‘Halo’ Episode 5 Recap [Reckoning] Ending Explained

Paramount Plus’s Halo Episode 5 “Reckoning” may have been the shortest Halo episode ever, but it turned out to be a great episode to take the story forward. At the end of the episode, we see Brute for the first time in real life. Dr. Halsey summons the UNSC calvary after finding the second item, and they begin digging it out. Kai is confronted by John about removing her emotional inhibitor pellet and is grounded because she is untested in battle without it. Sorren locks Kwan Ha to the bike on Madrigal and departs to obtain transportation. Kwan is able to break free and waits for Sorren to return. Back aboard Eridanus II, John shares his recollections with Captain Keyes, who swears to face his wife and learn the truth. Here is everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Halo’ episode 5. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The episode begins with a tour of Eridanus II’s Reach for Life Installation by a young-looking Dr. Halsey. She passes by a school where the tour leader extols the children’s pioneer spirit. They come across a rope and step bridge with the middle boards giving way. A bully is trembling the bridge, scaring John into falling. Suddenly, the bully falls and grabs his ankle to save him. With one arm, he drags him up. He’s a little boy. But who is the man with whom Dr Halsey is? It’s Dr Jacob Keyes.

Meanwhile, in the present, Keyes awaits the arrival of his daughter, Miranda. He takes her to the Eridanus artefact and snatches her up. Master Chief, Cortana just told you that the Madrigal artefact is nothing compared to this one. It has far higher energy output. Dr Halsey then approaches Master Chief and tells him to stay away because it is a safety issue. Vannak wonders what the Covenant wants while Kai has a “who’s on first” discussion. Her Spartan companion is enraged, and she continues to ask stupid questions. When she walks out of the barracks, Master Chief notices her from afar. When he confronts her about the “pellet,” she acknowledges that she is now “alive” to the world. He reprimands her and tells her she isn’t ready for battle.

Makee (Charlie Murphy) arrives in Madrigal to investigate the location where the artifact’s first fragment was located, but discovers nothing. Kwan attempts furiously to break the cuffs, but instead wrecks the portion of the bike where her cuffs are attached. In any case, she manages to flee. On Eridanus II, John tells Jacob about what he witnessed while visiting his damaged home, and he claims that Halsey came to see him while his parents were still alive. Jacob wonders if the visions John had were caused by the artefact. John claims that his recollections are accurate. When they get the relic to the Reach, Jacob vows to check into it personally. And, based on John’s level of faith in Jacob, it appears that John is oblivious of Jacob’s true role in the Spartan Program.

Because we see Jacob and Halsey discussing John’s identification dilemma with Admiral Margaret Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) in the next scene. Parangosky feels reassured by Halsey’s assurance that John is under control. According to Parangosky, she and the committee were told by Cortana (Jen Taylor) that John would not be able to access his “hazardous memories.” Those recollections, according to Halsey, are what led them to the item. Parangosky is on the verge of shutting down Halsey because he suspects she has secret intentions. When Halsey learns the truth about the Spartan Program and is prevented from revealing the artifact’s function, Admiral Hood (Keir Dullea) will use Parangosky as a scapegoat, according to Halsey. Jacob expects things to turn messy, so he asks Halsey to fire Miranda from her work so that her clean hands may stay that way. Halsey concurs.

Adun (Ryan McParland) drills into the rock containing the second piece of the artefact in it at the excavation site, keeping his face unusually near to the drilling spot. As the artifact’s crystalline shell emits a thunderous boom across the universe, things go awry. When Makee hears it, he sets out for Eridanus II. The crystalline surface shatters when Master Chief rushes up to it, revealing the relic inside. Jacob contacts Miranda and requests that she be removed from all artifact-related initiatives. While everyone is figuring out how to get the artefact out of the room and aboard one of the ships, Master Chief approaches the second artefact to retrieve the rest of his memories from the deepest recesses of his mind. And, to his surprise, he sees himself as a kid abducted by Halsey. Master Chief is shocked and enraged, and tries to attack Halsey, but Halsey instructs Cortana to shut him down, which she does.

‘Halo’ Episode 5 Recap Ending

Cortana informs Master Chief when he awakens that slip space has been breached. The Covenant has arrived on the scene. In a tense siege scene, Master Chief and his team attempt to smuggle the artefact out of Eridanus, but Miranda’s ship is destroyed. Dr. Halsey’s ship is the next best thing, and Master Chief has been ordered to send it to her as soon as possible. Halsey notices Miranda from afar as the Covenant continues to kill and destroy everyone in their path. Halsey runs out of the ship to assist her in getting to the escape in a rare display of care for someone other than herself.

In the last minutes of the episode, Master Chief makes a decision that proves to be disastrous. He decides to help Kai, who has let her emotions get the best of her. The jeep they were using to transport the item collapses without Master Chief’s assistance, exposing the relic. Master Chief finally reaches Kai, killing a large number of Covenant soldiers in the process. However, something inside Master Chief flips, and instead of neatly eliminating the final Sangheili soldier, he begins smashing its skull into fragments, despite Kai’s warnings. The aliens send out a Jiralhanae, also known as a Brute, which we witness for the first time in real life. He gets out of the jeep and hands the relic to Riz and Vannak, who carry it to Halsey’s ship. An alien ship drops below him as he sprints for the mysterious artefact, and a member of the Covenant is there to hold off the Master Chief so they may go. Master Chief shoots at Covenant ships haphazardly in a last-ditch attempt to retrieve the relic. And all he gets in return is Makee, who is posing as an injured Covenant abductee. They are no longer in possession of the artefact since Master Chief has discovered a heart.   However, episode 5 concludes with a gloomy tone, implying that the Spartans do, in fact, require their repressive pellets to function properly.