Halo review: “Inheritance” makes the most of a boring B story
Taking a break from intergalactic war, Halo dedicates a full episode to a B story, returning us to Kwan’s quest to liberate the planet Madrigal from Vinsher, the governor put in charge by the UNSC to replace her father. At the same time, Soren returns to the Rubble. Things get spicy in “Inheritance.”
Oof. I’ll be honest, I’ve been dreading this. It was nice of the show to minimize (or better yet, exclude) Kwan and Soren from the proceedings, but I knew eventually we would have to return to them. And despite my aversion to this B story (and the show’s handling or it), it wasn’t as bad as I feared. For one, dedicating a full episode helps give this story the weight it’s been lacking.
After escaping Soren and Vinsher, Kwan is captured by the Witches who Kwan’s father was going to meet before his untimely demise. Things start off slow with a lot of par-for-the-course dialog, but eventually they introduce a spiritual journey element, which piqued my interest a bit.
That said, the execution is lacking. I feel the show really strained itself trying to push the mystic strangeness of it all. They brought back that crazed hermit character from the second episode seemingly just to amplify the dream-like absurdity of it all. In any case, the dream involves Kwan fighting Master Chief, and each time she fails she is forced to try again. It’s a cool idea, but the climax of it is Kwan giving up and begging for the answer. Then Dream Master Chief becomes friendly.
It just doesn’t feel like Kwan did anything to really earn this turn, since she overcomes her struggle by … giving up? The script has made a point to let us know that rage was overwhelming her character, so perhaps her admitting defeat is supposed to signify acceptance, but the whole thing could have been handled better.
“Inheritance” brings solid action to Halo
Meanwhile, Soren is back on the Rubble and has to deal with a partner, Squirrel, who is showing signs of mutiny. Honestly, I don’t really get the point in this story. It’s a complete story, I’ll give it that, but I just don’t see how it matters to the grander narrative.
Anyway, eventually Soren is convinced to go help Kwan and returns to Madrigal just in the nick of time, as Vinsher has at last tracked Kwan’s location. Vinsher is so cartoonishly evil and I think I like him. No subtlety, no nuance, just an evil guy dressed all in black, giving evil monologues, smoking cigars and wearing killer shades. I should be mad at the laziness, but I actually like how blunt his characterization is.
Another good mark for this episode: the ending fight was well done. We see Soren kick some ass in long, uninterrupted shots that allow the stunts and character movements to read clearly, so applause on that.
Naturally, our heroes overcome Vinsher and his forces, meeting defeat at Kwan’s hands in the same outpost where her father died, which I thoughts was a nice detail. Kwan has defeated Madrigal’s oppressive ruler, but that’s only the start of her mission to liberate the planet from the UNSC. Soren takes his prize, says, “Forget it Princess, I’m only in it for the money,” and takes off. What happens next? It could be a while before we know.
For all the problems I had with Kwan’s and Soren’s stories, Halo managed to give them a proper conclusion. I would still argue they were largely unnecessary padding, but hey, they finished well enough. I just wish the show could have found a way to tie them back to the main story. Hopefully Halo can do that going forward. Like I said, I’m sure the UNSC won’t take kindly to their puppet dictator getting the axe. Perhaps a certain top solider is told to go stomp out this resistance? We’ll see.
Grade: C+
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels