Spoilers are ahead for Halo season 2’s finale.
The Halo season 2 finale is packed with thrilling action sequences and plot twists, in large part due to the emergence of the Flood. In fact, that plot development directly intersects with what happens to Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone) in the Halo season 2 finale’s ending. The creator of the Spartan-II program had a rollercoaster ride of a season. In the sophomore outing’s earliest episodes, Halsey is held captive by ONI officer James Ackerson (Joseph Morgan). Since his sister didn’t survive Halsey’s Spartan-II augmentation process, Ackerson has committed himself to creating a replacement: the Spartan-IIIs.
As a result, Ackerson leaves Dr. Halsey to suffer during the Fall of Reach, though she isn’t one of the characters who dies in Halo season 2, episode 4. Instead, she winds up back on the UNSC-controlled planet of Onyx alongside Kwan Ha (Yerin Ha), an Insurrectionist rebel who’s been experiencing strange visions of the Flood and a being known only as The Mother (Olwen Fouéré). The unlikely duo become an even more unlikely trio when they run into Commander Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray), Halsey’s estranged daughter, on the Forerunner planet.
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Dr. Halsey Is Infected By The Flood In The Halo Season 2 Finale
In Halo season 2’s penultimate episode, Kwan relies on her visions of Forerunner star maps to solve a cryptic puzzle on Onyx — one that stumps both Dr. Halsey and Miranda. Beyond the door that Kwan unlocks, the trio discover much more than a Forerunner city, as Halsey suspects, but an entire Shield World. For Halsey and Miranda, the most interesting development is the discovery of an abandoned Forerunner laboratory. Inside, the body of an “almost human” scientist clutches a strange device. While Kwan wants nothing to do with it, Miranda takes the Forerunner scientist’s device back to the base.
Although Miranda is careful when opening the Forerunner device, she is unable to keep the spores contained. Soon enough, her fellow UNSC scientist is infected by the Flood specimen. It’s not necessarily surprising that the Forerunner device contained a genetic sample: previously, Dr. Halsey found DNA, both “theirs and ours,” on Onyx. As the Flood infection spreads between UNSC and ONI personnel, it eventually hijacks people who are in the command center with Halsey and other higher-ups. Although she manages to escape a mauling, Halsey reveals to Miranda that she’s been infected by the Flood.
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Miranda Keyes Tries To Save Dr. Halsey With A Cryo Chamber
When Dr. Halsey makes it back to Miranda’s lab, she’s more excited than terrified. Even though she nearly lost her life in an attack, the biologist can’t help but feel inspired. Given Dr. Halsey’s words in the Halo season 1 ending, it’s clear that the scientist is obsessed with Forerunner technology and any biological evidence that could lead to the next stage in human evolution. After all, her previous DNA discovery on Onyx prompted Halsey to search the galaxy for unique Spartan-II program subjects like John (Pablo Schreiber). Miranda, on the other hand, is horrified by their discovery.
While Halo season 2 doesn’t delve into the history and origins of the Flood, it shows enough to reiterate just how much of a threat the parasitic superbeing can be if it isn’t properly contained. In hijacking people’s bodies and neural networks, the Flood are able to absorb more information and intelligence, which feeds into its massive hive mind. With Dr. Halsey subsumed, the Flood would have a huge advantage. A fast-thinking Miranda puts Dr. Halsey in a cryo-chamber, hoping the device can freeze the Flood infection in its path and save her mother from joining the Flood.
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Dr. Halsey’s Halo Season 3 Role Is Unclear
The Flood cause almost every death in Halo season 2’s finale, and remove Dr. Halsey from the equation temporarily. The parasitic superbeing is the galaxy’s greatest threat. The sophomore outing of Halo did a lot to set up season 3; it introduced the Flood and Shield Worlds like Onyx. While the show has already revealed that the Halo is a superweapon, the third season is sure to delve into its galaxy-sterilizing potential. With Halo season 3 beginning Combat Evolved‘s story, there’s room for Dr. Halsey’s return, but it’s not clear if Miranda can save her mother from the Flood.
