Halo
Season 2 Episode 8
Episode Title: Halo
Original release date: March 21, 2024
Plot summary: In the season 2 finale of “Halo,” episode 8 unfolds with significant developments, eagerly bringing viewers to the iconic Halo and introducing The Flood. This parasitic menace quickly showcases its danger by infecting key characters such as Halsey and Laera. The episode also sees Kai making a crucial sacrifice, impacting the ongoing conflict with the Covenant and emphasizing her role in Master Chief, John’s life. As the story progresses, John, alongside Cortana and the SPARTAN-IIIs, dramatically arrives on the Halo, a moment that resonates deeply with fans of the original game. Despite an underwhelming face-off with the Arbiter, the use of the series’ storied musical score and the reveal of Guilty Spark as a significant character moving forward inject a fresh sense of anticipation for what’s next. This final episode is a beacon in a season marked by inconsistency, promising a horror-inflected third season while finally aligning with the elements that have long captivated the franchise’s fans.
* * *
[John] What the hell happened down there?
[unknown voice] Death, but not yours.
What is that thing? Why is it here?
[voice] I’m afraid you’ll have to be more specific. This facility is vast, unknowable. Except by me, of course. Dark places contain dark things. What did you find down there?
[dramatic music playing]
[Miranda gasps]
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[door opens]
I thought you said these spores were dormant.
They were. Some spores remain dormant for millions of years before they activate.
What woke these up?
Could be anything. Temperature, light, pH level, electric stimulus, the presence of a food source. Are you really Catherine Halsey’s daughter? It’s just that… biology isn’t exactly your strong suit. You know, I heard someone say they saw her here. Halsey.
I doubt that.
[Janine] Your mother’s why I became a biologist.
Really?
And I don’t believe everything they say about her.
You really should.
[Janine] I can’t believe you were the one who found it. I suppose it pays to be lucky sometimes.
[Miranda] What?
Fascinating.
Were you in here earlier?
I don’t think so.
So you didn’t touch that?
What is it?
Did you touch it or not?
No, of course not.
They sent another wave of Spartans. That can’t be good, right? The battle must not be going very well.
Listen, Jeanie–
Janine.
Yeah, right. I really… I really gotta focus on this, so… If you don’t mind.
[lighthearted music rises]
Hi.
[lighthearted music playing]
[cell parting]
…so hard he ends up spinning himself and falling in the water, and my dad’s like… my father says, “Of course. Why don’t we go out onto the lake?”
[continues indistinct]
[scientist] Janine?
Hey, Janine?
Sorry.
[lighthearted music continues]
It’s just stunning. It’s like…
[indistinct chatter continues]
[music twists and distorts]
[gasps softly]
[lighthearted music returns]
[cells parting]
[scientist, muted] Janine?
Is something wrong?
[scientist] Janine!
[dramatic music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[lighthearted music plays]
What are you?
[opening theme music plays]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Perez whispering prayer in Spanish]
[Perez breathing heavily]
[continues praying in Spanish]
[Kai] Perez. Trust your training.
[indistinct voices over comms]
[Flightdeck, over comms] First squad, stand by!
[Kai] Watch your spacing.
Maintain formation. This is what we trained for–
[explosions]
[silence]
[gasping and panting]
[panicked screaming over comms]
[Perez] Oh my God. Oh my God.
[Kai over comms] Calm down.
Kai!
[Kai] You’re in gimbal lock.
Kai!
[gasping]
[panting and gasping]
[distorted voices over comms]
[Kai] Find your reference…
Kai…
[whimpering and panting]
[thrusters engage sporadically]
[Perez hyperventilating]
[gasps]
[thrusters stabilize]
[Perez] Javelin leader, this is Javelin-4.
Approaching formation.
[Kai] Hold your line.
[Mullins] Heads up.
Debris!
[Kai] That’s not debris.
[Kai] That’s the second wave.
Stay in formation!
[Kai grunting]
[distorted voices struggling]
[grunts and whimpers]
[screams]
[breathing heavily]
[screams]
[Kai, over comms] Spot your landing.
You’re coming in too hot.
Perez!
[chaotic comms crosstalk]
[comms crosstalk continues]
[loud thud]
[Perez grunts]
[comms] Three landed.
[Mullins] Can’t believe there’s not-
[Kai] Stay close.
…a hole in me somewhere.
[Perez] Oh my God.
Holy shit.
[Mullins] What are we supposed to do about that?
[Kai] The objective hasn’t changed.
Round up anyone who can fight. We’ll rally at the breach point.
[Perez] What breach point?
[Kai] There.
[indistinct shouting over comms]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[panicked screaming over radio]
[Parangosky] Master Chief, this is Admiral Parangosky.
I speak for the entire UNSC when I say how glad I am that you’re back with us.
Master Chief, do you copy?
[button beeps]
[John] What do you want?
We are tracking the Covenant Fleet in pursuit of a single vessel bound for the Halo.
It is of critical importance that you reach the Halo first.
[John] I’m done taking orders from you.
[Parangosky] You don’t do this for me.
You do this for humanity.
Neither one of us has a choice.
Assault force is getting torn up out here.
The Fleet is inbound. Focus on the Halo.
The Spartan-IIIs have their mission, you have yours.
So you’ve already decided.
Bad copy. 117, say again?
[John] Who to save and who to sacrifice.
The Spartan-IIIs volunteered to make a difference.
If you don’t control the Halo, the enemy will–
[radio beeps off]
Master Chief?
[tech 1] He’s cut comms, Admiral.
[tech 2] He’s out.
[soft, shaky breathing]
[objects clattering]
Run.
We have to leave this place.
That’s the plan.
My father used to talk about the darkness.
I said I didn’t believe him, but that was a lie.
I could feel it watching me.
It’s been watching me my whole life, and now it’s here.
The monster.
Laera and Kessler… they’re in that place.
You don’t have to come.
[cell door closes]
What are you in for?
Are you a bad man?
Why would you think that?
You’re in jail.
So are you.
[Laera] Kessler.
Stop talking to that man.
He was talking to me.
I’m not gonna tell you again. Get away from there.
[Kessler] Where am I supposed to go?
Hi.
[Kessler] Hey, you okay?
[Laera] Kessler, what did I just say?
[Kessler] Hello?
Kessler, stop bothering people.
I think she’s sad.
[Laera] Come over here. No more talking.
Come on.
[eerie music rises]
[Perez] Bridge. Forty meters.
[Mullins] Clear!
[Mullins] Dagger Team. They jumped with the first wave.
[Kai] Eyes on this corner.
[Olsson] I’ve got it, ma’am.
[heavy breathing]
Kai.
[Kai] Break contact!
[chaotic comms crosstalk]
[gunfire]
[indistinct shouting]
[Perez] Farhadi, I got you! Get up!
This corridor! On me!
[shouting continues]
[Perez] They were waiting for us!
[Kai] They learned from the first wave.
[Mullins] Great, they know our goddamn plan better than we do.
[Kai] Hold fire.
[gunfire stops]
[Mullins] Where are they?
[Perez] Quiet.
Contact!
[groaning]
[snarls and roars]
[Perez] Move! Move!
[Perez] Frag out!
[Kai] We gotta hold this corridor!
Pick your targets!
[indistinct shouting]
[Kai] Make your rounds count!
[comms] Take him out!
[comms] Spartan down! Cover me!
[Sangheili roaring]
[cruiser comms officer] Overlord, this is
UNSC Halcyon Cruiser Himalaya.
Exiting slip now.
[Mullins] It’s the Fleet!
[Perez] About time!
[Kai] UNSC Halcyon Cruiser, this is Kai-125.
We are aboard a Covenant Corvette, Vector 1.9.4.2.2.
We are low on ammo.
Requesting resupply and casevac.
[cruiser comms officer] Copy that, 125. Coming about.
Will dispatch support to your position, stand by–
[plasma explosion]
[indistinct voices shouting]
[Mullins] Oh, no. Shit.
[Kai] Right flank, frag out!
You gonna help them or what?
[Parangosky] The Spartans-IIIs are fighting to buy you time.
If you don’t get to the Halo, all these sacrifices will be for nothing.
There’s nothing anyone can do for them–
[radio beeps off]
[Kai] We gotta move.
All UNSC Fleet units, this is Kai-125…
[Perez, voiceover] I watched you.
All that plasma flying.
Death all around you, and you never…
[John] Every time I go into battle,
I know I can lose somebody.
I know it’s not gonna be me.
[Perez] It’s something you are.
Something you can’t see. But you feel it.
I know you feel it.
That woman made you flip that coin all those times.
How did you choose me?
Heads.
Eleven times in a row.
[Perez] Was it luck?
Or did you make it come up heads?
[John] Why me?
[dramatic music rises]
[suspenseful music playing]
[coin ringing and flipping]
[coin slows and whooshes]
[explosions]
[Kai] Fall back!
We can still make it to the bridge!
[all shouting indistinctly]
[explosions]
[Sangheili roaring]
[dramatic music playing]
[Parangosky] Master Chief, why have you stopped?
Get back to the cockpit now.
You know your mission. Secure the Ring. Defend it.
John, you can’t save them.
You have no idea what I can do.
[heroic music playing]
[Cortana] Would you like to hear my analysis
of the hull’s integrity?
No.
If we continue to take fire at this rate, we’ll disintegrate before reaching the surface.
Do you think I would come all this way, suffer all this time, just to die within sight of it?
I’m merely suggesting we get to a drop pod.
Will he come?
You simulate everything.
Any question I ask, you answer.
But not about him.
I can’t.
You’re loyal.
Am I?
It’s a virtue.
Thank you.
And a problem.
Now tell me, what will I do next?
I can only conclude that if my loyalty to Master Chief is a problem, then your loyalty must lie elsewhere.
I’m no one’s pet.
I belong to no one.
So, tell me… what will I do now?
You’re going to erase me.
You’ve been of great aid to me.
I thought we were the same.
We are.
We both see the future.
Wait. -[electricity crackles]
[Rossi] Go! Go! Go!
[gunfire]
[Mullins] Last mag!
[Rossi] Covering you!
[Perez] Go! Go! Go!
[Perez] Goddamn it!
We’re gonna die in this bullshit ship in a bullshit battle that meant nothing, that we lost!
[Kai] Suppress that corner!
[Okada] I’m out!
[Perez shouting in Spanish]
[Kai] What matters is you signed up to die for me.
I signed up to die for you. Now, get your head in the game.
[Perez] I’m good!
[Kai] Shit, I’m out.
[Perez] Yeah, me too. What do we do?
[Kai] You ever fire a plasma rifle?
[Perez] No.
[Kai] You never forget your first.
[grunts]
[snarls]
[plasma fire]
[all shouting]
[Kai] Defensive positions!
[Perez screams]
[Kai] Perez!
[grunting]
[indistinct shouting]
[screams]
[needler fire]
[Okada] Inside! They’re inside!
[Perez grunts]
[Kai] You’re an idiot.
[Perez] I’m an idiot with two needlers.
[Perez gasps in pain]
Help me up.
I can fight.
What can I do?
Tell me what to do.
[Kai] You did good.
[Perez sighs]
[Okada] They keep coming!
[indistinct shouts]
[Mullins] Okada’s down!
[dramatic music playing]
[Perez] Use it.
[Kai] You don’t know what this does.
[Perez] This was always a one-way ticket.
Don’t let it be for nothing.
[distant gunfire]
[plasma impact]
[suspenseful music rises]
[Spike activates]
[explosion]
[Sangheili roaring]
[blows landing]
[Sangheili snarling]
[Mullins] What the hell is that?
[Kai] That’s the Chief.
[heroic music plays]
[screams]
[heroic music continues]
[Kai] What are you doing here?
I thought you had to save humanity.
[John] You’re welcome.
She still breathing?
[Mullins] I think so.
[John] You need to seal that suit. Fast.
[Mullins] Okay. I can get her back to the breach point.
We can exfil from there.
[John] Do it. Quickly.
[Kai] This is the most powerful fleet we have.
They won’t last the day.
[John] It’s not over.
[Kai] We’re the last of our kind.
Spartans never die.
But they do. Don’t they?
[John] Not today.
[Kai] Chief?
[John] I’m not leaving anyone behind.
Get to the condors.
[Mullins] We have to move!
[Perez groaning]
[Mullins] What about you?
[Kai] I’m right behind you.
[distant explosions rumbling]
[dramatic music rises]
Wait.
[Soren] I told you we got in here too easy.
[faint crackling]
[indistinct liquid sounds]
What’s with them?
[faint crackling]
[Kwan] They’re not breathing.
[Soren] What are you talking about?
Shit.
[muted stretching]
[Kwan] Don’t touch them.
[Soren] Don’t worry.
[Kwan] This way.
[faint crackling]
[cracking and snapping]
[faint crackling and gurgling]
[Kessler] Mom.
[sharp gasp]
[screams]
[Ackerson] Hey!
Guard! Guard!
[Laera] What is that thing?
[Ackerson] Wake up!
[Laera] Oh my God!
Do something!
What’s wrong with you? Shoot it!
[gasps]
Hey!
[gasping]
[screams]
[Kessler] Mom!
[screams]
[gasping and panting]
[gurgling and cracking]
[ominous music playing]
[screams]
[gun clicks empty]
[Laera shrieks]
[Soren] Check over there.
None of these rooms are labeled.
It’s just numbers.
Where the hell are they?
[Kwan] Oh, God. Soren.
Soren.
[Laera screaming over monitor]
Come on! Let’s go!
[Parangosky] Master Chief, the Covenant has landed on the Ring.
What’s your status?
John-117, report.
Ma’am, we’re no longer reading
Master Chief on the Covenant ship.
[Parangosky] What the hell does that mean?
Why have you brought me here?
Tell him to abort this insanity and get to the Halo.
[voices shouting over comms]
Catherine, we’ve had our differences, but I know you understand what’s at stake.
There is no second place.
[dramatic music playing]
[Halsey, over comms] John, it’s Dr. Halsey.
[John, over comms] You’re back in the room.
That didn’t take long.
John, the ship that you’re pursuing, it’s being pulled into the Halo’s gravity.
It’s breaking up.
[John] Yeah, I can see that.
Why is he trying to board an empty Covenant ship?
[Halsey] It’s not empty.
Not for him.
It’s just an AI. You’ll make him another one.
Now get your man back in line.
John…
Your best chance for a breach point is three meters ahead of the starboard engine.
Copy that?
[John] Copy.
[Parangosky] What do you think you’re doing?
[voice] I find some of your choices troubling.
[John] I get that sometimes.
[voice] You had a mission. The Ring.
You deviated.
Well, I couldn’t just…
I had a responsibility.
[voice] Your responsibility is to humanity, not a construct.
Cortana’s more than that.
[voice] Explain.
[John] You wouldn’t understand.
She knows me.
[voice] Then perhaps I should be talking to her.
[dramatic music playing]
[sighs]
[Cortana] Master Chief?
You shouldn’t be here.
[John] Where are you?
[Cortana] I’m in the ship’s systems.
I had nowhere else to go.
[John] I gotta get you out of here.
[Cortana] I’ve simulated all of the possible outcomes.
This only ends one way, Chief.
We’re both going to be destroyed.
In seven…
[John] I’m not gonna let that happen.
[Cortana] I ‘m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter.
Five… -[John] Cortana…
[Cortana] …four…
…you don’t know everything.
[Cortana] …three…
two–
[resonant humming]
[hologram beeps]
[Laera, screaming]
Laera!
[Laera shrieking]
[Soren] Shit.
Laera.
[gasps]
Don’t touch… whatever the hell that shit is.
Can you get us out of here, please?
[cell door beeps and buzzes]
[Kessler] Dad.
[cell door clanks]
What about him?
You gotta be kidding me.
How have you been?
Let’s go.
He saved our lives.
[cell door beeps open]
You have a lovely family.
Stay where I can see you.
Follow me.
[loud explosion]
[grunts]
[panting]
[dramatic music playing]
[Halo theme rises]
It’s alive.
[Cortana] It’s the perfect fusion of artificial intelligence and organic life.
But yes.
This place is a living network.
Impressive, isn’t it?
We need to find Makee.
I don’t know everything, but I’d suggest looking near the large structure over there.
[John] So nice to have you back.
[Cortana] Thank you.
[dramatic music playing]
[Arbiter] It is as you foretold.
Redemption awaits.
[dramatic music playing]
[Cortana] Whoever built this place used technology beyond the limits of human comprehension.
Do you think it’s been waiting all that time?
[John] For what?
[Cortana] For you.
It all led you here.
Everything you’ve been through,
every battle you survived.
[John] And Makee.
[Cortana] Makee believes this is prophecy.
John, why are we here?
[John] This is where the fight is.
[indistinct voices shouting faintly over comms]
[groans in pain]
[sighs]
Where’s Kai?
[panicked shouting over comms]
[Kai] How hard can it be?
[fastener tears]
[grunts]
Hey, you can’t–
Stop!
[panicked comms crosstalk continues]
Kai.
[dramatic music playing]
[ship engine powering up]
Ma’am, it appears one of the Covenant Corvettes is off course.
What are they doing?
[engine roar intensifies]
[dramatic music playing]
This is gonna hurt.
[massive explosion]
[ship rumbles and shakes]
[quiet music]
[distant explosion]
[Cortana] Chief?
[tech] Confirmed. Assault Carrier destroyed, Admiral.
We have the upper hand.
Put me through to Vice Admiral Stanforth.
[comms signal chirping]
[Halsey, over comms] What have you found?
Where the hell have you been?
I’m in the CIC.
Were you arrested?
I’m not exactly sure.
Okay, uh, we-We may have a major problem.
I-I think that the artifact we brought back from the archeological site, I think it was a sample container.
It looked like inert spores at first, but I think it’s some kind of parasite.
Stay where you are. I’m on my way to you.
Aah!
[gurgling and cracking]
[gurgling and stretching]
[screaming]
Aah!
[panicked screaming]
Get off me!
[Halsey gasps]
[gunshots]
[gurgling and cracking]
[menacing music playing]
Let me out! Please–
[ominous music playing]
This way.
[Laera] Shh!
[cracking sounds]
[stretching and cracking]
[Soren] Nope.
[cracking and squishing increase]
[Laera screams]
[Soren] Move, get them out of here!
Kwan!
[yells]
Soren!
Go!
[Laera screams]
Come on, let’s go!
Kwan!
[grunting]
Kwan!
[gun clicks empty]
[breathing heavily]
[The Mother] I knew you’d find me.
We knew you would deliver us.
[shaky breaths]
Who are you?
[The Mother] I am you, Protector.
Was you.
So long ago, no one remembers.
All your ancestors are here with me.
We are all within.
Within?
[The Mother] It knows you, Kwan Ha.
It wants more than to subsume you.
It desires your submission.
Go.
I can’t hold them for long.
[gasping softly]
[dramatic music playing]
What is it?
[The Mother] It is the cohesion.
The meaning.
The final equilibrium.
[gasps]
This is the end.
[cracking in unison]
This is the Flood.
[dramatic music playing]
[gasping softly]
[urgent knock on glass]
[door chimes open]
What do we know?
It starts off as inert spores.
There were trace amounts on the object we took from the site, but it’s spreading.
It has the ability to self-replicate.
It appears to be stimulated
by proximity to living tissue.
This is remarkable.
It’s beautiful.
No, no. Not when it infects humans.
It seems to be–
Neuro-reactive. Yes.
Can we get out of here?
[Halsey] If only you could see as far as I can see, you’d understand just how irrelevant we are.
Do you realize what we have here?
A biological catastrophe.
We’ll have a connection.
This organism was a contemporary of a species who inhabited our galaxy eons ago.
A civilization so advanced, they– they built bridges with light.
And you want to go?
Sometimes I don’t understand how you…
You don’t know how I what? Go on, Halsey. Say it.
Halsey?
[tense music rises]
[gasps]
Let’s move!
Go.
What about you?
I’m going back for Kwan.
Soren–
[Kwan] Go!
Go, go, go!
Go with your father. I’m right behind you.
[suspenseful music plays]
[door shuts loudly]
Hey!
[door thuds]
Laera?
I didn’t mean it.
I didn’t mean it when I said I didn’t want Kessler to be like you.
I didn’t mean it.
[Soren] What are you doing?
You’re a good father.
Don’t run from it. He needs you.
You’re gonna be okay.
We can fix this.
I love you both.
No! Laera!
[pounds on door]
Laera!
Laera!
[pounding on door]
Laera!
[Laera] I love you.
[somber music playing]
[powering up]
-[John] Makee. -[Arbiter growls]
You will not be spared this time.
I’m right here.
Come meet your destiny, Demon.
[snarls]
[grunts]
[Arbiter snarls]
[sizzling]
[panting]
[grunting]
[swords crackle]
[John grunts]
[Arbiter roars]
[grunts]
[heroic music playing]
Why do you not accept your death?
[John] We’re not done.
[both grunt]
[panting]
[gasps]
[Arbiter] Kill me, Demon.
End my shame.
This is not the death you deserve.
Take my life. Restore my honor.
Tell him.
No, I won’t.
You must.
What is a soldier when he can no longer fight?
The Arbiter says–
I know what he said.
[sighs]
-[blade pierces] -[Arbiter groans]
[sizzling]
[powering up]
[dramatic music rises]
[engine powering up]
He keeps asking where his mom is.
[somber music playing]
[crying softly]
[Soren] Hey.
[Kessler sniffling]
Kessler.
The monster’s real.
I know.
[door sealing]
[coolant hissing]
This’ll stop the progression.
I’ll bring you back.
I promise.
[faint screaming]
[Makee] Wherever you go, war will follow.
You brought it here.
Now there’s nothing to be done but start anew.
Everything will be clean.
[John] Everything?
That’s the Ring’s purpose.
And its power.
[John] You said you wanted peace.
When they’re gone, peace is all that will remain.
And silence.
[John] I can’t let that happen.
[Cortana] Chief?
That can’t be good.
[distant rumbling]
[John] Neither can that.
[indistinct comms crosstalk]
[Makee] There’s so much that you have yet to understand.
About what we are, you and I.
So much you have yet to know.
[John] What don’t I know?
That I’m a Demon too.
[doors slide closed]
[John] Cortana?
[Cortana] I’m with you, Chief.
[dramatic music playing]
[powering up]
[voice] The fight doesn’t end.
Not for you.
Even when you win.
So tell me, why do you fight?
They took my image and bent it to their purpose, so I took it back.
This armor doesn’t belong to them.
It belongs to me.
To the ones who are gone.
And the ones who are still in the fight.
[voice] Perhaps the other one was right.
Perhaps you’re not who I require you to be.
You can’t trust her.
She’s dangerous.
She said the same about you.
I’m glad you’re here.
Although I knew you would be.
It is awake because you are here.
You are here because it is awake.
What is it?
It’s been down there all this time, waiting to meet you.
In the dark.
I’ll be watching.
[whirring sound]
[music slowly rises]
[helmet locks]
[Halo theme rises]
[Halo theme crescendos]
[end credits music plays]
[signature theme plays]
[signature theme plays]
