Lanterns’ latest episode, "Bad Optics," opens in Midway City in 2026. John Stewart has reconciled with his brother, Marcus, and used his skills as an architect to build safe rooms for people. He uses what happened in Metropolis as an example of why people need protections and even refers to a "giant starfish," a nod to Starro in the now-canonical James Gunn DCEU movie, The Suicide Squad.
John gets a call from his mother, who tells him that Hal, no longer in prison, is now back in Rushville and eager to apologise. It turns out she befriended Hal while he was locked up, and a disgruntled John reluctantly goes to meet his former mentor at a cafe. Hal is surprised to see him, and makes it clear he has no intention of saying sorry, given that there’s more than one killer at the table. After accusing John of being scared, the former Marine breaks Hal’s nose and storms out, though the fallen hero asks that John not tell anyone he’s there for some reason.
John is soon called back to Nebraska by Sheriff Kerry, where the scene of them discovering Hal’s body from the premiere plays out (of course, this time, we know that John broke his nose, not the killer). She and Hal struck up a romance, largely because he came back to Rushville and tried to make amends with people by doing jobs for them...despite being hated by the townspeople. Back at Hal’s place, John reunites with Earl, and after the Medical Examiner declares that Hal was shot and killed at close range, John lights Guy Gardner’s Green Lantern signal (it was his way of making amends to the town for what Hal and John did). Billy and his friends aren’t happy, and a scuffle follows that leads to John being locked up in the town jail.
Guy shows up the next morning, and after John makes it clear that the Green Lantern has everything he does now because he turned it down, Guy agrees to go and get Hal’s costume and ring from Oa so he can be buried in it. During their meeting, Guy mentions that someone has broken Sinestro out of prison, which Hal would have been a prime suspect for, had he not been locked up at the time. The mystery of two rings is solved, too, as Guy was given a new one when Hal’s was decommissioned by the Guardians of the Universe. Kerry’s son, Noah, brings John a suit, and Hal’s funeral takes place with only John, Kerry, and Carol Ferris (Hal's main love interest in the comics and the hero known as Star Sapphire isn't given more than a few lines) in attendance. John reads the eulogy Hal wrote for himself over the hero’s grave, and seems genuinely broken up about what’s happened to him.
There are a few other interesting notes from throughout the episode, including John and Kerry finding Hal's pocket dimension (it needs Hal to activate it) and the girl John apologised to at the end of last episode now fully grown and demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in reparations in exchange for keeping her silence about seeing him punch Hal the night he died.
In the closing moments of the episode, John digs up Hal’s grave and takes the ring off his finger. It has 5% charge, which is enough to summon the Halogram. They stand over Hal’s body together, with the 2006 Hal exclaiming, “Goddammit,” as the episode ends.
So, who killed Hal? Is it Noah, who hopes to become President? That certainly seems like something a kid with Manhunter programming might strive for. Could it be the girl in the cafe? Is that even Hal in the coffin, or a Manhunter imposter who tried to win over Rushville by doing favours for people and seducing Kerry? The plot has thickened as we head into the final two episodes.
Six episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max.