The following contains spoilers for Lanterns Season 1, Episode 5, “Lights Out” which debuted September 13, 2026, on HBO.
The fifth episode of Lanterns is a quasi-finale, even though there are still three full episodes left in this first season. It wraps up significant portions of the story, from the fate of the last Manhunter to the end of Hal Jordan’s tenure as Green Lantern. More importantly, this episode is meant to be deliberately disappointing and not the big superhero moment fans likely hoped to see.
Insofar as there is a lesson for the two central characters — John Stewart and Hal Jordan — “Lights Out” reaffirms the old adage about absolute power’s relationship to absolute corruption. No one behaves the way they ‘should,’ and there are consequences for the choices contributing to that behavior. As a fan of both characters, this episode disappointed me, which is exactly how the storytellers wanted me to feel. As a critic, I understand why this is currently the highest-rated episode by IMDB users, too.
Hal Jordan Lost His Way And It Cost Him His Identity As Green Lantern
Throughout the series, Hal Jordan’s gut never failed him but unfortunately his arrogance got the better of him. His plan to misdirect the alien hit squad searching for the Manhunter, Zoey Macon, was sound. Yet by sidelining John Stewart, he bungled that operation, leading to dozens of unnecessary deaths. He justified this move as one related to trust, specifically that John hid his suspicions about Zoey. In reality, he wanted to get in the way of the Guardian Lianna’s plan to relieve him of the power ring.
Zoey’s plan to beat Hal involved draining his ring of power by forcing him to save the people of Rushville from her space-laser satellites. In the scenes where Hal is trying to rescue the town, Kyle Chandler perfectly plays Hal’s regret. The clash between him and John at the motel — when he went back to recharge the ring — is telling. Hal was unwilling to give up the ring, but at the same time he seemed to know that his culpability for what unfolded in Rushville meant he deserved to lose it.
Fans of Green Lantern comics surely wanted to see Hal Jordan pull off taking down the Manhunter and doing what a superhero is supposed to do: save lives. And to his credit, he tries desperately to prevent the destruction while still capturing his quarry. Yet, he failed. The knowledge that he stood to lose the ring got in the way of the selflessness that drove him. Disillusioned with the Guardians, the uniform, and the job itself, Hal pretended like he didn’t really care. Yet from his insistence that Lanterns do not kill to his efforts to protect the town (and Zoey from the alien hit squad) shows he did. His gut told him what would happen, but it was his arrogance that let it get so out of hand.
John Stewart Suffered And Was Reborn To Finally Take Agency By Refusing The Green Lantern’s Ring
Obviously, the big moment of the episode was when John confronted Lianna after killing Zoey. He correctly identified Hal’s fall from grace in those final hours, but he also recognized that he spent his life on that same plummet. Killing the Manhunter was “the mission,” and he had a different perspective than Hal. After all, the Alien hit squad showed him what Zoey did to their planet via the sci-fi gizmo they jammed into his head in the second episode.
His interactions with Zoey in “Lights Out” were profound and, arguably, a little confusing. When she let him burn in the crashed rental (a situation he was in because of Hal), he seemingly promised to protect her. All the citizens of Rushville made a similar deal. In fact, the entire town might have been Zoey’s creation. This is why the café was called “Café” and the motel was called “Motel.” It was a fake city created for one purpose: to serve and protect her. Still, John accepted her help healing his wounds, his metaphorical rebirth, and then killed her with a sniper’s bullet.
He was ultimately disgusted with the Guardians, from their cowardice about taking the ring from Hal to their responsibility for the Manhunters. Zoey disappointed him, too. There were many reasons, but the one that sealed her fate seemed to be her admission that she couldn’t help but kill Abin Sur after he spared her life. It’s possible he feared she’d do the same to him despite their connection. One result of his lifetime of training was that John wanted to become the Green Lantern out of a sense of service or duty. Yet his time in Rushville confirmed for him whom he would actually serve as the Green Lantern. And he wanted no part of it.
The Finale Of Lanterns’ 2016 Story Sets Up The 2026 Arc In An Interesting Way
After the events of “Lights Out,” John greeting Kerry Kane with a hug in the Lanterns series premiere seems even more odd. They did not part as friends. While Hal was ultimately the catalyst for the destruction that rained down on Rushville, John killed the person the town existed to protect. It also suggests that it is definitely Hal Jordan’s corpse sitting dead on those bleachers and not an alien in disguise. Lastly, the lines between Antaan and Will Macon about children, and Zoey’s final scene with Noah give us our prime suspect in his death.
Luckily, the big DC canon change in Lanterns with respect to Hal’s consciousness in the ring makes it obvious that Chandler isn’t going anywhere. Once John gets his hands on the ring again (though how Guy Gardner fits into that equation is another interesting mystery), he will partner up with Hal again. Only this time, it will be the idealize heroic version of Hal stored in the ring who was seen in both the premiere and “Lights Out.” John will be ten years older and no longer chasing the singular goal of replacing the flesh-and-blood Hal. This partnership promises to give fans the kind of Stewart/Jordan team the 2016 story never could.
Ultimately, this episode was a powerful climax to the 2016 portion of Lanterns‘ story. It is a bummer of an episode for fans who wanted to get a taste of the kind of friendly partnership some of us know from the comics. As one of them, I hoped that John would quell Hal’s cynicism, and Hal would recognize John as a worthy backup or, even, replacement. Yet, I also recognize why the show didn’t go in that direction, and Lanterns is ultimately better for it. As Zoey told Noah, sometimes bad things have to happen. And what comes next is anyone’s guess.
Rating: 4.6/5
Lanterns debuts new episodes Sundays at 9 PM on HBO and HBO Max.
