Halo fans devastated by "absolutely perfect" season 2 episode 4

It's no secret that the series has faced some criticism in the past but the new episode, titled Reach, has silenced many doubters, with fans describing it as "absolutely perfect".

Episode 4 sees the sudden invasion of Reach by the Covenant, following Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) through the devastating events which see Perez (Cristina Rodlo) lose her entire family in an instant.

As John reunites with Silver Team, he and Keyes (Danny Sapani) discover that Ackerson and the ONI are leaving Spartans to die on Reach. Keyes gives a rousing speech, making it clear that they're laying down their lives to help the citizens of Reach escape.

However, Keyes is not long for this world. In an attempt to fix a civilian transport and prepare it for lift-off, Keyes is blown up in a sudden and devastating explosion – but there's no time to process the loss as the Spartans still have to fight for their lives against the Covenant.

Keyes isn't the only loss either – the final scenes of the episode see Vannak (Bentley Kalu) killed by an Alpha Elite – meanwhile, even John nearly meets his demise and is only saved by Makee (Charlie Murphy) stopping her Covenant bodyguard from delivering a fatal blow.

The episode ends with John just about making it out alive – while Vannak wasn't so lucky, as we see the Spartan lying dead.

Reacting to that bombshell episode, one viewer said on X (formerly Twitter): "Episode 4 Of Halo was absolutely perfect."

Another wrote: "Halo [S2] episode 4 was fantastic. Massive scope, loads of tears. Kudos to everyone involved. An absolute treat."

One more said: "Halo season 2 episode 4 was a banger loved every second of it."

However, emotions were also high with one viewer adding: "Yes, I cried during Halo Season 2 Episode 4. That is my review of the episode," and another saying: "Finished watching Halo S2 Episode 4, was not expecting to be hit in the feels but damn I got hit hard."

Previously speaking about how devastating the series would be, Schreiber told RadioTimes.com: "I think [fans are] gonna be feeling pretty low around the middle of the season."

He added: "There's a pretty massive event that happens in the middle of the season that is going to take a lot of wind out of the sails, it's a pretty tragic event, and it's gonna take a lot to recover from that.

"But as we know, humanity is resilient, heroes are heroes, and we will recover and we will rise up, so I think you'll end the season feeling quite good about humanity's chances and quite good about the hero that we all love."

Halo season 2 is available to stream on Paramount Plus now with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays. Get a seven-day free Paramount Plus trial at Amazon Prime Video

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