Lanterns Episode 4 Explained: Sheriff Carrie's Batwoman Secret and a Shocking Manhunter Twist

Episode 4 of Lanterns finally gives us answers after three episodes of mystery, revealing that Sheriff Carrie may secretly be Batwoman, that Hal Jordan and John Stewart are both quietly trying to manipulate each other, and that the woman Jon has been sleeping with might not be who she seems. The episode also puts Sinestro's advice to devastating use as Hal hunts down the true identity of Rushville's manhunter.

Hal's Chilling Return to Sinestro Opens With a Silence of the Lambs Feel

The episode opens with an extended version of episode 2's cliffhanger, showing Hal going to see Sinestro in prison. "This to me felt very Silence of the Lambs with it being a sort of tete-a-tete back and forth," which was clearly the inspiration for similar scenes in Batman: The Long Halloween. I love how bleak the cell is, with even the doorways completely blurry so the prisoners can see nothing.

The Guardians imprison their captives forever in cells where they do not age, meaning their punishment lasts for an eternity. Sinestro's handcuffs are glowing with yellow light, which could be hinting at him still being able to manifest the power of fear even inside the prison, and this could be how he eventually escapes. It could also be how the Guardians are keeping him contained, with the cell specifically designed to negate his powers using the very fear he generates.

Sinestro Manipulates Hal Into Admitting John Stewart Is His Replacement

Sinestro asks Hal about John Stewart even though the manhunter should be the more pressing issue, showing how Sinestro is focused on making Hal afraid so he can manipulate him. When Hal questions how Sinestro even knows about Jon, Sinestro says it is not hard to believe that such big news as Hal having a trainee would find its way to him, which suggests Sinestro may have spies in Rushville and that members of the Sinestro Corps could already be on Earth, feeding him information.

After asking more about Jon's background, Sinestro makes Hal admit that Jon is not his backup, but his replacement. Sinestro later tells Hal that he knows he will eventually have to kill Jon, but Hal insists he will not because he is not evil like Sinestro, and that if the Guardians want to replace him, they can go ahead, calling Jon too perfect and boring anyway. Playing into a lecture-exchange dynamic reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter only giving information after private conversation, Sinestro then offers intel on manhunter physiology, claiming certain aspects of their bodies cannot be changed when they take new forms.

Sinestro warns that if Hal brings the manhunter to the Guardians himself, it will disgrace Jon, and he plays on Jon's weakness by noting that since Jon only follows orders, he will be easier to control, and his fearlessness will make him arrogant. When Hal asks if that is how Sinestro fooled him, Sinestro replies he was never anything but himself and that Hal simply refused to see it. This builds on Guardian Lyanna's line last week about Hal still having feelings for Sinestro, and it becomes clear that while Hal thinks he is just gathering information, he is being corrupted. Jon is playing the exact same game on Hal, since Hal believes Jon does not speak to the Guardians, which is not true.

Jon's Family Keeps Pushing His Destiny While a Sketch Hints the Woman He's Seeing Is Watching Him

At the motel, Jon gets a call from his father just after we see a sketch of the woman Jon has been seeing alongside some birds, which I think symbolically plays into the idea that she is spying on him. This episode is all about how teachers can sometimes poison their students, and there are several mentors negatively affecting their proteges here, from Sinestro playing on Hal's fear to the Guardians making Jon spy on Hal. Both Hal and Jon are aware that only in death will Jon take his place, so tension runs high even as they start working together.

Jon's father tells him the Guardians need to speak with him, but Jon says he cannot because he and Hal are working the case, which his father calls unacceptable, even calling out to Jon's mother to get her to intervene, showing she is the one really running the show. While Jon is trying to take his destiny into his own hands, his parents are still very much pushing him along this path.

The Gun Store and Water Tower Scenes Show How Differently Jon and Hal Operate

Jon heads into the local gun store to buy a scope, but since everyone in town hates Hal, the shop owner immediately clocks Jon as his sidekick and refuses to sell him just the scope, forcing him to buy the whole rifle. Jon knows exactly what kind of scope he needs, which highlights the difference between the two characters: Jon plans ahead, while Hal literally flies by the seat of his pants, stealing bodies from the morgue and showing up unannounced. Jon simply smiles off the shop owner's hostility and hands over a wad of cash, which raises the question of where he got that much money, possibly a Guardian salary Hal never got.

While panning over Rushville, there is a mural of a rainbow with kids playing that reads "Be kind," which I might be reaching on, but I feel like it represents the emotional color spectrum of the Lanterns, and could be symbolizing that Rushville is about to be caught in the middle of a battle between the Lanterns and the manhunter.

Jon then uses his new scope to watch the compound from the Rushville water tower, spotting a helicopter, only for Hal to fly down right in front of his line of sight. Hal claims he was too busy bagging aliens in space, which we know is a lie. Jon reports four towers centered on the same spot, which Hal calls "a weenie," a real architectural term describing buildings that theme parks are built around, said to have been inspired by a dog named Lady following its owner around for a hot dog he called a weenie. With a possible location on the manhunter, the two hatch a plan to break into Makin's compound, actually working together and cracking jokes for what feels like the first time, even though both are still playing mind games shaped by their respective mentors' advice.

Sheriff Carrie's Gotham Past Points Toward a Batwoman Secret

At a bar, Hal and Jon fill Sheriff Carrie in on the plan, and she remarks that everyone in Rushville multitasks, which feeds into the episode's theme that no one is really doing the job they claim to be doing, from Jon and Hal manipulating each other, to Makin and his boss, to the Guardians appearing to Jon's family in human form. Carrie asks how they know she is not the manhunter, and Hal explains he looked her up and found she moved to Rushville before Abin Sur's ship crashed, meaning whoever the manhunter is would not be listed in public records from before the crash.

Hal confirms Carrie is telling the truth about being from Gotham and mentions she had bangs in her photo. Having already pieced together that she must be part of the Kane family from Gotham after learning she was from there in episode 2, this appears to confirm Carrie is playing a version of Kate Kane, who is Batwoman in the comics and wears a wig as Batwoman but has bangs in her everyday life. Carrie reacts with visible fear at the mention, and it makes me wonder whether the Dark Knight himself could turn up in this series, especially since there has basically been a Batman reference in every episode so far, including Creature Commandos. Carrie's earlier line "say hi to Barbara" likely refers to Barbara Gordon. Despite this bombshell, Carrie agrees to help with the heist, warning them they will only get one shot.

Guardian Lyanna Manipulates Jon Into Wanting Hal's Ring

Back at the motel, Guardian Lyanna teleports in after a light flicker, showing the Guardians can arrive almost anywhere whenever they want, which also highlights how they chose not to check on Jon's parents even though they easily could have, leaving Jon in danger throughout his life and shaped into becoming a Lantern without ever really choosing it for himself. Lyanna is upset Jon has been ghosting her and reveals that Hal was not out with aliens last night, but went to see Sinestro. She says this has sped up the process of firing Hal, meaning all Jon needs to do is take the ring and say the oath.

When Jon asks why he has to be the one to do it, which is a fair question, Lyanna starts manipulating him, saying maybe they were wrong about him and that he has the same weakness as his father, something his mother has clearly pressed on him his whole life. She also mentions Hal's reports claiming Jon lacks creativity and is too weak to handle the ring's power. Jon takes the bait, saying "The ring's always been mine," showing that pretty much everyone in Jon's life is forcing this destiny on him without him ever really choosing it himself.

Jon's Drill Plan Beats Hal's Habit of Just Making a Giant Fist

Fired up after the meeting with Lyanna, Jon pounds on Hal's door with an actual plan, showing him a drawing of a giant drill to tunnel into the compound from underground, which impresses Hal. Jon had just heard he lacked creativity in his Guardian report, so this is him proving otherwise. His joke about Hal just making a giant fist to punch his way in is a nod to early Green Lantern comics where Hal constantly spammed that construct, until writers eventually ruled Kyle Rayner could never use the same construct twice, and it also feels like a jab at Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern film, where one of the first things he does with the ring is make a giant fist in a parking lot.

Outside the compound, Hal offers Jon the ring to make his drill, but Jon hesitates for a long moment while the score gets intense. I think this is the moment of an entire life of training finally arriving, but not in the way Jon envisioned, so he does not take it, instead making the smarter tactical decision to keep Hal around, since even though Jon might be stronger with the ring, Hal has the experience and Jon has never even fought an alien before. He then builds the drill piece by piece, just as he assembled his father's watch last week.

Underground, Hal Opens Up About His Mother's Death and What Fearless Really Means

As they tunnel beneath the ground, Hal asks Jon about his mom, and we learn Hal's own mother died of cancer, which visibly shakes Jon's concentration. When Jon apologizes, Hal just says not being close to anyone makes the job easier. Jon had been thinking of Hal as a washed-up loser who never deserved the ring, and this moment shows him realizing there is more to Hal's story, part of a broader pattern in the show of everyone making snap judgments, from the Guardians simply asking recruits if they are afraid, to Jon waiting nine months on his sniper mission only for Hal to rush in and derail his whole military career.

Hal opens up further, saying his father died a hero and fearless, at least that is what he wanted people to think, which feels like Hal talking about himself too, someone who acts fearless and detached because in reality he is lonely and afraid of losing anyone he gets close to. In the comics, Hal always wondered if his father died afraid, which became a source of fear that pushed him to become a pilot to honor his dad and prove he could overcome that fear. The comics also give Hal's mother cancer after a falling out over him joining the Air Force, and his brother blamed Hal's decision for driving her to an early grave, a guilt Hal carried for a long time.

This conversation gets at something the show seems to be exploring: in the comics, being a Green Lantern is not about never feeling fear, but about having a will strong enough to overcome it, since the ring itself states its bearer has the ability to overcome great fear. Hal still feels fear over losing people close to him, but he is able to overcome it. He also feels fear over being replaced by Jon, but that does not seem like something he can come to terms with. Jon, by contrast, has never had to overcome fear because he has never been allowed to feel it, which I think makes his fearlessness a kind of blind spot he will eventually have to face.

The Break-In at Makin's Warehouse Turns Into a Trap Built to Disable Lanterns

Once the drill reaches the surface, Jon and Hal army-crawl across the compound and into the building, with Hal letting Jon take the lead and even letting him keep the ring, a sign of trust. Instead of a manhunter, they find Makin has been building his own arsenal of alien weapons. Hal then steps on a trip mine, telling Jon to take back the ring first because he realizes this is a real threat Jon is not ready for. Jon, using his military training, warns Hal not to move or he will set it off, and creates a kettlebell construct matching Hal's weight to swap for the mine, in a plan straight out of Indiana Jones. But Hal was off on his own weight, a bit like a moment from the 1989 Batman movie, and the mine sets off the alarms.

Makin's goons rush in carrying weapons that shoot a black mist, and Hal notes they are pretty high-tech, which I think could point to weapons forged by the Guardians' old enemies from the anti-matter world of Qward, designed to neutralize green light constructs, something Makin later confirms were built specifically for lanterns. Alternatively, this could be an early version of the device Black Hand uses in the comics to drain life force with the power of the black light of the emotional spectrum, tied to the entity Nekron during the Blackest Night event, though it was later revealed in Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run to have actually been created by Atrocitus. It could also just be a practical weapon meant to disorient lanterns by breaking the intense focus their constructs require.

Makin's Office Reveals His Boss Cured His Cancer, Then Carrie Busts Them Out

Taken captive to Makin's office, Makin exposes himself in front of Jon and Hal, a classic villain power move to show he does not feel threatened, and asks Jon to draw him. A cube on his desk matches the camera seen at the football field, meaning the meeting could be recorded or the manhunter could be watching, and we later see these cubes can shoot laser beams. Hal asks about the darkness guns, and Makin says the Lanterns have nothing to worry about as long as they do not threaten his boss, then reveals his boss not only finances him but cured his cancer, and that the woman helping him was his nurse who kept him alive until the manhunter came to cure him. Makin describes how everything in Rushville changed after his boss arrived: crops grew, the town thrived, and no one gets sick anymore in exchange for the manhunter's protection.

Running under the assumption that Makin's boss is the manhunter, I think he will most likely be revealed as the Grandmaster from the comics, a manhunter who arrived on Earth during the Middle Ages, embedded himself in human society, and secretly formed a manhunter cult, recruiting human agents unaware they are working for androids, which would suggest more than one manhunter is hiding out in Rushville. Hal tells Makin to cut the act and threatens an army of lanterns if he is killed, but Makin points out Jon is not a lantern before Carrie breaks up the meeting, arresting them for trespassing to get them out safely and grabbing Hal's ring, while Jon's sketch of Makin turns out flawless despite the threats.

Her Visit Ends With Her Car Destroyed by a Laser From the Sky

Back at the motel, Carrie is angry they blew their shot, revealing she has been digging through her husband Billy's files and is close to figuring out who Makin's boss is, ordering them to stay put while she hands Jon a shotgun and Hal his ring for protection. Jon calls his mother about his meeting with the Guardians, and Mrs. Stewart says Hal is charming but warns Jon not to fall for it. The call is interrupted by the woman Jon has been seeing showing up at the motel; Jon holds her at gunpoint, but they end up sleeping together again.

She tells Jon they cannot see each other and that he needs to leave town or be killed, revealing that she saved Makin's life and is trying to save Jon's too. Jon refuses to leave because he feels everyone is lying to him, including her. As she drives away, a laser from the sky blows up her car.

Tracing the Laser Leads to Hector Hammond and a Possible 1986 Clue

Hal flies out and finds a satellite dish with the same type of camera seen at the football field and on Makin's desk. Back at the motel, Carrie notices a wedding ring left on the nightstand and gives a grim look, possibly questioning whether Jon had something to do with the attack. Cracking open the satellite, they trace its serial number to a company called Atlas Inc, owned by a man named Hector Hammond, who owns a string of high-tech slaughterhouses and has no record before 1986, the year Abin Sur's ship crashed.

In the comics, Hector Hammond is one of Hal Jordan's biggest earthbound villains, a petty criminal exposed to meteor radiation that increased his intelligence but eventually gave him a giant head and psychic powers, swearing revenge on Green Lantern. In a more recent origin, Hammond worked at Ferris Aircraft alongside Hal and hated him out of jealousy over Carol Ferris, gaining his powers after being exposed to radiation while investigating Abin Sur's crash site. The Hammond we see in this show seems quite different from either comic version, which I think is a cool nod rather than a direct adaptation. I also think the 1986 date could be significant, given the show has already used 1996, 2016, and 2026, all years ending in six, which makes me wonder if we will eventually jump back to that year.

The Slaughterhouse Showdown Forces Jon to Feel Real Fear for the First Time

Jon reasons that Hammond's threats are too easy and realizes this is an invitation rather than a threat, which impresses Hal, who is clearly starting to take Sinestro's advice about building Jon's trust to heart, though I do not think that means he is being completely dishonest either. On the way, Hal asks how Jon is holding up after seeing her apparently killed, which shocks Jon since Hal has never asked before, and Hal gives him harsh advice that people dying is part of the job and that Jon needs to avoid personal relationships from now on.

Inside the slaughterhouse, workers ignore them completely as they enter an all-white room where a cow emerges from a black hole, similar to the one the Guardians used to transport Jon in the premiere, and is sliced into cuts by the camera lasers, with Hal shielding them from the blood while Jon looks away and jokes that this is why he is vegan, which I suspect ties back to his parents rewarding his apple-shooting training sessions with cheeseburgers and later ice cream.

They find Hector Hammond, who gives them the address to Jon's parents' house, the same one with the satellite dish Jon's mom asked to have installed in episode 3, and threatens to blow it up in three minutes unless a code is entered, revealing he called Anton claiming to have found the manhunter to lure them into this ambush. Hammond confronts them with what he had overheard of Jon's private conversation with Lyanna, in which Jon called Hal old and unworthy of the ring, but instead of reacting, Hal calmly asks what color Abin Sur's skin was, using a tip from Sinestro that the heart is the only organ manhunters cannot replicate, and threatens to rip out Hammond's heart, saying he would not have cared even before hearing what Jon said, and that losing his parents might even be good for Jon's journey. Jon, genuinely afraid and screaming at Hal to stop for what may be the first time in the show, finally sees Hammond break and admit he is human, giving up the code. Hammond then confesses his real name is Hector Gurier, an engineering student once offered advanced technology by the manhunter, and reveals the manhunter's identity as William Makin, a twist reminiscent of Keyser Soze, though I am honestly not sure yet if it is true.

On the Ride Home, Hal Reveals She Might Be the Manhunter Herself

On the quiet drive back, Jon admits he could have taken Hal's ring earlier but wanted to prove himself instead, and Hal says he would have done the same and admits Jon might genuinely be better than him. Hal then comes clean about his meeting with Sinestro, describing manhunters as ruthless machines that infiltrate communities by attaching to weak spots and eliminating threats through manipulation, asking Jon if that reminds him of anyone, though Jon dodges the obvious answer about Makin. Hal has Jon call Anton to say they found the manhunter and arrange a meeting at a cafe outside Rushville, which I think is the same cafe where Jon first met her.

Hal then reveals he does not think Jon was ever truly upset about her apparent death, and only realized Jon does have real emotions after seeing his panic in Hammond's office, concluding the only way she could have survived the explosion is if she is actually the manhunter. Jon admits he was not sure but had a feeling, and had not told the Guardians because Hal asked him not to, which lines up with what Jon told Lyanna earlier in the episode. The two exchange apologies for their earlier insults, echoing the rental car scene from episode 1.

Theory Time: Could the Whole Town of Rushville Be Manhunters

I am not fully convinced she is the manhunter just because Hal and Jon believe it. Makin held clear power over her during the art session, which does not fit someone running the whole operation, and in the comics manhunters rarely travel alone, usually working in collectives like the manhunter cult I mentioned earlier. It is possible she disguised herself as a nurse, found Makin's weak point, and kept him alive until the true lead manhunter, likely the Grandmaster, cured him and brought him into the cult, which would also explain her comment that she stays with Makin for the security it provides and could make her something closer to a prisoner herself, hoping Jon can help save her.

This would line up with 1987's Millennium by Steve Englehart, where the Grandmaster has manhunter agents take the form of people close to Justice League members in order to kill a new group of heroes. It makes me wonder if the whole town of Rushville could turn out to be manhunters, and whether Jon and Hal are eventually facing an entire army of them. If the manhunters really can heal people the way they apparently cured Makin's cancer, it also makes me wonder whether one of them could eventually be the reason Hal comes back, given how much attention his death in episode 1 got online.

This episode really hammers home the idea that no one is who they seem, from Jon and Hal manipulating each other, to Makin turning out to be an arsenal dealer rather than the manhunter, to Hector Hammond not really being Hector Hammond, to Carrie possibly being Batwoman. I also loved seeing how Hal and Jon are both equally worthy of being Green Lanterns in different ways, with Hal's fearlessness born from facing his parents' deaths and Jon's forged through rigorous training, and it is great finally seeing them work together instead of against each other.

Do you think she is really the manhunter, or is something bigger going on in Rushville?