Lanterns Episode 6, tittled Bad Optics might be peak of the series because Hal Jordan being dead actually matters, like how much further can this season go unless he is actually alife, although I am still not sure killing him off this early is going to be worth it in the long run, they probably going to do a lot of backstory from here on since he cant tell us by himself anymore. The episode puts almost everything on John shoulders once they find Hal body freezing and I think that is the right call if the series is serious about keeping Hal gone. John cannot just react for a few minutes and move on, Hal was his mentor, his problem, and the guy tied to the whole part of his life he has spent ten years trying to leave behind, just imaging how shocking and probably annoying this must be, after a decade Hal still causing problems to John. Their last conversation makes it worse because there is no peace in it at all, Hal will not give him the apology his mother said he wanted to give, John still blames him for what happened in Rushville, and John ends up punching him before he walks out, to then Hal turn around and asks him not to tell anyone they met but then appear dead, its like it was all a setup. I like that detail a lot because it gives the murder something personal for John and doesnt make things easy for him, he is going to have to do the job to figure out what happen to Hal, its almost like the series repeats the cycle as they were working the Manhunter case. Hal although sounds worried when he tells John not to tell anyone they met, once John finds him dead, that warning sound like Hal was running from someone or fear someone. It also makes it easier to understand why John keeps hiding that they met even though it keeps causing him problems, like getting blackmail by a waitress. The episode is not trying to make his death feel clean or heroic in any way, in fact seem the opposite because everyone in town hated him for what happen with Zoe, he dies with unfinished business everywhere, and that is what makes the suspense and drama work almost perfect for this episode. My concern is simple though, if Hal is really gone for good, the next two episodes have to prove that losing him was worth more than just keeping him around, and consider its a very short time to solve his case.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26545992/
- Platform: HBO MAX
John Stewart Chooses Rushville Again
I also like that John does not suddenly turn into a different person just because Hal is dead. He still has real anger toward him, but he clearly cannot leave the whole thing alone either, its not that easy after everything what went down and after a decade Hal is still a fkn pain, and yes he learn a few things from Hal but their time was too short together to create some real hate between them, at least from John, that contradiction feels right after everything between them. Kerry tells him that Hal had actually tried to make amends after prison and that he moved back to Rushville even though most of the town still hated him for it, which gives John another side of Hal to deal with on top of that ugly last conversation they had at the dining room. He can still think Hal made terrible choices and also start realizing Hal did not just stop caring if you really think about it Hal was not a bad guy its just he was out of control, probably if the Guardians have not put John in his way at this very same moment things would have been different and he probably wouldnt make all this mistakes by been stubborn and selfish, after all it was about taking the credit to taken the last Manhunter down. The investigation gives John something he has clearly been missing too, you can tell how his life away from the ring looks successful on paper, but the moment he shows up at the first meeting with his brother trying to pitch a project to the goverment with the architecture work, but he keeps choosing Rushville over that future the moment Hal dies, its like the ring hunts him back after many years. By the end his brother Marcus is basically telling him he has never really left this place behind in his head and I think that he is right and because John taking responsibility now feels different from John being pushed toward the ring years earlier, this time he decided to stay. Nobody is forcing him to stay and dig into this death, he decides on his own that he needs answers, even when it starts hurting his work and his family situation, and that makes him stronger as the lead character. The series needs that badly right now because Hal is no longer around to carry half of the relationship that gave the first part of the season so much energy.
Maggie's Blackmail Feels Like Filler
Not everything around John works for me though, and the Maggie situation is specially the one I feel is there to just fill the gap, her trying to pressure him for money because she knows he met Hal right before the murder feels small next to everything else going on and at the end what they going to do if she tells? the series wont put John in jail like it happen to Hal. I get why John wants that meeting kept secret, especially after Hal specifically warned him to, but Maggie threatening him does not feel like a real problem when Kerry already knows John has history with Hal and has a reason to be back in Rushville anyway. The episode already put enough pressure on John through the murder itself, the people in town who still hate him, his family calling, and the work deal he keeps putting at risk, so I would rather spend more time on any of that than on Maggie calculating what she thinks John owes her, would be hilarious if John just swing it and decides not to pay her, after anyone in town would be happy to know Hal got killed. On the other hard there is a surprise for most on this episode since Kerry is grieving Hal too, this was slightly going on but fully confirm on this episode how something between them grew over time, but she also has to act like a sheriff in a town where almost nobody seems interested in giving him any sympathy, and their conversations give John useful information without trying to fully solve the murder leaving all that cop job to John. We learn Hal was shot at close range and apparently did not fight back, I do not need the episode to solve the murder yet, I just need every new detail to make John more sure something is wrong.
Guy Gardner Pushes John Back Into the Lantern Mystery
Guy Gardner is probably the smartest addition in this episode because he gives John someone completely different to deal with although he got played by John so easy when he ask for a favor because Guy basically owes John, with the excuse that if John havent quit been a lantern then Guy would have nothing, its true although I woulder who would win on a fight between the two and I guess Guy would win. His arrival while John is sitting in jail could have turned into one long joke, but their back and forth actually gives us useful information, well at least to get this episode going, its the kind of quick cameo that adds just enough to the story, I wonder if we will ever see Guy again on this series, after all besides the Superman movie he has become a recurent character across DC. I notice Guy gets kinda shaken ish when he hears Hal is dead but not in shock, even if he is still acting like Guy the whole time, like an a** hole, and I like that the episode lets him care without changing who he is. John also knows exactly how to push him, Guy does not want any trouble with the Guardians, but John gets under his skin until pushing him around with the classic "you got what you got because of me" , its true because John walk away, so Guy agrees to help get back the ring Hal used. That is funny, but it also matters because that ring is the one thing John needs if he wants to keep following whatever clues Hal left behind. Guy also tells him Sinestro escaped from prison, which makes the timing around the death even harder to ignore because exactly how did he escape? did Hal die because of that too?. I am glad the episode does not stop everything to explain how those pieces connect, because John does not know either and thats more cop work to do. What matters right now is that Hal was worried, Hal left something behind his vault that John cannot open without him, at least not the real Hal. Those facts give John a reason to stop treating this like a local crime and start thinking about the Lantern side of whatever Hal was involved in, and Guy helps push him there while still being entertaining.
Hal Jordan's Funeral Makes the Death Matter
The funeral and the final scene are what make me believe the death of Hal can still work, even though I am not fully sold on it yet, no fucking body show up for him, that was a very very sad funeral to watch. Hal writing his own funeral speech is completely in character for the version of him, at the same time so out of touch because makes him look like the a** hole he was, but the important part is that the jokes in it do not erase how lonely his end actually feels, its like the sad laughing clown. Very few people show up, the town still hates him, considering I think they didn't like him that much before Zoe died and John is the one standing there reading words from a man he had just been fighting with for a very short time, when you think about it this entire situation was so damn toxic, it extended for so many years, almost John entire life and 10 years latter he still back at where everything started. The speech ends with Hal wondering whether he mattered at all, and it kinda make sense at least a bit because the whole episode has John slowly proving that he did in a way or another because behind his death there is something else he was part or working on. John gives him a burial, keeps investigating anyway, gets the old ring back through Guy, and finally digs it up because he needs the version of Hal stored inside it. I like that choice a lot more than the show just bringing Hal back right away and this was for very limited time since there is not much energy on the rign. The ring gives John a way to keep hearing from Hal without pretending the death never happened, and the first reaction from the stored Hal when he sees his own body is a good way to end the episode, almost like what stupid thing you did to get killed?. It also puts John in a strange spot almost like finally he is at the driving seat, he is finally taking control of the investigation, but the person helping him is an older stored version of the man whose death he is trying to understand. That can work for a couple more episodes if the series keeps the focus on John, the thing is that there is not that many episodes left at this point and uses Hal to help rather than take over again. Bad Optics is a very good episode because it makes the death actually matter, even when nobody in town gave a shit about Hal's death, I am just still cautious about whether the series can make it matter enough by the end.
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Rating: 80/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
