'Lanterns' Episode 2 Recap & Ending Explained: Why Did Hal Meet Sinestro?

In Lanterns episode 1, we learnt that, possibly in 1986, Abin Sur crash-landed in Rushville for an unknown purpose. As Sur was dying, his ring summoned Hal Jordan and he was given the responsibility of being the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. In 1996, Hal Jordan announced to the world that he was the protector of Earth, as well as the sector of the galaxy that the planet existed in, and that hugely inspired John Stewart as a person. While John went on to enroll in the military, Hal went down a dark path which got him to stop uploading his consciousness in 2006. In 2016, John was chosen by one of the Guardians as Hal’s replacement. Two months into the mentorship program, not only did Hal give John a lot of Green Lantern, but he also abandoned him to deal with a civil war on Pharon 4. After returning to Earth, Hal and John headed to Rushville to look into a mass shooting incident. Sheriff Kerry Kane was of the opinion that it was a terrestrial incident, but Hal was convinced that aliens were involved. John managed to nab one of the suspects there, but Hal wasn’t allowed to interrogate him, even after he got himself arrested to get a chance to talk to the “criminal.” Hal was bailed out by William Macon and then he and John were invited to his ranch (William claimed he was the caretaker and he couldn’t say whose ranch it was because of an NDA) to talk about the alien crisis in Rushville. William convinced his daughter-in-law, Kerry, to let Hal interrogate Waylon, the suspect, and that was when it became apparent that he was indeed an alien who had come to Earth to seek vengeance. After that revelation, the narrative jumped forward to 2026, where we saw John returning to Rushville, reuniting with Kerry, and finding out that Hal had died and his ring was gone. What happened next? Let’s find out.

Spoiler Alert

Hal Sends John To Coast City

Lanterns episode 2 opens in 2016 with Hal waking up John for his flying lessons by chucking a bucket of water on him. A very flustered John asks Hal if he has contacted the Guardians regarding the four alleged aliens that were shot to death in the Rushville stadium and the fifth one that almost blew up the entire city. Hal says that he is not going to contact Guardians over this matter and orders John to focus on learning how to fly. Of course, John’s first attempt at flying doesn’t really work but he does create a construct of a bird. This causes the ring’s power to deplete, so Hal takes the ring back. But, surprisingly enough, the bird doesn’t disappear when John takes off the ring. Hal wears the ring and then bangs it on the trunk of the John’s rental to activate the ring’s reserve fuel. Since that won’t last very long, Hal pulls out a plane ticket from his pocket and tells John to go to his house in Coast City and get him his lantern so that he can recharge his ring to full power. John sees that the ticket has already been booked, which means that Hal didn’t believe that John would be able to fly all the way to Coast City. John thinks Hal doesn’t have any confidence in him, but I think Hal is only being realistic and he doesn’t see John learning how to fly so soon. Well, whatever the case may be, John is going to Coast City to get Hal’s lantern, feed Earl (Hal’s pet), and make sure that the bird construct survives the round-trip (because that’ll prove that John’s level of concentration is very high). As per the comics, yes, Coast City is Hal’s home. It was founded in the 1700s; then it was destroyed by Mongul (who tried to turn it into Engine City with the help of Cyborg Superman); it was rebuilt when Jonathan Horne became POTUS; eventually James, Hal’s dad, set up an insurance firm over there; and I guess the rest was history. I don’t know how much of this will be incorporated into the DCU. In James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (which may or may not be a part of the DCU), there was a character called Mongal, who was the daughter of the Mongul. So, yeah, it’s possible that Gunn might just make the events of Mongul’s destruction in Coast City canon.

Hal Gatecrashes A City Hall Meeting

While John leaves for Coast City, Hal goes back to the stadium to re-examine the crime scene. Hal doesn’t find anything odd at the bleachers or the grounds, but when he walks through the metal detectors, it doesn’t make a sound. Hal assumes that that’s because he doesn’t have any metal on his body. So, he takes off the metallic sign from the hood of the rental and walks with it through the metal detector; it still doesn’t make a sound. What’s the purpose of a metal detector which doesn’t detect metal? Armed with this query, he tries to get in touch with Kerry but the call keeps going to voicemail. So, Hal starts looking around for Kerry and notices that the entire city is empty. He takes to the skies (which completely depletes the energy in his ring, thereby essentially making it an ordinary piece of jewelry) and realizes that everyone is in the city hall. Even though he has clearly not been invited, he barges into the building, arrogantly assumes that Kerry (who has the mic) is talking about him, and then takes a seat. Kerry clarifies that she wasn’t actually talking about Hal; she was discussing the matter of Friday’s football game because she doesn’t know if it will be insensitive to play the game or to cancel it. Kerry asks the coach for his opinion, but we don’t get to hear what he says because the focus remains on Hal and Billy’s conversation. Billy informs Hal that the assault charges (from his bar fight) have been dropped, which means that he is free to return to Coast City. That strikes Hal as odd because the case is far from solved. He doesn’t know why Waylon was looking for vengeance, he has no clue why William’s men killed four alleged aliens, and he has no idea what William’s whole deal is. Billy refuses to clarify any of those queries, which irks Hal because, technically speaking, Billy is still his attorney and he is dutybound to answer any questions that his client has. Their bickering on this matter is brought to a stop as Kerry tells Hal to get out of the city hall since he can’t keep quiet. Coincidentally, that’s when Hal gets a call from John, which prompts him to step out of the city hall anyway.

John Gets His Hands On The Lantern

John expresses shock at the enormity of Hal’s house and then asks where the key to it is. Hal points him to the fake stone that serves as the secret key keeper. As John enters the house (which is technically a mansion), Hal walks into the virtually empty medical center. John wonders how much Lanterns get paid; Hal clarifies that they don’t earn much through their superheroic activities and the mansion is a gift that he got from a rich guy whose kid he had saved. Apparently the kid’s dad felt bad that he couldn’t help, and Hal graciously accepted that mansion as a gift so as to not make the kid’s dad feel emasculated. Maybe Hal thinks that this individual isn’t significant enough to be name-dropped or maybe he’s concealing his identity for a reveal later on in the show. Hal claims he has lived in that house for the past eight years but it looks pretty lifeless and not very homely. Anyway, as Hal is saying all this, John slowly makes his way to the closet (which is where the lantern is housed), looking at the photographs of Hal with the Pope, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and the cast of Harry Potter. He gets to the closet and sees all the costumes Hal has and asks him if he should pack any of them along with the lantern. Hal says that that won’t be necessary because he doesn’t like the suit. John then puts the phone on speaker so that Hal can utter the password to open the box that the lantern is in, which is “Mogo doesn’t socialize.” As per the comics, Mogo, (who is also featured in Emerald Knights, 2011), is a Green Lantern in the form of a sentient planet. Hal is right when he says that Mogo is an antisocial being and likes to appear in the form of holograms. Mogo has had run-ins with Lobo (who is played by Jason Momoa in the DCU). Mogo has the ability to form the Green Lantern symbol with the foliage on its surface and it apparently guides the rings when it’s being transferred from one host to another. Going back to the box in which the lantern is housed, it’s not an ordinary box; the inside of the container is actually a pocket dimension; so, John has to feel around the place for a while (he is probably partially guided by his construct bird) before he gets his hands on the lantern. On a parting note, Hal reminds John to feed Earl and then he hangs up.

John Is Abducted By Antaan 

John bags the lantern and then goes to feed Earl, who turns out to be a sentient carnivorous plant. Earl might be alien in nature or this might be a Poison Ivy tease. John hates meat, but feeding bison and beef to Earl does put a smile on his face. As John is exiting Hal’s house, and he bends down to keep the key in that secret stone, he is knocked out and kidnapped by a bunch of dudes. When John regains consciousness, he finds himself in the back of a van that’s on the freeway. John puts up a fight (which is when it becomes apparent that John’s kidnappers have superhuman strength) and he stumbles out of the moving van onto the freeway. He gathers his bearings, as well as the bag which has the lantern in it, and makes a run for it. Although John manages to put some distance between himself and his kidnappers, he gets struck by another van, which knocks him out yet again. When John regains consciousness for the second time in the last 12 hours, he finds himself zip-tied to a chair and surrounded by all these guys. Antaan, the head honcho of this gang, is sitting right in front of him; he apologizes for the violence and then asks him about the construct bird, whose existence is quite confusing because John doesn’t have the ring, yet his construct continues to live. John wonders if it’s the ring that Antaan is after because he is questioning him about the bird. Antaan clarifies that he is after Manhunters and he wants to check how much John knows about that species, given his “proximity” to Hal. Comic book fans obviously know that Manhunters were androids created by the Guardians to maintain peace in the galaxy. However, due to a flaw in their programming, they began perceiving all organic life as a threat to the universe and they committed a massacre in Sector 666, which in turn led to the creation of the Red Lanterns. The Guardians decommissioned the Manhunters and established the Green Lantern Corps. Some of the Manhunters survived the eradication of their kind and promised to take revenge on the Guardians. That said, John has no idea about this conflict because clearly the Guardians and Hal are bad teachers. Antaan says that he wants to make John a part of his cause, which is to identify and kill the Manhunter that’s in Rushville. He says that it’s imperative that they find him as quickly as possible because this Manhunter is on the verge of mounting a retaliation now that he knows that Antaan’s gang and the Lanterns are aware of his presence on Earth. 

Antaan Gives John A Deadline

Antaan gives a brief history lesson about the Manhunters, the Guardians, and the Lanterns. The show adds what I assume is a new ability to the Manhunters’ powerset, which is shapeshifting. Based on my limited knowledge, the OG Manhunters didn’t have this superpower, but Antaan makes it clear that this is a common thing about that synthetic species, thereby allowing them to assimilate into any society without setting off any alarm bells. They are known for creating tech that’s more advanced than the planet they are invading. And, as per Antaan, the Manhunter that destroyed the planet that he and his gang hail from used to be pretty close to him and his people until the day that it was their time to be eviscerated. On that note, Antaan’s men pin John to the ground and use a weird device to make him see the horrors that the Manhunter had inflicted upon Antaan’s planet. John either sees a visual recap of the catastrophic event or he gets the essence of that event imprinted into his mind. If what Antaan is saying is true, he and his gang are the survivors of the Massacre of Sector 666 and they are either Red Lanterns in disguise or they are about to become Red Lanterns. At the same time, given how Antaan and his people are imprinting stuff onto John’s mind, there’s a good chance that he is manipulating John into believing that their cause is just, whereas in reality, Antaan might be using a real genocide to compel John to do his bidding. Anyway, as John is recovering from the effects of this imprinting tech, Antaan tells him that, after the holocaust on his planet, a Lantern was tasked with arresting the Manhunter in question and executing him. However, instead of executing the Manhunter, the Lantern apparently put him in Rushville. Antaan then sent a team to the city, but they were exposed and killed by William. Given how Hal arrived in Rushville right after they were murdered, Antaan believes that he is the Lantern that’s protecting the Manhunter. After the mass shooting incident, Antaan knows that he and his kind can’t enter Rushville. Therefore, he wants John to unmask this Manhunter and give him the punishment that he should have gotten all those years ago. Antaan underscores the fact that since the Manhunter has assumed the form of a human, it can be killed like a human. Antaan doesn’t want to enter Rushville with his gang and blow themselves up, thereby killing innocent human beings. That said, in the next 48 hours, if John fails to identify the Manhunter and contact Antaan via the burner phone that he gives him, then a suicide bombing is exactly what’s going to happen.

Kerry Finds Hal Carrying Corpses In His Car

While talking to John on the phone about his mansion, the costume, the lantern, and Earl, Hal breaks into the morgue in the city’s medical center, steals the corpse of one of the guys who had been shot dead at the stadium, and shoves him into the trunk of the car. Hal returns to the stadium and proceeds to drag the corpse through the metal detector. That’s when it starts making a sound. Hal inspects for the source of that sound and he spots a scanner that looks like a CCTV camera but it emanates a whitish light upon detecting the existence of the corpse. Hal goes back to the medical center and packs the car with all the corpses of the guys who had been killed in the stadium. As Hal is driving around the city, he is stopped in his tracks by Kerry, who is understandably shocked by the contents of the car. That said, Kerry isn’t oblivious to what Hal has discovered: the scanner in the metal detector isn’t a metal detector but an alien detector. That means that those four corpses are not human corpses but alien corpses. It also means that Hal isn’t actually two steps ahead of Kerry; he is actually the one who is catching up to what Kerry knows already. Kerry asks Hal what he intends to do with those corpses, and Hal says that he’s taking them to William. Why? So that he can ask him what prompted him to put up those alien detectors and how exactly he got his hands on those devices. While Kerry has no idea how William might have acquired those alien detectors, she thinks it’s dangerous to question him about his hatred for aliens. Hal refuses to back down and he actually goes so far as to question if Kerry’s allegiance lies with the city or just William. After giving it a bit of thought, Kerry agrees to go with Hal to William, but only if he lets her do the talking.

Hal Is Shot By William’s Sniper

Hal agrees to Kerry’s terms but when they reach the ranch, he starts yapping. Of course, that gets Ben, the security guard, to get hostile with Hal and he refuses to cooperate. As Ben is having a light verbal battle with Hal and Kerry, William shows up and straight-up asks Hal what he is still doing in Rushville. Before Hal can ask William about the aliens, he himself confirms that he knows that the four deceased guys were not humans. That doesn’t surprise Hal because, by now, he has surmised that the shooting at the stadium wasn’t random; it was a targeted attack that was greenlit after William learnt that there were aliens in his city. What Hal wants to know is how someone like William got his hands on the kind of equipment that’s needed to detect aliens and whether or not he is hiding something more in his ranch. William doesn’t deny the fact that his anti-alien measures are to prevent the colonization of Earth by species that aren’t human, and he even insinuates that the technology that he is using has been given to him by the man who funds the property they are all standing on. Hal wonders if this mysterious employer is even real or if William is pretending that he isn’t the owner of the ranch so that nobody holds him accountable for whatever happens on those grounds. William assures Hal that the employer is very real but he refuses to name the man. Hal gets agitated about the nature of this NDA and he essentially threatens to inspect the ranch and find out his tech cache all by himself. William warns Hal that if he tries to do that, the sniper in the guard tower is going to take him down. Hal doesn’t take that threat seriously and he tries to walk further into the ranch. And yeah, the sniper takes him down. In the sniper’s defence, Hal did say that he’d activate his ring and protect himself if he was shot at, but he was just bluffing because the ring had run out of juice. On top of that, he was warned several times that he’ll be taken down if he doesn’t adhere to the law of the land. So, it’s safe to say that Hal did bring this upon himself.

Hal Wakes Up In A Hospital

By the way, I have to bring up the fact that, during Antaan and John’s conversation, the latter mentioned the Manhunters’ penchant for creating tech that was far more advanced than the civilization that they infiltrated. So, is there a possibility that William’s employer or William himself is the Manhunter that’s being hunted? I don’t know and I don’t think Hal knows either. Yes, Antaan believes that Hal is the Lantern that placed the genocidal Manhunter in Rushville, but if that was the case, Hal would have known that William was the Manhunter or that the Manhunter was William’s employer. But Hal seems to be searching for the pieces of the puzzle of the mystery that Rushville is marinating in; or maybe he’s playing coy to get a good idea of everything that has changed since his last visit to Rushville. Anyway, going back to the plot, when Hal regains consciousness, he finds himself in a hospital with Kerry sitting near his bed. Kerry informs Hal that the doctors think that he is alright enough to leave whenever he feels like it. As Hal assesses his physical condition, Kerry asks him about Sinestro because, apparently, Hal was taking his name in his sleep. Hal says that he doesn’t want to talk about Sinestro, but Kerry pulls up some kind of an in-universe encyclopedia about Lantern lore, which lets her know that Sinestro used to be a member of the Green Lantern Corp, he performed some kind of a coup, he killed one of the Guardians, and he was arrested by Hal. Does that prompt Hal to give Kerry some additional information? Nope. As Hal tries to use his left hand, he finds out that Kerry has cuffed her to the bed. Why? Because Kerry wants Hal to understand the harm that he is causing by not listening to her. Kerry wants Rushville to be under her command, but if Hal keeps doing his own thing or if he compels William to decide what’s wrong and what’s right, then she fears that the city is going to descend into anarchy very soon since William isn’t really a very law-abiding individual. 

Kerry Is From Gotham!

Hal apologizes for his insolence and promises to go back to his motel and let Kerry do her job. Kerry uncuffs Hal. Hal asks Kerry why she made a big deal about jurisdiction if she knew about the alien detectors; Kerry essentially says that she didn’t want to add fuel to William’s alien invasion theories and start an insurrection. Now it’s clear though that she was merely delaying the inevitable; an alien invasion is upon them and William is well within his rights to go on the hunt. Kerry wonders why Hal is so adamant about staying in Rushville, and Hal gives the same old answer: there’s something off about the city. Kerry says that that’s precisely why she wants him gone; she feels like everyone is on the edge and Hal’s actions are only exacerbating the situation. Hence, Kerry wants Hal to stay on standby until he’s needed. On that note, Kerry gets Hal discharged. As they are walking out of the hospital, Kerry reveals that she is from Gotham, she moved to Rushville on a whim (I don’t think it’s a whim because Gotham isn’t exactly the most ideal city in the world), got married, and the rest is history. Is Kerry Kane actually Katherine Kane, Bruce Wayne’s cousin? It’s possible. In episode 1, Kerry was heard talking to a reporter and she told that reporter to give her regards to Barb. Barb is probably a nickname for Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon’s daughter. Which means that that reporter could be Vicki Vale. So, yeah, Kerry is probably not some random character who has shifted from Gotham to Rushville; she is an integral part of that city’s history and legacy. Does that mean she has a Batwoman costume lying around somewhere in her house? Why not? When the time comes, we’ll see. Hal asks why the hospital is mostly empty and all the equipment is still under wraps. Kerry says that the population of the city is very small and everyone’s not going around getting shot; hence, the hospital is so barren. But that begs the question: Why is there such a big hospital and such advanced equipment if the population is small and the crime rate is low? I have a theory: it’s The World’s End kind of a situation where most of the city’s population are actually Manhunters or androids created by Manhunters. It’s possible that the Macons are some of the only ones who are humans, which is why they are scared out of their minds that if anything goes wrong, the Manhunters will blame them for giving away their well-kept secret. People aren’t getting sick because most of Rushville’s population isn’t even human, they are robots. How plausible is this theory? Well, at this stage anything is possible; so, I will say that Rushvillians being robots is on the table.

John Reunites With Hal

John returns to Rushville and runs into Zoe at the diner. After some initial hesitation, John decides to join Zoe at her table. They have a little chat about the nature of Zoe’s relationship with William and her personality traits. Zoe apparently knows her place; she is William’s “arm candy.” She enjoys the protection that she gets from William. At the same time, she is aware that he is a deeply problematic individual. So, why does William continue to give Zoe the security that she needs? I don’t know. Zoe insinuates that William is the only one who could have given her what she required, which is why she tolerates William’s White man mannerisms. And since she has the liberty to take a break from William, she uses it to its fullest without the fear of repercussions. She says that despite everything that either of them do, they still love each other. How does that work? I am not entirely sure. Of course the popular theory is that Zoe is the Manhunter and she is the employer that William keeps talking about. But if that’s a popular theory, there’s a good chance that that’s not the case at all. Maybe they are just two, regular, messed-up human beings who enjoy each other’s company; the “love” part is a charade to sell this image that they are the king and queen of Rushville. Before John can dig any further into Zoe and William’s lives, Zoe asks him about John’s personal White man, Hal. John expresses his displeasure at Hal’s decision to send him to Coast City to get his stuff from his closet. John also says that he isn’t entirely sure if he can trust Hal; Zoe says that if John is thinking if he can trust him or not, it’s highly likely that John doesn’t trust Hal at all. On that note, John heads over to the motel; he is actually dropped off by Zoe. Hal tries to pull John’s leg regarding that matter but John immediately shuts him down. John inquires about Hal’s injured hand and Hal gives him the lowdown about his encounter with William. John doesn’t want to know anything more; so, he hands over Hal’s bag and starts heading towards his room.

John Tells Hal All About Antaan

Hal opens the bag and is disgusted to see that John has brought his old costume along with that lantern. John says that he couldn’t let it stay there and collect dust. Hal insults John fan boyish behavior and then proceeds to charge his ring. With that out of the way, Hal announces that he is going to find out who Will actually is, what he is hiding in the ranch, and who is the benefactor. John doesn’t pay that much attention because he is too tired after his altercation with Antaan and his gang, and he just wants to rest up before going on his Manhunter hunt. That’s when he notices that the front part of his rental is missing and there’s alien goo on the seats of the car. This finally gets John to confide in Hal about his interaction with Antaan and his gang. After hearing everything Hal shares his theory that Abin Sur was the one who was tasked with bringing the Manhunter to Earth. Hal said that Earth is considered to be one of the worst planets in existence. So, it’s possible that Sur assumed that that’s the place where the Manhunter’s victims would come looking for him. Well, at least this makes it clear that Hal genuinely doesn’t know anything about what is going on in Rushville and he isn’t the one who is protecting the Manhunter by keeping him in that city. When John tries to learn how Hal intends to find this shapeshifting android, Hal clams up and says that the whole affair is above John’s paygrade. This prompts John to bring up the fact that Antaan and his gang were wowed by his ability to keep the bird construct alive without a ring. Hal reluctantly congratulates John for doing that job but that’s about it. Furious, John walks away from Hal with the intention of getting some rest and solving the case in the next 40 or so hours or die trying. Hal stops John in his tracks once again and asks him about the significance of the bird that he has conjured. It seems like there’s some deep meaning to it, but since Hal isn’t being open about his Manhunter mission, John doesn’t tell him anything about the bird and he slams the door on Hal’s face after destroying the construct bird. I think the bird construct represents the “canary in the coal mine” analogy. Maybe John was his father’s canary in the coal mine; he was supposed to ring the alarm bells when Stewart Sr. took things too far. However, it’s possible that since John had started to think that Stewart Sr.’s jarheaded ways of bringing him and his brothers up was the norm, he didn’t warn his dad, thereby causing Stewart St. to take things too far. Instead of taking accountability for his own actions, John’s dad blamed him and that deep-seated trauma has manifested in the form of that canary. As per the teaser for episode 3, I suppose we’ll get to learn all about John’s traumatic past in next week’s episode. 

In the ending of Lanterns episode 2, Hal dons the suit and flies off to a different planet to meet Sinestro, who is behind bars. He asks Sinestro about Manhunters. Sinestro says something vague about the threat that a Manhunter poses. It seems like he’ll give Hal more details about this species but only after Hal tells him all about John. It’s possible that Sinestro has a good idea about the Manhunters either because Sinestro was instrumental in the decommissioning of the Manhunters or because the Manhunters helped Sinestro during his coup, thereby making it some version of the Sinestro Corps War. That said, what’s interesting about his conversation is that Sinestro knows about John. How’s that possible? I am assuming that Sinestro was imprisoned long before the Guardians started looking for a successor for Hal. So, who is passing this confidential information to Sinestro? The Guardians? Someone from Antaan’s gang? If Antaan and his gang are Red Lanterns, I don’t think that that’s a possibility because the Red Lanterns hate Sinestro. Or is John being Hal’s successor just common knowledge? Whatever the case may be, I think Sinestro is interested in John because he wants to see if Hal has failed John in the same way that he failed Hal. There’s a theory that the Guardians started looking for a replacement when they saw shades of Sinestro (Hal’s mentor) in Hal. But if that’s the case, why would they allow Hal to mentor John? Doesn’t that approach run the risk of Hal passing on Sinestro’s teachings to John? Well, once we see an extended version of this conversation between Hal and Sinestro, we will understand what they are cooking and what lies in John’s future. Those are just my thoughts on episode 2 of Lanterns. If you have any opinions on the same, let me know in the comments section below.

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