Lanterns - Episode 5, "Lights Out" - Review & Recap
⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️
What the hell did I just watch?
Seriously. Lanterns Episode 5, “Lights Out,” just threw a grenade into everything the series has been building and then stood back to admire the explosion. And I absolutely loved it.
We are only five episodes into this season, yet “Lights Out” feels like the kind of episode most shows would save for their finale. Alliances crumble, secrets come spilling out, people die, people stop being dead, and the war brewing beneath Rushville, Nebraska, finally erupts into the open.
And somehow, we still have three episodes left!
The insanity begins with John Stewart, who appears to meet a shockingly brutal end after the wrecked car Hal left him in catches fire and explodes. Zoe Macon watches the entire thing happen.
John Stewart is dead.
Except, of course, he isn't.
Zoe brings him back, and when John returns, he isn't just alive, he seems better than ever. But resurrection is only one piece of what we learn about Zoe and the bizarre web of influence she's built throughout Rushville.
Sheriff Kerry Kane isn't exactly who we thought she was, either. Or, perhaps more accurately, she didn't become who she is through anything resembling traditional means. She owes Zoe everything.
And she's not alone.
Will Macon has been carrying a similar debt with his wife. She saved his life, and in “Lights Out,” he finally repays what he owes her.
Brutally.
Even Antaan surprised me this week. I expected him to remain on the periphery a little longer, but he's far more willing to act than I anticipated, taking matters into his own hands against the Manhunter.
At this point, forget about simmering tension. War has officially broken out in Rushville.
Every major player starts putting their plan into motion, and the episode becomes an increasingly chaotic collision course.
Hal knows exactly what he's doing. His plan is built on deception, and he accepts that. Meanwhile, John wakes up from his brief stint being dead understandably pissed off and more determined than ever to get the ring.
Zoe, on the other hand, decides it's time to destroy Hal.
She puts him through the wringer, systematically draining his power and trying to finish him off. Which brings me to one of the great mysteries of Lanterns:
How does Hal Jordan continually allow his charge to get this low? My wife and kids do the exact same thing with their phones. Apparently, if they ever receive Green Lantern rings, Earth is completely screwed. 5% is not a charge! Plug it in way before the battery gets that low!
Anywho, John eventually catches up with Hal, and whatever restraint existed between these two men is officially gone. John proceeds to beat the absolute shit out of him.
But Zoe isn't finished.
Her machinations culminate with a satellite laser blasting the hotel room where Hal and John are fighting. Hal uses what remains of the ring's power to save both of them, but the explosion knocks them unconscious.
John wakes up first and leaves.
Zoe arrives to finish the job on Hal.
With him barely clinging to life, she taunts him. John won. And, more importantly, John left Hal behind to die.
Except Hal knows John better than she does.
If there's one thing Hal knows about John Stewart, it's that John always has a plan.
And then we see it.
John has Zoe in the scope of a rifle.
She turns.
She realizes what has happened.
And John pulls the trigger.
Zoe Macon is dead.
But the tear running down John's face tells us everything we need to know. This wasn't revenge. This wasn't triumph. This wasn't what John wanted.
It was something he believed he had to do.
Then he does something even more horrifying: John rips out Zoe's heart looking for the proof he's been chasing. In his hands, it transforms into something resembling crystal.
There it is.
The proof.
Zoe is the Manhunter. My only question though. Is she really the only one?
Back to John. He isn't finished.
He turns his attention back to the barely conscious Hal and finally takes the Green Lantern ring. He grabs the lantern and heads off to meet Lianna.
After everything John Stewart has endured, he finally has what he's wanted.
The ring.
His destiny.
His chance to become Green Lantern.
Except he doesn't say the oath.
I thought he would have have said it the second the ring slid on his finger. I would have. But he didn't
At first, I couldn't understand why. We've spent five episodes watching John chase this moment. Becoming a Green Lantern isn't simply something he wants, it feels like something he's believed he was meant to do.
Then he explains himself to Lianna, and suddenly John's entire journey clicks into place.
John has wanted to become Green Lantern his entire life. But actually putting on Hal's ring changed him. He saw what Hal had become. He saw what serving the Corps required. And after experiencing that power firsthand, John realized something far more important than whether he was worthy of the ring:
He doesn't want it.
John doesn't agree with the Corps, or more specifically the Guardians. He doesn't agree with the mission or the methods it uses to accomplish it. He's spent his life dreaming about joining this organization, only to finally reach the finish line and realize he doesn't believe in what it stands for.
So he does the one thing I absolutely wasn't expecting.
He leaves the ring and lantern sitting on the table.
And walks away.
That might be my favorite John Stewart moment of the series so far.
There's something incredibly satisfying about watching a character spend his entire life pursuing something only to discover that obtaining it isn't the same thing as believing in it. John finally gets the opportunity he's always wanted and decides his principles matter more.
But it does leave one lasting question. When the first episode left us on a cliffhanger, John looked at Hal's finger for a ring. Now I have to ask, why?
“Lights Out” is easily one of the strongest episodes of Lanterns yet. Everything the show has patiently established suddenly pays off at once. The mystery, the relationships, Hal and John's increasingly complicated dynamic, Zoe's manipulation, the Manhunter investigation and John's obsession with the ring all crash together in spectacular fashion.
And the craziest part?
There are still three episodes left.
After “Lights Out,” I have absolutely no idea where Lanterns is going next.
And that's exactly where I want to be.
Check out the trailer for Lanterns:
