Review: Lanterns, "Trust Fall" | Season 1, Episode 2

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I like that they’re getting right into it. Cosmic mystery shows will often keep viewers in the dark about basic facts of what’s going on for a few episodes—sometimes to the point of frustration, where you’re yelling at the TV, “Enough already, just tell me what’s happening!” Not Lanterns, though. Lanterns is keeping things accessible by revealing the stakes of the mystery in episode two. (The first mystery, at least; there’s nothing in this episode about the death of Hal Jordan, which is fine by me. I’m happy to settle into the terrestrial mystery before we get into the extraterrestrial one.)  

What’s happening is this: the aliens who Macon’s men killed at the football game were looking for a Manhunter, a powerful, violent alien who destroyed their planet. These guys, who are led by Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), believe that the Lanterns’ bosses, the Guardians, stashed the Manhunter in Rushville for some reason, and they want to find him and exact their revenge. Antaan shows John what the Manhunter did to them using some kind of trauma memory gun, and it’s so terrible that Lanterns doesn’t even show it to us. What John sees convinces him to help find the Manhunter. He has 48 hours, and the clock is ticking. So with that setup out of the way, some more interesting questions arise: What’s the deal with this ancient and sinister alien race? Why is this particular Manhunter here? Have we met them already, disguised as a human? 

We’re going to get answers about the first question next episode. At the end of “Trust Fall,” Hal puts on his Green Lantern uniform and goes to see his former mentor Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) to ask him what he knows about Manhunters. Sinestro is in space prison for trying to carry out a coup against the Guardians, but he knows enough about what’s going on in the outside world to warn Hal that John Stewart is a bigger threat to him than any Manhunter. We don’t know much about Sinestro yet and have only spent about 30 seconds with him, but I’m already liking his role in the story. Hal trusts Sinestro enough to come to him for advice, but the way he asks about John clearly shows that he’s manipulative. He might be a friend or he might be a foe, and that role will change depending on what serves his agenda, whatever that is. If we’re playing spot-the-reference, Hal going to visit a highly intelligent prisoner with some sort of power over him is reminiscent of the relationship between Will Graham or Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lector. Let’s go with Graham, because they’re literally talking about a Manhunter.