Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 Review: The Murder Finally Gets Its Episode

This Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 review has to start with the time jump, because “Bad Optics” leaves the Manhunter hunt behind and lands in 2026 with Hal Jordan dead on a football field. The pilot told us this death was coming. Five episodes of Rushville built the pieces, and this is the hour where the show starts cashing that in.

Ten Years Later, Same Mouth

John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) has left the Corps and runs an architecture firm with his brother when his mother, Bernadette, lures him back to Rushville by claiming Hal wants to apologize. Hal (Kyle Chandler) is out of federal prison and hasn’t changed at all. He needles John about turning down the ring, John punches him, and John leaves.

Hours later, Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) calls John back to the football field. Hal has been shot dead. Kerry tells John that Hal came back to Rushville for her, and that the two got together after her marriage to Billy fell apart. That pays off the Macon family web the show built in Episode 2, and it gives Kerry a stake in this murder beyond the badge.

Guy Gardner Takes the Job

Our Episode 5 review ended with Earth’s Green Lantern job empty. Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner is who ended up with it. He’s put a Green Lantern signal up in Rushville, which Hal jokes was lifted from “the bat guy” in Gotham. John lights it and gets jumped by a truckload of locals that includes Billy, and that fight is the one place the episode shows the town’s ten years of bad blood instead of describing it. Kerry locks John up afterward. Guy shows up at the cell and turns down the murder because of “bad optics,” which is where the title comes from. He does agree to bring back Hal’s decommissioned ring and uniform so Hal can be buried in them.

Fillion changes the tempo the second he walks in. Lanterns has been a small-town mystery with cosmic weight leaking in around the edges, and Guy is the first character who makes it feel like it shares a universe with the Superman movie.

The Funeral

The funeral is tiny. John, Kerry and Carol Ferris are the only ones there, and Carol hands John a eulogy Hal wrote himself. John reads it over the grave. It’s the emotional high point of the hour, and Kyle Chandler is dead for most of this episode and still owns it.

The One Complaint

Ten years of bad blood mostly arrives as dialogue. Outside of that fight with the locals, we hear about how much Rushville and John resent Hal instead of watching it play out. A time jump makes that hard to avoid, but it’s the one place the episode would have benefited from showing us more.

John Digs Up the Grave

The ending is the reason to come back next week. John digs up the grave, takes the ring, and uses its last charge to summon Hal’s holographic backup. The Halogram looks down at its own corpse and swears at it. It’s one of the funniest and saddest beats the show has given Chandler.

TL;DR (For The Skippers)

Here’s the short version of this Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 review, for anyone who just wants the beats:

• The episode jumps ten years to 2026, and John’s mother lures him back to Rushville with a story about Hal wanting to apologize
• Hal, out of federal prison, needles John about the ring, and John punches him and leaves
• Sheriff Kane calls John back to the football field, where Hal has been shot dead
• Kerry reveals she and Hal got together after her marriage to Billy fell apart
• John lights Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern signal, gets jumped by locals including Billy, and ends up in a cell
• Guy refuses to investigate because of “bad optics” but agrees to bring back Hal’s ring and uniform for the burial
• After a tiny funeral, John digs up Hal’s grave, takes the ring, and summons the Halogram, which reacts to its own corpse

Why This Lanterns Season 1 Episode 6 Review Lands on Press X

Chandler is dead and still the best thing in the episode, Fillion changes the energy the second he shows up, and the Halogram ending makes next week mandatory. The bad blood arrives mostly as talk, but the eulogy and the fight with the locals do enough to carry it. Two episodes left, one dead Lantern, one Halogram, and a murder nobody has solved.

Verdict: PRESS X