The end is here! After ups and downs galore, and a whole lot of surprises and heartbreak, Halo season 2<\/a> bowed out with an epic showdown, which many fans have decided \u201csticks the landing\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Earlier episodes in season 2 teed up the conflict to come in the finale episode, with Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber<\/a>) doing everything he could to stop the Covenant from reaching the Halo.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Makee<\/a> (Charlie Murphy) pledged her commitment to the Arbiter, with the pair solidifying their bond.<\/p>\n The final episode didn\u2019t disappoint either, introducing the Flood, seeing John finally going face to face with the Arbiter, and an ending that very much sets up the future of the show.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s exactly what went down as Halo season 2 ended with episode 8.<\/p>\n The Flood is a species of highly infectious parasitic organism that turn human beings into zombie-like creatures. Fans have been waiting for the Flood to be introduced for some time, with that moment beginning at the start of the season 2 finale.<\/p>\n After Miranda Keyes (Olive Grey) and her mother Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone)<\/a> retrieved a mysterious artifact from the archeological site, Miranda sets to work analysing it. However, she\u2019s interrupted by (let\u2019s face it) a pretty annoying colleague named Janine.<\/p>\n Despite Janine insisting she hadn\u2019t touched the artifact, she soon starts to exhibit strange behaviour, before going absolutely wild and stabbing a colleague in the neck with a pen, making it very clear that, not only was she lying, but something is very, very wrong. Enter The Flood.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Kwan-Ha (Yerin Ha) and Soren (Bokeem Woodbine) pledge to rescue Laera (Fiona O\u2019Shaughnessy) and Kessler (Tylan Bailey). The pair are imprisoned, with Kessler attempting to speak to a lady imprisoned with them.<\/p>\n As Laera tells him to stop bothering her, something feels wrong. Sure enough, we\u2019re shown the lady\u2019s face and it\u2019s clear she\u2019s suffering from gruesome symptoms much like our old friend Janine. They don\u2019t know it yet but clearly they\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n Luckily, Kwan and Soren are on their way. Unluckily, they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re walking into and what they\u2019re encountering when they see people frozen in their tracks. One of the infected manages to squeeze through the bars towards Laera and Kessler. Soren and Kwan get there just in time to rescue the pair of them.<\/p>\n When Halsey contacts Miranda, she reveals that the artifact they brought back from the archeological site was a sample container containing a parasite. Suddenly, the consequences become very clear as more and more crew begin turning into zombie-like creatures and attacking humans. Chaos quickly breaks out.<\/p>\n While trying to get Soren and Kessler to safety, Kwan runs out of ammo. Preparing to die, she instead sees The Mother (the Shaman from Sanctuary who we keep meeting throughout the season) in a vision. She holds the creatures back as Kwan escapes. The Mother finally calls the parasite by the name fans of the game will recognise \u2013 The Flood.<\/p>\n After their realisation, Miranda and Halsey argue over The Flood \u2013 with Miranda describing it as a biological catastrophe. However, when Halsey freezes, Miranda realises she\u2019s been infected. Miranda quickly puts her mother into stasis, though, saying that it should stop the progression and she promises to bring her back. Her fate is left uncertain.<\/p>\n Laera isn\u2019t so lucky, though. She sends Soren and Kessler on their way, locking herself away from them and revealing that she has also been infected. As Soren calls for her, she backs away from the door, telling him one last time that she loves him, with the pair later mourning her loss.<\/p>\n It certainly seems so<\/strong>, with Kai (Kate Kennedy) sacrificing herself in a blaze of glory for the sake of her teammates and the battle as a whole.<\/p>\n We pick up with Perez (Cristina Rodlo) and Kai when they\u2019re preparing for battle. They\u2019re tasked with driving a spike through the huge Covenant ship, not knowing at this point that they\u2019re basically being sacrificed. From the get-go, they\u2019re being attacked on all sides with their ship blown apart and being forced to use the thrusters on their suits to stay in formation. As they land for a moment to take in the situation, they spot the huge Covenant assault carrier.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Admiral Parangosky (Shabana Azmi) contacts Master Chief to inform him that a single vessel is bound for the Halo and that it\u2019s crucial that he reaches it first. He accuses her of deciding who to save and who to sacrifice, cutting his comms and making it clear that he\u2019ll follow his own orders.<\/p>\n Kai and Silver Team face an ambush, with it being made clear that the Covenant know their plan. It\u2019s an onslaught from the Covenant, with Kai requesting back-up \u2013 but it\u2019s clear they\u2019re fighting to buy Master Chief time. Quickly, John makes a decision \u2013 to save Silver Team, defiantly telling Parangosky: \u201cYou have no idea what I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Makee (Charlie Murphy) grills Cortana<\/a> about John, concluding that her loyalty to him is a problem, with Cortana (Jen Taylor) soon realising that Makee plans to erase her. Establishing that she and Cortana are the same, that they can \u201cboth see the future\u201d, Makee suddenly destroys Cortana\u2019s software, with the AI disappearing.<\/p>\n Perez is shot in battle and she urges Kai to not let her death, her \u201cone way ticket\u201d into battle, be for nothing. Immediately after, Kai lays eyes on the Chief razing down Sangheili in full hero mode. He assures Kai that he won\u2019t leave anyone behind (a promise that ages rather badly).<\/p>\n Kai manages to hijack a Covenant Corvette, sacrificing herself to crash it into the main Assault Carrier.<\/p>\n Halo season 3 hasn\u2019t been confirmed yet, but the final scenes of season 2 certainly set up the potential for more episodes.<\/p>\n Parangosky says that the Covenant have reached the Halo, and urges Halsey to talk to John. She quickly realises that he\u2019s following Cortana on a breaking ship in the hopes of saving her and she defies Parangosky\u2019s orders to give him the best option to get on board the ship.<\/p>\n He manages to get on board and hears Cortana in the ship\u2019s systems, as she had nowhere else to go after her hardware was destroyed. She tells him that the only possible outcome is the pair of them being destroyed \u2013 but he\u2019s got another surprise up his sleeve.<\/p>\n John wakes up in the Halo ringworld with Cortana, and the pair search for Makee. Cortana asks why they\u2019re there, with John answering: \u201cThis is where the fight is.\u201d<\/p>\n John finally finds Makee and the Arbiter, with a brutal fight ensuing. The Arbiter knocks John to the ground, but of course he rises back up. With a new wave of strength, he throws the Arbiter to the ground before finally killing him.<\/p>\n Makee tells John that, wherever he goes, war will follow. She claims that the ring will allow for peace \u2013 with John of course telling her he can\u2019t let that happen. Cortana interrupts, alerting him to a distinct rumbling. Makee tells John there\u2019s a lot left for him to find out about the pair of them, telling him: \u201cI\u2019m a demon too.\u201d<\/p>\n The final scenes of the show see John speaking to someone, ultimately shown to be the Guilty Spark, the caretaker of the Halo ring. The Guilty Spark tells John the Halo has been waiting to him.<\/p> There\u2019s so much more a potential season 3 could explore now, particularly John\u2019s dynamic with the Halo, now confirmed to be a living network. With John attempting to warn the Halo about Makee, presumably the pair will have to continue their fight for the Halo \u2013 but who will win?<\/p>\n Speaking to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about the potential for more episodes, showrunner David Wiener said: \u201cHalo has so many stories to tell, so many worlds to explore, so many characters, and I think that\u2019s really the amazing thing about it as a video game property \u2013 it brings character in a way that is really special.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we conclude this season is about opening another door to those possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Halo season 2 is available to stream on Paramount Plus now. Check out more of our Sci-Fi<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n The action-packed final episode sets up a potential season 3. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":48215,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-scaled.jpg",2560,1708,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2024\/03\/halo-season-2-ending-explained-what-is-the-flood-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The action-packed final episode sets up a potential season 3.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/48214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Halo season 2 ending explained: What is the Flood?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Olive](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/Halo1031823RT-f81ed7c.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413\" "\\"Olive")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>![\"Bokeem](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/Halo1022620RT-b7963dc.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413\" "\\"Bokeem")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>Is Kai dead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Kate](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/01\/Halo1022789RT-c4b9c71.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413\" "\\"Kate")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>How does season 2 episode 8 set up a potential season 3?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Master](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/HALO202AS10031073-1-e80b681.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413\" "\\"Pablo")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"