7.8/10
92%
73%
72%
3.7/5
82%
- Lanterns S01E01 - Pilot
- Lanterns S01E02 — Trust Fall
- Lanterns S01E03 — OutKast
- Lanterns S01E04 — The Weenie
- Lanterns S01E05 — Lights Out
- Lanterns S01E06 — Bad Optics
Lanterns follows the protector of Earth, Hal Jordan, and his protégé John Stewart are drawn to the small Nebraskan town of Rushville. A deadly shooting at a football game lead to the discovery of a dangerous alien presence on Earth. Hidden amongst the town's residents with Hal and John be able to find the alien before more people are killed?
Things are coming to a head in the town of Rushville.
With the identity of the Manhunter unmasked and the alien hunters on the way, the stakes are high and time is limited.
Following on directly from the events of last week’s episode, John is trapped in the rental car after Hal smashed it into a pole. While Hal might have only meant to keep John out of the way while he enacts his plan to take out Manhunter Zoe, he tragically miscalculates.
Zoe arrives at the crash scene just as the car bursts in to flames, but instead of pulling John out of the wreckage, she waits for it to explode. Her reason for this soon becomes apparent, she gives John a choice: tell the Guardians Hal died because Antaan’s team of hunters went rogue. John can keep the ring, become the next Lantern and Zoe and the residents of Rushville can carry on as before.
Meanwhile Hal is having to make a deal with Antaan and convinces him that Will Macon, Zoe’s husband, is actually the Manhunter. There’s a bit of comedy here due to some confusion with the Manhunter using sex to bend the alphas in the community to their will but Antaan agrees that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” and heads off to take out Macon and his militia.
The town has been mobilised and everyone is looking for Hal, the problem is that it’s Zoe and her network of laser-armed satellites they need to be concerned about as she opens fire on the town, taking out her own people in order to draw Hal out and deplete the Lantern ring’s energy.
With Rushville’s very existence at stake, Hal must try and defeat Manhunter Zoe, but now the question is whether John can be trusted or if he’s switched sides.
DC Extended Universe
Pinky Swear
🟢Warning! Massive spoilers for Lanterns Episode 5, Lights Out ahead!🟢
At the start of the episode we flashback to 2007, where we see a younger version of Kerry. How do we know it’s a younger version? She has bangs and we all know that only people in their 20s have bangs.
Her car breaks down just outside of Rushville and as she makes it to the diner she’s accosted by two heavies who have been following her all the way from Gotham. They’re here to kill her because she’s a snitch. She’s not actually a snitch, but because her Dad was (who they’ve already killed) she’s a snitch by association.
Just as it looks like there’s no way out for Kerry, Zoe appears and takes the heavier heavy out with a quick snap of the neck. She realises that if she kills the other heavy, the Boss will just send more goons after Kerry so he sends him packing, along with Kerry’s pinky finger as proof he’s killed her.
Zoe then asks that Kerry return the favour and protect her when she needs it the most.
This was a nice little scene as it explains a lot of Kerry’s motivations: Why she’s so tied to the town and reluctantly helping Hal. She wants to do the right thing — especially as she’s the sheriff — but she owes Zoe a huge debt of gratitude that she’s still trying to repay.
It also goes a long way to show why the entire town saddles up to stop Hal when he comes after Zoe. It would appear that they each owe her something, whether that be health or simply a home, and they’re willing to lay down their lives to protect her.
One question though: Is Zoe a changed person? Has her time in a human body, living amongst humans made her more compassionate and understanding? Or is she simply masking her true nature as she is her Manhunter form by simply taking on human characteristics?
It seems that she does have real feelings of love for her husband, son, grandson and Kerry, and also for John too. But is that enough to quell her killer nature? I’d like to think so and that makes her character (and her end) even more of a tragic one.
And another question is where on Earth does John go from here? He’s almost killed Hal, he can’t trust The Guardians any more — after all, they didn’t tell Hal he was going to be replaced and didn’t confess to having created the Manhunters — and what about his parents? They have been so invested in John becoming a Lantern that they destroyed any chance of a normal life he could have had.
Will Hal and John join forces to take on The Guardians and expose all of the dastardly deeds they’ve been up to? I’m sure Sinestro would love that! Or is the rift between them too large to overcome?
One thing that is for sure is that Hal and The Guardians will have to have a very long and hard conversation about all of the manipulation and lies they have been apart of and it will be interesting to see how he handles it, and what their excuses are.
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