Everything in Rushville is coming to a head. We know who the Manhunter is. John and Hal are both aware of each other’s true missions. And those aliens looking to kill the Manhunter for committing genocide are on the way. Yup, everything on Lanterns is about to come to a head, but it’s actually just getting started.
While we’ve seen the show flash back to several different years, we’ve never seen 2007. That’s when a young Kerry Kane drove from Gotham City until her car broke down in Rushville. This much we knew. What we didn’t know was that she left Gotham to save her own life. After breaking down, she entered a familiar-looking cafe where two goons caught up with her. Their orders were to kill her thanks to her father’s actions. Kerry was ready to accept that fate when a woman briefly seen in the corner of a cafe intervened. It’s Zoe, and if there was any question as to whether she’s the Manhunter or not, this first scene changed all that.
Zoe kills one of the guys and threatens the other as a way to save Kerry’s life. All she asks for in exchange is that, when the time comes, Kerry does the same for Zoe. It’s a scene that recontextualizes basically everything we’ve seen because Kerry, who of course is now the Sheriff of Rushville, knew that Zoe was something else. And she owes her her life.
Meanwhile, John Stewart is still stuck in the car Hal crashed. The two have it out, and Hal tells John that his training is over. He leaves John stuck, only for him to be discovered sometime later by Zoe. She watches as the car explodes with John still in it. Wait, is he dead?
As that’s happening, the people of Rushville are getting ready for war. The town that’s been protected by Zoe and her powers is getting ready to fight back against the aliens coming to kill her. It seems as if it’s a moment she’s prepared everyone for in some way. Hal needs to find Zoe, so he recalls his Sentry, whom we haven’t seen since the pilot episode, to find her while he goes to talk to the Sheriff.
The Sheriff begs Hal to leave Rushville because, she believes, it’s he and John who brought all of this upon them. Their investigation into Zoe is what triggered everything. He says he cannot, and she explains that she owes everything to Zoe and can’t betray her either. They’re at a crossroads, and she tells him that any killing that happens is his fault.
John, of course, isn’t dead. He’s just doing his best Anakin Skywalker impression from the end of Revenge of the Sith. He’s been burned to a crisp, and only one person can save him: Zoe. Only her advanced Manhunter technology can heal John back to his former self, but in return, she wants him to lie about how Hal Jordan is about to die. She doesn’t want the Guardians to know she was at the center of it, and basically, John agrees. His trust in the Guardians was shattered after they refused to help him get the ring from Hal.
We also learn that it was the Guardians who created the Manhunters before they created the Green Lantern Corps. They were the first attempt at galactic peacekeeping, but were too brutal, and all were killed – save for one: Zoe. So of course they would be very, very interested to know she’s still around. As are several other people.
At the top of that list is Anton, the head alien who recruited John to find the Manhunter. He and his team are now in town, and after a contentious meeting at the cafe with Hal, where he lies about who the Manhunter is, they set off to Macon’s ranch. A few suicide bombers help them get through the gate, and Anton faces off with Macon. Zoe has prepped Macon well, telling him everything he might be asked, and he almost fools Anton. That is until Anton rips open his chest to reveal a human heart. This isn’t the Manhunter. It’s just someone else the Manhunter saved and who owed her.
Now, here’s something weird. As Anton deals with Macon and Zoe deals with John, Zoe’s alien lasers start blasting everything in Rushville. There’s almost no reason for this to be happening, and people are dying left and right. Why is she just killing random people? Is Anton’s army all over the place? All of the action seems to be happening in areas that aren’t the main street and yet it’s getting blown to bits. It’s unclear. Hal does his best to fight back, though, destroying a satellite or two.
Hal’s Sentry then finds Zoe, so Hal goes to capture her, but not before she crashes the Rushville water tower. Only it’s not a water tower. It’s filled with black smoke that makes it impossible for Lanterns to do anything.
The resulting scene was a Silence of the Lambs-inspired, night-vision-esque, POV scene where Hal tries to navigate the smoke while also keeping an eye on Zoe. Anton, who by now knows that Hal lied to him, flies toward the action ready to blow himself and the town up. Hal is forced to use the last juice in his ring to contain the explosion and get rid of Anton. Zoe, meanwhile, cuts off her own hand and escapes.
With Zoe missing, John off the board, and his ring out of juice, Hal returns to the hotel for a recharge. But that’s where the now fully healed John is waiting. The two have the fight they’ve been building toward all season, with Hal antagonizing John by telling him he’ll never replace him. As the fight reaches its apex, though, some of Zoe’s killer red lasers start to zero in on the hotel, and Hal has to save the pair of them.
John leaves Hal in the rubble where Zoe comes to finally finish the job. Only, John betrays her, using Hal as bait and killing the Manhunter. He cuts her heart out and takes the ring from Hal, who reminds John that the Guardians betrayed him and they’ll eventually betray John too.
That should be it. John has the ring, he has the lantern, and he heads to meet up with Lianna, the Guardian played by Laura Linney. All he needs to do is say the oath, and all his dreams will come true. And yet, he does not. He challenges the Guardian about the Manhunters and reflects on everything Hal did to keep the ring. He basically implies that it corrupted him, and he doesn’t want that for himself. He leaves the ring of Earth’s Green Lantern on the bar, without an owner.
And with that, the main story of Lanterns is over. The Manhunter is dead. Hal Jordan is no longer the Green Lantern, but neither is John Stewart. There’s also that little matter of Hal Jordan being dead 10 years into the future to deal with. How that happened, who did it, and why are all still on the table. Plus, while we THINK we know who gets that ring (Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner), we haven’t seen that yet either. So while this episode very much had an action-packed, season finale vibe, we’re far from over with Lanterns just yet.
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