‘Lanterns’ Episode 6 Instant Reactions | The Midnight Boys

The Ringer-Verse

The Midnight Boys provide instant reactions to the sixth episode of 'Lanterns,' focusing on the significant narrative shift following Hal Jo

Key takeaways

• Episode 6 features a time jump to 2026, depicting John Stewart as an architect specializing in high-security panic rooms called 'arcs'.
• The death of Hal Jordan serves as a central plot catalyst, forcing John Stewart to confront his past in Rushville.

Main topics

• Lanterns Episode 6 Reactions
• Hal Jordan's Death and Legacy

Notable quotes

Can the heat continue? How long can the heat last?

Conclusion

The episode offers a deep dive into character motivations and world-bu

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:05) Welcome into the Ringiverse. This is, of course, the Ringers Nexus podcast feed for all things fandom. We are Steve, the architect, almond, the builder and tinkerer of things. Jomie, the explainer at dinner on. You've got questions. He's got answers. Old man Van, he of the receding resurgent hairline. The white tea nigga. Okay. Coke baby. Speaker 4 (0:25) Together Speaker 3 (0:26) we are known as Speaker 1 (0:29) the Midnight Boys. Speaker 3 (0:32) We'll be right back after this. Speaker 3 (0:46) It just feels different when I'm in the white tee. Speaker 4 (0:48) I know, I feel different. Being in the white tee Speaker 3 (0:51) just reminds me of times before when the white tee was just like, it was the uniform. Early 2000s? When did that change? The white tee? I feel like street wear, because you know what happened? We're going to get into the show, guys. I promise you. I feel like you know what happened. It's like in the early 2010s when the streetwear boom really started to kick off, particularly here in L.A., Fairfax controlled everything. You had Pete Dolph and you had Christian Castles, all these different. Speaker 1 (1:20) I feel like they took over the white tee. I have a different. I think like white tee technology had been progressing to such a point. And then it was like, what was the song? The white tee song? Fresh in my white tee. And he was wearing basically dresses and shit. Yeah, they were like triple XLs. Speaker 2 (1:39) That was Speaker 1 (1:39) some years Speaker 4 (1:39) before. But it wasn't like 2008, 2009 where everybody was wearing suits and wearing business casual to the club. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And fedora, big fedora. Also, the V-necks Speaker 1 (1:49) kind of fucked up the game. Niggas was wearing like the... The DVs. That was nasty. We got out of here. Speaker 3 (1:55) We'll see. Follow us on socials at The Midnight Boys Pod on Insta and TikTok at Ringiverse on Insta, Twitter. Facebook and TikTok. Speaker 4 (2:03) Jomie. Man, I was going to do a whole thing about how the pot is exploding right now. People are on YouTube, on Instagram. People are really loving the coverage. Thank you, guys. But I noticed that we got the pizza and the chicken here this week. We didn't have it last week when CR was here. We didn't have the pizza and the chicken? No. Oh, they removed it for CR? They removed it for CR. Speaker 3 (2:23) What type of shit is this? Ain't that crazy. Speaker 1 (2:26) Go kill. Speaker 4 (2:27) Rewind to last week. Speaker 1 (2:29) I did not notice Speaker 4 (2:31) that. Speaker 3 (2:31) No piece of no chicken. Speaker 1 (2:32) Respectability ringer over here. You come Speaker 3 (2:35) back and they put the fucking fried chicken back on the table. Speaker 1 (2:37) They're like, Speaker 3 (2:37) the nigga's back. They said, hold on, CR, big business. We not going to do them like that. Wow. Shout out Speaker 1 (2:42) CR holding it down. He did. He was Speaker 3 (2:44) great. We're on YouTube. Like, comment, subscribe, share. You can watch every Midnight Boys and House of R episode on YouTube.com backslash at ringerverse and also on Spotify. Programming reminders. On Monday, the House of R continues their lantern coverage. They're doing some amazing deep dives over there. Our sister. There's Mal and Joe. Go check out them. And on Thursday, Button Mash gives their reactions to Control Resonant and Silent Hill Downfall. Townfall. Well, it says downfall on here. Is it town or down? Town. All right. I don't know. I made this. This Speaker 1 (3:14) is my mistake. Wait, you did it. You did it. I'm sorry, I thought Speaker 3 (3:17) it was Downfall and not Townfall. Speaker 2 (3:19) It's probably the right, the auto-correct, but yeah, it's Townfall. Speaker 3 (3:23) So what is it? I don't know. Speaker 2 (3:26) It's another entry in the Silent Hill series. This one centers around a black man named Simon in a, I think it's like an Irish seaside town. He's Speaker 4 (3:36) dead. Speaker 2 (3:37) We don't Speaker 4 (3:38) know. Speaker 2 (3:38) Why would they do it? He's dead. It's a crazy story. Wait, Speaker 4 (3:42) wait, Speaker 2 (3:42) wait. Speaker 4 (3:42) He will die. What time in Ireland? This Speaker 2 (3:45) is in the early 90s. Oh, he's fucking finished. Speaker 4 (3:48) All right. Dateline NBA's NBC. Yeah, Speaker 2 (3:52) NBC. Dateline Speaker 3 (3:53) NBA. Get a seat Speaker 1 (3:54) over there. I'm looking at Speaker 3 (3:55) this nigga right now. Look at him. Well, how could this be the early 90s when he died? Because he has this. Now Speaker 1 (3:59) that we're talking about that, I do have to ask. This is completely random. Are the Midnight Boys covering? Prime time? Oh, well, we talked about this. We can if you guys want. I intend Speaker 2 (4:09) to see it. We can if you Speaker 3 (4:12) guys want. I'll tell you, people look at me crazy when I say it. That was entertainment, man. That was entertainment. Speaker 4 (4:21) Catch Predator. That was entertainment. That was Speaker 3 (4:26) entertainment, man. And you know, as much as I say about TMZ and Harvey Levin, The first person that I can remember raising a legitimate ethical objection to catch a predator was Harvey. Right. Harvey was like, that's wrong, what they're doing. Speaker 4 (4:44) And I was like, how Speaker 3 (4:44) could it be wrong? They're like catching pedophiles and stuff like that. He's like, they're luring them and trapping them, inciting them. and then making entertainment out of it. I was like, look Speaker 4 (4:54) at you. You got scruples? What the fuck is going on with you? Speaker 3 (4:57) And he was like, he legitimately used to say that was wrong. And that was before I knew that, you know, there had been all kinds of issues with the show behind the scenes. I don't guess we're going to get into that. Speaker 1 (5:04) Because we're talking about primetime, I do feel like we also have to have an episode about the white boy rankings because the Emmys were last night. Yeah. And we might need to put this photo on the screen. Did y'all catch the photo of Tom Holland? Zendaya here. I seen it. Chase Infinity there. He's recruiting. Speaker 3 (5:24) He's going crazy. He's recruiting. Speaker 1 (5:25) Greed. Speaker 3 (5:26) I mean, he's going crazy. Greed. What is Speaker 4 (5:27) he supposed to do? Speaker 3 (5:28) What was that picture? Highest Speaker 2 (5:29) grossing Speaker 4 (5:30) actor in Hollywood history. What Speaker 3 (5:31) is Speaker 4 (5:31) he supposed to do? He's a man right now. What Speaker 2 (5:33) was that picture of him when Zendaya's just like laughing on his shoulder and he's like, there's no way this guy's that funny. Yes, I'm hating him. Here's the Speaker 1 (5:39) thing. Everybody keeps going. Chase Infinity, Black Cat. And I'm like, guys, do you see the optics of the next Spider-Man movie being Peter Parker? having two light-skinned black women fighting over him. As opposed Speaker 3 (5:52) to what? At a certain point, though, we gotta put some colored girls in a moment. You know what I mean? At a certain point, I'm with it. Speaker 4 (6:02) I'm not going back. Laura Harrier in the first one. Coco as a black cat? I'm not going Speaker 3 (6:07) back. I'm Speaker 4 (6:08) not going Speaker 3 (6:08) back. Don't go back. I'm not going back, but I'm saying. I appreciate it, though. I thought he was doing his thing. Hey. Guess what? He's on top of the world. I love Tom Holland. Yeah. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Yeah, absolutely. Great guy. Deserves it. Deserves every second Speaker 4 (6:19) of Speaker 1 (6:19) it. Speaker 3 (6:20) On today's episode, though, we are going to react to the sixth episode of Lanterns. Every single episode of Lanterns that drops has to answer the same question. Speaker 4 (6:33) Can the heat continue? Speaker 3 (6:35) How long can the heat last? We're going to answer that question. But first, we're going to spoil a lot of stuff. And we're going to warn you, even though we do this every week, here's a spoiler warning, Steve. We're Speaker 4 (6:51) getting ready to Speaker 3 (6:52) talk about you're listening to a reaction podcast. The spoilers are coming. All right, to begin our reactions, we once again bring you the Midnight Manifest. Talk about all the need to know. The only person who can do the manifest is Chuck. Jomie held it down last week. Oh, yeah, thank you, Joe. But the man himself is back. Chuck, take it Speaker 1 (7:16) away. All right. This is your Midnight Manifest for episode six of Lanterns, directed by Stephen Williams, written by Damon Lindelof and Tom King. We flash forward to 2026, where John is a successful architect trying to sell high-security panic rooms to the government alongside his brother. John's life is upended when his mother Bernadette calls, telling him Hal wants to apologize. John travels back to Rushville to see a disabled and aged Hal. The former Green Lantern was in prison for a decade and isn't in the mood for any apologies. The duo have it out. John punches Hal, and the grizzled veteran warns his former partner not to tell anyone that they met. Sheriff Kerry calls John hours later with the news that Hal was shot in the head and murdered. John spends the rest of the episode investigating Howe's murder, which leads him to call in Guy Gardner. After a standoff in a prison cell, John gets Guy to deliver Howe's decommissioned ring and suit and also reveal that Sinestro has escaped. John delivers Howe's eulogy and after the funeral digs up the dead corpse of his partner and finally takes the ring, he uses Howe's old trick of tapping the ring against the surface to get a 5 % recharge, which brings Howe's AI back to life. That has been your Midnight Manifest for episode six of Lanterns, throwing it back to you. Fan, what did you think of this episode? I really enjoyed Speaker 3 (8:25) it. I thought it was great. I thought that... There was a noticeable shift in tone, noticeable shift in tone from Rushville 2016 to Rushville 2026. I wonder for some of the audience how that's going to play. The show slows way down. And now the show is about investigating Hal Jordan's death, which I think that there's been enough narrative work done with the character from the beginning of the show. The first. One of the first things we see is Hal Jordan dead. Then we get to know Hal Jordan. We fall in love with Hal Jordan at the same time. We get to understand why people have such a problem with Hal Jordan. The question for everyone that will be watching the show or the question for the people that will be talking about the show is with three episodes left. Have you come close enough to this character to where the show abruptly changing from what it was doing before, who's the Manhunter, this sort of intergalactic mystery, to investigating the death of Hal Jordan? Is that going to be enough for people? Does the show sustain its momentum? For me, it definitely did. Because I think that finding out who Jordan's killer is is going to rewrap back into what happened in Rushville. I really, really dug it. But it did take me five or ten minutes to settle back in to what the show is after coming off of what could have been most shows' season finale. Speaker 4 (9:58) So that was my takeaway, which was it felt like this was the first episode of season two, right? That they gave us a whole season, and we came back next September, and this was the first episode of season two, and we're catching up with John and where his life's at. what's going on with Rushville, and, like, it's a reset in a lot of ways. But I kind of agree with everything you're saying. I think it didn't take me a second to get into it because once we saw Hal's body at the end of the first episode, we always knew we were going to have to solve that problem. And so the fact that it's happening kind of early is a little, like, interesting, but I always knew we were going to get here. And so this episode, for me, like, kind of felt in a ways of we're seeing John kind of become Hal a little bit. to your point that you were talking about in early episodes where you're like, how are John's growth is going to be how he bucks against the system. Right. And I thought in this episode, we'll talk about it more later, but him scheming to get the ring in order to get the, the how, the holograms people are calling it, I thought was just genius and something that he wouldn't have done before. Speaker 3 (11:06) And Speaker 4 (11:07) that now that's something that's in Speaker 1 (11:08) his mind. After watching this episode. Speaker 1 (11:13) I thought it was so funny that going into Lanterns, one of the hardest things that I think this team had to do was almost rehabilitate Hal Jordan as a character. Because if you go back to the Ryan Reynolds movie, we had all kind of realized that, like, if they ever want to do Green Lantern again, it's going to have to be Jon Stewart at this point. And watching this episode, I was like, it is amazing in six episodes how much they, like Kyle Chandler and this team, have made me miss this character. Speaker 2 (11:46) And Speaker 1 (11:47) I knew that, like, part of this was going to be this murder mystery. But I think what you're speaking to, both of you, in terms of this feeling maybe like another season of TV, is just how big of a hole that character leaves. But weirdly, I wanted to... broach this with you guys, this is almost how I wish they would have done Sam Wilson, Anthony Mackie's Captain America, because this gives Jon Stewart so much to go. Where it's like, through just this episode, we see, because we miss Hal so much, you get to see how resourceful Jon is, and you get to really invest. And him now being the center of this story. And I'm like, oh, that's such a good way to pass the mantle. Speaker 2 (12:35) And I think it's because of the fact that it's such a clever conceit. Because again, it does feel like the start of something new while still being very much tied to the story that we've been having for the past five episodes. But this episode really caches in the equity of both Hal and John to forward them 10 years. And to not really suspend them in time for 10 years and then have us pick up from them, but illustrate them in a mental state in a way that they've still been carrying Rushville with them for 10 years and what they've become after that. And I think that's kind of what the episode needed to do. But I think what was fascinating about it is seeing how the world now moves past Rushville and how they keep coming back and the people around Hal and John. are not letting them leave. In the case of John, he refuses to leave it. Like his brothers, who he's reconnected with, are just like, you are stuck there. You're still an asshole to us, even though we've quote unquote reconnected. For Hal, he's like going door to door, trying to apologize, trying to do things and make it right in the saddest way possible. And even that brief, like illustrate, like as it's done from dialogue secondhand. I immediately buy the fact that that body sitting in that football stadium is a remorseful and sad person that doesn't know who he is anymore. I thought it was brilliant. So I'm going to come back to what you Speaker 3 (14:02) said, but there's a reason why you almost couldn't do Falcon like that. Because Falcon has to be a sidekick first. Speaker 1 (14:08) Yeah. Speaker 3 (14:09) And so I thought it would have been, when you mentioned it this way, they could have probably done something closer to this. But the problem for Falcon is, there's an... A line in Captain America Civil War where Falcon goes, like, basically I go where he goes just a little bit slower, right? Or he goes, people that shoot at you tend to shoot at me, right? He has to lean into the fact that Captain America is his better. He has to. So, like, when you're doing that, those are always tougher mantles to pass, like Robin the Batman and stuff like this. This one, the tension of... These guys being each other's equals is what makes the show. The tension is that they're telling me to be your sidekick or your trainee, but I'm not. Like, I'm better prepared. I'm more naturally gifted. I'm better in every way than you. Except he's not. there's still something that he has to learn. Speaker 1 (15:09) And the Speaker 3 (15:10) entire Rushville saga was him coming to terms with that. Speaker 1 (15:14) To Speaker 3 (15:14) what you're saying is the reason why they can't let go of Rushville is because they're not finished. They're not finished. There's still something there that they haven't gotten to the bottom of. The entire town has had to move on because they had to rebuild, right? Or not. Or not rebuild. But for those two guys, even what... John is trying to do now, which is provide people with a place of protection and a place where they can go where no one can harm them. He's still doing hero work. But he failed as a hero in Rushville. So the reason why he would get in his car and drive right back there is because he knows that there's still something there to do. Speaker 1 (15:54) Really quick, if we go back to the beginning of the episode, they say something that, like, if you're reading Absolute Batman, kind of perked up my ears. Where John calls the panic rooms that he's creating arcs. And I was like... Is Jon Stewart going to create Arkham Asylum? Because in the absolute Batman universe, Speaker 2 (16:17) it's Speaker 1 (16:18) like Ark M, Ark B, Ark whatever, whatever, for all of these prisons. And I was like, don't tell me a black man is building a prison. You know what's funny? Is Speaker 3 (16:28) that Speaker 4 (16:28) this Speaker 3 (16:29) world, this show, is going a very long way to get us into Batman. Speaker 2 (16:37) They chronically acknowledged him now. They have officially acknowledged him. Ripped Speaker 4 (16:41) off Speaker 3 (16:41) the bat guy in Gotham. Speaker 4 (16:42) Ripped Speaker 3 (16:42) off the bat guy in Gotham. You see the signal in the sky. Gotham leads to part of our mystery here. So our Batman exists and is already getting busy. Where is he, Speaker 4 (16:55) though? Speaker 3 (16:55) I'd love to see him. Speaker 4 (16:57) We'd love to be a part of that someday. But Speaker 3 (16:59) already getting busy. It's that's already there and out there and in the world. It was Speaker 1 (17:05) very interesting. I was like, is that something that y'all wrote like two or three years ago? Or they saw them absolute Batman trade selling and they're like, we are going to call these arcs now. Okay. I mean, they got a Speaker 4 (17:16) show coming, right? Like they got the absolute Batman show. Hopefully they save, save that for that. To your point though, about like how leaving a big hole in this episode. It's crazy how much oxygen Kyle Chandler takes up and doesn't take up. Yeah. Speaker 1 (17:32) And Speaker 4 (17:32) the sense of, obviously, you miss him when he's not there, but when he is there, like, all he does in this episode after dying is come back as a hologram and say, son of a... And I rewound that, like, four or five times, and I was like, this is great. Yeah, it's amazing. It Speaker 1 (17:48) was amazing. This is not my take. I saw somebody on social media, sorry, I don't remember the handle, where they were like, I love... what they've done with Hal's ring because Hal has all these little tricks for it like it's a beat up old car that only he knows where it's like in the last episode he chips part of it to get the hologram or we have a callback and I love when a show does this where I think it was in the first episode where it teaches John how to do the like boom trick and the minute he does it again I was just satisfied I was like you know what Speaker 3 (18:25) You fucking did Speaker 1 (18:26) it, bro. You know what that Speaker 3 (18:26) reminds me of? It's like I had a homeboy, like basically a brother who was in law school. This guy's brilliant. Yeah. He's brilliant, right? Goes to Morehouse, then to Stanford. I think the year that he went to Stanford, he had the highest LSAT score in the country for anybody that was black or something like that. He's Speaker 4 (18:51) literally Speaker 3 (18:51) a brilliant guy. Brilliant guy. Speaker 3 (18:54) and goes there and I'm like, what is it like being a first year at Skadden? Like he goes to Skadden Harps, Meagher's and whatever the fuck it is. And he goes, well, they're teaching me how to be a lawyer. He's like, law school is where you learn the rules of this. Undergrad is where you get weeded out for it. And then when you go there, they teach you how to be a lawyer. They teach you what it actually is. But you learn from people who have instincts, who have developed all different types of tactics and ways and things like that. Those are the things that your parents cannot give you when you are training to be the Green Lantern since you're a baby. Your parents can't teach you the small things to do. Your parents can't give you some of the things that Hal does. Sometimes it seems like naturally when they're sitting at the table, they're going back and forth. John overpowers Hal physically, but Hal still bests him mentally. Hal still is able to get a rise out of him. Hal is the experience of being in as many firefights as he's been in as Green Lantern still matters. Speaker 4 (20:01) That part is interesting. I wanted to... ask you guys about this because we've talked about, like we've had many theories over this course of episodes. You guys have convinced me Noah is definitely a man. For sure. Come on. Did Hal get a rise out of John on purpose? Because talking to Bernadette, or Bernadette calls John, tells him that they've been talking. He goes to Hal and Hal I mean, Hal's like not the friendliest guy to John, but this was nuts. He was calling, excuse my language, mother. He was calling him a pussy. Yeah. Like, you can't do that. Speaker 2 (20:43) I am thoroughly convinced that Hal knew he was going to die that night. Yeah. And he called upon John or he made John's mom call him to get him there and probably go to him on to at least punching him so that he'd be invested in what happens to him next. Speaker 1 (20:58) I think Jordan knew, A. They didn't find the real Manhunter or there's another one. I agree with you. That night, it seems like Hal had come back to Rushville, not necessarily to repent, but to restart the investigation. And the only person that he trusts to restart the investigation in case he dies is John. And that's why I think John knows that. And I was like, oh, that's fascinating where it's like, because, uh, spoiler alert carol comes back uh what's her what's her name in the uh in the comics the villain oh uh oh Speaker 2 (21:40) shit Speaker 1 (21:41) she's uh she's got the the purple shit whatever but when carol says something to john essentially where she's like he really liked you and i think this was an episode where i was like oh the reason how was so difficult on john was because he knew That not only one day would he be the Green Lantern, he'd be a better Green Lantern. And it was also fascinating, this episode made me think about the conversation they had two episodes ago about how lonely this job is. Because the entire episode, it is Jon having to realize, my father needs me, my mother needs me, my brother needs me. But I also need to be the Green Lantern. Star Sapphire. Star Sapphire. You know, I Speaker 3 (22:25) also thought something about the table scene was interesting in that his final words to Zoe. Speaker 3 (22:35) were that John, if he knows one thing about John, he's not a coward. He's not a coward. Yeah. Meanwhile, his final words to John before John went crazy was that he is a coward. Speaker 2 (22:47) So Speaker 3 (22:48) he says, there's one thing I know about that boy. That boy ain't no coward. He's not scared. Then he tells him, you are scared. So what is he doing? What game does he play? Which thing does he believe? Does he believe that Jon Stewart is afraid of only becoming the Green Lantern? Could that be something? In the back of our minds, has Jon's hesitance to take the ring not been from some sense of altruistic morality, but from the sense that he knows that this is the last thing that really sets him apart from his family? and actually sort of codifies the idea that he is chosen, which is basically a jab that his entire family takes up the entire time. Is there a reason why he's scared to do it? He has no fear of anything else except for that. Is the fear actually becoming like Hal Jordan? That isolated, that alone, that nihilistic, Speaker 2 (23:53) you know Speaker 3 (23:54) what I mean? Because even the version of John that we see now, over the course of this episode, he just gets more and more and more human. He seems to be more engaged with people until he does something that even surprised me. When I saw, I thought he was going to find a way to get the ring off of his finger while he was sitting right there. But him legitimately digging somebody up. Speaker 2 (24:21) Yeah. Speaker 3 (24:22) and then getting the ring off their finger. Like, I was like, shit, he's going the extra mile. Gotta make it Speaker 1 (24:27) look good. I mean, but don't you think how deep down new he's like. The thing that will get John to do what I need him to do is to poke at him. Because I don't think that his last words to him were a mistake. I think Hal knows it's reverse psychology. If he tells John, I believe in you, you were destined for this, John's still going to hem and haw. If he goes to John, you're still afraid, that is the thing that John's going Speaker 3 (24:58) to Speaker 1 (24:58) be like, man, Speaker 3 (24:59) fuck you. I also think that in that scene, there's a possibility that he could have been challenging him on the thing that he actually is afraid of. I agree with what you're saying, but he also could just be saying, here, I'm holding the mirror up to you. Speaker 1 (25:14) I'm Speaker 3 (25:15) about to be gone. This is the last thing that you're going to have to