We’ve reached the halfway point of HBO‘s Lanterns Season 1, so how are we feeling about this so far? For me the answer is “pretty good,” though I am starting to feel like we’ve got a bit of a reverse Star Trek movie situation. What I mean by that is traditionally the odd numbered Star Trek movies are not great, and the even numbered ones are great. On Lanterns, Episode 1 “Pilot” was stellar, Episode 3 “OutKast” was a highly focused origin of John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) that I also thought was pretty fantastic, and Episodes 2 “Trust Fall” and 4 “The Weenie” (the latter being this week’s episode) are pretty much exposition dumps.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re good exposition dumps, and this week’s hour had some really excellent work from Pierre and Kyle Chandler (playing Hal Jordan) as usual. Kelly MacDonald’s Sheriff Kerry Kane continues to be excellent as well, and the sparks are really flying this time around between Hal and Kerry (I am less sold on the romance between John and Poorna Jagannathan’s Zoe Macon, but that may be purposeful as we see by end of episode).
Still, without getting too heavily into spoilers – we’ll do those in the recap proper – a lot of this episode felt like the Scooby-Doo meme where they take off the villain’s mask and then there are more masks under that mask. I like where we end up, and it feels like we’ve hit the peak of the rollercoaster and everything is downhill and screaming after this. But I don’t know about you, the multiple reveals in the back half of the episode started to feel like whiplash at a certain point, while the whole sequence in – mild spoilers – the slaughterhouse felt like it came from a different show; possibly Severance, and definitely LOST.
In any case, those criticisms out of the way, since it has been two weeks since we were in the main action of the show, let’s do some precap before the recap. We’re following Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, who is ostensibly supposed to be training John Stewart. Hal has been doing a generally bad job training John, likely because this was forced on him by the Guardians, alien beings who run the Green Lantern Corps. Meanwhile, John has been trained his whole life for this position by his parents. Hal didn’t have to work for the job, but has had experience for decades; John has no experience but has worked harder and shown greater skills than Hal.
That doesn’t mean Hal is bad at it, by the way. He goes by his gut, and his gut is never wrong, including discovering an alien conspiracy in Rushville, Nebraska that’s left five aliens dead and revealed a Manhunter, a deadly being known for destroying whole planets. A group of aliens have given John 48 hours (and counting) to deliver the Manhunter, or they’re going to blow up the entire town of Rushville, giving us our stakes.
Meanwhile, not helping things is Kerry, who has been trying to do a by the books investigation and been stymied by Hal at every turn. Kerry is married to Billy Macon (Jason Ritter), a sleazy lawyer, who is the son of William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), a ranch-owner building an alien-hunting militia who also has a mysterious benefactor. Oh, and William is married to Zoe, who John slept with, not knowing she was William’s wife.
When we left off John had told Hal about the Manhunters, and Hal flew off into space to confront his old mentor, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) – a man who led a coup against the Guardians, killing one of them, before Hal took him down.
There’s more to know, but enough precap out of the way, let’s get to the recap.
Spoilers for Lanterns Episode 4 “The Weenie” past this point.
The Sinestro Of The Lambs
After our little secret origin side trip last episode, we’re looping back to the final scene of Episode 2, with Hal flying into… Oa? Wherever they’re keeping Sinestro, that’s where he is. Hal wants to know about Manhunters, Sinestro thinks that’s Hal’s second biggest problem after John Stewart, now you’re caught up to speed.
So, how did Sinestro hear the name John Stewart when he’s locked in a Sciencell? “Around,” he says, which may indicate a bigger problem for everyone. Hal and Sinestro spar about whether John is a trainee, or a contingency, and it’s interesting to see how Hal is both belligerent towards his former mentor, and also defers when pushed. As John noted in the last episode, human’s feelings towards their parents, or parental figures, are complicated. And Hal, when pushed, says what John really is: “My replacement.”
Back on Earth, Hal’s replacement is studying a map of the Macon compound he made, alongside a detailed drawing on Zoe, when John Sr. calls. The Guardians have given him 20 minutes to get to a payphone and talk, and when John refuses – he’s working a case – John Sr. puts Bernadette on the phone. John Jr. hangs up and goes to see Hal (who is off-planet), while Sinestro tells Hal he’s going to have to kill John. Hal says he won’t kill John because he’s not “evil.” But Sinestro thinks he’s actually “old.”
Hal disagrees, of course. “Experienced,” he offers. “They want to replace me with Johnny Try-Hard? Fine with me. Guy’s too perfect anyway. Besides that? He’s f**king boring.” So seems Hal has been trolling Green Lantern internet forums for his opinions. Hal goes to leave, so Sinestro does offer up some info about Manhunters, that there are “unique” aspects of their “physiology that cannot be changed when they take a new form.” Sinestro has a plan, too… Hal gives the Manhunter to the Guardians and disgraces Stewart in the process.
Sinestro lays it out further, that if John is fearless, he’ll be arrogant, and Hal can use this. If you don’t get the gist, this is what Sinestro did with Hal when he forced a coup on the Guardians, killing one of them. “Is that how you fooled me?” Hal asks, no fool himself. Sinestro thinks John is the same threat he was, but he’s wrong… Right?
Tower Of Terror
John heads to the local gun store to buy a scope, but the store owner won’t sell him a scope without a gun, and wants to know where Hal is; they clearly have no love for the Green Lantern. John, as usual, rolls with it, buying a rifle and a scope, as well as a sandwich, then takes the scope off the rifle and hands it back to him. “Hey! Y’all are blessed,” John says sarcastically.
Later, he’s parked on a water tower outside the Macon estate, watching the comings and goings when Hal lands in front of him, now out of uniform. Hal wants to know if he’s looking for William’s mysterious benefactor, who John has decided is the Manhunter (is he right? I guess?). After a little sparring back and forth between the two, we get a revised timeline: there are now 36 hours until Antaan’s (Paul Ben-Victor) crew rolls into town and blows it up, if Hal and John don’t deliver the Manhunter to them.
John lays out what he’s learned, that there is likely a structure in the middle of the compound, which is hidden from sight and surrounded by four guard towers – which John calls a Weenie. He explains that’s an architectural term created by Walt Disney for a structure that can be seen from all vantage points to draw people in (this is true, by the way), and then jokes about how he wasn’t allowed into Disney Land because he’d “kill the vibe.” Hal is sort of stunned by John making a joke, and it actually helps this partnership enter another level. It’s interesting at a time when we the audience have been led to believe these two are splitting farther apart, that they’re actually figuring out how to work together, instead.
Anyway, back to it, there’s a helicopter landing every day at 9:17 on the Weenie, and they think it may be the Manhunter. Hal wants to loop in Sheriff Kane, and John gives a little “mmm-hmm,” though Hal says he respects the marital bond – unlike John – then offers to fly him over.
“I can either carry you like a baby, or you can hop on and pretend like I’m a horse,” Hal says, when John asks how that’ll work. John decides to drive instead.
Bar None
Heading to a bar owned by Billy Macon, Kerry, John, and Hal go inside, and John lays out everything that’s going on, alongside Hal. It’s a remarkable amount of transparency given they don’t know who the Manhunter actually is, and they can’t use the alien detectors to find out. And Kerry even asks how they know it’s not her, which Hal explains: the Manhunter came with Abin Sur, and there would be no records of them beforehand*. Kerry is from Gotham and had bangs**, so Hal has cleared her for having that paper trail.
*Why couldn’t the Manhunter have killed the real Kerry Kane and taken her identity? Unclear. But for the moment let’s assume this is all true, and Kerry is who she says she is, particularly as we’ve seen her still around in the 2026 timeline.
**From Gotham, has bangs, is a Kane… Is it possible that her name isn’t Kerry, but is actually Kate***? Because Kate Kane, aka Batwoman, famously has bangs; as does her evil twin sister, Alice. This may be taking things a step too far into theorizing, but we know that there’s a story as to why Kerry left Gotham City, she potentially called James Gordon on the phone a few episodes back, and Batman has been active in the DCU for a while now, even if there hasn’t been a movie or TV show as of yet (he appeared briefly on Creature Commandos.) So while my personal hope is that this Green Lantern show is just about Green Lanterns, could we get a “call me Kate, actually,” moment by the end of the season?
***Last thing and then I’ll shut up with the Easter egg theorizing, for those who point out Kate Kane is a Lesbian, have we seen any affection at all from the odd relationship between Billy and Kerry? I’d say no, so even if she’s not secretly Kate Kane, there’s more going on there.
Anywho, Hal thinks that Kerry knows who the Benefactor/Manhunter is, but Kerry says she and her husband (Billy) don’t have that “kind of relationship” and has no idea who it is. Kerry thinks for a moment, and then agrees with the plan: head to the compound and find the Manhunter. It’s either that, or aliens blow up the town. They’ve got one shot, so “do not miss.”
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Back at the motel, Hal says they’ll wait for nightfall. “Better to burn six hours than die in broad daylight,” he says, which is pretty ironic given Hal wrecked John’s shot at the Gray Wolf last episode in broad daylight. John returns to his room, and the lights flash, revealing the Guardian (Laura Linney), whose name is Lianna, by the way. She’s disappointed that their supposed to be loyal to a fault replacement failed to make contact. John withholds the info about the Manhunter and says they’re just cleaning up the alien debris in town, so the Guardian tells him what Hal has been up to: violating his oath to see Sinestro. And she further explains that the next time John gets the ring, if he recites the oath he’ll become Green Lantern.
John is surprised, and concerned they’re going to make him do it himself, to which the Guardian snarkily says, “I am surprised that your father’s weakness runs within you,” She continues even further, laying out all the ways she thought John wasn’t worthy, and then continues to neg him through Hal’s reports that he’s “too weak” and lacks the courage to be Green Lantern. And that really gets John, who digs into Hal, calling him old and explaining how he’ll do the job a million times better than him. “The ring’s always been mine,” John concludes. “That a**holes just been keeping it warm.”
Satisfied, the Guardian tells him to go get the ring. She disappears, and John is left to sit with his anger… And he redirects it. That night he cautions Hal about flying in with a big green fist and smashing everything, and offers another way: they dig in from underground with a massive drill John designed. At first, this seems like a way for John to get the ring from Hal, and he does. But interestingly (as we’ll see shortly) that’s not exactly the goal, it’s to get the impulsive Hal to try things John’s way.
Here’s The Drill
Sure enough, Hal gives John the ring, and you can see him considering whether to say the oath. He does not. Instead, he constructs the drill (which is pretty noisy, I gotta say) and they make a tunnel right under the compound, Hal steering as they talk about how John was a marine sniper that went to art school. Hal tries to engage John in conversation so he can learn to multitask, and in the process reveals Hal’s mom died of cancer. Hal thinks it’s good to have no attachments. And then they talk about Hal’s dad, who wanted people to think he was fearless, though clearly was not. John asks what Hal’s dad was afraid of, but we don’t get to see… Which sure seems to imply we’ll be getting a Hal flashback episode to pair with the John flashback episode.
They arrive, and sneak past the floodlights from the guard towers into the silo at the center of the compound. The door, thankfully, is open, and they work their way inside, and discover it’s full of advanced tech and weapons, but no Manhunter. Hal thinks this confirms the benefactor is the Manhunter (which is a weird leap, but let’s go with it), and then immediately steps on a pressure plate. “It’s a pressure alarm,” John says. “If you’ll move, you’ll set it off.”
To which Hal says “Good movie,” and John answers, “Great movie.”
…Uh, I’m sorry, what movie? Are they referring to the toilet bomb from Lethal Weapon 2? The Hurt Locker? It’s a trope of the genre, but I’m at a loss on this one (feel free to yell at me for not getting an obvious reference in the comments below).
Hal says he weighs 185-ish, John makes a weight with the ring, and they switch Hal’s foot for the weight. Unfortunately, Hal “did say ish,” and the alarm goes off, with men with alien guns storming the compound. And those guns release some sort of dark cloud energy, specifically designed to take out Green Lanterns.
Side-note: this doesn’t seem directly analogous to anything from the DC Comics that I can recall, but there are characters like the hero Obsidian who can channel dark powers from the “Shadowlands.” There are also various Green Lantern villains that are dark-adjacent. The Darkstars are created to be more extreme Green Lanterns, though they don’t have dark powers. There’s also the villain Black Hand who can control Green Lantern energy, and later forms a Black Lanterns Corps full of reanimated dead characters. But again, none of these look the way these black cloud guns do, so could be anything.
The Naked Truth
They’re captured, and brought in to see Will Macon, who has removed the ring and looks at it, interested. Instead of asking about the ring, Will says his wife told him that John is an artist, then asks John to draw him… In the nude, as he removes his robe. John is unphased, while Hal thinks it’s weird, and Zoe brings in some drawing material and charcoal. Will puts on some classical music, then poses. John is taking it all in stride, asking Will to find a comfortable spot, while Will asks Zoe to stay. “Okay,” she says, taking a seat in the cuck chair.
Hal offers up that John can draw from memory. “Is that right?” Will says. “Then you can probably draw my wife.” Hal wants to talk about the elephant in the room (not that elephant), which is that they have guns designed to take down Green Lanterns. Will says that he’s ready for any kind of invasion that could cause problems for his boss… Who cured Will’s cancer. Zoe was Will’s nurse, kept Will alive, “then he came, worked his magic and… Viola,” he says, patting his ripped body. Dillahunt is 61 years old, by the way. More like DILF-a-Hunk, am I right? I am.
Will continues that crops began growing, kids started thriving, and nobody got sick once the benefactor arrived. “He takes care of us, in exchange for our protection,” Will says, asking Hal one more time to leave. Hal refuses, and asks him to skip the bluff: if they kill Hal, the whole Corps will show up. So what about killing John? “He’s not a Lantern,” Will says.
But before he can threaten further, Kerry shows up, asking him to “please put your d**k away.” Kerry takes the duo into custody, grabbing the ring, while John hands the finished drawing to Will.
In the back of the police car, Kerry brings them back to the motel and reveals that Zoe called her. And she tells them she broke into her husband’s files. Until she figures out who the benefactor is, they need to stay inside and lock the doors. She lets them go after they agree, and Kerry gives Hal his ring back, and a gun to John. “Hey Junior,” Hal says. “We found Macon’s Weenie.”
Kerry is right: Hal doesn’t ever shut up.
Macon Bacon
That night, John calls his mother and tells her about what the Guardians said. She tells John not to fall for that “charming motherf**ker” Hal, and not to lose focus, when a car pulls up. John brandishes his gun, but it’s Zoe. She came on her own, and then she came with a little help if you know what I mean, wink wink. I mean she and John have sex again, this time knowing exactly what’s at stake.
Afterwards, they’re laying in the bed and chatting. She says it has to be the last time as his choices are “pretty much leave town or get killed.” He’s going to stay, because he thinks everyone is lying to him. Why does he think that? Because he’s lying to everyone, and part of that at least is John lying about not feeling fear, I’d venture. Is Zoe lying to him? John sure thinks so, and it looks like she’s about to say something.
“When I tell you what I know, everything changes,” she says. “I can’t yet.”
John thinks it’s about her husband, what she owes him. But “he was dying when I met him, and I saved his life. And now I am trying to save yours.” He won’t leave town, they embrace, and she leaves. But as she drives off in her car, it’s hit by a massive red laser from above, blowing the car sky high – and presumably Zoe with it.
Hal runs out into the parking lot, and John points Hal to where the laser came from, with Hal flying off. He returns shortly with a small drone satellite. Later, a dome of green energy protecting the motel, Kerry arrives, and sees Zoe’s bracelet is still on the bedside table. Not saying anything about that, while John tries to take apart the satellite, Kerry does research, narrowing the suspects for satellite maker down to Atlas, Vermont, and Rutger. If you’re wondering about any Easter eggs, once again: nope.
Atlas is the name of several characters, but the only company named Atlas I know of is Atlas Comics, which eventually became Marvel Comics. Vermont also isn’t really anything, and as for Rutger, Rutger Hauer played Morgan Edge, a villainous businessman, so that could be the reference there? Maybe?
Macon did sign NDAs with all three companies 10 years ago (meaning 2006, aka the last time Hal backed up his consciousness on the ring), and Atlas and Rutger 30 years ago (aka 1986, when Abin Sur and the Manhunter crashed outside Rushville). Kerry, meanwhile, wants to know what to tell her son, Noah, about his grandmother, Zoe, and Hal gently takes her hand, promising to find out who did this.
The satellite, it seems, is registered to Atlas Inc, which is owned by Hector Hammond. Now, there’s an Easter egg – or just a major plot point – as Hammond is one of Green Lantern’s main villains. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane in 1961, he was initially a petty criminal exposed to a meteorite from Gorilla City (see the upcoming The People V. Gorilla Grodd on HBO Max for more on that) which made his brain and head grow to enormous size, while giving him vast intellect and sometimes mind powers. He’s an entrepreneur in DC’s Absolute Universe, and in the 2011 film he was a xenobiologist played by Peter Sarsgaard.
Anyway, as we’re about to find out, he’s none of those things, because he’s not even Hector Hammond. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Slaughterhouse Five
“Hammond” runs high-tech slaughterhouses and didn’t exist before 1986. They find the nearest slaughterhouse, and Hal wants to run off… But John thinks it’s all too easy. Killing Zoe wasn’t just a threat, “it was an invitation,” says John.
As they drive, Hal asks John how he’s doing, which shocks John. “You have never axed me that before,” John says, and interesting to note that we had a whole episode where we were shown John says “ask” not “axe” so why the change now? I’d guess it’s because he’s loosening up, meeting Hal in the middle. Regardless, John says he’s handling it when it comes to Zoe’s death, and Hal tells him that people dying is part of the job. His advice? Avoid real relationships and keep people at a distance, “for their own safety.”
Does Hal talk to the other Lanterns? No, because they’re all aliens, including a “f**king squirrel,” who would be fan-favorite character Ch’p, created by Paul Kupperberg and Don Newton in 1982. Nobody likes Hal, he says, but John does like him; yet “hate having me as a back-up.”
Hal’s got a plan: walk into the trap. And John has a plan, too: give John the ring, since Hammond will expect Hal to have it. Hal dismissively declines, and they enter the weird slaughterhouse, which mostly seems empty except for some people moving like drones, who ignore the duo. Hal and John enter a white room playing muzak straight out of Severance. “Jazz,” Hal says. “That can’t be good.”
…And then a black hole widens out in the room, with a cow coming through. One might notice that the black hole is the same sort of portal the recruiter used with John last episode, so is this generally available tech? Stolen from the Guardians? Or is the Manhunter perhaps also a Guardian? Regardless, the cow enters, the portal disappears, and lasers split the cow into parts while Hal protects him and John with a bubble. Robot arms sort the parts, and two men enter to place the cow parts on a cart.
Finally, they make their way to an office where “Hammond” (Jason Manuel Olazábal) is waiting. He says an address: 3248 Aspen Way, which is John’s parent’s house. He threatens to blow up the house in three minutes unless he enters a code, but Hal is unimpressed. “Dead man’s trigger, don’t act like you invented it,” Hal says.
Hector tells John to call Antaan’s men so he can use the “cow laser” on them. Hector then plays John’s conversation with the Guardian on the laptop. John sighs, Hal looks this has just confirmed every suspicion he had about John, and Hector tells Hal he’s “obsolete.” That’s why he’s talking to John, not Hal.
“What color is Abin Sur?” Hal asks, pulling out the same sort of trick he used in Episode 1 on the alien he was interrogating. Hal thinks that Hector is a decoy, and reveals the info Sinestro told him earlier (that we didn’t hear): the only organ the Manhunters can’t get right is the heart. Once their heart stops, it crystallizes. Hal says he doesn’t care about John’s parents after hearing the recording. “Hero’s journey, it should really only continue after the parents are dead,” Hal says, which freaks out John. Hal starts counting down, and at the last second Hector admits he’s human and puts the code in the laptop.
John closes the laptop and yells at Hector… He’s actually Hector Gutierrez, a former engineering student who was given amazing technology to help his community. So who is the Manhunter?
“Isn’t it obvious?” Hector says. “Will Macon.”
The Manhunter Revealed?
Driving back in silence, John breaks first. He tells Hal that he was going to give the ring back, not say the oath. And when he asked for it again, he just wanted to impress Hal. Hal, meanwhile, tells him it’s all good, that he didn’t do much to earn the ring and John could end up being better. Hal also confesses to breaking his vow and went to see Sinestro, who didn’t just tell him about the crystal heart. He also told Hal that Manhunters are programmed to go into communities and get attached to their weak spots. They find a path to power, and if there’s a threat to it they’ll make the one threatened believe anything they want it to. “Remind you of anyone we know?” Hal says.
John realizes who he’s talking about, and it’s not Will. “Yeah, must be Macon, like Hector said,” John says.
“Yeah,” Hal says, disappointed in the lie.
He drives the car to a halt on the side of the road and tells John to call the alien hit squad to meet them at the cafe, but John says they don’t trust Hal. John calls them anyway and tells them he’s got who they’re looking for. The squad agrees to meet.
“I really did forgive you,” Hal says when John hangs up. “Thought you’d be honest.”
Hal lays out that he was confused why John wasn’t upset when Zoe died, but freaked out about his parents almost getting killed. The reason? Zoe isn’t dead, so how’d she get out of the car alive… Unless she’s a Manhunter.
John didn’t know, he had a feeling. And he only didn’t tell Hal because he wasn’t sure.
They begin to fight, John says he’s sorry for calling him old, to which Hal says, “Well, I’m sorry about the rental.” And then he rolls out of the car, which crashes into a telephone pole with John still in the car, no ring to save him this time.
Yikes! Another great cliffhanger, and before we wrap up here, let’s get into some of the central mysteries.
Who Is The Manhunter?
It’s Zoe Macon. Unless there’s another twist or more info to come (we do have another four episodes, after all), it’s been pretty clear for a while that not all is right with Zoe, and this episode would have clinched it even if John and Hal didn’t put it together at the end. So for the moment, let’s call this one “case closed.”
Who Is William Macon’s Benefactor?
Also Zoe, right? They were pretty clear this episode that the Benefactor is the Manhunter, and Zoe even says that she saved William’s life after he said that the Manhunter saved his life. It’s possible that there was a real Zoe, who was a nurse, and the Manhunter replaced her. Or the Manhunter was Zoe all along. We’ll likely find out more, but again, for now I think we can put a close to this one and say the Manhunter, who is Zoe Macon, is Will Macon’s benefactor.
Who Killed Hal Jordan?
You could certainly add Zoe to the list this episode, but I don’t think we get more to go on here other than the Guardians are really fed up with Hal. Would they shoot him in the head? Probably not, but they could have hired someone to do it, I guess. Still, in the absence of other clues I’d still say John Sr. is to blame here.
Lanterns Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Lanterns premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET. Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in Lanterns with premiere dates.
- Sunday, August 16, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 1, “Pilot”
- Sunday, August 23, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 2, “Trust Fall”
- Sunday, August 30, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 3, “OutKast”
- Sunday, September 6, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 4, “The Weenie”
- Sunday, September 13, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 5
- Sunday, September 20, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 6
- Sunday, September 27, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 7
- Sunday, October 4, 2026: Lanterns, Episode 8 *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Lanterns
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I’m 99% sure the pressure alarm references was a reference to Mission Impossible, the first reboot movie with Tom Cruise. Different scenario, but that’s why he was going into that room w/ the wires from the ceiling.
Raiders of the Lost Ark reference maybe? Most famous pressure plate I can think of.
“Set it off” the movie starring Queen Latifa, Jada Pinkett, Vivica A Fox
How could you not know it was Set it Off
I’ll turn in my gun and my badge.