In Review: Lanterns (S1 – EP5) Lights Out

Synopsis: In “Lights Out,” the Macon family’s history begins to unravel as Rushville mobilises in response to the escalating threat. With John placed in an impossible position, Hal risks everything in one final attempt to take down the Manhunter.

The Story

The episode begins with a flashback to 2007, when Kerry Kane arrives in Rushville while being pursued by a group of thugs. She is clearly on the run from someone or something but seemingly manages to land on her feet. When the men attempt to take her from the Rushville diner, they are confronted by Zoe, whom we now know to be the Manhunter.

Zoe asks the lead thug what he needs to prove that he has completed his mission to kill Kerry. He explains that his boss demanded Kerry’s little finger. After Zoe tells her what is required, Kerry bravely cuts it off. Zoe later regenerates the finger using her advanced technology, while the thug is sent on his merry way with what he believes is proof of Kerry’s death.

From there, the episode picks up where last week’s instalment left off. Back in 2016, John has been left stranded in the wrecked car while Hal heads to the diner to meet John’s alien contacts. Zoe learns where John is and watches as the car explodes. Somehow, John is rescued from the wreckage, although he is left in a terrible condition, with severe burns covering his body.

Zoe offers to heal him, and John accepts. Now full of piss and vinegar, he is determined to get the Lantern ring off Hal by any means necessary.

Meanwhile, Rushville is being attacked by the aliens hunting the Manhunter. Hal meets them at the diner and, after a tense standoff, tells their leader, Antaan, that Will Macon is the Manhunter. This allows Hal to go after Zoe himself while Antaan confronts Will.

When Hal finds Zoe, he is attacked by John, and the two have the mother of all fights. The younger John eventually knocks Hal unconscious and leaves him for Zoe. As Zoe approaches Hal, John takes up position some distance away and uses his skills as a sniper to shoot her.

Returning to the scene after the shooting, John takes Hal’s Lantern ring and leaves. He later has an uncomfortable debriefing with Lianna, during which he presents her with Zoe Macon’s Manhunter heart. We also learn that the Manhunters were an experiment created by the Guardians before the Green Lantern programme—and that Zoe was the last of them.

Acting

Poorna Jagannathan puts in a solid performance as Zoe “Manhunter” Macon, who is very much in control of Rushville during the flashback sequence. It is here that we see her strike a deal with Kerry, who subsequently settles in the town and becomes its sheriff. The scene in which Zoe watches John’s car explode with him still inside, before apparently rescuing him and offering to heal his body, is genuinely creepy.

Zoe is counting on the fact that she has successfully seduced John several times to help her build an alliance with him. However, John proves to be far more cunning than she has given him credit for.

Aaron Pierre also delivers a strong performance as John, whose anger towards Hal continues to build because of the way his mentor has mistreated him. By the time these two legendary Lanterns finally come to blows, their confrontation feels well and truly earned.

Overall

With the Manhunter now dead and out of the way, I have to wonder where else the series can go with its storyline. However, a few seeds are sown in this episode, including a scene between Zoe and Kerry’s son in which she tells him to remember everything she has told him.

There is also the mystery surrounding the death of Hal Jordan, which we first learned about at the end of the opening episode during the present-day scene between Kerry and John. So, there are still quite a few loose ends left to tie up.