If Lanterns Episode 3 served as an origin story, showing us the crucible John Stewart was raised in, Episode 4 establishes the superhero’s moral compass—crucial if we expect him shoulder-to-shoulder with Superman and Wonder Woman.
[RELATED: Lester’s TV Review: Lanterns Episode 3—The Origin Story]
The episode begins with the Guardian (Laura Linney) returning to John Stewart’s motel room, informing him it’s now or never with the Green Lantern switch. Hal Jordan violated Lantern rules, visiting his ex, Sinestro in the night for a Manhunter tutorial.
Laura Linney tells John, next time he gets the ring on his finger, recite the Lantern’s oath and he will take over as the space cop of sector 2814.
The opportunity to fulfill his destiny arrives quick. Hal flies in front of John’s vantage point as Stewart spies on the Macon ranch. Hal claims he was busy “getting laid in space,” lying, refusing to share his meeting with Sinestro in whiich his former mentor warned Hal of John becoming a potential threat, giving him tips on how to use him—much like Sinestro used Hal—saying John’s fearlessness makes him “blindly oblivious to your true intent”—like Hal was oblivious by Sinestro’s true motives, both in 1996, as well as their current convo in 2016.
John and Hal, both urged to stab each other in the back, go on a tag team mission to storm Macon’s manor, demanding the reveal of his “benefactor”—the two’ve deduced the alien manhunter in human form, living amongst the small town of Rushville, Nebraska, is warehoused at Macon’s crib.
John uses his architecture degree to sketch up a drill to dig beneath the compound undetected. Hal allows John to wear his ring to construct his idea. With the chance to steal the ring, John just goes through with the mission as planned, eat my shorts, Laura Linney.
They get inside, set off the alarms, of course, and Will Macon confronts them, claiming he has nothing to hide—physically doubling down by stripping naked, making John Stewart draw his portrait. While he poses nude, Macon explains the manhunter cured hs cancer and keeps the town safe and prosperous—in exchange, they protect him from the aliens set to blow up the town if the manhunter isn’t put in their custody.
By episode’s end, one thing is clear: John Stewart is more interested in protecting the vulnerable than he is overpowering them. He dedicated his life to becoming Green Lantern, but he won’t do it by double-crossing Hal. This is so much more interesting than Zach Snyder leveling cities and making Batman a killer in the streets.
After watching his girlfriend, Macon’s wife Zoe, explode from a satellite laser from space as she pulls out of the motel parking lot and a wild goose chase at the local interdimensial slaughterhouse, John Stewart is the first to discern the identity of the manhunter: Macon’s wife Zoe.
The episode ends with Hal, too, realizing who the manhunter’s true identity after witnessing John’s reaction to his parents’ lives threatened in the slaughterhouse compared to his nonreaction when he watched Zoe explode via satellite IN SPACE—Hal dives out of the moving car he’s driving to confront Zoe, leaving John to, I don’t know, die in a car accident(?)
The show does a great job subverting the tropes the show, itself, established.
Hal, constantly described as old, washed, worn, dried, tired—but he’s consistently right and fit enough to keep everyone alive—his “gut” undefeated—including a scene with Hector Gutierrez, posing as Hector Hammonds, the evil alien benefactor shooting SPACE LASERS. As Hector threatens to drop the same laser on the Stewart family home, Hal susses out his bluff—correct, once again.
John Stewart was raised to be a fearless, unflinching machine, built for the sole purpose of donning that ring, but wasn’t interested in taking it out from under Hal’s nose. He was raised separately, away from his brothers, away from normal relationships with other people but still chose to protect Zoe’s identity as the manhunter, valuing their close relationship.
Good shit all around. I’m excited to see the real villain’s identity. This is too simple. Maybe I’m wrong and Zoe will transform into a gigantic, indestructible alien robot monster thing but I get the feeling she has a more nuanced story to tell from her perspective.
I don’t suspect Sinestro will spend this entire show in a prison cell, especially with Hal dead in Rushville in the present timeline.
Next episode looks the most superhero-y of them all so I’ll see you all next week to talk about all the explosions and how John survived a head-on car crash. (There’s also the whole Guy Gardner having both his own lantern ring and Hal Jordan’s in the future while Stewart is still without. Like, let’s not forget there’s a third timeline we haven’t even explored yet)
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