Lanterns Episode 7 Review and Ending Explained: Did Hal Jordan Take His Own Life? 

Lanterns Episode 7, the penultimate episode, is titled The Jordan Boys’ Legacy. It gives John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) another chance to talk to Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). Unfortunately for John, even a copy of his dead mentor can be an obstinate pain in the neck. The ‘Halogram’ stored inside the ring is a version of Hal from 2006. He has missed quite a bit, including the whole shebang at Rushville, prison, a relationship, and his own murder.

John needs him to open the vault discovered in Lanterns Episode 6. Hal wants to know how he died. But he insists on meeting Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) before helping. Their investigation eventually takes them away from Rushville and onto a planet littered with the bones of its dead inhabitants. But the episode’s most unsettling discovery concerns something Hal has carried since childhood. By the end, even he is wondering whether John is investigating a murder at all.

Lanterns Episode 7 Review: Hal Finally Lets John In

The episode opens in 1975. A young Hal is in trouble after refusing to give up the baseball during a game. His father, Martin Jordan, defends him and gets into a fight with the coach. Soon, father and son are nursing their injuries together. It is quite an adorable scene and illustrates the nature of the Jordans. It is easy to see why Hal would adore a man willing to do that for him. 

But there is something troubling beneath their affection. Martin gave Hal the key to his safe before he died. He explained that his own father did the same before him. He calls it the Jordan boys’ legacy. It initially sounds like a father preparing his son for the uncertainties of a dangerous profession. But it turns out to be much sadder once Hal explains what was inside. Only Hal knows his father killed himself. Others assumed his plane crashed, as test planes are wont to do. His father did the same and similarly left a note. That is the Jordan Boys’ Legacy. As Halogram notes, he was not fearless because he is brave. He is fearless because he is broken.

That opening also makes Hal’s treatment of John more interesting. Here is a man who remembers his father taking his side, yet has so often withheld even a little encouragement from his own protégé. The Halogram, however, is visibly impressed when John removes the ring, and the projection remains standing. John notices. Praise from Hal is unfamiliar enough to warrant comment.

The episode gets plenty of humor out of bringing these two back together. John’s attempt to embellish Hal’s funeral falls apart when he claims Mogo attended and stood beside him. Mogo, Halograml points out, is a planet. Death has apparently done little to discourage Hal from expecting a suitably grand reception.

Kerry’s reunion with him is more difficult. She can touch the man she has just buried, and does. But this Hal has no memory of loving her. For him, she is a stranger who might explain what became of his life. For her, he is someone she has lost. There is an awful imbalance in that conversation. His curiosity cannot give her what she needs. It is a heartbreaking scene featuring a great Macdonald performance.

I do think the episode puts considerable pressure on the finale. We are still following clues to Hal’s death, and the trip through the portal introduces more questions just as the season should be answering them. Nevertheless, bringing John and Hal together again gives this detour a purpose beyond withholding the killer’s identity. John can finally tell Hal why he resents him, and Hal can say something about himself without hiding behind another boast.

Lanterns Episode 7 Ending Explained 

After meeting Kerry, the Halogram decides she may have killed him. His suspicion rests on how she touched his face. It is guilt, he says, not just grief. We do know Hal’s gut was usually correct. But is this really Hal? But if Noah is a Manhunter as the theory goes, it may well have a kernel of truth. Hal agrees to open the vault. They leave without bringing Kerry along.

Inside are supplies: a backpack containing a canteen, a poncho, protein bars, and a handgun. There is also a black sphere that creates a portal (we have seen them in Lanterns Episode 4). John takes it to the remains of Rushville’s water tower, where they open a passage to another planet.

The world beyond is littered with bones. A deserted city hangs overhead. He recognizes the place despite never having visited it physically. This is Antaan’s homeworld. Its destruction was experienced by John through the memories forced into him in Lanterns Episode 2.

The Manhunter (Zoe Macon, we presume) unleashed a gas that terrified the inhabitants into attacking one another or taking their own lives. Seeing the city suspended above him helps John understand the people he remembers falling. They were jumping from it.

The danger has not disappeared with the population. While crossing the lake, John encounters the substance during a storm and hallucinates his father and his younger self. The familiar demand to prove he is unafraid becomes a potentially fatal ordeal. Halogram rescues him.

They eventually reach the structure on the island, with little charge remaining in the ring. Inside, a disheveled figure grabs Hal. The projection disappears, allowing John to punch the attacker, who is revealed to be Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen).

Sinestro recognizes John. Hal compliments his punch: “Great arm, kid.” It echoes his father’s words to young Hal. After an episode about what fathers pass down, Hal finally offers John the encouragement he has so often denied him.

Sinestro’s presence also connects two outstanding mysteries in Lanterns. Someone freed him from prison. Hal did keep a portal leading to the world where John now finds him. So was it Hal who helped arrange his escape? 

Why Does Hal Think He Killed Himself?

As mentioned above, during the journey, Hal reveals that his father died by suicide. The safe Martin left behind contained, among other things, a note describing pain he could no longer endure. He believed his family would be better off without him. Hal’s grandfather also died by suicide.

Hal has spent his life knowing what his father concealed, while presenting his own apparent fearlessness as something to admire. His confession suggests how much suffering that image has allowed him to hide.

John asks whether Hal now believes he took his own life. Kerry could have removed the gun afterward to protect his reputation. It is a possible explanation, but the episode does not confirm it. 

The Halogram’s limitations do matter here. He is drawing conclusions about a man whose final twenty years he did not experience. First he suspects John, then Kerry, and eventually considers suicide. 

What Lanterns does establish is how little John knew about the man he once wanted to become. Hal’s admission does not excuse his treatment of John. It does, however, make their final exchange more affecting. For once, Hal leaves John with a small expression of pride instead of another reason to feel inadequate.

Do you believe Hal’s death was suicide in Lanterns, or does Sinestro know something that will change the investigation? Share your theories in the comments.

As of September 28, Lanterns has a 92% Tomatometer score.

Lanterns Episode 7 is now streaming on HBO Max.

Lanterns Episode 7 Review and Ending Explained: Did Hal Jordan Take His Own Life?