Lanterns episode 5 finally reveals why Kerry Kane has been protecting Zoe and how far back their relationship goes. In the present, Hal tries to stop Rushville from becoming a battlefield while John learns more about Zoe’s past and eventually does what everyone has been waiting for: he takes Hal’s ring.
Zoe saved Kerry Kane’s life
Episode 5 opens in 2007, when Kerry first arrives in Rushville. Her car breaks down, forcing her to push it toward a nearby diner while two men who have followed her from Gotham close in.
The men have already dealt with Kerry’s father, who was a snitch, and now they are after her. Kerry isn’t particularly broken up about losing him, but that doesn’t make her situation any less dangerous.
Zoe intervenes. She kills one of the men and overpowers the other, then comes up with a way to convince the people chasing Kerry that she is dead. Kerry cuts off her pinky so the surviving man can take it back as proof.
Zoe wants something in return. She tells Kerry that men will eventually come looking for her and, when that happens, she will need Kerry’s protection, and Kerry agrees.
Years later, that promise is exactly what has put the sheriff in the middle of the fight over the Manhunter.
Hal learns why Kerry has been protecting Zoe
John survives the car crash with relatively minor injuries, but his partnership with Hal is in pieces. John thinks Hal intends to take credit for killing Zoe. Hal reminds him that Lanterns don’t kill and, after everything John has kept from him, tells him that John will never replace him.
Hal creates a digital copy of himself through the ring and sends it to the tower on sentry duty while he confronts Kerry.
The sheriff immediately shoots at him; Kerry explains that Zoe is watching them, even if she can’t hear their conversation. If Kerry doesn’t appear to be fighting Hal, her own life is at risk. Worse, a kill order is about to come down on Rushville because of Hal.
Kerry wants him to leave before things get worse. Hal refuses; he still sees Zoe as a war criminal who needs to be taken into custody.
Rushville soon prepares for a fight. Zoe finds John inside the car, and while she could save him immediately, she waits for the car to catch fire. John is covered in burns before she takes him to the hospital, where she uses her technology to repair his injuries. He calls Zoe inhumane for not saving him sooner and starts asking questions.
She gives him an important piece of Manhunter history. According to Zoe, the Guardians created the Manhunters to enforce justice. Their methods became too brutal, so the Guardians eventually tried to shut them down. Zoe also tells John that she plans to kill Hal. John, however, can live. If Hal is gone, he can take the ring himself.
Zoe reveals that she killed Abin Sur
Hal looks elsewhere for help and meets the alien hit squad at the diner.
He proposes working together. They have the numbers, and he has information that could help them capture Zoe and deliver her to the Guardians.
Antaan isn’t convinced that John can still be trusted, and Hal doesn’t trust them. Instead of Zoey he gives them Will Macon as the man hunter. Antaan explains to Hal that seduction is one way a Manhunter can gain control over powerful people. John’s relationship with Zoe therefore gives Hal plenty of reason to be suspicious.
For the moment, however, the aliens believe Will Macon is the Manhunter.
At the hospital, Zoe gives John another major revelation: she killed Abin Sur. She also tells John that she feels drawn to him because he sees her for who she really is. John soon leaves the hospital and contacts his father, asking to speak with Lianna. His parents, instead, only want to know whether he is the new Green Lantern.
By this point, John has made up his mind. He breaks into a gun store, takes a sniper rifle and says he is going to take the ring from Hal.
Rushville becomes a battlefield
Antaan sends his people to Macon’s compound, where members of the alien force position themselves around different targets and prepare to blow themselves up.
Antaan confronts Macon directly. Macon initially pretends that he is the Manhunter, but the deception doesn’t last. Antaan attacks him and cuts out his heart to determine whether he is human.
Outside, Hal is trying to keep the situation from destroying Rushville. Zoe uses the water tower as part of her attack, releasing dark smoke across the compound. Hal responds to one of the aliens preparing to detonate by creating a tornado with his ring and sending Antaan high enough into the air that his explosion doesn’t kill the people below.
Hal gets away from the immediate danger and heads for the motel. His ring needs to be recharged, but John is waiting for him.
John attacks Hal for the ring
John ambushes Hal and tries to take the ring. The confrontation becomes physical, with John nearly choking Hal before Zoe’s lasers close in on them. Hal manages to get the ring back onto his finger in time and creates a shield that protects them from the blast.
John runs. Zoe then approaches Hal, believing she has the advantage, but John’s fight with Hal has served another purpose. He has put Zoe in position for his real attack.
From a distance, John shoots Zoe in the head with the sniper rifle. He then removes her heart, which has crystallized.
The test Hal learned about earlier finally confirms that Zoe really is a Manhunter.
John isn’t finished, he returns to the injured Hal, takes the ring from his finger and puts it on his own. Hal asks whether it was worth it. John doesn’t answer. He walks away with the ring while Hal warns him that one day someone will replace him too.
Lanterns episode 5 ending explained: Does John become the new Green Lantern?
John finally has everything he has been moving toward. He has killed the Manhunter, taken Hal’s ring, and brought Zoe’s crystallized heart to the Guardian as proof.
But when he gets there, the moment doesn’t feel like the victory he expected. John argues that Hal broke his oath by trying to hold onto the ring. Yet standing in front of the Guardian with the ring on his finger, John realizes that he doesn’t know what he wants anymore.
He removes it and walks away.
So Episode 5 does not end with John simply accepting his place as Hal’s replacement. He takes the ring by force and proves that Zoe is a Manhunter, but ultimately chooses not to keep it.
His decision also comes after Zoe reveals that she killed Abin Sur, giving John direct confirmation that the Manhunter they have been hunting is responsible for the death that left a Green Lantern ring without its previous owner.
