Lanterns S1E5 Recap: “Lights Out” — Who Wants to Wear the Ring?

The following recap contains spoilers for Lanterns S1E5 “Lights Out” (written by Justin Britt-Gibson and directed by Geeta Vasant Patel)

---

The fifth episode of Lanterns, “Lights Out,” illuminates some of the background on characters that we have been waiting to see throughout the early part of this series, delivers some intense action sequences and stylized combat (for those who have thought there is too much talking in rooms for a superhero show), and also removes several key players from the board as the season turns the corner into the last four episodes.

And while I plan to touch on all of those things, this episode also lends itself to opening up the Green Lantern history and lore a little bit more. There are some helpful pieces of information that might assist viewers as we move into the 2026 timeline next week that come from both the canon of the Green Lantern comics and what we know about James Gunn’s DCU and its connections to this show.

After a short trip back to 2007, this episode picks up almost exactly where Episode 4 ended, and certainly serves as the most intense, action-packed episode of the season.

2007

“Lights Out” begins in 2007, and apparently Kerry Kane’s (Kelly Macdonald) life before becoming the sheriff of Rushville was a little more outside the law than we realized. But that allows us to get a lot more about her Gotham connection.

She’s running from something, but her car breaks down outside of town, and she pushes it to a diner where two men eventually find her. Kerry has been in hiding, going so far as to replace the Gotham license plates on her car. We learn her father has been killed after snitching on some people you probably don’t want to snitch on, and now they believe Kerry might be talking too.

I have been wondering about the last name Kane since Sheriff Kerry Kane’s character was first announced, and now we have a legitimate reason to start asking questions. The Kane family is a pretty important one in Gotham’s comic history (they are one of the “First Families”). Martha Wayne’s maiden name was Kane, making Bruce Wayne part of the Kane family. Then there are Kathy Kane, the original Batwoman, and Kate Kane, the modern comics Batwoman and Bruce Wayne’s cousin.

None of this means Kerry Kane is definitely related to Bruce Wayne. Lanterns has not made that connection, and Kerry could simply be another Kane from Gotham. But giving a character the last name Kane and then specifically revealing she came from Gotham feels like the kind of thing that should at least make our antennae go up. This is, after all, the new DCU. These names don’t usually get picked out of a hat. Since this is a scene from 2007, it doesn’t paint James Gunn into a corner to connect her with anyone contemporary to that time, so all doors remain open.

Before we can spend too much time imagining Kerry showing up at a Kane family reunion with Bruce Wayne, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) arrives and kills and dismantles the men who came looking for her. Kerry then has to cut off her own pinky so the one surviving man can take it back as proof of her death, and she makes that sacrifice. Zoe offers her something for this life-saving intervention. She gives Kerry a new life, promises to protect her, and even grows the finger back. But there is a condition. Someday she is going to need protection in return.

It seems that someday is in 2016.

2016

John (Aaron Pierre) wakes up after Hal (Kyle Chandler) crashed their rental car, only to discover Hal isn’t particularly interested in letting him out. Hal has developed a plan that is equal parts clever and self-serving (although why he shares it with John in such detail is a mystery, and probably just for our benefit). He wants William Macon (Garrett Dillahunt) and Antaan’s (Paul Ben-Victor) forces to destroy each other while he slips in, grabs Zoe, and delivers her to the Guardians to get all the glory.

If there was still any question about how much Hal’s identity has become wrapped up in the ring, “Lights Out” answers it. He is willing to lie to John, manipulate Antaan, and put the people of Rushville in danger because he cannot imagine himself without that ring on his finger. As we will soon see, he will fight to the death to keep it, knowing he can no longer trust John.

Later, Zoe rescues John from the wreckage after initially letting him burn long enough to make her point. Their conversation at the hospital finally gives us some answers about what she is and why the Guardians want her gone. John admits that he never told the Guardians that Zoe was the Manhunter because he doesn’t trust them either. Why should he? He doesn’t trust anyone. Plus, the Guardians didn’t even tell Hal they were planning to replace him. This deception is where a little Green Lantern history becomes helpful.

Before the Green Lantern Corps, the Guardians of the Universe created the Manhunters. They were essentially the Guardians’ first attempt at creating a galactic law enforcement force. The problem was that their devotion to justice eventually became dangerous. In the comics, the Manhunters ultimately rebelled against the Guardians and became responsible for atrocities. The Guardians eventually abandoned their galactic police force and created the Green Lantern Corps as their replacement.

So when Zoe says the Guardians created her kind to enforce justice and then turned on them, she isn’t exactly lying. She just has a slightly different interpretation of how everything went down. Her perspective is from a Manhunter. The show has also made the Manhunters’ fate considerably darker. According to Zoe, the Guardians didn’t simply decommission the Manhunters. They exterminated them, and she believes she is the last one left.

Zoe then offers John essentially the same bargain she made with Kerry Kane. She can heal him and protect him. All she needs in return is for John to tell the Guardians that Hal died fighting Antaan. Then John gets the ring.

While John is getting a crash course in Guardian history, Hal walks into the diner and is ambushed by Antaan’s men. Hal tells Antaan that William Macon is the Manhunter (the first lie of the plan is complete) and convinces him to send his forces toward the Macon ranch.

This leads to perhaps the funniest moment of an otherwise dark episode. Antaan explains that Manhunters assert dominance through sexual advances, which makes him suspicious that William is really the one they are hunting. Hal, fully committed to the lie at this point, claims that he was William’s primary target. “It’s less about preference and more about opportunity” throughout the galaxy, says Hal. Sounds good to me.

From there, Lanterns decides it has heard enough complaints from some viewers about being a superhero show where people spend too much time just talking in diners and motel rooms. Antaan’s forces attack the Macon ranch, and the episode explodes into a full-scale battle. Cars blow up. The Weenie gets a hole in the side courtesy of a suicide bomber. Antaan eventually gets to William, who tries to convince him that he is the Manhunter (trying to protect Zoe and as a way to show gratitude for the extra years after Zoe cured him), but Antaan sees through it. Antaan has a pretty efficient test for his theory. He cuts William open and pulls out his heart.

The violence spreads into Rushville as Zoe’s calls for help in the orbit to begin bombing the town. Hal immediately starts trying to save people while at the same time trying to find Zoe. He eventually locates Zoe at the watchtower, but her people destroy the water tower and release the same darkness from Episode 4 that disabled Hal and John. Hal tries to stop Antaan from advancing and sends him off to space, where Antaan detonates himself. Zoe, meanwhile, escapes.

By this point, Hal has pushed the ring so hard that it needs to be recharged. He makes it back to the motel and finds John waiting for him. The fight between the two is very ugly and personal, which feels appropriate after four episodes of watching their relationship deteriorate. John attacks Hal before he can recharge the ring and eventually tries to choke him. But when another bomb comes down on the motel, Hal still uses what power he has left in the ring to protect both of them.

Hal has lied. He has betrayed John. He wants the credit for capturing the Manhunter. He has compromised the oath he supposedly values so much. But somewhere underneath all of that is still the man who became Green Lantern in the first place. He could have protected only himself, but he covered John as well.

Zoe finds Hal in the motel wreckage, and it looks like she has finally won, but she wonders where John is and why he left. It doesn’t take long for Hal to deduce that he has been left alive as bait. John has positioned himself as a sniper, drawing directly on the military background explored in “OutKast.” He fires one shot into Zoe’s forehead, ending the threat of the last Manhunter. John then cuts open her body and takes her alien heart just to make absolutely certain that everyone understands she wasn’t human.

With Rushville essentially destroyed around him, John takes Hal’s lantern and removes the ring from his finger. Then he puts it on himself. For comic readers, this is where Lanterns starts playing with history in a really interesting way.

John Stewart first appeared in Green Lantern #87 in 1971, when the Guardians selected him as Hal Jordan’s backup. Hal wasn’t particularly thrilled with the choice, but John quickly demonstrated why the Guardians had picked him. More than a decade later, Hal voluntarily surrendered his ring, choosing a life with Carol Ferris over his responsibilities to the Corps. John then stepped into the role as Earth’s full-time Green Lantern in Green Lantern #182.

There is a pretty obvious callback of that history here, except Lanterns twists it. Hal doesn’t willingly give John the ring. John takes it from him. But we think this is all that John ever wanted. Except John doesn’t exactly feel this way.

When John meets Lianna (Laura Linney), he tells her Hal is still alive and produces Zoe’s heart as proof that the Manhunter is dead. Lianna admits the Guardians have made mistakes and insists they are trying to correct them, which isn’t exactly the most reassuring answer considering their solution to previous mistakes apparently involved wiping out an entire species. John tells her that when he put on the ring, he felt empty.

He has seen what being Green Lantern has done to Hal. Hal became so terrified of losing the ring that he betrayed his partner, his principles, and eventually the oath that was supposed to define him. John refuses to become that person. He removes the ring and gives it back. So now there is no owner of the ring, which creates a very interesting vacancy.

We have already seen who is wearing a Green Lantern ring (not necessarily “the” ring, but certainly “a” ring) in the present-day DCU: Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion). Gardner has already appeared in Superman as part of the Justice Gang, and Fillion is confirmed to appear in Lanterns. The show’s dual timelines have always raised an obvious question. If Hal is the established Green Lantern in 2016 and John is being recruited to replace him, why is Guy the Green Lantern we know in the 2026 DCU?

“Lights Out” may have just given us the answer by John rejecting the ring. His refusal of the ring creates the opening for Guy Gardner to become Earth’s next Green Lantern. That would explain why Guy is already an established superhero by the time we meet him in Superman, while the 2026 version of John Stewart apparently has a very different relationship with the Green Lantern Corps. What happens to John and Hal over the next 10 years should be fascinating to explore, and the trailer for next week hints we might find out.

By the end of the episode, Zoe is dead. William Macon is dead. Antaan is dead. Rushville is devastated. And John doesn’t want the ring. That is an impressive amount of housecleaning for Episode 5. I have to admit, with that much death in 2016, we might be spending the rest of the season in 2026.

“Lights Out” accomplishes some important steps in showing us how these timelines work and how all these pieces fit together. Next week, Lanterns appears ready to bring us back to 2026 and the question that started this whole thing. Hal Jordan is dead, John Stewart is investigating his murder, and somewhere between 2016 and the present, Guy Gardner became a Green Lantern, and John and Hal have gone their own separate ways. Is the murder the first time they have come back together? What have they been doing for 10 years? We will find out soon.