#vinsher

“Aurora.” She voiced the words subvocally. “Yes, Quinn?” the AI replied. “We’re going in, alert C&C we’ll need exfil.” She reloads the needler and walks into the flood infected compound.

Halo, Season 1 - Episode 4 “Homecoming”

Master Chief

We open with the fire team was a kid, every single SPartan we’ve seen and we’re pushed forward into the memory of John. The kids are march along singing a jody ( rhythmnic chanting during marching), and thus we see how the UNSC abducted and indoctrinated kids to make the Spartan IIs.

We jump back to the modern day as Halsey and her aide argue over what the Forerunner object is. Oh, wow, this woman is in a ride for her hell for what she’s going to unsleash. Cortana pops up and we get a bit of an overload on what’s going on, and Chief’s having anxiety. Heh, tear out a fucking emotional suppression implant and this happens.

Duh.

Eridanus looks like Madrigal in that it appears to be another craggy dirt ball, I thinkit’s just the spots they choose. Wait not, even the terraformed deciduous forest is kind of gnarly. I’m going to call that it’s some sort of fall sitch. Oh, and the forest IS terraformed, called it. Plus some nice foreshadowing where John locates the spot where his plot mcguffin paper is! YAY PLOT PAPER!

Dig it up - up oh, HOLES! Back on Eridanus, John is gophering along w00t! Out comes a box, (A MAGICAL BOX!), filled with “drawings and samples? What by the Nine is this wonderful weird shit! Welp, Foreunner tech is all kinds of mind-fuckery, so John drawing the same image plus Halo over and over again makes sense. Into the House! Cortana compiles images to provoke John’s memory. Giving us some shots of what his family home was.

Little John runs by with the dog and he hears his father speaking. This is something that really humanizes the Chief, and will make him more epic later on. A memory is unearthed, and we learn where John found the images. WHERE, he found the Forerunner tech! Baby John and big Jouhn as a scene was...adorable. And, he figures out that Halsey stole him. yup, fuck this lady.

Kai:

Wow, Kai-125, is basically experience an existential crisis, and yup, she’s gone and removed her chip. Fuck, go for you girl, just please don’t go all murdery please. I wanna see this as a woman reclaiming her agency, not as another “emotional female” soldier bullshit trope.

They are really placing up subtle bits of how the Spartans don’t feel, and how they explore their awakened emotions in this story. Kai, spreads blood in her hair, and I’m, not sure, how I feel on this. I think the dying of hair with you’re own blood is interesting, and it shows a small level of psychosis as well. I mean its’ her fucking blood! She’s also a literal murder machine, so I guess this is okay as well.

The doc staring Kai after the hair, and Kai calls out her bullshit. Wow, please please just don’t go all murdery. I just wana Kai to not go down that route! Okay, she’s a kid, cuz you know they were stolen kids. Keyes getting some more knowledge drop as the Spartans talk like a bunch of 10 year olds discussing Halo Weapons (like when the game first dropped) was - pretty cute. Makes sense, it would be Kai who helped Keyes break Sanghelii. I’m shipping these girls now, deal!

Keyes drops some reasons why she doesn’t like Spartans II. Wow, Spartan II pets was...fucked up. Keyes really gives an idea of how shitty their children. Hooyay, your mom supported Child Abuse! Kai and Keyes are back working on things yeah, shipping this shit. Kaiyes ftw. Heh, Kai coin’s Halo, call it.

Kwan:

Our girl is off with kill-daddy Soren on Madrigal so she can spark the blood insurrection about Vinsher the Butcher. Soren relates on how he felt as an early escapee of the child soldier abuse system *COUGH* Spartan II program! Yup, and he killed his dad, wow that’s not at all surprising. Ship design in this series is nice as it really does fit how things felt in the games.

The capital of Madrigal being carved from a mesa is pretty bad ass. And, I do like how it’s obviously this Colony is Korean founded. We see Hangul everywhere, plus, it emphasizes how much the colonies are evolving. There is also a definite Middle Asia and perhaps even Indian feel. Kwa runs into a contact, and I think this bitch is gonna betray her. Yup, betrayal runs on his face hardcore.

Oh Kwan has a bounty, looks to be about 100,000 bells!

The Folk gathering for Jin’s memorial is righteaously a mix of different rituals! A Madrigali (is it wrong I want to rename the planet Casita?) gather. Will Kwan find the generals? I mean, general in the we’re a bunch of bad ass hero commandos ala fantasy movie! Not, actual serious ranking army figures! I say this, because this is a fucking militia, genral doesn’t mean the same thing!

Kwan welp, our girl, get’s reality dropped on her. Called it! Vinsher’s actions have quelled the rebellion, and Kwan isn’t living in reality. Yup, in come riding the strongmen, and Soren’ kicks some serious ass, and saves our delusion girl. I mean, yeah, this delusion makes sense, but damn, hope she gets a kick of grounding.

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Vinsher.

Kwan is...just stuck on this road, she’s lying to Soren, I can see it. This is going to end bad. We split to Vinsher planning her death like a fucking Mafia Don. (Yup, fuck this guy he ain’t getting his own POV section). At least he’s sending an assassin, and hopefully, they’ll realize how fucking dangerous an ex-Spartan is. Vinsher is wow, he’s like a slightly less imposing Baron Harkonnen, and not as smart.

Ah Soren, being a fucking Pirate! Kwan, girl, y ou need to stop hoisting this unrealistic dream. How her father basically got a prophecy for his family. Kwan, I think is starting to realize her actions has consequences,and that in a world of fucking colonists you need to think things out.

Hottakes:

Yup, he keeps taking off that fucking helmet, I’ll just have to accept this Inferior Chief I guess. Lucky the actor isn’t shit, and I actually like him.

Lol, the side quest feel of this episode was...fucking great. I love that they are hunting for a literal piece of PLOT PAPER!

Seriously Kwa, you better deliver girl, or you’re world is going to shatter.

Kai please don’t go unhinged and get some agency BEFORE ALL THE SPARTANS DIE!

Vinsher and his bunch in pristine black as night costumes where as everyone else is in shades of grey, and orange and yellow is pretty great.

Lol, the exaggerate Spartan stompiness is...funny.

Kai dropping all the creds on Dr Keyes was...satisfying. I like Keyes, but she’s also a bit on her high horse.

Master Boof (that white shepheard of kid John), is the best fucking boy!

Kwan is...just as disconnected as one could assume.

SNERK, the assassin’s name is Franco...best ever.

GO JOHN! Calling out his kidnapping shitt abusive mother figure!

I bet you Kwan has a link to Forunner tech, calling it.

More Halsey being shitty, yup yup, stripping kids of their humanity. Cuz we can’t have a woman with severe empathy repression feel uncomfortabl when her hens come back to roost.

"DEMON!" The Sanghelii warrior cries to her, she tilts her head, as her hud displays its weakness. "Aurora." She speaks to her AI who replies, "YES?" "Let's kill this fucker."

Okay seriously, John, I'm just, whatever you have your helmet off, this heresy continues.

Halo

Charity / Gladius:

So we finally get a backstory for Makee, and wow, it's as dreary as we could have predicted. She lives on a planet analogous to the "Third World" from Futurama including the abuse of child labor! YAY! Watching the Elite bash that guard aside after he killed Det was, satisfying. Then we flash back toward High Charity and Makee preparing to lead her team to learn more about the Forerunner keystone.

Makee is, insidiously good at her job. And, the Prophets gave her a fucking Mgalekgolo, or Hunter, so seems she's not alone. My get is she's gonna steal the ship and use it for some nice little infiltration jobs. Rightfully so the captain of the UNSCS Gladius treats the girl with suspicion (that girl is hella sus), and keeps her in full view of a cadre of marines. Then the Hunter worms invade and murder all the humans, this is yup, uggo as hell, but it shows us WHY ever species in the covenant is fucking terrifying.

Makee hotwires the Glaidus and sets up her progress to find the ring. Wow, we get bit back on Reach where they appear to be getting close to learning more about their enemy.

Reach:

Switching takes, we find ourselves back on Reach. Halsey has continued her work to create Cortana and wow. Yup, it's as unethically FUCKED UP as we could have ever guessed. Literally burning away her sentient flash clone's brain to create an AI is all levels of fuck this lady. Then watching Cortana appear in her blueself was, nice, but thank the gods thing isn't over-sexualizezd like later iterations. Seeing her in the flesh explains WHY we have a much younger looking Dr. Halsey to create the Holo Avatar. Yup we need that sweet sweet stupid holo-hottie look. Seriously, guys I get it, we wanna bang the holo girl, but after a while this geek girl is just tired of it.

(Insert neckbeard bitching).

Back on Reach, Cortana assists in testing the artifact. All we get is more memories and images from John, and more commentary from Cortana. She is silenced once again and they learn only a little bit. We split to John leaving the lab and walking from his place to rejoin his fireteam in the Spartan Barracks. The berths are respectfully sparse, and damn I do like that the the lack of over emphasis of the girls curves. And thank the goddess those boots they were don't have fucking heels.

Cortana is awkward, and Chief is even more so. These two potatoes are gonna get into trouble. We get more and more Cortana banter, loooove Jen Taylor reprising her voice role here! Now, the two start to go over the loss of the Spartan's one by one over the years. He relives his life and feels the emotions attached to the memories because of the keystone. Cortana is told to cease being a spy, and thus the Chief loses his pellet. Riz-028 sees the action, and seems disturbed. I hope she doesn't snitch on chief, I like the Spartan women.

Walking out into the dock, we see Chief walking among other humans and soldiers without his pellet. HIs experiences are now real, like a glass removed from emotions. Emotions can inhibit combat, but with proper discipline, they can also enhance it. And, Chief gets to see a city night, and experience a concert. This is kind of tropey, but fuck, it's a perfect poetic revelation for him to experience.

More on Chief's backstory is revealed, and his knowledge of the artifacts is fascinating. I did like how they hid the epiphany y in his memories on a childhood sketch.

Rubble:

Zooming to Rubble we learn about the shit erupting on Madrigal. Vinsher just seems to be killing and causing tyrrany in spades. And Kwa is just watching it all fall apart. She want's to go off and save her people, but this isn't the time to be rebel princess. Kwa and Laera discuss the ongoing crap on Madrigal as well. Kwa goes on and on about the fact she is determined to be a rebel, and yeah, I get it. She want's to save her people, but this girl is a major asset in a galactic war. I get WHY Laera is against the idea.

Meanwhile, at the Legion of Rubble, Kwa is intent on building a fucking ship. Soren drops some serious reality on the girl, and I'm fine with this. She's living a dream in a way while I agree with it, she's easily making a mistake that could get a lot of people killed.

Hottakes:

Makee, makes more sense now that we have her backstory.

Seriously, Halsey, fried her own clone to make Cortana, and then treats her like a annoying child when she tries to speak up.

Note, this might explain why the two bond so well later on in Halo, Chieftana forever bitches!

I thought the Mgalekgolo in the trailer were Flood, hell, this is gonna get more gruesome when we finally meet them, damn.

And holy shit Makee has...plasma talons...yup, and yup. This girl ain't human anymore. I wonder if they used tech from the old

This show really hits the futuristic clothing I liked a lot in Expanse, and it has a nice level of utility to it as well.

John meeting a dog for the first time, and seeing a good boy, was, excellent. This seems to have provoked a revelation for him.

Yes, hiding the realization on the artifact IN the childhood memory was...excellent.