LANTERNS Episode 4 Reveals the Manhunter and Puts Hal Jordan on a Dark Path

Lanterns Episode 4, “The Weenie,” brings the HBO series to its halfway point, and the mystery surrounding the Manhunter finally starts coming into focus.

We get the answer to one of the season’s biggest questions, Hal Jordan and John Stewart’s relationship gets increasingly complicated, and a major Green Lantern villain makes his DCU debut in a way that feels like a missed opportunity.

I’ve been having a great time with Lanterns. The series has been telling a smart, strong story that trusts its characters and mystery, and I’m fully invested in seeing where this thing goes. Four episodes in, I’m enjoying the journey and can’t wait to see how everything comes together.

The episode picks up with Hal Jordan meeting Sinestro, though their conversation doesn’t go much further than what we’ve already seen teased in the trailers. Hal admits that he knows John Stewart is there to replace him, and Sinestro gives his former student some useful information about the Manhunters.

When a Manhunter dies, its heart crystallizes. That little detail could become extremely important, particularly for John as he tries to determine whether the Hal we see in the 2026 timeline is actually Hal.

Sinestro also suggests that Hal can protect his Green Lantern ring by disgracing John and proving he isn’t worthy of replacing him. Hal doesn’t exactly reject the idea, which makes everything that happens later more troubling.

Following another yellow-tinted title card, the story returns to Earth, where John Stewart meets with the Guardian Lianna. She isn’t impressed with his performance and tells him that the next time he puts on the ring, he needs to recite the Green Lantern oath. Once he does, the ring will officially become his.

John clearly doesn’t feel right about taking it that way, and he ultimately chooses not to while he and Hal investigate Will Macon’s compound. The Green Lantern constructs for this episode includes mining equipment, a weight, and a shield, so the show is continuing to have a little fun with the ring.

Their investigation takes a bizarre turn when an advanced weapon traps Hal and John in darkness. They’re captured and taken to Macon, who proceeds to make John sketch him while he poses completely nude. Because apparently this investigation wasn’t weird enough already.

Sheriff Kerry eventually arrives and gets the Lanterns back to their motel. Zoe later visits John, and the two sleep together.

Things get much uglier when Macon’s wife leaves and a satellite fires an energy beam at Zoe’s car, destroying it and killing her. Hal and John, with Kerry’s help, trace the satellite back to Atlas Inc., a company owned by Hector Hammond.

For Green Lantern fans, that name is a big deal. Hammond is one of Hal Jordan’s major enemies in DC Comics, and Lanterns initially makes it look like the series has just revealed its primary villain.

He operates out of a slaughterhouse and uses advanced alien technology, including the same kind of teleportation tech used by the Guardians, to kill cattle.

Hammond even claims that he’s the Manhunter. Except he isn’t Hector Hammond at all. The man is actually Hector Gutierrez, a former engineering student who was given the alien technology by the being he believes is secretly posing as Will Macon.

It’s a fun misdirect for a few minutes, but using the Hector Hammond name for a fake identity feels like a waste of such an important Green Lantern villain. There was a lot more that could have been done with Hammond in the DCU, so hopefully this isn’t the franchise’s only use of the character.

Gutierrez does manage to drop some damaging information before everything falls apart. He tells Hal that John has been communicating with the Guardians about replacing him.

Instead of immediately exploding at each other, Hal and John have a surprisingly civil conversation about it. John then contacts the alien hit squad and arranges a meeting, but we soon learn the two Lanterns have already put together another crucial piece of the puzzle.

Zoe is alive. More importantly, Zoe is the Manhunter. The clues were sitting right in front of us. John showed little grief when Zoe supposedly died, yet he becomes genuinely distressed when his parents are threatened.

Zoe is also the mysterious Benefactor, and the reason the hospital is empty is because her Manhunter technology has been keeping the people in town healthy.

Then Hal makes a move that could change his relationship with John permanently. He jumps out of their moving car and leaves John behind to crash without a Green Lantern ring to protect him.

It certainly looks like Hal has taken Sinestro’s advice and decided to eliminate his potential replacement, but with Lanterns, I’m not ready to accept everything at face value. There are still four episodes remaining, and the series has already shown that it likes playing with our assumptions.

Lianna also deserves some suspicion. Could she be another Manhunter who wants Hal removed so that John becomes easier to control? Her behavior toward John and her insistence that he claim Hal’s ring make her motives increasingly questionable.

Then there are those yellow title cards. They could represent Hal’s growing fear over losing his place in the Green Lantern Corps, or they might be pointing toward something much bigger.

If Lanterns is slowly moving Hal toward becoming Parallax, we could be watching the beginning of a major transformation for the character.

Whatever the answer is, Lanterns has me hooked. The series has balanced its detective story, cosmic mythology, character drama, and increasingly strange sci-fi elements remarkably well so far.

I’m especially enjoying the complicated relationship between Hal and John, where neither character completely knows whether he can trust the other.

There are plenty of questions left heading into the back half of the season, particularly regarding Zoe, Lianna, Sinestro, and what’s really happening with Hal. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story comes to an end, but I’m definitely enjoying the ride getting there.

Four episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max.