Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched the latest episode of Lanterns on HBO or via HBO Max subscription, so be warned!
Welp, Lanterns co-creators Chris Mundy, Tom King and Damon Lindelof have all talked about the DCU series’ fifth episode being the big banger of the season where everything changes, and “Lights Out” did not prove their assertions wrong in the slightest. Following up on Episode 4’s Manhunter reveal for Zoe, it was a huge ordeal in all respects, from big stunts to CGI wizardry to the all-out brawl between John Stewart and Hal Jordan. (Maybe the best hand-to-hand fight yet on the 2026 TV schedule?) And all the deaths! Good lawd, all the deaths!
Not that I cared that much about the plethora of William Macon’s foot soldiers biting the dust alongside Antaan’s army of self-sacrificing aliens. Rather, I was shockingly moved by other characters’ demises in the ep, and deaths weren’t even the only trigger to spark an emotional response.
Will Macon And Antaan's Showdown Was Everything
On paper, it's a scene that might sound ludicrous at best, given all the plotty machinations at play. But Paul Ben-Victor and Garret Dillahunt put on a mini-clinic with Antaan and Macon's first (and final) face-to-face conversation. It actually started a few scenes earlier, when Macon and Zoe shared their final goodbyes over the phone. For all that the militia-minded character has been played as an (occasionally nude) antagonist, him thanking Zoe for giving him all of his extra time on Earth drew more empathy out of me than any Hal scenes have by this point.
Dillahunt's vulnerable performance continued as he readied himself in his office for Antaan's arrival, with his hands shaking in nervousness as he poured himself a tipple and hid his handgun. He never really loses that vibe, either, even through attempts to look confident while trying to convince Antaan that he (and not Zoe) was the Manhunter.
I don't want to just give Dillahunt the props, either. Ben-Victor is a consummate pro in every role, but I can't think of the last time one of his characters inspired a lump in my throat. Here, though, I was genuinely shocked to piece together that Antaan himself had fallen in love with Zoe in another form, to the point where he seemingly wanted to have children with her.
I'm not sure if her inability to concieve is specifically how he learned that she was a Manhunter, but it seemed clear to me from that conversation that Antaan's mission to find Zoe was largely based on him being jjilted, and less about anything she may or may not have done to his home planet's population.
John Turning Down The Ring Broke Me
Having spent so much energy on aggression and vengeful rage earlier in the episode, John didn't seem to have much left in him by the time he got to the bar to touch base with Laura Linney's Lianna. And so instead of entering that conversation with vitriol and anger, he only had fatigue, and was no longer filled with the desire that his entire upbringing and life were build around. Thus, he gave Lianna the ring and lantern back, thus opening the door for Nathan Fillion's Guy Gardner.
As fun as that will be, I don't know if I'll be over Aaron Pierre's stunning performance by the time next week's episode gets here. Everything John went through, from the fight with Hal to getting harrangued by his parents to lethally baiting Zoe, was all technically in service of proving himself worthy of wearing the ring. But it took all of those situations piled up on top of each other, combined with Hal's behavior, to make him realize that it's the ring that isn't worthy of him.
The scene was akin to watching a child stoically give an expensive Christmas present back to their parents in order to save money, and the way Pierre seemed to talk out of the corner of his mouth to avoid breaking into tears was everything. If this scene and episode aren't offered up for Emmy consideration next year, then what are we even doing here?
I'm sure John will come around and will try to get the ring back for himself at some point, although it would explain why he still appeared to be ring-free during the 2026 timeline. But for now, I'm going to wallow in Lanterns' emotional motel pool, which is really just a rained-in pothole in the parking lot.
Lanterns has three episodes left to go, and seems to be done with the 2016 timeline, so join us in watching the rest of the season's constructions every Sunday night on HBO at 9:00 p.m. ET.
