{"id":824171,"date":"2026-08-24T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824171\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T12:00:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T12:00:18","slug":"lanterns-episode-2-review-what-we-know-about-manhunters-spoilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/824171\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Lanterns’ Episode 2 Review: What We Know About Manhunters \u2014 Spoilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Editor\u2019s note: The following review contains\u00a0spoilers\u00a0for\u00a0\u201cLanterns\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Episode 2, \u201cTrust Fall,\u201d including the ending. For a spoiler-free analysis, read our\u00a0full season review<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I got it.\u201d <\/p>\n

John Stewart\u2019s exasperated adieu to his alien abductors doubles as a meta acknowledgement of Episode 2\u2019s exposition-heavy plotting. Between John\u2019s mysterious pet bird (which definitely doesn\u2019t mean anything) and Hal\u2019s carnivorous pet plant (his name is Earl), the introduction of an aggrieved extraterrestrial race and their explanation of \u201csynthetic\u201d genocidal shapeshifters known as Manhunters, as well as new background on William Macon (Garret Dillahunt) and new mysteries in Rushville (alien detectors? empty hospitals? a sheriff from Gotham?), \u201cTrust Fall\u201d is absolutely packed with information that\u2019s either bizarre, vital, or both.<\/p>\n

\"PLURIBUS,<\/a> \"Beef.<\/a> <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot to parse, and Episode 2 suffers from getting it all across by explaining, re-explaining, and clarifying itself so many times. But it still has its delights: Hal (Kyle Chandler<\/a>) wears the suit, John (Aaron Pierre) sprints down a busy interstate, and did I mention Earl, the beef-eating cousin of Audrey II<\/a>? Toss in Hal\u2019s folksy charms (\u201cYour marriage is unsmooth?\u201d) and it\u2019s hard not to be entertained, even with so much chatter. <\/p>\n

So what did we learn? Let\u2019s get to it:<\/p>\n

The Case<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something on the compound,\u201d Hal says. \u201cBenefactor\u2019s the key. We\u2019re not leaving here until we find out who he is and what they\u2019re hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lanterns<\/a>\u2018 new mission statement is technically a continuation of their ongoing investigation, save for one glossed-over fact: They solved the case! There was a shooting at a high school football game, and the Lanterns now know who the victims are (an alien scout team sent to find the Manhunter who \u201cengineered a holocaust\u201d on their home planet), why they were killed (Macon\u2019s men used fancy shmancy alien detectors to identify aliens who were posing as football fans), and who did it (again, it was Macon\u2019s men).<\/p>\n

So\u2026 case closed? Hooray\u2026?<\/a> Time to go home?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the town wants Hal and John to do. Everyone from Macon and his son, Billy (Jason Ritter), to the vocal locals gathered in the town hall and Sheriff Kane (Kelly Macdonald) herself try to convince the Lanterns that Rushville is better off without space cops hovering around. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s only one problem: If the Manhunter isn\u2019t found and turned over to those vengeful aliens within 48 hours, said aliens are going to walk into Rushville and blow themselves up \u2014\u00a0just like their buddy Waylon (Chris Coy) did in the police station last week. It took Hal\u2019s intervention to save everyone then, and it looks like they need him (and John) to save them again, since the residents of Rushville appear as oblivious to an undercover Manhunter as John was before he was involuntarily \u201cstamped.\u201d<\/p>\n

So their investigation isn\u2019t over, it\u2019s just evolved. Instead of searching for the shooters, they\u2019re searching for whomever the shooters were protecting. (It\u2019s a manhunt for the Manhunter!) The Lanterns are still working on behalf of the victims (aka the dead aliens), they\u2019re just a wee bit suspicious of those aliens, too, since their bald boss, Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), is willing to wipe out a town of 2,000 people to exact vengeance on the Manhunter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a classic cop drama entanglement, where the detectives have to find justice (and keep the peace) despite everyone involved giving off bad vibes (or at least suspicious ones). All they can do is get to the truth, and trust it will guide them to the best result.<\/p>\n

The Suspects<\/p>\n

\"'Lanterns'Garret Dillahunt in \u2018Lanterns\u2019Courtesy of John Johnson \/ HBO Max<\/p>\n

That just leaves the million-dollar question: Who is the Manhunter? <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know: According to Antaan, the Manhunters came out of nowhere, even predating the Green Lantern corps. They\u2019re synthetic beings that can take the form of any species, which allows them to \u201cembed\u201d in a community without anyone noticing. Of course, that also allows them to tear those communities to bits whenever they see fit. What they call \u201cjustice,\u201d others call \u201cgenocide,\u201d and Antaan\u2019s home was obliterated by a Manhunter who secretly stayed behind when all the other Manhunters left.<\/p>\n

The \u201cscale of [his] tragedy\u201d drew the attention of the Green Lanterns, and one of them took the Manhunter into custody and promised to have it executed. Except, well, that didn\u2019t happen. Antaan isn\u2019t sure why, but Hal puts the pieces together: Abin Sur must have been the Lantern who arrested the Manhunter, before the Manhunter killed him and escaped, causing the crash landing just outside Rushville where a dying Abin Sur gave Hal the ring oh so many years ago.<\/p>\n

After years of searching, Antaan\u2019s team determined the Manhunter was in Rushville, and now here we are: Four of the advanced team are already dead, and the rest of the aliens are threatening to blow up Rushville unless John (and Hal) turn over the Manhunter. (Now who\u2019s repeating exposition? Sorry! It\u2019s hard to avoid.)<\/p>\n

So\u2026 who\u2019s the Manhunter? The most obvious suspect is Macon. He installed the alien detectors at the football game. He shot the aliens when they showed up, looking for a Manhunter. He shot Hal when he showed up, asking questions about the shooting. He\u2019s fortified his home (or, if we believe him, his benefactor\u2019s property) against \u201ccolonizers\u201d from outer space, and he\u2019s also a just weird dude \u2014 and wouldn\u2019t a synthetic being masquerading as a human man probably come across as a little strange?<\/p>\n

That being said, a Manhunter is probably smart enough to avoid hiding in plain sight, so I\u2019m inclined to believe Macon when he says he\u2019s just a steward. He\u2019s not the Manhunter, he\u2019s protecting the Manhunter, which means the Manhunter could be\u2026 anyone else, really. Macon\u2019s son, Billy, makes sense. So does his wife, Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). But only one character provided an enigmatic answer when asked about their past this episode, and that\u2019s Sheriff Kane. When Hal asks where she\u2019s from, she reluctantly says she grew up in Gotham before she \u201cmoved here on a whim.\u201d When Hal lightly pries for more information, she dismisses him \u2014 but I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be hearing more of that story soon enough.<\/p>\n

The Co(r)ps<\/p>\n

\"'Lanterns'Kyle Chandler<\/a> and Jason Ritter in \u2018Lanterns\u2019Courtesy of John Johnson \/ HBO Max<\/p>\n

Phew! OK! Enough explaining. Let\u2019s get to what really matters in Episode 2, aka what really matters in \u201cLanterns\u201d overall: the Green Lanterns themselves.<\/p>\n

Setting aside the closing tease (for a second), \u201cTrust Fall\u201d begins and ends with John and Hal in the motel parking lot. Hal tries to give John a flying lesson, but the trainee can\u2019t get off the ground. Instead, he inadvertently manifests a small bird, which accompanies him throughout the episode as he travels back to Coast City to pick up the lantern, feed Earl, and meet up with a few embittered aliens. <\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s not initially clear to John, it\u2019s clear to everyone else that the bird is special. Hal clocks it, giving his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 a long side-eye when the green birdie continues to hover overhead after John removes the ring. Antaan remarks on it, too, explaining that keeping it alive without the ring is proof John can \u201cachieve the impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that night, when Hal presses John about the bird\u2019s significance \u2014 \u201cYou brought it to life with your subconscious. It must mean something pretty deep\u201d \u2014 John disintegrates his new pet without a flicker of emotion. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bird,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Sure it is, John. Sure it is. <\/p>\n

John showed more emotion a few minutes earlier, when he sat down with Zoe at the local diner to compare notes on each of their \u201cdeeply weird\u201d white men. Zoe says she appreciates the security her husband provides and accepts his \u201cstrangeness\u201d as a consequence of his privilege. \u201cWhite men have the privilege of being eccentric,\u201d she says. \u201cWhite men with money, they can do whatever the fuck they want: play cowboy, build castles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her references seem specific to Macon, the Marlboro Man who lives in a ranch-style fortress. But they still apply to Hal, who lives in a mansion, plays by his own rules, and acts plenty weird. (Remember Earl?) The two men may be opposing forces, but they\u2019re not dissimilar. The key difference is that Zoe trusts Macon, and John doesn\u2019t trust Hal.<\/p>\n

But he wants to. At the start of the episode, John throws a fit when he finds out Hal hasn\u2019t reported any of their findings to the Guardians. But at the end of the episode, he still tells Hal about what happened with his abduction. Sure, maybe he\u2019s just respecting the chain of command and reporting what he knows to his direct superior. But he could\u2019ve gone over Hal\u2019s head to the Guardians and he didn\u2019t. He trusted him, one more time.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see if that backfires after Hal\u2019s visit to see the disgraced ex-Green Lantern, Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen), who cautions him against John. But for now, our space cops are on the same page: Find the Manhunter, don\u2019t blow up the town.<\/p>\n

OK, OK, we got it. Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/p>\n

\u201cLanterns\u201d releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO<\/a> and HBO Max.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Luck or Oh Fuck\u201d (Points of Clarity)<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cJesus Christ, almighty: Unclench.\u201d Oh, Hal, you have such a way with words.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Kyle Chandler walking the gridiron, for the second week in a row, still gets me. Clear eyes, full hearts, find the Manhunter.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Macon\u2019s ranch is named \u201cStudy the Past\u201d (which can be seen over the gates when Hal and the Sheriff show up). Macon mentioned he\u2019s \u201ca student of history\u201d last week, when he mentioned protecting his Benefactor\u2019s property from alien colonizers, which he mentioned again this week. Is he just worried about Antaan and his alien buddies, or are there more otherworldly invaders expected in Rushville? In other words, is he using his property to protect the Manhunter, or is he protecting the property from the Manhunter\u00a0\u2014 an invasive entity that existed before the Lanterns? Hmm\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Hal recites the oath! Hal dons the uniform! Hal flies up into space! \u201cLanterns\u201d is Lantern-ing, people! (A little bit, at least. I still wouldn\u2019t expect much more on that front.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Editor\u2019s note: The following review contains\u00a0spoilers\u00a0for\u00a0\u201cLanterns\u201d\u00a0Episode 2, \u201cTrust Fall,\u201d including the ending. For a spoiler-free analysis, read our\u00a0full…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,1035,64694,122320,900,92],"class_list":["post-824171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-hbo","tag-kyle-chandler","tag-lanterns","tag-reviews","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}