HALO Season 1 Episode 8 Review: Allegiance

Are the humans in the problem?

HALO Season 1 Episode 8 posed many questions as Makee and John connected in more ways than one, and while it was one of the better episodes of the series, I still expected more.

Makee initially seemed like the kind of person that would lure John and the UNSC into a false sense of security before backstabbing them.

However, she was on a journey throughout “Allegiance,” and meeting someone she connected with allowed her the chance to form her own assessment of the people on Reach.

We already knew Makee had a rough go of it with humans on the planet she was picked up from as a child.

Her life was horrible. It was a desperate battle for survival, so it was understandable she would side with the aliens over the human race.

I appreciated how you could see that she genuinely thought that maybe she had a run of bad luck earlier in her life.

She wanted to trust everything John said, and her removing that blue weapon from her finger highlighted that she was open to adapting her views based on what happened.

John and Makee are similar in that they’ve both been used by people with different ideals, but John will struggle to trust Makee now that he knows she’s anti-human.

The guard roughing her up brought back some painful memories, and after the way the Admiral spoke to her, it was apparent she was done playing nice.

Touching the artifact was a bold move, but it’s what her arc has been building towards.

She needed to get her hands on it to advance her storyline, and now, whatever happens, she might have the upper hand on the UNSC.

Her goodbye to John was painful, but we witnessed John thinking with his heart instead of his brain on “Allegiance.”

He had never met someone he had so much in common with, so he would inevitably make some different decisions than we’d expect.

Surely, Makee touching the artifact will send a signal to the Covenant, setting up a big battle for HALO Season 1 Episode 9 — the season finale.

Miranda’s realization that it was Makee on the ship that killed all the soldiers was too little, too late. At the top of the episode, it was predictable that she would learn the truth at the final hurdle.

Halsey going rogue was just par for the course. She’s been sidelined from an operation she spearheaded, so she knew she had to get her hands dirty to get control again.

Stealing her daughter’s DNA to do so was horrible, but it highlighted just how devoted she is to the cause.

Halsey doesn’t want her years of work to have been in vain, so there was no way she would allow someone else to be in power.

The big question here is how long Halsey will last. Everyone has pretty much washed their hands of her, and she was also a pivotal component of Makee’s doubts about the human race.

Halsey is one of the best characters on the show, but the writers have really boxed her into a corner, which doesn’t bode well for her future.

The Spartan vs. Spartan fight was a cool set-piece. It came across very well on-screen, but its purpose seemed to be to have John realize that he could trust Cortana.

The series has been missing the bond between Master Chief and Cortana, and it looks like we might finally be getting that if they can keep up this rapport.

Kai saving John in the nick of time was needed, but her picking up heavy objects for money was comical.

It was some much-needed levity from the angst of what was going on around Reach.

John and Kai will probably join forces to take down Halsey, but there will be questions about where their loyalty lies beyond that battle.

The Covenant is quite literally destroying worlds, and I suspect we’ll get some semblance of a battle on the finale that might leave the survivors strewn across different parts of the universe.

HALO Season 1 has subverted expectations by doing things completely different from what we expect, so we should probably expect that to continue into the finale — and beyond.

Makee’s journey on Reach was fun while it lasted, but it could have had bigger stakes.

What are your thoughts on Makee’s ultimate decision?

Do you think she flirted with the idea that humans were not that bad?

Where do you think this leaves John and Kai?

Will they be able to work with the other Spartans?

What will the Admiral do now? It’s not like she can kill John or disarm him. He might be the key to their survival if he can communicate with the artifacts.

Hit the comments.

HALO continues Thursdays on Paramount+.

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