Before I begin the specific scene reviews, I have to say that this episode is my favorite to date. Cortana seemingly going crazy, Cryo sickness impeding Tom’s career, Chaos, and Covenant. Lots of “C’s” there, but that’s not the grade I’d give this episode. It’s an A+ all the way. There are some intense action sequences near the end. I even audibly gasped as some images reminded me of 9/11 with the twin towers and people falling from the sky.

Folks, sh!t is about to get really REAL!

Alright so let me begin with the first part of Episode 3’s review. Cortana gone crazy.

The CG in this scene is fantastic. You really should take the time to pause several times during this scene as there is so much detail in the CG that just seems to slip by when viewing at normal speed.

In the above pic, we see Cortana has minimalised herself to a glowing orb. Ice crystal float about while also collecting on Chief’s Cryo tube.

Immediately thereafter we see the orb Cortana blast tendrils of red energy towards the tube.

Note however that it’s not destructive energy, but organized as seen in the pic below (the detail you may have missed).

All during this sequence Cortana is having an argument/discussion with herself. She talks about dying for Chief, going crazy, blaming Chief, and so on. It’s become readily apparent that she is heavily fighting rampancy (an AI’s spiral into the throws of death).

However, something seems to stop her. What could it be? Requiem? The Didact? It’s not shown directly, but we do see her calm down.

This is a great scene that foreshadows events to come. I love the fact that each episode starts with something in the current Halo timeline before flashing back to the cadet days of Tom Lasky. In doing so, Stewart Hendler (director of the Forward Unto Dawn series) ties in the complete story, letting we viewers know that there is a link between the past and the present.

Next: Review Part 2: Cryo and Loss