Halo Season 2 Episode 7 Finally Sets Up a Game Moment Fans Have Been Begging For

This Halo article contains spoilers.

Yes, that was an actual Halo ring at the end of the latest episode of Halo, “Thermopylae.” At last, Master Chief has made it to the show’s namesake, the superweapon his video game counterpart discovered within seconds of the Xbox title the show is based on. It shouldn’t have been this hard or taken this long for this adaptation to get him there. Like a wide-eyed John-117 staring out at the mythical Forerunner superstructure, I can barely even believe it’s actually happening. Could this cliffhanger lead to another rug pull?

It was only three weeks ago that the show got around to the Fall of Reach, the event in the lore of the games that directly led to Chief and UNSC finding the ring. But instead of getting us there at break neck speed like the game, there were no Covenant ships chasing the Pillar of Autumn on the TV series, no epic last-ditch landing on the ringworld at all. Instead, Master Chief and his pals went to a farm world to sulk. Then Soren’s kid went missing and Riz retired. Then a whole bunch more detours — to find artifacts, to uncover a new secret Spartan project, to a hidden Forerunner city. All before ever even stepping foot on the Halo all this sci-fi nonsense is supposed to be about.

Yes, the games cover some of this stuff too, but those expansions of the lore happened organically after the initial title, branching out from the first Halo ring to High Charity and the Ark and Genesis and so on. But first there was that single ring full of mystery and wonder and ancient secrets. And one hell of a twist I’m not sure this show will ever actually get to at this pace. The TV show, and the alternate universe Silver Timeline in which it takes place, is clearly much more interested with what happened after the games expanded the lore than the thing they’re best known for (which, again, is Halo rings).

But fine, credit where credit is due: Almost two seasons later, the show has given us Halo, at least from faraway. A massive Covenant fleet, and Admiral Parangosky’s plan to blow everything to hell before anyone can reach the superweapon, are all that stand in the way of Master Chief (and I guess Makee) touching some Halo grass.

A true, disgusting pessimist might predict that the season finale’s big twist will see Parangosky’s plan actually succeed, with the needle causing the intended chain reaction that not only destroys the Covenant fleet but also the Spartan IIIs and the Halo ring itself. But don’t worry! I’m definitely not so paranoid as to predict something so horrible.

Even if things were to go down like that, we know from the games that there’s also a Delta Halo out there and quite a few others beyond that. Hell, maybe this thing’s been headed to the Ark the whole time. It’s exactly the kind of thing this show would do to delay getting us to the Halo!

But seriously, surely now that Master Chief is finally on the ringworld’s doorstep, there’s no stopping this show from actually getting us there. Right?

Halo is streaming now on Paramount+.