In a new streaming series, the familiar world of 'HALO' needs a little space

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/24/ [login to see] /halo-video-game-paramount-tv-show-review
Here's what can be confidently said about the new Paramount+ series HALO after viewing the two episodes made available to the press for review: Not much.

At first glance, the central plotline, involving a piece of alien tech that unlocks the main character's memories, is a bit too redolent of hoary science-fiction tropes that have been trotted out many times (RoboCop, Blade Runner, Total Recall, etc.). And if that weren't enough, the retrieved-memory stuff seems to tie into a Chosen One narrative; it's tough to fathom that we're still making those in the 21st century, much less the 26th, when the show takes place.

But there is an an attempt, as there was in the video game franchise on which the series is based, to build a science-fiction universe rife with factions — disparate cultures advancing different goals in a manner that creates uneasy alliances and shifting allegiances. And in the fleshing out of all of that ostensibly chewy conflict, an attempt to create rich, satisfying television.

Rich, satisfying television like say ... The Expanse.