Warning! Spoilers ahead for Halo episode 4
Paramount’s live-action Halo series just made fun of how overpowered Needlers are in the original video games. In Halo episode 4, “Homecoming,” Kai-125 (Kate Kennedy) expresses her admiration for the Needler weapon and its status as a “spray-and-pray” exotic firearm. One of the most iconic weapons used by the alien forces of the Covenant, the Needler is a deadly weapon that the Spartans of Silver Team enjoy turning against their foes (just as a player can in the highly celebrated Halo video games).
In Halo episode 4, Master Chief John-117 (Pablo Schreiber) embarks on a solo mission with the SPARTAN program’s Dr. Catherine Halsey (Natascha McElhone), leaving the rest of Silver Team behind. While Master Chief and Halsey are away exploring John’s unique connection to the Forerunner artifact, the UNSC’s Commander Miranda Keyes (Olive Gray) has been tasked with running a parallel team to study the relic without Halsey’s knowledge. Working in Miranda’s lab, which features various Covenant artifacts and even some remains, such as a deceased Elite, Kai-125 discovers a Needler that Keyes’s team has archived. Claiming that it’s her favorite Covenant weapon, Kai describes the Needler’s lethal capabilities, firing pink crystals that somehow lock on to living tissue before exploding on impact.
It is at this point that Vannak-134 (Bentley Kalu) chimes in, saying that the Needler is “as close as you get to fire and forget.” This statement is true for the canon Halo games as well, with the iconic Needler serving as a deadly mid-range weapon that has become a staple of the franchise. Originally viewed as a fairly overpowered weapon due to its ability to lock onto sighted targets, the more current games have added formidable means of countering the Needler over time with faster movement speeds, over-shields, and more. Even so, it’s fun to see the Halo series making fun of how powerful the Covenant gun still is in the video game series to date.
It should also be noted that Kai had removed her emotional suppressor just as she had seen John-117 so in Halo episode 3, “Emergence.” This action led to Kai being more excited about the Needler than Miranda or Kai’s fellow Spartans likely expected, creating a brief bit of humor in the new Halo episode. Although it would have been nice to see actual Grunts firing the impressive weapon on the battlefield, that will hopefully be something to look forward to in future episodes of the live-action Halo series.
At any rate, the Needler remains one of the most iconic guns in the Halo franchise – so the live-action series neglecting to feature it in any capacity would have been a mistake. While making fun of its overpowered nature makes for an entertaining scene with some fun references to the games, there may very well be a future precedent to see the Needler in action as Paramount +’s Halo TV show continues.
Halo releases new episode Thursdays on Paramount+.
