Lanterns has finally brought its first season to an end, and while the HBO series certainly tried its best to be the DCU's own True Detective, the finale leaves behind an astonishing number of unanswered questions and baffling creative decisions.
The episode attempts to tie together the mystery surrounding Hal Jordan's death, Noah's true identity, Sinestro's role in the story, and John Stewart's unexpected transformation into an (unofficial) Green Lantern. Unfortunately, several of those answers only create more questions, while some major character decisions simply don't hold up under scrutiny.
From the fate of Hal Jordan to the show's questionable handling of Sinestro and Guy Gardner, here are five WTF moments from the Lanterns finale that make absolutely zero sense...
5. Almost Everything About Noah
As expected, Noah is initially revealed as Hal Jordan's killer. While Sheriff Kerry actually gunned down the hero, we learn that Noah is secretly a Manhunter with ambitions to find fame and fortune as a football player before eventually breaking into politics and presumably using that power to wipe out all life on Earth.
Lanterns reveals that Zoe somehow impregnated Kerry while regrowing her pinky finger and that Noah later travelled into outer space, broke Sinestro out of prison, took him to the barren planet his grandmother destroyed, and forced him to forge a new Power Battery.
None of this makes sense without additional context. How did he acquire the knowledge to find and free Sinestro? What exactly are his powers? Manhunters have been so poorly defined in Lanterns, it's impossible to answer any of these questions. John Stewart's decision to leave Noah alive is similarly baffling, as is his decision to allow Kerry to go free for murdering Hal because he feels it's what he would've wanted.
4. Earth's Unofficial Green Lantern
The expectation had been that, like in the comics, Earth and Sector 2814 would somehow end up with multiple human Green Lanterns. Well, in the DCU, John takes the Sinestro-created Power Battery—infected with fear from the planet Zoe destroyed—and uses it to charge Hal's ring. Reciting his own version of the Oath, he becomes an unofficial Green Lantern.
John makes it clear to a cowed Guy Gardner that Earth is his jurisdiction, and despite never completing his training, blasts off to parts unknown, having mastered flight. Pretty much everything about this goes against the comics, but it's an admittedly ballsy take that does something new with the Green Lantern concept.
Still, it all feels a bit weird and unnecessary, even if it sets up the idea of John mastering willpower and fear, only for the latter emotion to perhaps try and take hold of him as the mystery energy takes form as Parallax. Given how Lanterns Season 1 played out, though, that feels like wishful thinking and too much of an ask for such a grounded series.
3. Sinestro's Fate
So, Noah broke Sinestro out of captivity and forced him to create a Power Battery for a ring he didn't have, all so he could potentially use it to solidify his future as Earth's conqueror. It seems anyone can use a Green Lantern ring if they try hard enough. Beyond the emotional spectrum having little importance in the DCU, it's hard to shake the feeling that anyone working on this show actually understands the source material.
John leaves Sinestro on that barren planet, chained up to either starve to death or to create more Power Batteries and form the Sinestro Corps. Perhaps that's the point, but this is a huge loose end for a series that doesn't have a confirmed Season 2.
Ultimately, Sinestro proved something of a disappointment in Lanterns. While he killed one of the Guardians of the Universe, he's just another old man without an important role to play in the DCU moving forward (so much for him having any kind of plan). It's a shame, and based on how John uses the Power Battery, there's nothing to suggest it being forged with fear will lead to anything remotely meaningful.
2. Hal Jordan's Killer Goes Free
We mentioned this above, but John's decision-making in the Lanterns finale is majorly flawed. Despite knowing the danger Zoe posed to Earth, he allows her Manhunter grandson a chance to cause even greater chaos. Remember, Noah freely admits that there's part of him that wants to get into the Pentagon and unleash all hell on Earth.
Still, John is going to let him do his thing because he's been raised by a woman who killed her lover in cold blood when he suggested they take Noah off Earth to keep both him and everyone else safe. Yes, it was Kerry all along, a pretty lame twist that leads to John letting her go free because Hal would have, uh, wanted it that way.
There's no justice for Hal, no grand last stand, and no sign that he's coming back to life. Yes, Sinestro says he knows of a way, but the door is closed on that as soon as John charges the ring and says his oath. This is the end of the line for Hal, something Lanterns' creative team has now confirmed in multiple interviews. What a waste.
1. Why Hal Went To Prison
To give Lanterns credit where it's due, it finally explains why Hal Jordan spent 10 years behind bars. Apparently, trying to kill Zoe himself instead of calling up the Guardians of the Universe led to him being convicted of "reckless endangerment" in court, a baffling revelation that raises more questions than provides answers.
Love or hate Lanterns, one thing it's now impossible to deny is that the creative team felt the need to tear Hal down to better build John up. Whether it succeeded is up for debate, but the decision to end the series with Hal as a former convict, reviled by most for his actions, is certainly a choice on DC's part, especially when he wasn't infected by fear/Parallax, and won't be making any sort of return.
Another "WTF" moment comes with Guy Gardner's return to Earth. After the series insinuates that he, too, is a closet racist, John basically warns him off Earth, and the hero who stood up to Superman last year retreats like a cowed child. We're not sure what that was meant to do for the Justice Gang member, but it's par for the course in this series.