Okay, episode 4 of Lanterns… now we're getting somewhere interesting. After three episodes of slowly building this mystery around Hal Jordan, John Stewart and the Manhunter, Episode 4 finally decides to give us some answers
Episode 4, “The Weenie,” is basically where the detective story, the Green Lantern mythology and the relationship between Hal and John finally start crashing into each other. Hal and John are still investigating the Manhunter, but at this point, they don't exactly trust each other either and at this point I don’t know if the show is about Hal or John primarily.
One of pinpoint thing about this episode is the way Hal and John are slowly becoming a team while simultaneously trying to undermine each other, at least at the beginning and middle of the episode 😂 John is being pressured by Guardian Lianna to take Hal's ring, while Hal is getting information from Sinestro that makes him question whether John can actually be trusted. So you've got two Green Lanterns working together while both of them are secretly wondering whether the other guy needs to go and speaking of Sinestro… FINALLY.
Then we get to the biggest reveal of the episode, Zoe, I genuinely didn't expect the Manhunter reveal to go in that direction. I had to rewind the episode and watch it again and again. The show spends so much time pointing us toward other suspects, especially Macon and the mysterious figure behind him, only to reveal that Zoe is actually the Manhunter and what makes it even more interesting is that Zoe doesn't feel like a traditional villain. Her relationship with John suddenly takes on an entirely different meaning because we're forced to reconsider everything we've seen from her.
That's what I like about the show. It isn't rushing to give us massive Green Lantern battles every twenty minutes. It's a slow build up and I appreciate that. But I will say this Hal is becoming increasingly difficult to understand. 😂 The man has information, keeps secrets, manipulates John and then, by the end of the episode, literally leaves him in a terrible situation. Whatever Hal thinks he's doing, this partnership is getting dangerously close to falling apart.
John? I'm starting to like him more and more. Aaron Pierre is doing a great job because John doesn't feel like some perfect superhero, even though he has been raised to be such. He's stubborn, intelligent, emotionally guarded and clearly carrying a lot beneath the surface that he hides really well Episode 3 gave us his backstory, and Episode 4 actually starts showing us how that history affects the way he handles Hal and the Lantern Corps.
The biggest problem I have with the episode is that Lanterns still feels like it's moving slower than it needs to. I know I said I appreciate the slow build up but still. At some point, the mystery needs to start becoming bigger than just “Who is the Manhunter?” Thankfully, Episode 4 finally feels like we're getting there.
For the ending, Yeah, that relationship between Hal and John is officially a mess.
Images Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32752610/mediaindex/?ref_=mv?ref_=mv_sm
Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
