Watch the first episode of Halo for free on YouTube
By Dan Selcke
Halo, the new TV show based on the popular first-person shooter video games, is already a success for Paramount+, with the first episode becoming the service’s most-watched series premiere ever. But Paramount+ spent a whole lotta money on this thing and they want as many eyeballs on it as possible. Hence, they’ve made that premiere available for free on YouTube!
In the first episode, “Contact,” Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) encounters a strange alien artifact that brings him back to himself after years of close control by the military establishment. He soon defects, with his journey taking him we know now where.
343 Industries explains why Master Chief taking off his helmet isn’t that big a deal
It’s pretty far from the story of the games, especially given that Master Chief regularly removes his helmet, something he basically never does in the video games, although it does happen in the Halo comics and books. Alex Wakeford, community writer at 343 Industries, justified this particular decision in a recap of the premiere: “Indeed, even Halo 4 pushed the games closer to this territory in its exploration and deconstruction of his character, beginning with a glimpse of John as a child and ending (if you finished the campaign on Legendary) with a nanosecond glimpse at his eyes after so many years of being under the suit and the countless losses that have weighed on him.”
It seems to have more or less worked, with more-or-less solid reviews and the aforementioned strong viewership. We’ll see how things go as the first season progresses. A second season is already planned.
New episodes of Halo air on Paramount+ on Thursdays.
Next. Halo improves (a little) with its second episode, “Unbound”. dark
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