Halo season 1

 Well, it has only been out for 3 years or so, but finally I got round to start watching the series, based on the immensely popular video game franchise.

 

Which, I must say, I never actually played in earnest, though I know the Master Chief. 

 

Well enough to know he never removes his helmet, only to do so halfway episode 1 already and leave it off for most of the series.  Which I guess makes it more intresting for filming, but if you see that it could be done in The Mandalorian...

 

When in 2552 the Covenant attacks an outpost on the planet Madrigal, massacring everyone bar Kwan Ha, the daughter of the insurrectionist leader, Silver Team led by Master Chief, aka John, intervenes.  He finds a Forerunner key, that unlocks some of his hidden childhood memories.  Professor Halsey works on a new AI, Cortana, which is based of Halsey's own brain patterns.

 

John rebels by refusing to execute Kwan Ha, and brings her to an old friend, Soren, to keep her safe as he realises he must have seen the key as a child.  The Silver Team is send to retrieve him and the keystone, while Makee, a human collaborator with the Covenant, insists she can retrieve the stone as well with the Covenant Prophets.  With a rouse, Makee gets to follow John, who has been implanted with Cortana, something he isn't to happy about of having an AI living in his head.  But he removes the pellet though that supresses his emotions to connect better with the keystone visions.

 

John is convinced that the second keystone is hidden on his homeplanet, and he travels there with Halsey.  On reach, Kai, another member of Silver Team, also removes her pellet secretly, while helping Miranda discover the use of the keystones.  They discover it is connected to something the Covenant call the Halo.  Kwan goes to look for allies in the fight to help her people, hunted by the governor Grath, a ruthless tyrant.   After surviving a Covenant ambush during the excavation for the second keystone, Makee is left behind and connects with John.

 

This leads to a deeper connection as she tells him they are both "blessed" with the ability to activate the keystones, and that the Covenant holy planet is in the Aspero system.  John also learns the truth of the Spartan program and how he and others where kidnapped as kids and replaced with clones that died rather fast after the switch, seemingly of illness.

 

Kwan and Soren confront the governor and his troops, as a Forerunner portal is seemingly hidden away on the planet and it is her family lines duty to protect it.  Grath tries to take them out, but they overcome him and kill him in blast of exploding deuterium fuel.  John and Makee travel to the holy planet, followed by Silver Team send to stop him after they escape from the UNSC vessel.  On the planet, Makee turns back to her Covenant loyalties, and when Silver Team is about to be overwhelmed by the enemy, John allows Cortana to take over his body functions, saving his friends and getting the keystone along with them.

 

This surely wasn't a bad series, and I guess I'll be going to watch the second (and final) season in pretty short order as well.  Special effects are awesome, and the story was okay, but as I said in the beginning, I'm going in blank so have no clue how far it diverges from the source material...