells Felix to suit up as he’s coming with him.
Trouble Brewing
They make their way through the ship and find the cryo crate Felix says he saw Halsey in. Soren examines the crate and asks him which panel fell off. Felix stumbles on his story. Soren asks him who he is and who he works for.
Soren’s ship suddenly takes off, and Felix speculates they won’t return. Confirming the crate is empty, Soren heads back toward Felix, only for six soldiers to reveal themselves and surround him. Felix announces that Soren is under arrest.
John walks through the busy market food stalls and enters a holo suite. He talks to the hologram hostess, voicing his worries and concerns. The hostess feels bad for him and wants to be the woman he misses for him. He rejects that idea. She wonders if he needs something else. In a flashback, John sees the figure in black again, this time with Makee’s (Charlie Murphy) face and her telling him he should’ve stayed with her.
RELATED: 6 Juicy Star Trek Tidbits From Patrick Stewart’s Making It So
A woman’s voice speaks over scenes of John leaving the market, Soren’s crew returning to Laera and Kessler without Soren, an armada of Covenant ships and soldiers waiting on a planet, Kessler running away, and a candlelit cave where the speaking woman is.
In the Dark
She says, “It’s very old, the monster. Older than the light; older than this rock. Older than your god. It knows us, inside and out. Smells our fear. Sees our secrets. It’s been here all that time, waiting to meet you. In the dark.” Kessler runs into the cave where the woman is, examining the markings on the cave wall.
Her voice continues, “There’s nothing you can give it. The only thing the monster wants is for you to know that there’s nothing you can ever love that it can’t take away.” In the cave, she sits beside Kessler and takes down her hood. It’s Kwan (Yerin Ha). She asks Kessler if he believes her now, and they look at the markings together.
Halo streams Thursdays exclusively on Paramount+.
https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/best-video-game-main-characters-2023/
- JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Recap: (S01E08) Fifteen Finger Discount - December 9, 2024
- JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Recap: (S01E07) Into the Zhong - December 9, 2024
- JENTRY CHAU VS. THE UNDERWORLD Recap: (S01E06) All’s Fair in Love and War - December 8, 2024
