Lanterns Episode 8 Review and Ending Explained: Who Really Killed Hal Jordan?

The Lanterns finale brings John Stewart’s (Aaron Pierre) journey to a powerful turning point. By the end, he has become the Green Lantern, albeit not under the aegis of the Guardians of the Universe. Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) is still the official Green Lantern of Sector 2814 and Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) is still, sadly, dead. But the episode’s most devastating revelation is about Hal. After spending the season wondering who killed him, John discovers the truth is tied to the person who knew Hal best in Rushville: Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald).

Dirt and Stars gives Hal a glimpse of the life he might have had in Lanterns finale, then takes it away. It also reveals that Noah is, as we suspected, a Manhunter. The question before John is whether Noah can overcome the Manhunter programming that may drive him toward violence. All those threads converge in a subdued but moving finale. It is is most effective when it lets its characters sit with their emotions, including fear, guilt, and love. Some of its cosmic mythology is still being set up. But John’s choice to become a Lantern on his own terms gives the season a satisfying emotional finish to Lanterns (hopefully season 1’s ending only).

Lanterns Episode 8 Review: Hal and Kerry’s Lost Future Makes His Death Hurt

There is no question that as good as the other actors were in Lanterns, Kyle Chandler was on another level entirely. The man was an absolute force of nature, casually outdoing everyone around him. It is true even in the finale, where Hal is hardly there. He will be missed. The episode begins in the aftermath of Rushville’s devastation. Years later, Hal gets out of prison and Kerry is there waiting for him with beer. He is older, clean-shaven and genuinely happy to see her. The two try to build a life together, even as Hal worries that being with him will cost Kerry the town’s respect. Kerry stands by him and asks Rushville’s residents to forgive a man who has spent years regretting what happened.

Their relationship isn’t presented as a neat redemption in Lanterns finale. Kerry leaves after they sleep together because she isn’t ready to see Noah wake up alone. Hal, meanwhile, is still learning how to live with the damage he caused. These scenes give the finale’s later reveal real weight: Hal had finally started to imagine a future in Rushville before it was taken from him.

After an attack with Molotov cocktails, Hal wakes in a lab, where Noah (Shea Pritchard) has healed him using Manhunter technology. Noah asks him to keep the truth from Kerry. Hal follows Noah, discovers the portal and finds the devastated planet from Episode 7. That puts him on a collision course with Noah’s secret and the plan he has made with Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen). 

The Lanterns finale’s strongest scenes belong to Kerry, John and Noah. Noah’s fear of what he might become makes him more than a looming threat, while John’s refusal to treat him as one is the clearest sign of how far John has come. The episode does have a lot to resolve, and Sinestro’s fear-powered lantern opens another plot door just as the season is closing others. Still, the personal stakes stay in focus, and Pierre makes John’s final decision feel earned. I loved this show and I hope the storuy continues in second season.

Lanterns Episode 8 Ending Explained: Who Really Killed Hal Jordan?

Hal Jordan and John Stewart say their goodbye, one last time | Credits: DC Studios

Noah initially tells John that he killed Hal. It sounds like the answer John has been pursuing, but it is a false confession meant to protect his mother. Noah did save Hal after the attack and did not burn down the house. But when Hal discovered Noah’s Manhunter identity and the portal, Noah feared he would tell Kerry. The truth is that Kerry shot Hal.

Kerry explains that Zoe’s Manhunter technology healed her years earlier, and she later discovered she was pregnant. She raised Noah without knowing exactly what he would become, but she feared the answer. When Hal learned the truth, he wanted to leave with Kerry and Noah. Kerry disagreed, and in a moment of panic she shot him. She then called John, hoping he would uncover the truth and help her understand whether she had raised a boy or a danger to the world.

That’s why Kerry is so devastated when she admits what she did. She loved Hal, but she chose Noah’s safety over the life she might have shared with him. His death wasn’t the result of some grand cosmic battle. It came from a frightened, painful, and spur-of-the-moment choice made by someone who loved him.

Noah’s own choices complicate the question of whether he is destined to become a threat in Lanterns‘ future. He asks John to kill him after one last football game, afraid that his Manhunter programming will eventually take over. But he also saved Hal, gave up the ring and admitted what he believed he had done. John sees those acts as proof that Noah can still choose who he wants to be.

The Manhunters have a grim place in Green Lantern lore: the Guardians created them as a peacekeeping force, but a programming failure led them to massacre almost all life in Sector 666. Atrocitus was one of the few survivors, and his hatred of the Guardians eventually led him to create the Red Lantern Corps, powered by rage.  The show’s Noah is not simply repeating that history. His struggle is whether he can resist the purpose built into him.

What Does John’s New Green Lantern Oath Mean?

Noah frees Sinestro because he believes the former Green Lantern is the only person to have killed a Guardian. He wants Sinestro to forge him a lantern using material from the fear-soaked planet. Sinestro’s yellow energy is drawn from fear in the comics. Lanterns adapts that idea into a lantern that can charge John’s green ring.  John ultimately takes the lantern, but the choice comes at a cost: charging Hal’s ring will erase the Halogram, the stored version of Hal who has been guiding him.

Before the Halogram disappears, John asks what Hal would do about Noah. Hal tells him that he is ready and will be a better Green Lantern than Hal was. Their farewell gives John the closure he could not get from the real Hal, who died before they could fully repair their relationship.

John then rejects the traditional oath’s implication that a Green Lantern must be without fear. His new words accept that fear is part of the job, and that what matters is choosing to do what is right anyway. That choice reflects his break with the Guardians: he tells Guy Gardner that Guy can take the stars while John handles Earth as an independent contractor.

The finale ends with John reuniting with his family, charging the ring and taking flight. In the comics, the Lantern oath is a way to reaffirm a Lantern’s commitment; here, John writes his own to make clear that the commitment is his.  He isn’t accepting the role because the Guardians chose him or because Hal’s ring makes the decision for him. He chooses it himself, fear and all.

As of October 5, Lanterns has a 92% Tomatometer score.

What did you think of Lanterns‘ reveal that Kerry killed Hal. And do you agree with John’s decision to give Noah another chance? Share your thoughts about Lanterns finale in the comments!

Lanterns Episode 8 Review and Ending Explained: Who Really Killed Hal Jordan?