Deron Generally
Deron GenerallyHALO
Paramount Plus
Season 1 Episode 7
Inheritance
Kwan’s journey to uncover her family’s “true purpose” takes her deep into the deserts of Madrigal. Soren obsesses over unfinished business.
With the previous episode centering on Master Chief and moving the story forward, I was afraid that the new episode would take us back to the tedious Kwan storyline and I wasn’t wrong. The episode dives deep into Kwan’s backstory and the tension between her and her father regarding their purpose. It’s not a bad scene, but it’s almost too late for me to care about it given everything else that has happened in the series so far.
Her trek into the desert will bring her face to face with someone unusual as Soren returns home. After being confronted by his business partner, Soren shows how much of a badass he is in a scene that doesn’t do that at all. Kwan confronts the mystics that advised her father and proceeds to whine her way into a meeting. Kwan’s nemesis Vishner monologues and every moment reminds me of how wasted Burn Gorman is in this series.
Kwan finally learns the history of her family’s legacy on Madrigal. A lesson that will require a dream quest that conveniently features Master Chief as her guide. A lesson that apparently consists of her beating on and being killed by Chief multiple times. It is completely nonsensical and frankly just serves as a way for Master Chief to appear in the episode.
Soren reasserts his dominance over his people as Kwan returns to the scene of the first battle against the Covenant. Soren magically shows up and they are immediately surrounded by Vishner and his troops. There’s some good tension in the scene as Soren hunts the men there to kill him. The action was done well and there was enough suspense to be entertaining towards the end.
The biggest flaw with this episode is how unnecessary it is. Kwan’s story still barely intersects Master Chief’s and Soren’s story is so uninteresting that his presence adds nothing to the plot or even the world of the series.
