‘Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn’ – Episode 2 Recap And Analysis

Last week, we brought you our breakdown and analysis for Episode 1… and now, the second episode of Forward Unto Dawn has arrived, clocking in at just under seventeen minutes. This week, we inch closer to seeing the Human-Covenant and even get a cameo!

Watch the episode here and then pour through our analysis:

We begin with Master Chief and Cortana aboard the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn. Cortana, who is well passed rampancy stage, reveals that it has been four years since the events of Halo 3.

Her monologue eerily reminded me of 343 Guilty Spark’s side effects of being alone, seen in Terminal 7 of Halo Anniversary.

To my knowledge, there hasn’t been any information regarding rampancy within the Halo monitors, such as Guilty Spark, however, I think we can all agree that Guilty Spark hasn’t always had the best interest all living things in mind.

Cadet Michael “Sully” Sullivan was seen in the last episode watching Classified ONI combat videos. As a refresher for anyone who doesn’t know, ONI stands for the Office of Navel Intelligence. They’re at the top of the UNSC and are very secretive. As said in the last recap, it has been over a year since first contact with the Covies. It’s plausible that the reports Silva was reading in the last episode were just cover-ups set forth by ONI to hide the fact that Humanity is now at war with an alliance of super-powered alien species.

Sully thinks he’s watching combat videos of battles between Insurrectionists and UNSC, but I think he may be noticing that Insurrectionists and USNC are actually fighting the Covenant.

If you look closely, you can see the green hue of a Plasma Pistol.

And let’s not forget what briefly flashed on the monitor while Sully was watching these videos:

This brings me to Lasky’s brother. Being an ODST requires that you go on high priority missions. Lasky’s brother mentioned he dropped in Arcadia.

Arcadia should ring bells because that’s where a lot of the Halo Wars campaign took place. The battle for Arcadia didn’t happen until 2531, so, unless Silva was reading older news articles dated 2526 in episode 1, we’re a few years shy from Arcadia’s invasion.

All signs are pointing to a Covenant invasion next week. Comm towers have been knocked offline, General Black established a perimeter in the last episode, and the Human-Covenant War is already raging on.

As for next week, I hope we see that Orbital Space Elevator come crashing down, just as it did on Earth in Halo 3: ODST.

Last week, Guernica and Tom pointed out that just because Lasky is the rank of Commander in Halo present day, doesn’t mean he’s in charge of the UNSC Infinity. Those duties belong to Captain Andrew Del Rio. Thanks!