For the purposes of the Green Lanterns’ case at hand, the important thing is that they now know who the Manhunter is.
asserted
Manhunter → know → hand
First off, it’s not anything or anyone in Will Macon’s weenie — as John explains, a Walt Disney–coined term for a building around which the rest of a property is designed.
asserted
rest → ’ → property
In this case, the weenie is a highly guarded warehouse…that Hal and John practically walk right up to thanks to an incredible, fully functional drill that bores a perfect underground tunnel to their target.
asserted
that → guard → target
It’s not Will Macon himself.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
His behavior after his men use weapons that “shoot darkness” to subdue the ring-bearer and his trainee is certainly bizarre: He strips naked and has John sketch him nude in some kind of nearly literal dick-measuring contest.
asserted
John → use → contest
John and Hal are rescued by Sheriff Kane (in the comics, Kane is an important name in the sheriff’s native Gotham City), who warns them Macon will keep coming for them.
asserted
Macon → rescue → them
So does Zoe.
asserted
Zoe → do → ?
Macon’s sultry wife shows up at John’s motel room for another roll in the hay.
asserted
wife → show → hay
As they make pillow talk afterwards, she all but admits she’s the Manhunter, saying she cured Macon’s illness, something Macon attributed to the Manhunter earlier on.
asserted
Macon → make → Manhunter
But the moment she drives away from the motel, she’s obliterated in her car by a laser from the sky.
asserted
she → drive → sky
With a little help from Hal’s power of flight, they track the satellite that fired the shot to Hector Hammond (Jason Manuel Olazabal), a high-tech slaughterhouse impresario.
asserted
that → track → Hammond
Yes, this is a career that exists in the DC Universe.
asserted
that → exist → Universe
Hammond claims to be the Manhunter and threatens to obliterate John’s family with one of his satellites, until Hal calls his bluff, forcing him to reveal he’s not a Manhunter at all.
uncertain
he → claim → him
Hell, his last name’s Gutierrez, not Hammond, who’s a mainstay of GL’s rogues gallery in the comics.
asserted
who → ’ → comics
The truth comes out, rather rapidly.
asserted
truth → come → ?
The biggest truth bombs are yet to come.
asserted
bombs → come → ?
Before his ruse is exposed, Hector plays a recording of a conversation John had earlier with the Guardian.
asserted
John → expose → Guardian
She reveals to John that Hal broke an oath and visited his disgraced and murderous mentor Sinestro in prison.
asserted
Hal → reveal → prison
He did so to find out information on Manhunters, and learns the one telltale sign that you’ve bagged one of the shapeshifting entities: Their hearts crystallize after death.
asserted
hearts → do → death
(Sure, this means you gotta kill first and ask questions later, but that’s life in the Corps, baby.)
asserted
that → mean → Corps
Sinestro also encourages Hal to preserve his job by betraying John, if he refuses to kill him outright, which to Hal’s credit, he does.
asserted
he → encourage → credit
The segment of the conversation Hector plays features John absolutely burying Hal, saying he’s old and tired and unworthy of the responsibilities of the all-powerful ring.
asserted
he → play → ring
All he has to do is take it, the Guardian says, and she’s already explained how: The moment Hal loans him the ring for practice, simply say the Green Lantern Oath and you’ll become the Green Lantern.
asserted
you → have → Oath
But John refuses to do it when he has the chance.
asserted
he → refuse → chance
He’s not that kind of guy, and that isn’t a weakness, as the Guardian alleges.
asserted
Guardian → ’ → guy
Maybe that makes him a bad space cop, but it makes him a decent person.
asserted
him → make → ?
Now all their cards are on the table, and that seems to break the logjam.
asserted
that → seem → logjam
The two men appear — appear — to sincerely work through some of their trust issues.
asserted
men → appear → issues
In so doing, Hal calls “Junior” out on one last secret he’s keeping: Zoe is the Manhunter.
asserted
Zoe → do → secret
That’s why he hasn’t been all busted up about her death — she’s not dead!
asserted
she → ’ → death
Hopefully John isn’t either, after Hal bails out of their rental car, crashing it, to end the episode.
asserted
Hal → bail → episode
Last week’s episode of Lanterns went way off course, but this week’s is back on track.
asserted
week → go → track
No heavy-handed flashbacks that needlessly complicate the relationship between Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
asserted
that → complicate → Jordan
No awkwardly shoehorning vital points about race in America into a level of emotional abuse that would normally qualify as a supervillain origin story, not a superhero’s.
asserted
that → shoehorn → story
(An early scene in this episode in which John is forced to smile his way through a nasty interaction with a couple of rednecks at a gun shop makes a similar point more effectively than turning his mother into Mommie Dearest.
asserted
John → force → Dearest
This week, you get a breakthrough in the Hal/John frenemy relationship, as the true motives and feelings of both men are now out in the open.
asserted
motives → get → open
You get a breakthrough in the case, as Hal and John agree that Zoe is the Manhunter.
asserted
Zoe → get → case
You see with your own eyes how devilishly clever and subtle and manipulative Sinestro can be, especially with his former star pupil, Hal, who shrinks back into a student around the rogue Lantern.
asserted
who → see → Lantern
You also see with your own eyes that Garret Dillahunt is in tremendous shape.
asserted
Dillahunt → see → shape
Finally, there’s the really strong buddy dynamic between Kyle Chandler’s dissolute Hal and Aaron Pierre’s “fucking boring” John Stewart, which plays like a True Detective pairing in the most complimentary way that can be meant.
asserted
that → ’ → way
…and 4 more, not listed.
