Halo TV premiere review: Uneven start saved by a stellar Chief

Enlarge / Actor Pablo Schreiber dons Master Chief's iconic armor in the new Halo TV series, and in its first two episodes, he is the show's saving grace. (credit: Paramount / Amblin)

Halo had to reach its fifth full-length video game before toying with the idea of Master Chief being a bad guy.

The Halo TV show, debuting March 24 exclusively on Paramount+, gets there within its first 55 minutes. And this moment is representative of the dark, series-pivoting stakes that the new "silver timeline" is gunning for-eager to pry back the shiny, military-good-guy veneer of the video games and explore the darkest corners that have hidden within Halo games all along.

That alone may be reason enough for series fans and newcomers alike to tune in-but goodness, does Halo's TV series need all the help it can get. I've seen the first two episodes so far, and the casting, acting, script, and often stagnant pacing struggle to keep this Warthog on the road between some memorable highlights.

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