Lanterns Episode 5 Review: ‘Lights Out’ Changes Everything for John Stewart
Major spoilers for Lanterns Episode 5, 'Lights Out'
All I can say is wow. “Lights Out” is easily one of the biggest episodes of Lanterns so far, and it finally brings everything that has been building between Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Zoey, and Antaan to a head. This episode gets brutal and emotional, and by the time we reach the end, everything has changed.
We start in 2007, with Kerry speeding into Rushville, a town with a population of only 1,001. Her car breaks down, forcing her to stop at a local diner, where she runs into some Gotham goons who are looking for her. I’m assuming Kerry is basically a snitch by association because of her father, because these guys have been ordered to kill her and bring back her pinky as proof.
Then Zoey shows up. Zoey immediately takes one of the guys down, but things get even crazier when she tells Kerry to cut off her own finger. Those were the instructions given to the goons, so Kerry actually does it. I’m not going to lie, that scene made me a little sick watching it. Kerry is bleeding all over the table while Zoey lets the guys go, but there is a reason behind what she is doing. Zoey wants Kerry’s allegiance when the time comes, and Kerry agrees. Then Zoey grows her a new pinky. That is one hell of a way to introduce us to what Zoey is capable of and just how far she is willing to go to get what she wants.
We then jump back to 2016, where John is still trapped in the car wreck. Hal comes back to the car and tells John that he has to be moved off the board. Hal wants to turn Zoey over to the Guardians, and he tells John that he was never going to replace him. Honestly, I do not blame Hal for this. John has every reason to be angry, but Hal clearly believes he is doing what needs to be done. The relationship between these two has been complicated all season, and “Lights Out” finally pushes all of that tension over the edge.
Meanwhile, the town is preparing for all-out war. Back at the ranch, Billy is arguing with Zoey and Kerry because he wants to help, but they aren't letting him get involved. Zoey then tells her grandson that today is a big day and that a lot of people are about to die, including some people he knows. That is a pretty dark thing to tell a kid, but at this point, it is also very Zoey. She gets a call from her husband saying they have located John. Zoey arrives at his car and stands there as it bursts into
flames. John survives, but he is badly burned.
Hal is on the water tower and activates his sentry program, bringing back that younger Hal hologram we saw in Episode 1. He stops Kerry in the road, and she immediately opens fire on him because Zoey can see them but can't hear them. There is now a kill order out on Hal. Kerry begs Hal to leave if he really wants to save lives, but Hal isn't going anywhere. He can't just walk away while John is being manipulated and this war criminal is running things.
Zoey eventually brings John to the hospital, and he is all crispy. John calls her inhuman, and he knows exactly who she is. Zoey asks why he didn't tell the Guardians, but John doesn't trust them because of how they are handling the whole Hal Jordan replacement situation.
John was also wrong about the Guardians protecting the Manhunter, meaning Antaan had been wrong about some of the information he had been giving him.
Zoey tells John she plans on killing Hal Jordan that day. She can heal and protect John, but her protection comes with a price. She wants John to tell the Guardians that Hal died peacefully while protecting the town from Antaan and his team. John doesn't exactly have a lot of options at this point. Hal eventually shows up to what looks like a massive gunfight. A lot of people at the diner have already been shot dead, and when Hal walks in, the men immediately open fire on him.
It's Antaan and his men. Hal tells them that John has been compromised by the Manhunter and argues that they are actually on the same side. Hal has the intel, while Antaan has the muscle.
Then Hal drops the bombshell: the Manhunter is Macon. He sends them off, or at least hopes they fall for it. Antaan even says that John obviously had sex with Macon because that's the Manhunter's go-to move. Hal responds that they do a lot of things when they've been all around the galaxy and says he doesn't even know what the word “cotis” means.
That whole exchange was hilarious considering how serious everything else was. When the kill order comes through, their temporary deal is sealed. John is put under the machine that will heal him. Zoey drops the Red Lantern blood into the machine and starts the process, and when John comes out, he is good as new.
John tells Zoey that she killed Abin Sur, and she admits that she couldn't help it. It's her nature. That's also why she is drawn to John. She believes he understands her in a way that other people don't.
Then Antaan's men show up at the compound, and all hell breaks loose. Bodies are dropping everywhere. People are getting blown up. It's an absolute massacre. Antaan and Macon finally come face-to-face, with Antaan wearing those meat lasers attached to him. We then find out that Antaan and the Manhunter were together at one point, but that doesn't stop Antaan from cutting Macon's chest open and ripping out his heart.
Meanwhile, Hal is right in the middle of the destruction in town. He flies up to where the lasers are coming down and eventually returns with the satellite, but John is coming in hot. John is ready to take the ring from Hal. He even stops and grabs a rifle from the store while talking to his extremely thirsty parents on the phone. John tells Hal that he is going to rip the ring right off his finger.
Now we've got a fight, and these two are not pulling any punches. Hal tries to choke John out, and John eventually tries to choke Hal out. They beat the hell out of each other while the lasers destroy everything around them. After everything these two have been through together, there is something especially brutal about watching all that resentment finally turn physical.
John eventually leaves Hal there, battered and broken. Then we see the wreckage of the town. Zoey shows up and pulls a gun on Hal, but Hal knows John would have killed him himself because John isn't a coward. Zoey turns around because she realizes John is there waiting with the sniper rifle he grabbed earlier.
John takes the shot. And sheds a tear. That moment hit me. John may have spent most of the episode furious at Hal, but pulling that trigger makes it clear those feelings were never simple. Whatever else happened between them, there was still something there.
John then goes after Zoey's heart. Just like we thought, it crystallizes. He takes the Lantern and the ring, but Hal gives him one final warning: the Guardians replaced him, and eventually they will replace John too. John walks away surrounded by people crying and dead bodies scattered throughout the town. A group of armed men stops him, but Kerry tells them to stand down.
Later, John meets with Lianna at a bar. She looks at everything that happened and basically sums it up perfectly by calling the day a “shit storm.” She asks John what's in the bag, and John tells her, “Your sins and consequences.”
Lianna tells him that even the Guardians make mistakes, but all they can do is correct them. John then tells Lianna that he doesn't want the ring. He feels like neither of them deserves it.
And that's where we leave him. “Lights Out” is a hell of an episode. This is the kind of episode that completely changes the direction of a season. John has gone through hell, Hal and John have finally come to blows, Zoey's plans have exploded, and Rushville has paid the price for everything happening around it.
What really sticks with me is where John is emotionally by the end. He has the ring, he has the power, and after what happened to him, he has every reason to become exactly what everyone is afraid he will become. Instead, he looks at everything that power has cost and decides he doesn't even want it.
That makes Hal's final warning even more interesting. Hal believes the Guardians discarded him when they decided he could be replaced, and John has now seen enough to question whether the people handing out these rings deserve his trust in the first place. The fight may have been between Hal and John, but the bigger problem could be the system both men have been serving.
After everything that happened in “Lights Out,” I have no idea where Lanterns goes from here.
And honestly, I can't wait to find out.
What did you think?
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