Halo Season 2 Episode 5 Recap (Spoilers)

Halo Season 2 hit a major high point with Episode 4 and the Battle of Reach – including some shocking character deaths. That left Halo Season 2 Episode 5, "Aleria" facing the daunting challenge of at least keeping the momentum going, even when all the fighting finally died down. 

What we got was arguably one of the more balanced episodes of this Halo TV series yet – mix of some thrilling action, harrowing drama, and a lot of developments for an ensemble of characters that is quickly dwindling down to some key players. There was a lot packed into this episode – here's the full breakdown, scene by scene. 

Halo Season 2 Episode 5 "Aleria" Recap (Spoilers)

Fight Or Die – There's no time for a single breath as Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) regains consciousness in the midst of battle. Vannak has been killed in Chief's brutal duel with the Covenant Elite (we now confirm is the Arbiter), and Master Chief is rattled, to say the least. Chief's fellow Spartans Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) and Riz-028 (Natasha Culzac) are holding the line against the advancing Covenant forces. Meanwhile, Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone) is traumatized by the death of her ex-husband Admiral Jacob Keyes (Danny Sapani) during the fight in Episode 4 Halsey tries to convey to Chief that all hope is not lost: the evacuation of Reach is happening as they fight, with numerous escape crafts taking off in the distance, beyond the exploded hangar bay they're fighting in. Chief gets back on his feet and grabs his gun – but everything goes silent until Soren foolishly calls out, asking if that's all the Covenant has for them. The answer is a hammer-swinging armored Covenant Brute, who crashes in through the ceiling and thrashes the unarmored Spartans. The group is only saved by the arrival of Soren's ship, with his wife Laera (Finnoa O'Shaughnessy) piloting and Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) shooting a heavy canon that blows out the Brute's armor, killing the beast. Riz and Soren get Halsey and Master Chief onboard, while Kwan covers the extract with a barrage of minigun fire. Riz will not leave without Vannak's body and jumps into a fog of Covenant forces to retrieve her dead teammate's corpse. She heroically comes running back to the ship carrying Vannak, but takes a Covenant plasma blast to her lower back, while getting him on the ship. The group barely gets everyone onboard and take off as Reach is being annihilated. Chief looses consciousness while Halsey tries to stabilize him, suffering visions of the moment he was separated from Cortana and Makee's message to him on Sanctuary. It's revealed that Cortana was taken out of Master Chief and given to ONI director Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi), who struck some yet-unknown deal with the AI entity. When Chief finally succumbs, he sees Riz being hooked up to an oxygen tank, her fate unknown. 

[Opening Title and Credits Play]

Art Thou Still Blessed? – We find Makee (Charlie Murphy) on her ship viewing the ruins of Reach and conversing with Var 'Gatanai (Viktor Akerblom), the Elite warrior that has repeatedly dueled Master Chief and killed Vannak. Var is unhappy that Makee stopped him from killing Master Chief during his duel on Reach – just as she did on Sanctuary in the Season 2 premiere. The Arbiter accuses Makee of having sympathy for "The Demon" (Master Chief), saying that his nemesis' death is the only "higher purpose" he's interested in – not Makee's religious prophecies. The Arbiter is curious about what Cortana is, exactly – especially after Makee made a point to steal it from Reach. Makee craftily offers her death if she's deemed useless or traitorous to Var, and then plays down what Cortana is, calling it a repository of human knowledge. The Arbiter leaves her to play with her human tech, for the time being...

What Was I Made For? – Master Chief wakes up to see Riz laid out on a medical table, body broken and barely hanging on. Chief is attended to by Halsey, and he quickly turns angry with her, demanding to know what she truly made the Spartans for, and how she views them: As actual people, or just tools of war. Chief demands to know how Halsey sees Riz, and denies her the easy out of saying Spartans are "people," as Spartans don't have any personal lives or ties that would qualify them as "people" by any traditional definition. John nearly gets violent with Halsey, but she stands firm, commanding him to let her go. Master Chief's rage quickly turns to anguish over how the UNSC and ONI left him and Silver Team on Reach without armor or backup. Master Chief then finds out he's been unconscious for two days; Riz is in a coma, Kai is still MIA, and Reach has fallen. Chief is still badly hurt and feverish from his wounds and starts to spiral out over how he could have stopped the Fall of Reach if he'd had Cortana and his armor. After giving him a sedative, Halsey warns Chief that ONI left them for dead as part of a plan – and that they must stay in the shadows to survive. Chief wants to know how and why Halsey thinks they're a team now, before passing out. 

Makee v. Cortana – Makee tries all kinds of arcane summoning to bring Cortana online – but Cortana (voice of Jen Taylor, body of Christina Bennington) appears, stating she needs no prompts, just the push of a button. Makee confirms that Cortana has been captured by Var 'Gatanai, "The Arbiter," of the Covenant (a name Halo fans have been waiting to hear since the show began). Makee wants to look into Master Chief's memories that Cortana recorded to find the information about the Halo ring she needs – but Cortana makes it clear that she cannot be coerced. Makee turns the tables on Cortana's defiance by taking the vulnerable stance that her own survival is dependent on producing something useful from Cortana – if Makee is not useful, then Cortana is not either, and they will both be doomed. Cortana takes herself offline, but it's clear Makee has made a point worth considering. 

Survivors Club – Master Chief finally wakes up after three days of rest to find Soren, Laera and Kwan at his bedside. The group is landing on the mining planet Aleria to retrieve Soren's son Kessler, whom Kwan sent away for safekeeping while rescuing Laera on The Rubble and Soren on Reach. Soren and Laera head out to get their son; Kwan takes Master Chief to see Vannak, but Chief refuses to look at the body, coldly claiming an empty corpse is not the same as his friend. Riz is rushed into what passes for a surgeon's office on the planet, with Halsey overseeing the operation. Master Chief takes in the desolate barren lands of Aleria, while Soren, Laera, and Kwan go to a local merchant to investigate. Soren drops heavy coin for info, but the merchant doesn't quite believe that Soren and Laera are the loving parents they claim to be – hinting that children can become valuable commodities in a place like Aleria. Still, the merchant produces a record of recent arrivals, and Laera spots one entry that seems to match Kessler, giving them a real lead. 

Spartans Don't Go to the Grave – Kwan approaches Master Chief about doing the duty of burying Vannak, but Chief refuses, saying Spartans don't get buried: when a Spartan becomes a Spartan, they leave their old life behind, meaning they are already dead, in a sense. Kwan is upset by this idea, saying she would give anything to have the chance to bury her own family. She conveys (without saying directly) that putting people in the ground isn't just a ritual to honor the dead – it allows the living to move on by symbolically leaving the dead behind, instead of carrying their ghosts with them. 

Be Where I Am – Soren and Laera are riding a commuter truck across the Alerian wastelands, where Soren is trying to make conversation. Laera expresses her frustration with her husband's jovial nature, as they are supposed to be looking for their son, she is in torment, and he should be right there with her. Laera call out Soren for running from every perilous situation, starting with the Spartan program – and that right now, he's not properly processing the loss of Reach; the home and power they lost at the Rubble; or Kessler being missing. Laera moves to the other side of the truck bed and takes off her white-haired wig, tossing it over the side, while Soren twists on his wife's barbed words. 

No Fight Left – Riz finally wakes up in the "hospital" center on Aleria. She sees Halsey at her bedside and recalls the memory of how she came out of her Spartan augmentation process to the same sight. She remembers that Halsey told her that only "1 out of 3" candidates survive, and she was one of them. Halsey breaks the hard news to Riz that her injuries have diminished her capabilities of being a Spartan, she'll "have to work harder." Riz looks out the window at her new surroundings, lost in thought and consideration. 

Battle Scars – Kwan lugs Vannak's body to a clearing, complainingly asking the dead man why he was so big. She starts digging the hole for him, and the scene cuts to Riz, asleep under a blanket looking very much dead as well, with Halsey updating Master Chief that her injuries are debilitating, but that she's viable as a fighter. Chief and Halsey discuss what happened on Reach – and how Admiral Parangosky made the fall of the planet her statement that she is still the controlling power of the UNSC in this war. Kwan has a whole monologue with Vannak's corpse while trying to bury him, admitting that grieving all of Reach is impossible – as is mourning all the family and friends she's lost – so Vannak must become the vessel of all that grief. Mysterious robed figures carrying torches come out of the shadows of the night and approach Kwan. Chief recalls to Halsey that Parangosky was there when Cortana was taken out of him – something that Halsey thinks should be impossible for him to remember. Chief describes the hole that's been left since Cortana's been gone – and follows up a hint from Cortana to ask Halsey why he, specifically, was chosen to be a Spartan. Halsey will not let her mask slip even a bit, maintaining that John matched a genetic profile they created for an ideal Spartan candidte. Kwan and the robed figures are in a loud argument outside, so Master Chief intervenes; Kwan objects to the group taking Vannak's corpse away, but the religious figures claim that they just want to burn the body, as a proper send off. During the commotion, the sheet covering Vannak's corpse slips off; John is finally affected on a human level by seeing his friend dead and suddenly reverses course, acquiescing to Kwan that the religious group can "Put him in the sky" (i.e., cremation). Kwan explains to Chief that there is a difference between "death" and "loss," and that he is finally feeling the latter.

Little Human Trafficking – Soren and Laera are taken out to an old factory facility in a dark and snowy part of the wasteland. They find two women there armed with guns, who claim to be running the place to protect wayward children. The two girls insult Laera and Soren, claiming that the little boy who came to them looked abused – and the two "parents" are the ones responsible. Laera freaks out, but Soren carries her outside to cool off and heads back in to try a friendlier negotiation. While Soren talks to the women, Laera spots a little boy running in the shadows with a Spartan helmet on his head. She pursues the boy, thinking it's Kessler, only to find out that it's a different boy, who was given the helmet by Kessler, to make him feel brave when he was afraid. Soren leaves his negotiation claiming the women have agreed to let see Kessler – it's left ambiguous whether or not he did something brutally violent to the women running the facility to get his answer. It's a moot point: Laera confirms that Kessler never made it there, and they are back to square one. 

Funeral for Friends – The funeral rights for Vannak are carried out by Master Chief, Kwan, the religious group, and Halsey, who leads the eulogy. Chief can only stand to listen to her talk for a moment about Vannak, the boy she first met, before stepping in to take over, eulogizing Vannak as more than the boy he began as; once Vannak became a Spartan, that was everything he was – and as a Spartan, he never truly dies, because his fight is not done. Master Chief pledges to become the weapon that carries out retribution for his lost friend, by killing the Arbiter, the Covenant, and the ONI leaders (Ackerson, Parangosky) that betrayed them. Chief sets Vannak's body ablaze and limps off into the darkness leaving the others to mourn. Halsey follows, calling out Chief for having more rage than an actual plan. Halsey finally confesses that she never "chose" John to be Master Chief, she discovered his unique potential after he made contact with one of the Halo keystones as a boy, and that connection made him the prized candidate for Spartan augmentation. She lobbies John to not go after ONI out of revenge and instead help humanity discover possible salvation through the Halo ring. Master Chief doesn't fear ONI killing him, as "I'm already dead" to them. 

Grave Warning – Kwan is watching Vannak's body burn when she's pulled into a vision. The old woman/religious leader that Master Chief met on Sanctuary (and watched die there) appears to Kwan, claiming she is a speaker for all planets – including Kwan's lost home of Madrigal. The woman warns that the "monsters" are close and that Kwan has lost her path and purpose as the last of Ha family: to be a protector of life. Kwan recalls the memory from the Season 2 premiere ending of her in a cave on the Rubble, viewing cave paintings of a Flood Gravemind, and takes it as a warning that the parasitic species of the Halo Universe is about to be set loose. The vision ends, and Kwan is back at the funeral pyre, with only Riz noticing her freaked-out demeanor. 

No Charity Here – Makee runs onto the bridge of the Arbiter's ship to confirm that they have been recalled to High Charity, the Covenant capital city/space station. Makee knows that the Covenant leaders The Hierarchs will kill them for failing to unlock the Halo and kill "The Demon" (Master Chief); however, the Arbiter's devotion makes him ready to face all consequences as punishment for his perceived failure. Makee lobbies Var to consider that the Hierarchs are false prophets – that she and the Arbiter are the true chosen ones of the prophecy of the Great Journey. Arbiter is about ready to strike Makee down, but Cortana intervenes by showing them both a projection of John's memory of Halo's surface. The Arbiter wants to know what vision he is seeing, and Makee uses the moment of confusion to inspire him with the idea that it is a divine vision, that he should heed. The ruse pays off: together, Makee and Cortana get the Arbiter to break ranks and take his ship out to find Halo – knowing that the Covenant will inevitably come to hunt them down. 

New Riz, New Life – Riz finally gets on her feet and sees some locals on Aleria constructing a new building together. It looks like the kind of new life she can embrace. 

New Negotiations – Laera returns to the merchant who first pointed them toward the settlement of wayward kids. Laera gets gloves, and wraps a large pipe in barbwire before recalling to the merchant the day she realized she would do any monstrous thing to protect her son. Laera emerges from the shop and tells Soren that she's discovered that the UNSC took Kessler. Like with Soren, it's left unanswered whether or not Laera used brutal violence to get her answers. 

My Fight's Over – Master Chief tries to get Riz back on Soren's ship for the next part of their mission – but Riz states that she's staying on Aleria, and that her fight is over. Chief tries to use Vannak and Kai's memories to push his soldier, but Riz is serene and at peace with her decision. She stand to face Chief, only to let him know that her "revenge" is living a life – but Chief can't let go of his guilt and pain. Riz calmly confirms that pain is just a burden to either carry or be crushed by if you cannot know peace to balance it – and she wants that peace. Chief pleads that Riz is the only family he has left, but she's resolute. Halsey tries telling her she's no one now – but Riz smiles at that, and joins the local building the new structure, leaving her Spartan dog tags behind. Halsey and Master Chief join Soren, Laera, and Kwan on the ship, ready to depart. 

New Kai, New War – A final scene takes us to "Onyx" and "Camp Currahee," where Col. James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan) is debuting Spartan Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy) as the new commander of his ONI-brand Spartan unit. Kai steps out of a facility door onto a massive military staging tarmac, at the head of her battalion of specialized soldiers and a fleet of UNSC Pelican and Condor aircraft lifting off for flight. "Winter Contingency" seems to be underway.

[End Credits Roll]

Halo Season 2 releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.