‘Lanterns’ Episode 4 Recap: The Manhunter Is Revealed

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As someone in the “this means something to me, man” club regarding Green Lantern, this week’s episode delivered a lot of fun nods to the comics, while progressing the mystery of Rushville forward in some interesting ways. 

After a detour into John’s upbringing last episode, this week takes us back to 2016 Rushville. The episode opens with Hal and Sinestro (a fantastic Ulrich Thomsen) discussing the history of the Manhunters, along with Hal’s plight in training his replacement. This whole sequence was fantastic. While we haven’t gotten to see Sinestro’s friendship and ultimate betrayal of Hal, Kyle Chandler and Thomsen really sell the pain and affection at the heart of the relationship between the two.

Back on Earth, John goes to buy a sniper scope from a local gun shop, and it’s clear the town feels like he and Hal have overstayed their welcome. The man refuses to sell John the scope unless he also buys a gun. We see John using the scope to scout out William Macon’s ranch before Hal returns from space. John showcases his deduction skills and reveals that all the guards are protecting a single building on the compound.

They decide that they’re going to sneak onto Macon’s compound that evening, but before they can do that, John is contacted by Lianna, who’s upset he hasn’t checked in. Lianna presses John’s buttons, telling him that he’s exhibiting his father’s weakness, and Hal’s reports paint the picture of someone who blindly follows orders and lacks creativity. Lianna tells John that if he wants Hal’s ring, he’s going to have to take it for himself.

After this, John puts his art school skills to good use and draws a digger construct for Hal to create so they can sneak onto Macon’s property. Hal gives John the ring to make the construct, and it leads to one of the coolest uses of the ring so far in the series. They manage to sneak into a bunker on Macon’s compound that’s filled with alien tech. Hal approaches one of the devices before stepping on a pressure plate.

John asks Hal his weight, to which he responds, “185-ish.” John constructs a kettlebell weighing 185 and carries it to the pressure plate to try and Raiders of the Lost Ark their way out. The plan doesn’t work, and the alarm goes off, leading to their capture by Macon’s guards. 

This leads to one of the show’s most interesting scenes so far. After Hal and John are brought into his office, Macon takes off his robe and basically tells John to draw him like one of his French girls. This leads to Hal dropping one of my favorite lines in the series, where he says he’s seen a lot of shit in outer space, but Macon getting ass naked takes the cake. 

Macon reveals that the manhunter healed him of his cancer and he owes his life to them. The manhunter is ensuring everyone’s health and safety in town, which is why the hospital had no one checking in or out. As the vibe begins to reach a boiling point, Sheriff Kane narrowly makes the save and manages to get them out of Macon’s property before things go south. 

After they return to the hotel, Zoe comes over and sleeps with John again. During their post-coital conversation, Zoe more or less reveals to John that she’s the manhunter, telling John that if she reveals the truth, then everything changes between them. John watches Zoe drive off when BOOM. Her car is struck by an orbital laser. Don’t you hate when that happens? 

Hal grabs the satellite that blew up Zoe’s car and does a brief investigation of the manufacturer, which leads him to Hector Hammond, who comics fans will recognize as one of the Green Lanterns’ biggest opps. Hammond apparently runs a high-tech slaughterhouse nearby, so John and Hal go investigate.

This leads to one of my favorite sequences as they venture through the slaughterhouse, completely ignored by the workers. They enter a room where a cow emerges through a pitch-black portal. A series of lasers projects an outline of how the cow will be cut before gruesomely eviscerating it. This whole sequence just felt ripped from a comic book, and I loved it. 

The two eventually find Hammond, who has a satellite laser pointed at John’s parents’ home. Hammond also plays a recording of John’s conversation with Lianna to try to drive a wedge between the two. Hal quickly deduces that Hammond isn’t the manhunter, and the man sitting before them isn’t even the real Hector Hammond, just an engineer being used as a patsy. 

After interrogating Hammond, Hal and John have an awkward car ride home. John apologizes for what he said to Lianna about him, and Hal forgives him, acknowledging that he was right about some of his assessments. The two begin to discuss who the manhunter really is, and we see that John is a terrible liar. Hal tells John to call Antaan, the alien from episode two who’s set to bomb Rushville in 12 hours if they don’t deliver the manhunter.

When he tells Hal that Macon is the manhunter, it’s clear he’s lying, and Hal immediately clocks that he’s lying. Hal has already deduced that Zoe is really the manhunter, and he knows that John knew it first. 

When Hal says “I did forgive you,” it genuinely feels sincere. While they’re not the best of friends, there did feel like some degree of thawing in John and Hal’s relationship this week. While Hal has been the source of a lot of pain in John’s life, John clearly wants Hal’s approval to take on the mantle of Green Lantern of sector-2814. Instead of forcibly taking the ring like Lianna demands, John draws the digger construct to push back against Hal’s assessment that he’s not creative. 

In a callback to the first episode, the episode ends with Hal jumping out of a moving car and letting it crash into a pole with John still in the car. Considering the conversation Hal had with Sinestro at the beginning of the episode, I’m curious to see what Hal’s motivation is. Sinestro tells him to deliver the manhunter to the Guardians and disgrace John in the process. This could be him doing that, but also, John has slept with Zoe several times against his better judgment and lied about her being the manhunter. 

While Hal could have ulterior motives, John is clearly compromised by his feelings for Zoe. 

The preview for next week shows all hell breaking loose in Rushville. If I were a betting man, I’d say that the Rushville mystery wraps up next week before we spend the final three episodes learning about what led to Hal’s death in 2026 and setting up John to wield the ring in next year’s Man of Tomorrow. 

See you next Monday, folks!

SEE ALSO:

Aaron Pierre Shines As ‘Lanterns’ Gets Off To A Thrilling Start

‘Lanterns’ Episode 2 Delivers Compelling Mystery, Solid Worldbuilding

‘Lanterns’: John’s Parents Give Dysfunction A Whole New Meaning