Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched the latest episode of Lanterns on HBO or streaming via HBO Max subscription, so be warned!
After a deep third episode that peeled back more of the curtain on John Stewart’s childhood — along with a brilliant comic book easter egg that seemed important — Lanterns mainly stuck with the 2016 timeline for Episode 4, “The Weenie,” and seemingly answered a huge mystery in revealing the Manhunter threat that John was tasked with identifying. The ep also made it clear that Sinestro’s plan for Hal is working, even if the hero isn’t able to grasp that yet.
Unfortunately, in showing viewers that Poorna Jagannathan is the Manhunter, Lanterns didn’t seem to address or answer any of the other overarching questions tied to the Manhunter situation, the Macon family, and Hal and John’s investigation. So let’s get rhetorical with it.
Is Zoe The Mystery Benefactor, Or Was Macon Telling The Truth About Her Being A "Nurse?"
Earlier in the episode, when Garret Dillahunt’s Will Macon Sr. disrobes for his nude drawing, he notes that his unidentified benefactor is the one who healed his cancer, and is also responsible for the lack of unhealthy residents. Macon also notes that Zoe was the nurse, and that's how they met. To me, he didn't come across as if he was lying, although that could just be me buying into Dillahunt's acting talents.
If Zoe isn't also the benefactor on top of being the Manhunter, then how are the two characters connected? And who's the benefactor?
What Are Lianna's Ulterior Motives?
One theory points to Laura Linney's Guardian Lianna as being the alien who supplied Will Macon Sr.'s compound with all of its keen, Lantern-thwarting weaponry and tech. Which could certainly be the case, even if it doesn't seem to line up with her current goal of convincing John to duplicitously take control of the ring from Hal.
The fact that Lianna has been in regular contact with John and his family makes me very suspicious of her all on its own, since the Guardians are fairly hands-off beings when it comes to situations like this. The fact that she used such manipulative language with him made me think that she could have been the Manhunter, though I don't exactly know how that would work.
Why Hasn't Zoe Taken Out Antaan's Crew Yet?
Hot-headed Antaan is desperate to take out the Manhunter that allegedly destroyed his entire race, which has had some fans theorizing that he'll later be revealed as Red Lantern Atrocoitus. So you'd think with all the tech and whatnot at her disposal, Zoe would have some way of knowing that Antaan and his crew are on Earth. And that if she did, she wouldn't hesitate to use whatever powers she has to take them out.
So are they someone existing outside of her radar, and everyone else's? Is Lianna aware that they're around, and is she helping them at all?
Do Manhunters Get Pleasure Out Of Sex?
Okay so this maybe isn't the most plot-heavy question of the bunch, but I think it's kind of relevant. If the bot-esque Manhunters are capable of creating bodies that feel sexual pleasure and other such physical effects, it would make Zoe seem that much closer to humanity and thus worthy of empathy.
But if she was just faking all that pleasure with John and doesn't actually have the sensory inputs to tap into the deeper joys of touch, then that makes her even less trustworthy. It's clear Zoe uses sex to her advantage, but is any of that gratification legitimate for her? If nothing else, their first tryst allowed John to use the ring as a cigarette lighter, which is a baller move for an up-and-coming superhero.
Who Is Will Macon Jr.'s Biological Mother?
Regardless of whether or not Zoe is a Manhunter, she seems to have been a major boon to the Macon family, not just by keeping Will alive, but by presumably also helping build up the family compound to where it's at in the 2016 timeline. But I think we can all agree that she is not the one who gave birth to Jason Ritter's Will Jr.
Unless I'm mistaken, no. clues or hints regarding WIll Jr.'s mother have been addressed in Season 1 so far. So there's definitely a chance that the character's identity and story are not important to this narrative. But there's also a decent enough chance that the mother plays into Macon's cancer scare, and that she was still in the picture when the benefactor made contact. Perhaps Zoe was even responsible for the woman's death, though that's perhaps assuming too much.
Lanterns still has half a season left during the 2026 TV schedule to answer all of these questions and more. Such as who was that corpse in the series premiere's final sequence, since I have doubts about that actually being the "real" Hal. Find out where it goes next when a new episode hits HBO and HBO Max at 9:00 p.m.
