Halo Ep 4, “Homecoming” Review

John-117 has come back to the planet he grew up on, Eridanus II. And a dark truth Halsey holds is at risk of exposure. With Cortana inside, the risk is minimized, but it continues to exist.

Once again the episode starts in the past, looking back at the training of the Spartans as kids. Even then, John is very willful. Something that was more sedated as he matured, but that's definitely changed. But he always had a positive bond with Halsey. On Eridanus II, the memories come back slowly, and the clues to the Artifacts are scarce. But it is very clear that John-117 is tied to whatever the artifact does in regards to the Rings. Seeing him going through his family's house decades later, the small memories. From there, just seeing him get lost in those memories to find the ones he's after. It also shows John meeting Hasley early on, with a game of coin flips. Slowly, his memories are emerging with Halsey tempering what she can. More than that, there is whatever safeties are afforded by Cortana. What Cortana does show is him recovering his memories over time. There are a lot of things that happened here. It's clear that ever since John touched that piece of the Artifact, until the memories were suppressed, he was thinking about it a lot. There is a serious tie to it that we don't get to see just yet.

Kwan and Soren have their hands full for sure with the return to Madrigal. We get there very fast with them needing to sneak back onto Kwan's home planet. Soren shares a few details about himself. Soren makes it clear that he's leading for now to ensure she stays alive. Kwan finds a friend, and we get a reminder that there is a bounty on her head. Throughout this episode she learns about the betrayal of the Resistance leaders, and is told about some unpleasant truths about her father. In no way does Kwan have much time to breath here. It's clear this is a crucible for her, she has to lose some parts of her present self to grow toward being the leader she is finding herself forced into. With no money, she is stuck with whatever debt she owes Soren. And a new ship, and weaponry, and a lot of other expensive things.

Soren just looks to be getting the short end of the stick. His ship gets scrapped, likely not getting paid by Kwan. Just some bad luck in general for taking up Kwan on this. He does plenty to keep afloat, choosing to hijack the motorcycle and finding out the way off Madrigal. He's got goals, but now those are at odds with what Kwan is after and he is her best chance to stay alive right now. Credit to him for keeping his word to John after she's jumped into the deep end of the collapsed revolution. He's got a lot of reasons to cut and run and very few to hang around.

We also see Vinsher making a few moves to ensure his power remains unchallenged. The little we see of his “rule” just seems to be lording over people and enjoying the perks of the job. There is also a gratuitous scene of him naked (shown only from behind) when he calls in his primary and most trusted assassin: Franco. Also getting introduced to the Assassin, Franco. When we first see her in action, it is just slow motion and artistic shots of her literally cutting through Soojin's guards. She is something a bit new, but it is good to see the care that's being exerted to ensure control carefully. Vinsher is clear he doesn't want a martyr, he just wants a body from Kwan. He has a the power and finances to make this whole thing a reality. It really is a question of how well Kwan can stay alive and how much Soren can teach her about that.

Miranda has plenty to work on with the artifact's analysis. There is the question of what she can do without Master Chief. Testing the artifact with the other Spartans makes sense. Eliminate variables one by one. She starts with one idea, but it develops into something more important. The Spartans know at least a few words in the Covenant language. This is something that is quintessential to her own studies of them. Just seeing her have some time outside of her mother's shadow was good. Seeing her excited about her work and the passion behind it was even better. But she does also give us some chilling insight into her mother, Dr. Halsey. She will cut through whatever gets in her way toward reaching her goals. If something she's worked on turns more human, she will eliminate it quickly.

Additionally, there is what is happening with the Spartans themselves. Kai is covering up something she did, and just the quick glimpses seem to be that she's gone after her pellet as well. Just the small immediate changes, with her showing more facial expressions. Nothing making it into her voice, but the little changes to her face gave the trick away immediately. Also just seeing her remember things, and the small changes she makes. This push against what she'd been through is reassuring that there are still human elements within the Spartans. The others don't seem to notice the small quirks that Kai has begun to exhibit. This could be something bad, in a way, in that they can't already read a social situation. But it's nothing they need to worry about, since reading (and assessing) a combat situation is a little more cut and dry.

With Kai, it was the kind of scene that could have been done with Makee when she was changing into human clothes from her Covenant garb. We see everything we need to know done simply, without any of the theatrics that the Makee scene had. If I rag on something, it's only appropriate to give praise when things are done right. It is also nice seeing another Spartan who's broken such a big regulation, removing her pellet. Seeing the little acts of rebellion she's putting while she can. It was also nice seeing whatever is starting to happen between Kai and Miranda. But there is also what Miranda said about her mother, that she's determined to focus everything

Makee, wasn't really in this episode (she appears to say one word, which doesn't count). Instead, that was taken up with the Spartans and Miranda talking about the Covenant, the Spartan Training history, and just getting to see them “relaxed.” Even if it was just Kai we saw relaxed, it is good to see another Spartan breaking from their assigned protocols. I really do wonder when we're going to hear her name though.

This episode had a lot of good action with Franco getting introduced. Just the elegant and graceful way she cut through Soojin's guards was impressive. There was the much more blunt style of Soren, with his amazing gun work though as well. All the fights did a good job of establishing just how out-gunned Kwan actually is on Madrigal. She doesn't want to give up on her planet just yet though.

John-117, Adun, and Dr. Halsey on Eridanus are at a constant risk of something. There is something more there that Dr, Halsey and Adun are trying to make sure John doesn't remember. They seem to be tolerating the “insubordination” from John for now. Dr. Halsey is just waiting for a reason to ask Cortana to shut down/lock-up John. Her desires are very straight forward, to figure out how to defeat the Covenant by almost any means needed.