Ryan Kirksey
The following recap contains spoilers for Lanterns S1E2, “Trust Fall” (written by Vanessa Baden Kelly & Chris Mundy and directed by James Hawes)
In the pilot episode of Lanterns, we got a pretty substantial skeleton of what this show—or at least this first season—is going to be about. But as Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” unfolds, we start to really get a lot of meat on the bones of how deep the mystery in Rushville, Nebraska goes, how tenuous relationship that Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) really is, what the true threat is to the planet, and who might hurt and help their mission along the way.
But, as the title of this episode indicates, our two protagonists aren’t going to make it very far if they can’t find some way to trust one another and use each other’s abilities and talents to track down and eliminate the newly introduced Manhunter threat.
“Trust Fall” begins the first steps of pulling back the curtain on just how strange the case in Rushville really is. The episode takes place entirely in 2016, so we get no more about John Stewart’s childhood and the potential relationship his father might have had with Hal Jordan. And we get no more clues as to the cliffhanger from the 2026 timeline that seemingly showed Hal Jordan dead and the ring missing. Instead of looking into those mysteries, “Trust Fall” focuses on the 2016 mystery. What exactly is hiding in Rushville?
The episode also makes clear that solving this mystery is going to require Hal Jordan and John Stewart to learn something neither of them seems particularly comfortable with: how to trust each other.
The episode opens with Hal waking John and immediately trying to get some training in. Despite the fact that they have a dead-alien investigation sitting in front of them, Hal decides this is the perfect time to teach his new partner how to fly. His lesson is essentially, “You fly,” because Hal considers flying instinctual. John, understandably, does not and can not do it when he tries.
Instead, John creates a green bird construct (constructs are the creations that emanate from the ring). It seems like a simple mistake (hey, birds fly!), but Hal quickly realizes there is something unusual about it. John is able to keep the bird alive even after the ring is no longer on his finger, an ability that is normally far beyond normal Green Lantern training. Hal tells him to keep the bird alive as a test, and the bird becomes one of the episode’s first clues that there is something unique about John.
Hal then sends John to retrieve the Lantern (essentially his phone charger) from his house because his ring needs to be charged and that can only be done with the Lantern. The side errand gives John a look into the man he is supposed to be working with. He finds Hal’s Green Lantern uniforms and eventually discovers that the box containing the Lantern leads to some kind of mystical portal, but still allows John to grab the lantern. John also gets introduced to Earl, Hal’s unusual and unfriendly carnivorous plant.
It is a funny sequence, but it also gives us a glimpse of who Hal is. His home is filled with reminders of his life as a Green Lantern, even though he increasingly seems apathetic toward the role and the responsibilities that come with it. His home is also a place where it appears he spends no time, and when he is there, he’s sitting in a lawn chair with a couple of beers in front of a 100-inch TV.
While John is away, Hal continues digging into the Rushville mystery. He steals the bodies of the aliens killed in the football stadium shooting from the morgue and brings them back to the stadium, where he discovers that some strange devices surrounding the stadium entrances aren’t ordinary equipment. They are advanced alien detectors.
After a detour to a Town Hall led by Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) leads nowhere, Hal convinces the Sheriff to go directly to William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), who, Hal believes, has access to technology Hal has never seen before. Macon refuses to reveal who supplied the equipment, referring instead to an unnamed benefactor. Hal is convinced Macon’s compound is hiding something, but when he refuses to leave, Macon’s men open fire on him, putting him in the hospital with a warning shot.
Meanwhile, John finds himself in trouble as he leaves Hal’s house. He is abducted and questioned by a group of unknown extraterrestrials led by Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) who are looking for something called a Manhunter. John doesn’t know what they are talking about, but his captors aren’t interested in killing him. They want to recruit him to help their cause, perhaps because they don’t trust Hal Jordan and his methods. Should they? What has Hal done in the past to lose their trust? These are questions I’m sure Hal and John will have to deal with at some point.
The Manhunters, John learns, were synthetic beings that appeared during a period of chaos across the galaxy to dispense “justice.” They could shapeshift into virtually any species, and develop technology far beyond the civilizations around them, but they eventually became responsible for wiping out entire species. One Manhunter apparently survived, they believe, eventually making its way to Earth.
The group hunting it believes a Green Lantern once captured the creature and that it was supposed to be executed. Instead, it escaped and has been hiding somewhere in Rushville. The aliens that were shot at the football game? They were Antaan’s men on the search for the Manhunter.
The major problem is nobody knows what the Manhunter looks like. It could literally be anyone. Someone we, as viewers of the show, have met, or haven’t met yet. We can’t say. John’s captors give him a terrifying glimpse of what the Manhunter did to their people. The aliens project the memory directly into his mind, forcing him to experience the destruction of their civilization. They then give him a deadline: 48 hours to find the Manhunter. If he fails, the whole town of Rushville could pay the price.
While John is learning that the stakes are far larger than he imagined, Hal wakes up in the hospital after being shot. Sheriff Kerry Kane is waiting for him, and she immediately asks about the name Hal was muttering in his sleep: Sinestro.
Hal doesn’t want to talk about that name, but the episode establishes the history anyway. Sinestro was once a Green Lantern who attempted a coup and killed one of the Guardians before Hal ultimately brought him down. It is another reminder that Hal has a long history with secrets, even among people he trusts. Kane also confronts Hal about his behavior in Rushville. He has repeatedly undermined her authority while investigating the alien deaths, and she tells him she is trying to keep the town together.
That conversation is important because it parallels what is happening between Hal and John. Kane is asking Hal to trust her judgment in Rushville. He reluctantly agrees. John, meanwhile, is being asked to trust a mentor who routinely keeps him in the dark. Will John also agree to this?
John could keep what happened to him with the aliens to himself. Instead, he tells Hal everything. He reveals the Manhunter threat, the 48-hour deadline, and the aliens’ belief that the creature is hiding somewhere in Rushville. He wasn’t supposed to tell Hal all of this, but he does anyway because he realizes they cannot solve this alone. To me, this is the real “trust fall” of the episode. John decided to put his faith in Hal, even though others have said he shouldn’t, or can’t.
Hal and John compare what they know and realize their two investigations are connected. Hal has discovered that Macon possesses alien-detection technology and is hiding something on his property. John knows that a shapeshifting alien capable of hiding in plain sight may be somewhere in the town. Neither has enough information to solve the puzzle independently.
John also asks Hal what he knows about Manhunters, and Hal’s reaction makes clear that this isn’t some obscure piece of Green Lantern history. The implications reach deep into the Green Lantern Corps and possibly back to Abin Sur, whose death ultimately led to Hal receiving his ring.
With John in bed, Hal finally puts on his Green Lantern uniform (which John brought from Hal’s house) and leaves John behind at the motel. He flies into space and arrives at some kind of technologically advanced prison, where he comes face-to-face with the man he mentioned earlier. Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen).
Hal wants answers about the Manhunters. But Sinestro seems far more interested in John Stewart. He warns Hal that if a Manhunter really still exists, it would be the second-greatest threat Hal currently faces. Then comes the ominous final question: “Why don’t you tell me about John Stewart?”
This is what makes “Trust Fall” an important episode, as we will seemingly explore these ideas. Hal doesn’t trust John to be a Lantern yet, and doesn’t want him around. John doesn’t completely trust Hal, and has had that reinforced by Antaan. And now, Sinestro is hinting that Hal should not trust John. It’s a complicated web they have woven for themselves in this early episode.
But in the end, there is a Manhunter somewhere in Rushville. They have 48 hours to find it. And if Hal and John are going to survive what is coming, they are going to have to take a leap of faith and put some trust in each other.
