Warning: This review contains full spoilers for Lanterns Season 1, Episode 5!

Lanterns is clearly a show intended to downplay some of the more ostentatious trappings of the source material, both for practical, budgetary reasons and out of a desire to tell a very specific kind of sci-fi detective story. This is not a series where Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart are pulling out their rings and going hogwild with the energy constructs every few minutes. At most, you have to assume the people in charge are saving those flashier, more expensive scenes for a very specific time and place. Well, Episode 5 is that place, and it’s a wild ride.

As Laura Linney’s Lianna describes it, “Lights Out” is a real “shitstorm” moment for the series. This is the episode where the 2016 storyline reaches its grand climax and everything goes to hell for Hal and John. There’s plenty of action to go around this week, which should assuage some of the complaints about the series holding back on Green Lantern constructs and general superheroics. Granted, Hal still doesn’t get overly creative with his ring-slinging (it’s mostly shields and generic energy blasts here), but the larger scale of Episode 5 is definitely appreciated.

Lanterns Images

More than the epic shootouts and battle scenes, however, it’s really the tension and character conflicts that fuel “Lights Out.” After weeks of watching Hal and John slowly come to terms with one another, it’s quite a change to see that relationship fall apart and watch as the two characters find themselves on opposite sides of the battle currently tearing Rushville apart. John chose to put his faith in Hal, just as Hal himself decided that John is a pawn worth sacrificing in his bid to remain Green Lantern of Sector 2814.

Addressing that particular elephant in the room, I can easily see this episode sticking in the craw of a great many Hal Jordan fans. Even for those willing to tolerate the notion of Hal being painted as a massive jerk of questionable morals, seeing him outright betray John and leave him for dead, and then orchestrate a massacre for his personal benefit may be a bridge too far. I get it. There’s only one specific storyline from the comics where Hal has this much blood on his hands (1994’s “Emerald Twilight”), and even there, he had the excuse of being driven temporarily insane (not to mention that DC has made a point of absolving Hal of his actions in the decades since).

But I’m still willing to roll with this particular interpretation of Hal Jordan. Clearly, there’s something fundamentally broken inside of this character. The interaction between Hal and the Halogram highlights that fact well (kudos to Chandler for pulling off those scenes so adeptly). This very dated copy of Hal is a nicer and more fundamentally decent version of the man, so what exactly transpired in the years since? How bad was that fallout with Sinestro? Hopefully, these are questions the series will explore in the remaining three episodes of the season. Any excuse to get more of Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro in the mix.

Episode 5 is also great about fleshing out Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) and exploring the hold she has over Rushville. As Kerry (Kelly Macdonald) explains, it’s not that she uses her power and resources to rule over the residents of Rushville; she truly is their benefactor and protector. This episode builds an appreciation for the community Zoe has singlehandedly built around herself and how tragic it is that the Lanterns have come calling and blown her cover. I’m also intrigued by the interaction between Zoe and her grandson, Noah (Cary Christopher). She urges him to “Remember everything I told you,” a line that I’m sure will pay off as the series inevitably returns to the 2026 timeline at long last.

There are a couple of quibbles about Episode 5 worth mentioning. I don’t know how non-comic fans may respond to the reveal that the Manhunters were created by the Guardians, but that got a big “No duh!” response from me. I suppose it’s one of those cases where knowing the source material can make the adaptation a little too predictable. More frustrating is that this episode is pretty abrupt in writing Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor) out of the picture. There are some terrific Antaan-centric scenes early on (particularly his showdown with Garret Dillahunt’s Will Macon), but seeing him cavalierly tossed into the sky to self-destruct seems like a less-than-fitting end to the character. At this point, I guess we can cross out that fan theory about Antaan being Atrocitus. At least, I hope we can. The series already wasted Hector Hammond.

Those complaints aside, “Lights Out” serves as a fitting conclusion to the conflict inside Rushville. And nowhere is that more true than with John himself. After being prodded and manipulated and lied to by everyone around him, John is finally forced to choose who and what he stands for. No longer can he be the soldier who blindly follows orders, be those orders from his abusive parents or his superior officers or the self-serving Guardians. The crucible has forged him, only the final product is not a Green Lantern. John emerges on the other side totally disillusioned with the Green Lantern Corps and the ideals they claim to represent. That would certainly explain why he appears to still not be a Lantern in 2026. When the opportunity finally presented itself, John rejected it.