Halo TV Series: Episode 4 “Homecoming” Recap

The fourth episode of Halo, titled Homecoming, kicks off with yet another flashback. This time, we get to see Master Chief (John) and the other members of Silver Team training to become Spartans when they were children. After seeing a brief sequence of the young Spartans running as a group, we then see John later speaking with Dr. Halsey as a kid. Following the conversation between the two, we then jump back to the current time period where Master Chief is preparing to visit his home planet, Eridanus II. 

Back on Reach, we briefly see Kai, who previously had spied on Master Chief as he removed the chip in his spine that had kept his emotions suppressed. In turn, Kai is shown to have now removed her own inhibitor, although her own reasons for doing so aren’t clear just yet. 

Across the galaxy, Soren and Kwan find themselves finally arriving on Madrigal, where the mercenary Vinsher has taken over Kwan’s previous colony. Kwan briefly runs into an old friend of hers that she knew and upon re-entering the city. She then attends a vigil dedicated to her father and those that died in the first attack on Madrigal. Kwan learns that the rebel forces on Madrigal that she expected to rise up against Vinsher have instead given in to his command out of fear.

On Eridanus II, Chief ends up digging up the box near his old home that brought him to the planet in the first place. Inside, he merely finds old drawings that he made as a child. He proceeds to then walk into his old home, and with the help of Cortana, is able to recreate the living space that he once resided in. Chief proceeds to then have an extensive flashback that features his mother and father. He also sees himself endlessly toiling away on these drawings that he previously discovered. The flashback goes on to show another artifact that Chief interacted with as a kid. This memory of Chief’s youth then ends with him seeing himself speaking with Halsey in his home, suggesting that the two have a deeper backstory with one another than thought. 

Simultaneously at Reach, Miranda Keyes enlists the other members of Silver Team to see what their own reactions are when interacting with the keystone. The Spartans engage with the artifact, but unlike Chief, nothing ends up happening. In a later conversation, members of Silver Team recall a Covenant phrase that they have heard while in battle with the alien race. The term prompts Miranda to recall the message that had been sent to the UNSC previously by Makee. After interpreting the message further, Keyes and Kai discover that the Covenant have been talking about an object called “Halo.”

Kwan and Soren find themselves trapped on Madrigal after Soren’s ship gets looted by scrappers. Kwan then meets with her aunt who informs her that her father had a history and reason for being on Madrigal that Kwan was never privy to. An assassin hired by Vinsher then breaks in and kills Kwan’s aunt before Soren appears and fights the assassin off before she does the same to Kwan.

Master Chief proceeds to confront Halsey about how he saw her in the flashback to his childhood. Halsey suggests that the memory was a false one that came about as trauma from his youth. Putting aside his feelings on the matter for a moment, Chief hops in a Warthog with Halsey and travels to the location where he knows he previously interacted with the artifact as a kid. Chief ends up finding the artifact and looks upon it before the episode comes to a close.

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Halo is streaming now exclusively on Paramount+. Season One will last nine episodes with new episodes releasing every Thursday.