Lanterns Episode 4 Is the Best One Yet

4 min readMy father studied architecture in Japan, but for boring reasons he never finished his studies abroad. So I have never heard him talk about weenies before. Let me explain. (Please.)In the fourth episode of Lanterns, “The Weenie,” John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) tells Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) about “weenies,” an architectural term. It was coined by Walt Disney to mean eye-catching landmarks that a whole place—say, a theme park—builds around. Think of Sleeping Beauty’s castle and how the rest of the Disney parks sprawl out of it, to use Stewart’s own example. The castle is a weenie.Lanterns, too, has built a maze of mystery and intrigue from the biggest weenies on TV right now. The latest episode of the DC series on HBO gets the plot moving as Hal and John work together (or try to, anyway) to arrest Macon’s “Benefactor,” whom they are sure is the Manhunter, before aliens wipe out Rushville.Meanwhile, both scheme to outmaneuver the other. John is ordered by the Guardian, Lianna (Laura Linney), to take the ring from Hal, while Hal—in a Silence of the Lambs-esque chitchat with Sinestro—is advised to disgrace John by catching the Manhunter himself. For the next hour we’re left asking if these men will do their duty or seize moments of vulnerability to get what they want. Talk about weenies.Warning: Spoilers for Lanterns episode 4 ahead.While less thought-provoking than last week, “The Weenie” works like Stewart’s smooth schematics. It’s a plot-centric installment that feels like a necessary step forward after weeks of setup and one week dedicated to the main character’s backstory. All of which are necessary, yes, but it’s nice that the HBO superhero show actually has the good guys (using that term loosely here) doing what they should be: stopping bad guys.HBOWhile John Stewart plots to take the Ring from Hal, Hal also looks to secretly sabotage John’s ascendancy into a Green Lantern. Or at least, we’re led to believe.With the clock ticking until John can give the Manhunter-hunting aliens what they want, he pinpoints where they start: Macon’s compound, with its conspicuous guard towers and a chopper with a strict schedule to land there every so often. (The “weenie,” once again.) From there, Hal and John work like a team—as close as these men let themselves be, anyway—as John cooks up a plan to get in until they’re caught by Macon’s security. The episode sorta washes and repeats itself, with the two Lanterns spending a whole chunk of the episode making their way through bunkers and slaughterhouses before there’s violence in cars. (One explodes from a targeted blast traced by satellites; the other T-bones into a telephone pole. Tomato, potato.)It helps that the episode is peppered with small, unflashy but not unmemorable bits where our heroes flex their stuff. John’s knowledge of sniper parts and smartly second-guessing the Benefactor’s motives, and Hal freaking John out by intimidating the daylights out of the Benefactor’s decoy (which, let’s acknowledge, one of the head creatives on Lanterns is ex-CIA officer turned comics writer Tom King)—this is a masterclass in how vivid character writing can still be an important piece in plot-heavy episodes.Honestly, I could just spend this recap pointing out every single favorite moment sandwiched into this episode. And I will: Ulrich Thomsen crushing it as Sinestro; Hal asking John if he “worried about me” (with Chandler’s perfect grin and upspeak delivery), which John swiftly tops with a surprisingly self-aware joke about being barred from Disneyland; Laura Linney’s Lianna poking John’s emotional wounds to force him into taking the Ring; John learning that Hal doesn’t think he’s creative, so he—a formally trained fine artist—conjures up an original drilling machine; both agreeing that Raiders of the Lost Ark rocks; John and Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) having one of the richest “pillow talk” scenes I’ve seen in a minute; Hal reaching for Kane’s shaking hands; Garret Dillahunt in general; “One of them’s a fucking squirrel.” And the neon signs pointing towards Zoe as the Manhunter until the show basically does it for us.So, let’s talk about that: Is Zoe dead? Hard to survive an explosion like that, but I’m just not convinced. In her talk with John, she tried to get him to leave Rushville, only for him to stubbornly refuse. (“Damn,” they both say.) Let’s pretend for a moment that Zoe is actually the Manhunter. Faking her death feels like an order for John to get out of this place. But as good as John may be at taking orders, as Hal observes to Sinestro, you also can’t bullshit him.But as much forward movement Lanterns makes this week, it ends up back at square one. Hal pulls another stunt to leave John behind in a moving car—an echo of what he did back in the first episode—as Hal apparently decides to do what he can to sabotage John’s ascension. After getting John to set a meeting time with the aliens, he lets John crash into a pole, with Hal presumably going off on his own to meet with John’s contacts. We’ll see how Lanterns picks up from here next week, but until then, we can all agree: Hal’s such a weenie.