‘Lanterns’ Review: Episode 2 Flips the Script to Start Hunting the Manhunter — Spoilers

[Editor’s note: The following review contains spoilers for “Lanterns” Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” including the ending. For a spoiler-free analysis, read our full season review.]

“Yeah, I got it.”

John Stewart’s exasperated adieu to his alien abductors doubles as a meta acknowledgement of Episode 2’s exposition-heavy plotting. Between John’s mysterious pet bird (which definitely doesn’t mean anything) and Hal’s carnivorous pet plant (his name is Earl), the introduction of an aggrieved extraterrestrial race and their explanation of “synthetic” genocidal shapeshifters known as Manhunters, as well as new background on William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) and new mysteries in Rushville (alien detectors? empty hospitals? a sheriff from Gotham?), “Trust Fall” is absolutely packed with information that’s either bizarre, vital, or both.

It’s a lot to parse, and Episode 2 suffers from getting it all across by explaining, re-explaining, and clarifying itself so many times. But it still has its delights: Hal (Kyle Chandler) wears the suit, John (Aaron Pierre) sprints down a busy interstate, and did I mention Earl, the beef-eating cousin of Audrey II? Toss in Hal’s folksy charms (“Your marriage is unsmooth?”) and it’s hard not to be entertained, even with so much chatter.

So what did we learn? Let’s get to it:

The Case

“There’s something on the compound,” Hal says. “Benefactor’s the key. We’re not leaving here until we find out who he is and what they’re hiding.”

The Lanterns‘ new mission statement is technically a continuation of their ongoing investigation, save for one glossed-over fact: They solved the case! There was a shooting at a high school football game, and the Lanterns now know who the victims are (an alien scout team sent to find the Manhunter who “engineered a holocaust” on their home planet), why they were killed (Macon’s men used fancy shmancy alien detectors to identify aliens who were posing as football fans), and who did it (again, it was Macon’s men).

So… case closed? Hooray…? Time to go home?

That’s what the town wants Hal and John to do. Everyone from Macon and his son, Billy (Jason Ritter), to the vocal locals gathered in the town hall and Sheriff Kane (Kelly Macdonald) herself try to convince the Lanterns that Rushville is better off without space cops hovering around.

There’s only one problem: If the Manhunter isn’t found and turned over to those vengeful aliens within 48 hours, said aliens are going to walk into Rushville and blow themselves up — just like their buddy Waylon (Chris Coy) did in the police station last week. It took Hal’s intervention to save everyone then, and it looks like they need him (and John) to save them again, since the residents of Rushville appear as oblivious to an undercover Manhunter as John was before he was involuntarily “stamped.”

So their investigation isn’t over, it’s just evolved. Instead of searching for the shooters, they’re searching for whomever the shooters were protecting. (It’s a manhunt for the Manhunter!) The Lanterns are still working on behalf of the victims (aka the dead aliens), they’re just a wee bit suspicious of those aliens, too, since their bald boss, Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), is willing to wipe out a town of 2,000 people to exact vengeance on the Manhunter.

It’s a classic cop drama entanglement, where the detectives have to find justice (and keep the peace) despite everyone involved giving off bad vibes (or at least suspicious ones). All they can do is get to the truth, and trust it will guide them to the best result.

The Suspects

Garret Dillahunt in ‘Lanterns’Courtesy of John Johnson / HBO Max

That just leaves the million-dollar question: Who is the Manhunter?

Here’s what we know: According to Antaan, the Manhunters came out of nowhere, even predating the Green Lantern corps. They’re synthetic beings that can take the form of any species, which allows them to “embed” in a community without anyone noticing. Of course, that also allows them to tear those communities to bits whenever they see fit. What they call “justice,” others call “genocide,” and Antaan’s home was obliterated by a Manhunter who secretly stayed behind when all the other Manhunters left.

The “scale of [his] tragedy” drew the attention of the Green Lanterns, and one of them took the Manhunter into custody and promised to have it executed. Except, well, that didn’t happen. Antaan isn’t sure why, but Hal puts the pieces together: Abin Sur must have been the Lantern who arrested the Manhunter, before the Manhunter killed him and escaped, causing the crash landing just outside Rushville where a dying Abin Sur gave Hal the ring oh so many years ago.

After years of searching, Antaan’s team determined the Manhunter was in Rushville, and now here we are: Four of the advanced team are already dead, and the rest of the aliens are threatening to blow up Rushville unless John (and Hal) turn over the Manhunter. (Now who’s repeating exposition? Sorry! It’s hard to avoid.)

So… who’s the Manhunter? The most obvious suspect is Macon. He installed the alien detectors at the football game. He shot the aliens when they showed up, looking for a Manhunter. He shot Hal when he showed up, asking questions about the shooting. He’s fortified his home (or, if we believe him, his benefactor’s property) against “colonizers” from outer space, and he’s also a just weird dude — and wouldn’t a synthetic being masquerading as a human man probably come across as a little strange?

That being said, a Manhunter is probably smart enough to avoid hiding in plain sight, so I’m inclined to believe Macon when he says he’s just a steward. He’s not the Manhunter, he’s protecting the Manhunter, which means the Manhunter could be… anyone else, really. Macon’s son, Billy, makes sense. So does his wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). But only one character provided an enigmatic answer when asked about their past this episode, and that’s Sheriff Kane. When Hal asks where she’s from, she reluctantly says she grew up in Gotham before she “moved here on a whim.” When Hal lightly pries for more information, she dismisses him — but I’m sure we’ll be hearing more of that story soon enough.

The Co(r)ps

Kyle Chandler and Jason Ritter in ‘Lanterns’Courtesy of John Johnson / HBO Max

Phew! OK! Enough explaining. Let’s get to what really matters in Episode 2, aka what really matters in “Lanterns” overall: the Green Lanterns themselves.

Setting aside the closing tease (for a second), “Trust Fall” begins and ends with John and Hal in the motel parking lot. Hal tries to give John a flying lesson, but the trainee can’t get off the ground. Instead, he inadvertently manifests a small bird, which accompanies him throughout the episode as he travels back to Coast City to pick up the lantern, feed Earl, and meet up with a few embittered aliens.

Although it’s not initially clear to John, it’s clear to everyone else that the bird is special. Hal clocks it, giving his protégé a long side-eye when the green birdie continues to hover overhead after John removes the ring. Antaan remarks on it, too, explaining that keeping it alive without the ring is proof John can “achieve the impossible.”

But that night, when Hal presses John about the bird’s significance — “You brought it to life with your subconscious. It must mean something pretty deep” — John disintegrates his new pet without a flicker of emotion. “It’s just a bird,” he says.

Sure it is, John. Sure it is.

John showed more emotion a few minutes earlier, when he sat down with Zoe at the local diner to compare notes on each of their “deeply weird” white men. Zoe says she appreciates the security her husband provides and accepts his “strangeness” as a consequence of his privilege. “White men have the privilege of being eccentric,” she says. “White men with money, they can do whatever the fuck they want: play cowboy, build castles.”

Her references seem specific to Macon, the Marlboro Man who lives in a ranch-style fortress. But they still apply to Hal, who lives in a mansion, plays by his own rules, and acts plenty weird. (Remember Earl?) The two men may be opposing forces, but they’re not dissimilar. The key difference is that Zoe trusts Macon, and John doesn’t trust Hal.

But he wants to. At the start of the episode, John throws a fit when he finds out Hal hasn’t reported any of their findings to the Guardians. But at the end of the episode, he still tells Hal about what happened with his abduction. Sure, maybe he’s just respecting the chain of command and reporting what he knows to his direct superior. But he could’ve gone over Hal’s head to the Guardians and he didn’t. He trusted him, one more time.

We’ll see if that backfires after Hal’s visit to see the disgraced ex-Green Lantern, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), who cautions him against John. But for now, our space cops are on the same page: Find the Manhunter, don’t blow up the town.

OK, OK, we got it. Let’s go.

Grade: B-

“Lanterns” releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

“Good Luck or Oh Fuck” (Points of Clarity)

• “Jesus Christ, almighty: Unclench.” Oh, Hal, you have such a way with words.

• Kyle Chandler walking the gridiron, for the second week in a row, still gets me. Clear eyes, full hearts, find the Manhunter.

• Macon’s ranch is named “Study the Past” (which can be seen over the gates when Hal and the Sheriff show up). Macon mentioned he’s “a student of history” last week, when he mentioned protecting his Benefactor’s property from alien colonizers, which he mentioned again this week. Is he just worried about Antaan and his alien buddies, or are there more otherworldly invaders expected in Rushville? In other words, is he using his property to protect the Manhunter, or is he protecting the property from the Manhunter — an invasive entity that existed before the Lanterns? Hmm…

• Hal recites the oath! Hal dons the uniform! Hal flies up into space! “Lanterns” is Lantern-ing, people! (A little bit, at least. I still wouldn’t expect much more on that front.)