Onyx (TV episode)

Onyx is the sixth episode of the second season of Halo. It premiered on March 7, 2024 on Paramount+.
== Synopsis ==
John seeks revenge on a secret ONI planet. Perez trains to become a new kind of soldier. Kai finds herself torn between her Spartan code and her loyalty to Master Chief. Makee turns to Cortana for help in her search for the Halo.
==Plot==
Perez jumps out of a ship with other Spartan's who training. They take fire from a Covenant ship and land on the bridge to complete phase one. Perez covers Mullins and Okada as they navigate the ship. Mullins is impaled by a Neelder needle. Perez is the last one left and prepares to spike. Perez lurches out of the training simulation. Kai tells them they're all dead - again. She tells them about the Covenant ships to point out its strengths and weaknesses. Perez laughs during Kai's speech because they cleared the enemy. The rounds came from nowhere. The simulation is random, just like war.
Perez follows Kai and Kai snaps at her as they are not equals. She has a problem with failure and soldiers who repeat mistakes. Perez's comrades were dead. She thinks it's personal because she was on Reach and Kai wasn't. Kai reminds her that being in one battle doesn't make her a veteran. Perez knows what she signed up for while looking at the poster of Master Chief.
Parangosky makes tea from Earth while looking at posters that advertise Master Chief's death. She explains to Ackerson the tea was engineered by the ONI because she told them too. She tells him the importance of stories, comparing the work going into tea to that of empires; one small mistake can undo all the work done. Ackerson assures her the narrative remains intact. She tells him a ship landed 15 kilometers from where they are now. An agent from Aleria spotted Catherine Halsey boarding the same ship, but Ackerson dismisses it because of the frequent sightings. Parangosky shares that Halsey was spotted 19 hours ago with "the largest man" her agent has ever seen. Ackerson insists it's not possible. They have to find out either way.
John looks through his binoculars at the ONI headquarters.
Kai runs simulations until Ackerson interrupts her. She can't keep coming back to the Reach simulation. She doesn't understand why they weren't at Reach. Her entire team is gone. Ackerson tells her she's not alone in her tragedy. She has little faith in the new recruits. Ackerson reminds Kai that Master Chief is gone but she's making the next generation in his image. She can't make them Spartans when they aren't. Her job is to make them believe that.
Laera and Soren confront Halsey over what she wants. Halsey knows where Kessler was taken.
Soren joins John in the woods of Onyx. It's a place without maps, records, or history. It's only rumors and whispers. Soren tells John they have Kessler inside. They believe the ONI is still making Spartans. Kwan walks through Onyx and sees the seer again, following her. Laera runs over to tell Soren and John that Halsey is gone. Soren doesn't need her as he knows where Kessler is taken. He tells John not to do what he's thinking of doing. Kwan runs through the woods from black ops agents who are shooting at her. John takes them down in hand-to-hand combat until he steals a gun. More black ops teams surround him.
Soren leads Laera toward where Kessler is being kept.
Kwan follows the seer to a well in the woods. She jumps down the well to escape the black ops. She thanks inches from the ground where a blue light emits. Halsey is there waiting for Kwan. Halsey used to practically live there. She accuses Kwan of ruining John by making him unpredictable.
The Arbiter burns a mark into his chest. Uto 'Mdama, a priest, tells Makee he can't make contact with High Charity or the Fleet. He still believes it's from a malfunction in the communication system. Arbiter explains it's an order from him because their mission demands it. Uto 'Mdama accuses Arbiter of losing his faith and only listening to his pet, the human. He wants to kill the human when they return to High Charity, though he must ask the Hierarchs permission first. When Uto 'Mdama leaves, Makee and Arbiter speak about the plan. She claims to commune with the Keystone. When he's gone, Cortana materializes to ask Makee if she thinks Arbiter knows about the lie.
Kai supervises more Spartan training simulations. Perez and Mullins disagree about orders. Mullins wants to stick to tactics, but Perez believes they're bullshit. She takes over command from Mullins and spikes. She's still on edge as they exfil. The simulation ends with a win as everyone except Perez celebrates.
Kai congratulates Perez in passing. Perez accuses the exfil of being too easy. Kai tells her to take the win and walks away.
The black ops bring John into the ONI room with chains. Captain Briggs enters as she confronts John about the wounding of her men. She taunts him over the loss of Cobalt Team then pretends not to know who Parangosky is. The black ops team fastens John's chains into the floor. He attacks out during this time and escapes custody.
Ackerson shows the video to Kai under rouse that John is a traitor who survived Reach because he's with the Covenant now. She tells him that John saw Makee in the fog at Sanctuary before it was glassed. Ackerson understands her lie. She doesn't want to accept that John escaped Reach because he's a traitor. He tells her the Covenant attacked Visegrad Relay to cover their attack on Sword Base where they captured one of the Artifacts. They were able to exfiltrate the other artifact before Reach fell. It's here on Onyx now.
Makee and Cortana look at a star map where she seems to sense the Artifact. Makee can't make contact with the Artifact again because she can't find the Halo. She doesn't feel anything when she touches the Artifact. She believes she has fallen and her gift is gone. Cortana has a record of the Halo and offers a rational explanation, though Makee doesn't want to hear it. She can't go to the Halo without John. She looks for him when she touches the stone but all she sees is dark. Cortana wants access to the ships array.
John escapes his cell and enters the hallway of the ONI headquarters. He sees posters advertising his death. 
Kwan talks to Halsey about the Spartans being responsible for her mother's death. Halsey wants to skip all the drama and get to the end of the tunnel. They reach a wall that shouldn't be there. The cave system has changed. Kwan sees the seer again and follows her.
John breaks into a room and looks at information. Kai enters behind him in her Spartan suit. He tells her about the death of Vannak. Riz is alive but not with him. She would have given anything to be on Reach. He tries to tell her that Ackerson is responsible for Reach. That he took their armor and left them on Reach to die, not the Covenant. She accuses him of being in alliance with Makee. He doesn't think she'll believe him if he tells the truth. She has to take him in. He's there for Parangosky, but she can't let him do that. She stops him from passing her which sparks a push fight. John tells her about their lives ending when they were six. She keeps hitting him despite his talking about her basically being brainwashed. He asks where the Spartan ends and she begins. She keeps attacking him, insisting this is over. He wants to know where the girl he grew up with is. He keeps getting up despite her begging him not too. She doesn't want to hurt him, which he knows. He looks to the cameras in the room as he relays that an order is an order. Kai hesitates then knocks him into a wall which renders him unconscious. She walks away.
Ackerson closes the feed while Parangosky watches. She calls the situation inevitable because Master Chief became to uncontrollable. They needed his memory to make millions of more Spartans. He used to feel doubt and guilt. She tells him not to worry about it since he's not a religious man.
Parangosky speaks to a tech who tells her about an encrypted transmission they are getting from an unknown source. It's not a UNSC frequency. The techs worry they've been compromised. Parangosky orders them all to get out.
John struggles with his consciousness as he hears Cortana.
Parangosky greets Cortana who responds.
Cortana tells John she's right there and materializes in front of him. She remarks on how poorly he looks. She needs him to get up but he struggles immensely. He tells her that they're all gone. She's here now because something terrible is about to happen. He's not sure what she wants him to do about it. He's not the Chief anymore. She needs him to get to the Halo before the Covenant do. She's with Makee and the Arbiter now. He's the one who killed Vannak. With a renewed sense of anger and purpose, John rises as he wants to find the man who killed Vannak. She tells him to touch the Artifact which she can lead him too.
Meanwhile, Cortana tells Parganosky where the Covenant are located as part of her mission parameters. She offers to run simulations on the UNSC's attack on the Fleet. The chances of success are very slim. Parangosky has no other use for Cortana now. She will remain with the Covenant and provide information until she can no longer do so. Cortana wants to be remembered, though Parangosky's cryptic response provides little comfort.
Cortana tells John that nothing can be undone so he shouldn't have regret.
Kwan and Halsey navigate the tunnels which are full of people. In the corner at a desk is Miranda. They exchange little pleasantries before Halsey shares her disappointment in Miranda giving them her research. Miranda doesn't think Halsey is the only person worthy of saving humankind. Her work has been valuable and allowed Miranda to find the mistake in it. Kwan walks to a wall where a sigil is engraved.
Soren and Laera enter Thermopylae which confuses her.
Kai is in a simulation when she's joined by Ackerson. He lets her put blame on him instead. She tells him the Javelin Team completed their sim today. In her experience, the only thing harder then getting on the ship is off. She accuses him of letting the team win. He chose to give them hope instead. She asks what have he gave the people on Reach. She trusts John still and always has. She opens a simulation of the attack while accusing him of letting the planet burn. Sometimes thing are being control and are inevitable. He did what he could to save what he could. She ends the simluation to rush to John's aid.
Cortana helps John get access to the rooms he needs while locking others away from him. He finally reaches the Artifact.
Uto 'Mdama attacks Makee with two others. The priest found a transmission from the human device. She claims not to know how this happened. The priest tells Arbiter to kill Makee, calling her an "it". Arbiter instead kills the soldiers which sparks a brutal fight. The keystone whirs to life in the ship the closer John gets to his.
The Blessed Ones inch closer to their artifacts and make contact at the same time.
== Cast ==
=== Starring ===
*Pablo Schreiber as John-117
*Natascha McElhone as Catherine Halsey
*Joseph Morgan as James Ackerson
*Shabana Azmi as Margaret Parangosky
*Christina Bennington as Cortana
*Natasha Culzac as Riz-028 (Credit only)
*Olive Gray as Dr. Miranda Keyes
*Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha
*Bentley Kalu as Vannak-134 (Credit only)
*Kate Kennedy as Kai-125
*Charlie Murphy as Makee
*Fiona O'Shaughnessy as Laera
*Cristina Rodlo as Talia Perez
*Danny Sapani as Admiral Jacob Keyes (Credit only)
*Jen Taylor as Cortana (voice)
*Viktor Åkerblom as The Arbiter
*Tylan Bailey as Kessler (Credit only)
*Bokeem Woodbine as Soren-066
=== Also Starring ===
* Jamie Beamish as Uto 'Mdama
=== Additional Cast ===
* Anna Koval as Captain Briggs
* Tom Gaskin as Tech Jones
* Ailsa Davidson as Tech Smith
* Dani Klupsch as Lt. Mullins
* Olwen Fouere as The Mother
==Locations==
* Zeta Doradus System
** Onyx
*** Camp Currahee
* The Arbiter's Covenant Command Vessel
==Trivia==
* This episode title may be a reference to several instances in the video game series.
** The Onyx Sentinel is a Forerunner-created machine designed to protect and maintain the Forerunner artificial world known as Onyx.
** The planet-sized Forerunner construct known as Onyx or Trevelyan.
** There is a material in the Halo universe based on that of the real-world material Onyx. In the video games, the Covenant use onyx as a decorative material.
==Gallery==
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Halo_206_Soren-Laera_Still.jpg
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==References==
Category:Halo TV show
Category:Episodes (TV show)
Category:Halo TV show (Season 2)