Warning: The following recap contains major spoilers for Halo Season 2, Episode 6, “Onyx.”
Halo Season 2, Episode 6, “Onyx,” kicks off in space, aboard a UNSC starship. Corporal Perez (Cristina Rodlo) joins her new Spartan-III unit in a daring raid on a Covenant corvette. The unit uses jet packs to space jump onto the corvette’s hull, sustaining heavy losses. Things don’t pan out much better inside the Covenant craft, with even more of Perez’s comrades taken out in the ensuing firefight. Eventually, only Perez is left, and she almost spikes the corvette’s controls – until she’s blasted in the back. It’s a fake-out, however, and Perez emerges unscathed from a VR simulation on the planet Onyx, along with the rest of her unit.
The Spartan-III unit’s instructor, Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy), enters the room. She debriefs them on their latest failure, berating them for not fighting as a team. Kai also explains how the UNSC’s spike technology works. It delivers a virus once stabbed into a Covenant starship, resulting in full system shutdown. When Perez criticizes the mission simulation for being unrealistic and unfair, Kai counters that it accurately reflects war’s randomness. Kai dismisses the Spartans.
Perez isn’t done yet, however. She pursues Kai out into the hallway, leading to a heated exchange. Kai lambasts Perez for repeatedly making the same mistakes, and Perez accuses Kai of resenting her for taking part in the defense of Reach in Halo Season 2, Episode 4, “Reach.” Clocking a poster of John-117/The Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber) over Kai’s shoulder, Perez insists she knows what she signed up for when she joined the Spartan-III unit. But when Kai suggests this means Perez has a death wish, the corporal denies this is the case.
The Master Chief Takes the Fight to ONI’s Front Door
Elsewhere on the base, Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) pours a tea for James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan). Parangosky relates the story of how the tea leaves made their way from a family orchard in Sri Lanka to his cup on Onyx. She then reveals that none of this is true; the tea leaves were really grown in a lab on Onyx. It’s all part of a wider point Parangosky wants to impress on Ackerson: the power of stories – including the narrative the ONI has spread about Reach. Ackerson maintains that the narrative is still intact. Parangosky is less convinced, informing Ackerson that the Master Chief and Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey (Natascha McElhone), have seemingly survived the Fall of Reach and made their way to Onyx, risking ONI’s cover story.
Halo Season 2, Episode 6, cuts to the Master Chief, surveying the UNSC’s Onyx base through a pair of binoculars. He sets his jaw, readying himself for the conflict to come. We break for the opening credits, and then we’re back in another VR simulation. This time, Kai is sharpening her skills in a recreation of the Fall of Reach. Ackerson pauses the simulation and admonishes Kai for punishing herself for missing the battle. Kai demands to know why she wasn’t there, lamenting the millions of lives lost. Ackerson brushes off Kai’s heartache, before pressuring her to make the Spartan-III unit believe they’re the equal of her lost Spartan-II allies.
Back outside the Onyx base, Halsey tells Soren-066 (Bokeem Woodbine) and Laera (Fiona O’Shaughnessy) that she knows where the UNSC took their son, Kessler (Tylan Bailey), in Episode 5, “Aleria.” Soren asks the Master Chief about Onyx, which Halsey claims is where ONI started out. The Chief states that Onyx has no history or maps, only rumors. After inspecting the facility via the binoculars again, the Master Chief and Soren agree that ONI is still making Spartans, which is why they kidnapped Kessler.
Related: Halo Season 2: Who Is The Mother, Explained
Meanwhile, the Master Chief’s rebel crewmate, Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha) spots mysterious shaman, the Mother (Olwen Fouéré), and races through the snowy terrain after her. Her absence goes unnoticed by the Chief and Soren, who have bigger fish to fry. Not only has Halsey disappeared, but a squad of UNSC troops dispatched by Ackerson is headed their way. Soren and Laera make tracks for Kessler, while the Master Chief stays behind to engage Ackerson’s grunts. Before he leaves, Soren tries talking the Chief out of fighting – citing his banged-up body and lack of armor – but the Chief is unmoved.
He doesn’t have much choice, anyway. The UNSC forces find Kwan and open fire, spurring the Master Chief into action. Even unarmed and unarmored, he’s more than a match for this initial wave of opponents, thanks to his augmented Spartan-II speed and strength. Unfortunately, backup soon arrives, forcing him to surrender. In all the chaos, Kwan slips away, chasing yet another vision of the Mother. The Mother leads her to an ancient-looking well Kwan inexplicably recognizes, and beckons her to jump in.
Kwan reluctantly complies, plummeting to the bottom of the well – and landing on a protective field. She encounters Halsey, who knows her way around the secret underground complex thanks to her role as the Spartan-II program’s creator. As they make their way through the dark caverns, Halsey claims that Kwan ruined her “best work”: the Master Chief. Halsey’s not overly miffed that the Chief’s first meeting with Kwan in Halo Season 1 made him less predictable, though. Indeed, in typical backhanded fashion, she states that what happened wasn’t Kwan’s fault, as even “insignificant” variables like Kwan can cause huge changes.
The Master Chief: Covenant Defector?
Across the galaxy on a Covenant command ship, Arbiter Var ‘Gatanai (Viktor Åkerblom) brands himself on the chest. He then marches into a meeting between Makee (Charlie Murphy), and a Covenant priest, who is grilling Makee about the supposed communications malfunction cutting them off Covenant leadership. The Arbiter reveals there is no malfunction, and insists their mission demands complete radio silence. In response, the priest alleges the Arbiter’s loyalty lies with Makee and not the Covenant Hierarchs. The Arbiter rejects this, however, he still prevents the priest from killing Makee without the Hierarchs’ approval.
The priest departs, and the Arbiter seeks reassurance from Makee that she’s still communicating with their captured Forerunner keystone. Makee replies in the affirmative and the Arbiter exits, as well. Cortana (Jen Taylor) then appears and asks Makee if she thinks the Arbiter knows she’s lying, and that Makee and Cortana faked a mystical project of Halo in “Reach.” Makee doesn’t answer, although her worried expression indicates the Blessed One is afraid the jig may soon be up.
Halo Season 2, Episode 6 then shifts focus back to Onyx. The Spartan-III unit is running the corvette VR simulation again, as Kai watches on. Perez takes command of her fellow Spartans, and by working together, they successfully spike the corvette’s control panel. While the rest of the unit celebrates outside the simulation, Perez hits up Kai, bothered by how easy the unit’s post-spike exfiltration was. Kai remains coy, leaving Perez to assume she lowered the simulation’s difficulty to boost morale.
Related: Halo Season 2: Who Is James Ackerson, Explained
In another part of Onyx base, the Master Chief is hauled into a holding cell by his UNSC captors. Captain Briggs (Anna Korval) – whom the Chief previously clashed with in Halo Season 2, Episode 3, “Visegrad” – enters the cell. The pair trade barbs, culminating in the Chief demanding to see Parangosky. Briggs pretends not to know who he’s talking about, but the Master Chief nevertheless says he’s coming for her. Briggs leaves her troops to secure the Chief, however, he overpowers them and escapes.
An hour later, Ackerson shows Kai security footage of the Master Chief’s escape. Ackerson frames the footage as proof that the Master Chief’s time with Makee in Halo Season 1 has shifted his loyalties to the Covenant. Kai confesses that she privately worried about her former commanding officer’s state of mind when he told her he saw Makee – whom Kai seemingly killed in Season 1’s finale – in Season 2, Episode 1, “Sanctuary.” Ackerson then accuses the Master Chief of infiltrating the Onyx base to retrieve the other Forerunner keystone for the Covenant.
Cut to: the Covenant command ship, where Makee and Cortana are trying to pinpoint Halo’s location. Makee reveals that her connection to the Forerunner keystone is broken, and believes she’s fallen from grace according to her religion. She adds that the only way for her to use the keystone now is in tandem with the Master Chief. Cortana persuades Makee that she can help, but only if Makee gives her access to the command ship’s transmission relay.
The Race Is On to Find Halo in “Onyx”
Back on Onyx, Halsey and Kwan hit a wall, literally. The whole subterranean cave system has changed. While Halsey searches for a way forward, Kwan is visited by (you guessed it) the Mother. The Mother silently leads Kwan in the right direction, and Halsey follows. Meanwhile, above ground, Kai corners the Master Chief. He tells her about Vannak-134’s death in “Reach,” and also confirms that Riz-028 is alive. The Chief then reveals ONI’s role in the Fall of Reach, however, Kai confronts him about his alleged ties to Makee. A brief scuffle follows, when the Master Chief insists on seeing Parangosky.
At a distinct disadvantage, the Chief tries reasoning with Kai, calling out her robotic loyalty to the Spartan program as she dishes out a savage beating on him. He ultimately gets through to her; while Kai takes him down, she can’t bring herself to kill him. Watching on from a security control room, Parangosky advises Ackerson not to feel bad about engineering the Master Chief’s downfall, as his legend is more valuable to the UNSC than his life. Millions of Spartan-III recruits want to carry on his legacy.
Parangosky then enters a war room. ONI personnel have received an encrypted, non-UNSC transmission, and Parangosky clears the room as it’s from Cortana, At the same time, the Master Chief regains consciousness with Cortana’s voice ringing in his ears. Cortana manifests in front of the Chief and warns him that Makee and the Arbiter are about to find the Halo on the Covenant’s behalf – he needs to beat them to it. She then guides the Master Chief to the Forerunner keystone’s secure location.
Related: Halo: How Admiral Jacob Keyes Dies in the Games vs. the Show
Simultaneously, Cortana shares the Covenant fleet’s location with Parangosky. Nabbing this intel was apparently part of the deal the pair struck in Halo Season 2, Episode 5’s flashback scene. Cortana indicates that the UNSC fleet has a low probability of defeating its Covenant counterpart even with the element of surprise, but Parangosky cuts her off. Parangosky orders Cortana to remain with the Covenant and continue passing information on until she’s caught (and, presumably, deleted). What the admiral doesn’t know is that Cortana is reluctantly in league with Makee, so the coordinates she supplied may prove sketchy.
Underneath the Onyx base, Halsey and Kwan discover a UNSC research team headed by Halsey’s daughter, Commander Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray). As part of this awkward mother-daughter reunion, Keyes explains that she found an unspecified flaw in Halsey’s research into the Forerunner structure they’re standing in. “Onxy” then cuts to Soren and Laera discovering a Spartan training room, Thermopylae, before cutting again to a tense exchange between Kai and Ackerson in the corvette VR simulation.
Kai confronts Ackerson about manipulating the simulation, which he defends as a means of giving the Spartan-III unit the hope they need to succeed. She’s not buying it though, and declares that she trusts the Master Chief’s account of what happened on Reach. Kai exits the simulation and races to help the Chief against the Black Ops squad headed his way. With Cortana’s help, he’s made it to the keystone. He reaches out to touch it as Makee – defended by the Arbiter from the priest and his goons, who discovered Cortana’s transmission – does the same at her end. The screen flashes white, and then the credits roll.
And that’s our recap of Halo Season 2, Episode 6. Check out additional episode recaps here.
Halo Season 2 is currently streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes dropping Thursdays.
