Lanterns episode 4 pushes Hal and John much closer to the Manhunter, but their investigation also starts exposing how little they trust each other. While John remains in Nebraska, Hal goes looking for answers from someone who knows far more about the threat they are facing: Sinestro.
Sinestro is being held prisoner on a distant planet, but his conversation with Hal quickly becomes more about John than the Manhunter. Hal initially describes John as little more than a backup the Guardians chose from the Marines. Sinestro keeps pressing until Hal admits what he already knows: John is supposed to replace him.
Sinestro believes Hal will eventually have to kill John. He also encourages him to use John’s trust against him, convincing John that he has accepted him before handing the Manhunter over to the Guardians and ruining John’s chances of replacing him.
Hal recognizes exactly what Sinestro is doing. It is the same kind of manipulation that destroyed their own relationship.
Still, Sinestro gives him something useful. Manhunters are thought to be extinct, but if one has survived, there are parts of its physiology it cannot completely reproduce when assuming another form. That gives Hal a way to identify one.
Hal and John break into Will Macon’s compound
Back in Nebraska, John has been watching Macon’s ranch and notices a helicopter arriving. He becomes convinced there is a hidden structure somewhere inside the compound, positioned so that the four guard towers can see it even though it isn’t easily visible from outside.
Hal returns from his trip without telling John where he really went.
They bring Sheriff Kane into the investigation and finally tell her about the aliens and the possibility that a Manhunter is hiding among the people around them. Kane agrees to help, even though the Lanterns still can’t tell her exactly who they’re looking for.
That night, John prepares to join Hal at Macon’s property when one of the Guardians appears in his motel room.
She wants to know why he hasn’t made contact and why he is still in Nebraska. John keeps the Manhunter investigation from her and uses Hal as an excuse, only to learn that the Guardians already know Hal left Earth to visit Sinestro. By doing so, he broke his oath. Then she tells John why he is really there: the Guardians believe he is ready to replace Hal. The next time Hal gives him the ring, John only needs to recite the oath and claim it.
The Guardian also tells him that Hal doesn’t consider him worthy of the ring. Angry, John insists that Hal is old and tired and that he knows John is better than him. His opportunity comes almost immediately.
John has designed a digger that could take them underneath Macon’s compound, avoiding the armed guards above. Hal hands over the ring so John can create it. John could say the oath right there, but he doesn’t. He uses the ring to make the digger and continues the mission with Hal.
Will Macon knows about the Manhunter
The underground route gets them inside the compound, where they discover something that looks more like a weapons operation than a meeting place. Hal triggers an alarm, and Macon’s militia overwhelms them with black smoke that makes it difficult for John to concentrate enough to use the ring effectively.
They are brought to Will Macon. Macon makes it clear that he isn’t the alien they’re searching for, but he does know about the Manhunter. According to him, its arrival has helped the community. Crops grow, children thrive, and Macon himself says he was saved when he was dying from cancer.
Zoe, who worked as his nurse, can confirm what happened to him. Macon refuses to identify his benefactor and warns Hal and John to stay away. Hal isn’t particularly intimidated because killing a Green Lantern would attract attention. Macon points out that the same protection doesn’t apply to John.
Sheriff Kane arrives before the confrontation goes any further and gets them out. She is furious that the two have ruined their chance to investigate quietly, especially because her father-in-law now has reason to suspect she is helping them. Before leaving, Kane gives John a gun and tells them she has been looking through Billy’s file for information that could lead them to the benefactor.
Zoe tells John she has been lying
Back at the motel, Zoe secretly comes to see John, and the two sleep together. Afterward, she warns him that they can’t keep doing this. If John stays in town, she believes he will either have to leave eventually or end up dead.
John refuses to go because he knows people are hiding things from him, including Zoe.
She admits that she has been lying. It isn’t because she owes Will anything. According to Zoe, Will is actually the one who owes her because she saved his life. She won’t tell John everything, saying that the truth would change everything, but she insists that what she’s doing is meant to keep him alive. John still refuses to leave.
Shortly after Zoe drives away, a laser comes down from the sky and hits her vehicle. Hal retrieves the satellite responsible, giving the investigation its first major technological lead.
Kane traces it to Atlas, Inc., a company owned by Hector Hammond. Hammond operates high-tech slaughterhouses, including one about 95 miles from Rushville. John immediately suspects they are being led there deliberately. Whoever has this technology could have attacked them already. Instead, they’ve been given a trail to follow. Hal and John decide to follow it anyway.
Hector Hammond claims to be the Manhunter
At the slaughterhouse, the workers behave as though Hal and John aren’t even there. The two also discover that the facility uses the same laser technology seen in the attack on Zoe. Eventually, they find Hector Hammond; Hammond claims that he is the Manhunter and immediately turns his attention to John. He knows where John’s parents live and threatens to use the satellite against them unless John contacts the aliens and tells them he has found the Manhunter.
Hal doesn’t believe him.
He tests Hammond by asking about Abin Sur. When Hammond can’t answer, Hal concludes that he’s being used as a decoy. He explains that a Manhunter can copy other forms but cannot perfectly reproduce the heart of carbon-based life. When a Manhunter dies, its heart crystallizes.
Hal threatens to prove Hammond is human by ripping out his heart, and Hammond finally breaks. He admits that he isn’t the Manhunter. He is an ordinary man who was given advanced technology and the chance to use it to help his family and community.
When John demands the real Manhunter’s identity, Hammond names Will Macon.
But Hammond has already managed to create another problem between the Lanterns. He plays a recording of John’s private conversation with the Guardian, including John’s comments that Hal is old and tired and that the ring should belong to him.
Hal realizes John knows Zoe survived
On the drive back, John tries to clear the air. He tells Hal that he had the perfect opportunity to take the ring when Hal handed it to him earlier, but he chose not to say the oath; Hal believes him.
He even admits that John could become better than him and opens up about his secret trip to see Sinestro. He explains what he learned about the Manhunters and how they exploit weak points in society, using people to reach power as quickly as possible and eliminating threats along the way.
The two seem to have finally reached a better place when Hal asks John to contact the aliens and arrange a meeting outside Rushville.
Then Hal realizes something is wrong. John barely reacted when Zoe was apparently killed. Earlier, Hal interpreted that as John being able to shut down his emotions. But John’s panic when Hammond threatened his parents proves that isn’t true.
There is another explanation for John’s reaction to Zoe: he knew she wasn’t dead.
John admits that he suspected Zoe could be the Manhunter, although he insists it was only a theory and he wasn’t certain enough to tell Hal. He also points out that he kept the entire investigation from the Guardians.
For Hal, that isn’t enough. He suddenly steps on the gas, jumps out of the moving car and leaves John inside as it crashes, repeating the same brutal lesson he used during John’s training.
Lanterns episode 4 ending explained: Is Zoe the Manhunter?
Episode 4 ends with Hal putting together the clue John has been keeping from him: Zoe apparently survived the satellite attack.
John’s lack of grief wasn’t proof that he could simply detach himself from someone he cared about. He had reason to believe she was still alive, and that survival made him suspicious that Zoe could be the Manhunter.
Both men spend the episode hiding important information from each other: Hal doesn’t initially tell John about Sinestro, while John keeps both his conversation with the Guardian and his suspicions about Zoe to himself. They eventually confess most of those secrets, but Hal learning that John withheld something this important pushes their already difficult partnership back into conflict.
The supplied material does not confirm Zoe’s identity as the Manhunter, so for now, she remains John’s suspect.
