Lanterns - Episode 7, "The Jordan Boys' Legacy" - Review & Recap
⚠️ Spoiler Alert: This review may contains spoilers. ⚠️
Oh, NOW I understand this version of Hal Jordan.
After spending most of this season digging into John Stewart, his childhood, his family, his anger, his ambitions and ultimately his complicated relationship with the Green Lantern Corps, Episode 7, “The Jordan Boys’ Legacy,” finally turns its attention toward Hal.
And I loved it.
This episode doesn't excuse everything Hal has done. Instead, it helps us understand why he became the man we've been watching all season. It's incredibly insightful, surprisingly emotional and exactly the kind of character development Hal needed heading into the finale.
We begin with a young Hal Jordan and his father, Martin Jordan, played by Jake B. Miller.
Martin initially seems like a pretty damn good role model. When an authority figure in the form of a little league baseball coach comes down on his son for not letting him substitute him from the game. Hal argues he was on the verge of a no-hitter and refused to have a reliever finish the game for him. He literally won't let go of the ball. The coach argues his point, standing firm on the fact he's the coach and what he says, goes. Martin reiterated the facts, stares at the coach, and stands up for his son and what he believes is right. The scene comes to blows, which seems to be a Jordan trope.
I'm not saying violence is the answer. I'm just saying growing up in the '70s was a different experience. Parent/coach confrontations apparently went a little differently back then. But it's what Martin teaches Hal afterward that really matters.
Hal is still angry. He's holding onto a baseball and, more importantly, everything that baseball represents. Martin tells his son he has to let it go. And Hal does. He throws the ball.
It's a simple moment, but it becomes a fantastic metaphor for something Hal will struggle with for the rest of his life. He needs to learn to let go of the emotions he keeps bottled up inside.
What we eventually discover is that Martin isn't particularly good at following his own advice.
This is also where we learn about a strange tradition among the Jordan men. When they die, they leave behind a key intended to help explain the circumstances surrounding their death.
Sound familiar?
Suddenly, the key Hal left behind takes on considerably more meaning.
But the most important revelation comes when we learn how much Martin himself was suffering internally. He's teaching his son to release his anger while simultaneously hiding his own pain. And that pain finally gets to be too much. Hal loses his father to a test pilot incident. Hal knows better after using the key.
Watching young Hal experience Martin's death gives us a tremendous amount of insight into the adult Hal Jordan we've been watching. The arrogance. The bravado. The emotional walls. The inability to let people get too close. It doesn't excuse everything Hal has done. But damn, does it make him easier to understand.
From there, we return to one of the strangest images from last week's episode, John Stewart and hologram Hal Jordan standing over the grave containing the very dead body of Hal Jordan. Comic books are weird and glorious.
The relationship between John and hologram Hal becomes a constant negotiation, with both sides having a tremendous amount of leverage over the other. John needs Hal's voice to open the mysterious vault, so he must pander to Hal as best he can. Hal knows this and haunts John, probably for his own sick sense of fun. But John learns that since Hal is just a hologram conjured by the ring and powered by his imagination, if he concentrates on something else, Hal will just disappear. It definitely adds humor to the episode.
Hal does want something in return for opening the vault.
He wants to meet Sheriff Kerry Kane.
There's something genuinely touching about Hal becoming fascinated with the idea that someone actually loved the real Hal Jordan. Not Green Lantern. Not the hero. Not the legend. Him.
Meanwhile, John has another problem.
Maggie is still blackmailing him, and John isn't having much luck getting the money from his brothers. She corners him during Kerry's son Noah's college reveal and increases the pressure, threatening to tell Kerry that John met with Hal shortly before his death, and conveniently failed to mention punching him in the face.
John doesn't have the money. So Maggie takes his expensive watch as a down payment. Classy.
Speaking of the college reveal… We need to talk about this bullshit for a minute.
The entire town of Rushville has gathered at the local high school to watch Noah Macon announce where he's going to continue his quarterback career.
First of all, I'm already not a fan of these college reveals. They're stupid.
But then we see the hats.
Nebraska.
Navy (mad respect, thank you for your service).
Some indistinguishable maroon hat (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, or even Arkansas perhaps).
And…
❌-ichigan?!?!?!?!?!
Why in God's name would anyone voluntarily choose ❌-ichigan to play football?!?!
My only explanation is that Noah is considering some fine institutions, with the exception of TTUN. He was forced to include this school because some set designer has a sick sense of humor. That's the only scenario I'm willing to accept.
Lest us know forget the classic song that everyone loves, "We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan!" Yes, it's glorious being from Ohio!
Anyway…
Back to Lanterns.
Noah ultimately postpones his decision until after the big state game, which means this entire spectacle was apparently for nothing, much like ❌-ichigan (okay, okay, that was the last one).
More importantly though, Hal finally gets his meeting with Kerry. Understandably, she's devastated. Imagine mourning the person you loved only to suddenly find yourself standing in front of a holographic version of them who can interact with you.
For Hal, though, the meeting gives him something he desperately needed. An answer. Someone really did love Hal Jordan for Hal Jordan.
John has now fulfilled his side of their bargain, which means Hal agrees to help open the vault. The plan is for everyone to meet at the shed after Noah's party. Except Hal doesn't trust Kerry.
In fact, Hal begins to suspect she might have killed him, or, at the very least, knows far more than she's admitting. He convinces John they should open the vault without her.
Inside, they find a backpack containing emergency supplies. Food. Water. A gun. You know, all the normal things you'd expect.
Oh, and a portal to another planet.
That part almost becomes cartoonish. It reminded me of Bugs Bunny dragging around one of those portable black holes and dropping it wherever he needed his latest nemesis to disappear. I guess this is Warner Bros. synergy.
John and Hal go through.
They arrive on a planet Hal doesn't recognize. But John does but he can't pinpoint why.
Eventually, John realizes he's seen this place before. It's the planet from Antaan's memories, the images he forced John to experience. And this place is dead. Completely dead.
The only apparent sign of anything resembling activity comes from a massive spire in the distance, so naturally John and Hal start heading toward it. Their journey eventually takes them onto a boat, where things get seriously disturbing.
John begins hallucinating. He sees his father screaming at him, forcing him to relive the horrifying childhood moment where John had to shoot the apple off his father's head. John begins slipping away, literally hallucinating he's drowning in the water surrounding the boat.
This time, it's Hal who saves him. He pulls John back to reality.
And suddenly they understand what happened to this planet.
The population experienced the same kind of hallucinations John just endured. Each person's experience was different, but the result was essentially the same. People turned on themselves. They turned on each other. And eventually, an entire world destroyed itself. That revelation makes the journey toward the spire considerably more terrifying.
But John and Hal keep going.
Finally, they reach it.
They enter.
And lying there on the floor, wrapped in a tattered cloak, is someone we absolutely were not prepared to see.
SINESTRO. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! We have ONE EPISODE LEFT and this is where you're leaving us?!
“The Jordan Boys’ Legacy” is another fantastic chapter in a season that continues to surprise me. It's not as explosively entertaining as “Lights Out,” but it doesn't need to be. Instead, it gives Hal Jordan some desperately needed depth while simultaneously pushing the mystery into completely unexpected territory. More importantly, understanding Martin Jordan helps us understand Hal. The father who tells his son to let go while secretly being unable to let go himself. The son who grows up carrying those same emotional scars. The key passed down through generations. And now Hal, even after death, is still trying to explain himself.
It's great character work wrapped inside an increasingly bizarre cosmic mystery.
And now Sinestro is here.
SINESTRO.
With one episode remaining.
I have absolutely no idea how Lanterns is going to wrap all of this up in one finale.
But after seven episodes, I'm completely along for the ride.
Bring on the finale.
Oh, and one last thing… I lied.
SCREW TTUN!!!!!!!!
Check out the trailer for Lanterns:
