The show tried to appeal to as broad of an audience as it could. They tried to humanize MC and write a story/show on John 117 instead of Halo.
The writing make sense. If you know of the “chosen one” narcissistic troupe. What season 1 was based on and what they wrap up actually very nicely in at the end of season 2.
I’ve just played the games but the troupe actually makes a lot of sense within the game’s context, considering in the game MC takes orders without questions and will almost kill himself to save another human.
I think the show was trying to develop the character over several seasons into the one we see in the games.