Lanterns Drops a Major Manhunter Bombshell — and John Is Blindsided

After last week’s Lanterns episode that gave us the “why” of John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), fans now dip back into the central mystery of the show. As Hal (Kyle Chandler) visits an old “friend,” the Guardians give John his marching orders: Take the ring, become the new Green Lantern, remove Hal. Warning: Spoilers for Lanterns Season 1 Episode 4.

Episode 4 kicks off with another trip back to 2016, where Hal pays a visit to Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), looking for information about the Manhunters. Sinestro knows exactly what’s going on with John: Hal knows John is supposed to replace him, and Hal isn’t evil — he’s just getting old.

According to Sinestro, the Manhunters are believed to be extinct, and if one has somehow survived, the Guardians would be very interested in knowing about it. More importantly, that information could give Hal an advantage over the man coming for his ring.

“My ambition was always a threat. You simply chose not to see it,” Sinestro warns him. “Do not make the same mistake with John Stewart.”

John Johnson/HBO Max

Back on Earth, John gets a distressing call from his father (Sherman Augustus) before heading into town in search of a scope. The locals are still less than thrilled to see him, but John has more important things to worry about. He’s surveilling Macon’s compound when Hal shows up, and John believes the Manhunter is being held inside the structure at its center.

They bring Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) into the loop and tell her exactly how bad things have gotten: An interplanetary war criminal known as a Manhunter is hiding somewhere in Rushville, while another group has arrived to assassinate it and is threatening to destroy the entire town. Technically, the Manhunter isn’t an alien, and Hal and John suspect Macon’s mysterious Benefactor may be the one they’re looking for.

Things aren’t going much better with the Guardians. Guardian Lianna (Laura Linney) makes contact with John and is disappointed that he still hasn’t taken over as Green Lantern. She also knows exactly why he’s in Nebraska and reveals that Hal met with Sinestro. Whatever Hal did during that meeting has apparently “accelerated the inevitable.”

Then she brings up the promises John’s mother (Jasmine Cephas Jones) made when he was a child, confirming that everything his parents told him was true. The Guardian gives John very simple instructions: The next time he gets the ring, say the oath and become the new Green Lantern. He needs to take it from Hal.

As far as John is concerned, it already belongs to him. Hal is just “keeping it warm.”

John quickly comes up with another use for the ring. He tells Hal they need to get underneath Macon’s compound, and once John has the ring, he manifests a tunneling machine that gets them inside. They find the Benefactor’s lair and seemingly confirm that he is the Manhunter right before triggering an alarm. The compound goes into lockdown, and Hal and John are attacked and captured.

Courtesy of HBO Max / YouTube

That’s when things get weird.

They are taken to William Macon’s compound, where Macon (Garret Dillahunt) strips naked for John to draw. But between all that, he also gives them some important information. The weapons used against them were specifically designed to take down Green Lanterns, and Macon considers the Benefactor his boss. He says the Benefactor cured his cancer and protects Rushville. Nobody gets sick anymore, which explains the empty hospital, and in return, the town protects him.

From pulling the Green Lanterns off the street and stripping naked in front of them, Macon wastes no time trying to intimidate John and Hal and establish exactly who holds the power in Rushville.

“He is used to being the most powerful guy in town. He’s a big fish in a small pond. He’s wealthy. He’s got his own militia. Things are starting to heat up a little bit when the Lanterns show up. They are starting to encroach on our territory,” Garret Dillahunt told TV Insider. “That’s his modus operandi: Fear and intimidation. Unfortunately, these guys feel no fear.”

Macon wants Hal and John to leave.

Before things can go any further, Kerry bursts in, arrests Hal and John, and gets them out of there after Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) calls her.

Back at the motel, John calls his mother and tells her what the Guardian said. Her advice is to take the ring and not lose focus.

Then Zoe arrives.

The two end up sleeping together again, but afterward, she tells John, “If I tell you what I know, everything changes.” She isn’t afraid of him, but she believes he owes her, and she tells him to get out of Rushville.

Zoe leaves, only for a beam of light from space to destroy her truck and killing Zoe.

Courtesy of HBO Max / YouTube

John and Hal trace the satellite to Atlas Inc., which is owned by Hector Hammond (Jason Manuel Olazabal), a man with a collection of high-end slaughterhouses and seemingly no history beyond the past few years.

For the first time, Hal actually asks John how he’s doing. His version of comfort isn’t particularly comforting. People dying is part of the job, he explains, which is why he avoids real relationships, for his safety and theirs.

“It’s a lonely f**king job.” When John asks whether Hal ever talked to the other Lanterns, Hal has an even better explanation for that. “I’m the only human! Most are aliens. One of them is a f**king squirrel. No one likes me!” (Please note: TV Insider does not condone any disrespect toward Ch’p the Green Lantern.)

John eventually convinces Hal to give him the ring so they’ll have the element of surprise when they go after Hammond.

Their search leads them to one of Hammond’s high-tech slaughterhouses, where machinery can, ahem, disassemble a cow in seconds. Hammond seems completely unbothered by their arrival. In fact, he’s prepared for them.

He knows the address of John’s parents and threatens to demonstrate exactly what his satellites can do. In three minutes, he claims, John’s childhood home will be obliterated. He’s also been monitoring the calls from the motel and plays the conversation in which John called Hal old, tired, and unworthy of the ring.

Hammond claims to be the Manhunter, but Hal isn’t buying it. He believes Hammond is a decoy and threatens to rip out his heart to prove it. Hal even acts as though he no longer gives a damn what happens to John or his parents.

The gamble works.

Hammond admits he’s human (the name was a giveaway to either longtime DC Comics readers or Ryan Reynolds fans), and the entire thing was a bluff. According to him, the real Manhunter is Will Macon.

On the drive back, Hal finally admits that he can be “a bit of an asshole,” while John confronts him about something else the Guardians revealed: Hal broke a vow.

Hal admits it’s true. He saw Sinestro. Now Hal wants John to contact the alien hit squad and arrange a meeting at the café because, unlike Hal, they trust John.

But Hal has one more question: Why wasn’t John more upset when Zoe died? They slept together, they bonded a bit, he seemed to like her. Why wasn’t he upset?

John isn’t made of stone or unfeeling. He simply knows something Hal doesn’t: Zoe isn’t dead.

She’s the Manhunter.

Shocked? You are not the only one. Talking to TV Insider, actress Poorna Jagannathan shared that her being the Manhunter was a surprise to her, too. “I didn’t know I was a Manhunter until I read it,” said Jagannathan. “They didn’t tell me. Nothing. I was as shocked as everyone else. And I assumed it would be a man. Never in my universe did I think it would be me.”

John says he had a gut feeling about her and kept it from the Guardians because he was still investigating. That revelation is apparently enough for Hal, who promptly jumps out of the moving car and lets it crash full speed with John inside.

Lanterns, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO