Lanterns Episode 2 Reactions and Breakdown | Sinestro, Manhunters & The Conspiracy Gets Bigger

Sinestro Appears And Hits Hard

SPEAKER_01 0:00

In this episode of Lanterns, we had a green construct bird, and most interestingly for me, an interplanetary jailbird Sinestro. We saw him brash. Apparently, they used five different colours on Ulrich Tomlinson before they agreed on this original shade of pink. It's an older Sinestro than what we're used to seeing in any kind of media. I mean, Mark Strong did it in 2011 in that horrible uh Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern spin-off, but Sinestro is here. I love that movie. Brother, that is a hot take. But Sinestro's here, Brad. Sinestro is here. Did you get the creepies? Did you get the willies when you saw him?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

No, because interesting, interesting, interestingly enough, for me, Sinestro was probably the least shocking part of that show of the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

For me, it was a long-awaited arrival. I was waiting to see how he'd be included.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

I think like, well, either way, like I thought they'd probably wait weeks until they sort of introduced sort of this kind of stuff. So surprisingly, for me, like they just did it, they did in episode two. Same with Hal wearing the suit, like fully wearing the suit and everything like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I had a physical reaction to that.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Him recharging his ring with saying the um motto, like I thought we'll get those payoffs a lot later, and I'm actually really glad that it didn't do that, because now we've gotten that out of the way. We can focus uh the more focus can you put on the story. One thing I will say about the waiting for to for the anticipation of all this other stuff to come, yeah, because people will lose interest. Because they're they lose they're trying to wait, we're wait, they're waiting for like him to actually wear Green Lantern, like the actual suit. Yeah, we're waiting for him to say the motto, waiting for him to do like this, we're waiting for Snatcher to come into it, like all of these things we're waiting for. If they had waited right to the very end, I reckon people will start losing traction of the actual show.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah. Well, it's good that they're slow drip feeding us all this exciting stuff, but going back to that thing you said about the lantern when he's recharging his lantern ring, like he could not have gotten out of that lantern faster. Like he said that it's such unfavour. It was like a like a bad one-night stand. He needed to get in and get out just really quickly.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Two things that like that that thing. It could have been like what I said last time, how he's distancing himself from the guidance, which that's what that's what it's seeming like. Two, it could be because he probably has to do that like every few days. Yeah. And after doing it for 30 years, because in like 2016 he's been a Green Lamp for 30 years. Like, I mean, sorry. Like, at this point, like at this point, can I just abbreviate this shit? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:36

I don't know. Because working at schools, I hear kids sing the national anthem with as much pride as we did in the 1990s. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Yeah, but they're they're new to it. Imagine having imagine having to sing in the Australian anthem for 30 years straight, ever like every couple days.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Loves his country, everybody loves his country. But we're gonna talk about this and more.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Like saying anything, saying anything like over and over again for 30 years, like you get to a point where you're like, yeah, I just need to retype a ring. Okay, let's get this over and dumb again.

SPEAKER_01 3:07

Yeah. We're gonna talk about this and more on this episode of the Phantom Portals Podcast.

Early Payoffs Keep Viewers Hooked

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Welcome to the Phantom Portals Podcast, the show that proves that your biggest pop culture movie has something to teach you. I'm Aaron, a teacher and a film fan, joined by Brash. Brash, if you if it wasn't kept in, Brash found a dead rabbit. But we're gonna move past that. It was at his job. He didn't just go out and find it. But today what we're doing is we're doing a reaction and breakdown of episode two of lanterns. And we started talking about Sinestro before, and I think the most interesting thing for me about Sinestro was the fact that one, Hal Jordan put on his nice Green Lantern suit to go and see him, whether he wanted to impress him or not, I'm not too sure. Or whether he required it for space travel, that's up in the air. But the other thing was Sinestro wasted zero time like messing with, hazing with Hal in terms of the words he chose to use. And I know that the showrunners in the companion podcast have said that Sinestro is supposed to be like a wise word user where he's gonna weasel his way in to try and get the reaction he needs out of Hal. And that is very reminiscent of Sinestro in the comics, but he's also using his greatest weapon against Hal there, where he's you know, he's talking to him about, you know, no hello, uh, it's been so long, reaffirming that connection that they have, but then straight away presenting Jon Stewart as the enemy that he really should be concerned with instead of the manhunters was very manipulative. What do you reckon, Brash? Okay, spot on. I don't know, man. Jon Stewart is he's a good dude, and he's presented no, that's what they want you to think. Oh, conspiracy nut. Here we go.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

No, no, no, no, but no, sorry, because in in the in animation and comics and that Jon Stewart is generally like a straight up good dude. What if this and but because this is so many things have like they've patchwork so much uh different things from different comics and different from different times, different eras, like it essentially this is a retelling of what Green Lanterns are. Jon Stewart, yes, he is a hundred percent a good dude, but I think because in the in the comics and especially the newer comics now, Jon Stewart has the ability to create shit without the ring.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

He's primarily the only Green Lantern who can do it. There are a couple others who can sort of slightly do it, but John is the best at it. He's also the best at creating sentient beings. The first person to create sentient being though was Hal Jordan, who created this monster to distract his missus so she wouldn't propose to propose to the Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan. So anyway, that's the whole thing. If he creates a thing, gets hit in the head with a like a some sort of plane, like a toy plane or some shit, and gets knocked out. And while he's knocked out, he said chip p and goes on a rampage. And then when he wakes up, he gets rid of it. But um, so like like they're they've probably taken they've taken all that into what the new John uh John Stewart is now in the re more recent comics, where he is where he can create con constructs and stuff like that and stuff like that without the ring. He can create sentient things, other sort of yeah, Green Lanterns can dabble in that sort of stuff as well, but they've so focalized him being that core person because he even ended up being like the first like Alpha Lantern, or not the first Alpha Lantern, but he becomes like a guardian, the first mortal guardian.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Oh he's the big dog.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yeah, so he like John Stewart's a big deal. Like how like how Jordan will always forever remain the greatest Green Lantern ever. But John Stewart's debate on that too.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Because I think it's generational.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

If you asked somebody, no, you can't take that title. He no, he was he's literally being given that title in the comics. Yeah, I know, but if you're talking about fan reactions in terms of that, you could say who is the like fan fan reactions are fine because yeah, some people like other Green Lanterns better, but you're currently like wrong, like everyone has their own opinions.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Like, so what makes you think that he would be the greatest threat to Hal Jordan then, as Sinestro quotes in this episode of Lanterns, like greater than the Manhunter's threat?

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Because I think they're they're using his current power levels, so the fact that he can create stuff without rings.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Okay. Um his sheer power level you think Sinestro is looking at.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

I'm trying to try I don't want to butcher it. I'm sorry for anyone who does really know the comics really well. He has like the like the power of the will internally, so that's why he's able to keep the bird alive the whole time. And I I believe that's where they're pulling that power from is from the more recent comics when he has that power. And and I I was a bit skeptical because when he gets knocked out and stuff like that, and then when he has to go through the thing, I thought I was thinking in DD terms. I'm like, man, his constitution must be through the fucking roof. Yeah, because I'm like, like, I'm like, as soon as you're knocked out in DD, like that's it, your concentration's over.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Like that's very true as well, because he did maintain that whole thing through an episode of obviously unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Running, jumping over cars and shit, getting a big thing. Yeah, physical fatigue, all of that stuff. Getting a genocide implanted into his mind, which we'll talk about later. But um uh but the thing is, I don't know what's it, you know how like you know how um in that South Park episode when they're like, Oh, Simpsons did it. Yeah, yeah, Hal Jordan did it. He got knocked unconscious, and his sentient creature went on a rampage. Like um, I uh John Stewart, I think, has more control over that than what Hal would.

Jon Stewart As The Real Threat

SPEAKER_00 8:37

And I think the how that they're portraying right now is a very like I've I've heard the word jaded thrown around a lot. Yeah, but for me, I think it's just tired.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

I think so too, and I think he's carrying a lot of baggage because if we're talking about his mentorship, I wouldn't say it's terrible because he's obviously trying in a particular way. I think he's putting in like I actually don't think he's being negligent in his mentorship. I think he's his ring. No, I I don't think so. I think he's not being that negligent. I think he's actually giving John the lesson he feels like he needs because I I don't think they would put Hal into this position and present him to us as an audience as somebody who isn't capable of teaching a new lantern. I think he's very capable, but I think he's just gone through a lot. And the lessons he's teaching him are kind of like a Mr. Miyagi has a purpose that will be revealed kind of later. Like the reason he's being so cold and jaded to him is to see if he can progress through wanting to do this despite significant challenges. Like, how hard would it be to continue to do probably one of the hardest jobs in the galaxy when the person who's supposed to be training you doesn't want you around? Like that would just add an additional bone. And maybe it's also because Hal is emulating the kind of feelings that the public might have based on the decisions that Green Lanterns make. Because not every choice you make is a Green Lantern is going to be popular with everybody, so he's got to get used to people not liking him for the things that he's doing and being praised for being a Green Lantern isn't always something that happens. So perhaps Hal is sort of training him down that particular route. But I actually genuinely think he was surprised when John constructed the bird for one, because you can see the look on Carl Chandler's face when he manifests it. And when he keeps it up afterwards, he takes a beat and he looks at that bird and he sort of stops for a minute, but then he kind of reels back into the hazing mentor where he's just like, keep it alive for this long, and when you come back, it better be alive, don't fail, you know. So he he knows that that's an incredible feat. And we will go into later how John kind of expected a little bit of praise for it when he found out that, but that just really prompted the point to me that Hal was trying to not show that John was as impressive as he was, because perhaps he feels like through his career as Green Lantern he's going to get lots of praise, and you need to be humble in the way that you deliver yourself in this hero's role.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, I I I agree. I think he's trying to temper any sort of ego building into John while he's training because especially with when it comes to Green Lantern, everything is based off their emotions.

SPEAKER_03 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

So as soon as you lose focus, like Sinestro, after he tried to be a dictator on his planet, and then when it was found out, was tried to attack and destroy the Guardians, which he almost did, and also when you get when you got caught and then get sent into the void space, and he sat there and said they that he was afraid for the first time that this was it for him, and he was able to create and create the first yellow ring and the yellow lanterns from that time, meaning that John, not trained properly, and any sort of shift in his emotional state, especially as powerful as he is, especially how powerful he is, could potentially be very, very, very bad.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

And when we move, when we go on to sort of the other characters we saw in this episode, I'll I'll save why and I'll save why Sinestro's

Hal’s Baggage And Mentor Method

SPEAKER_00 12:06

right.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yeah. Okay. So for me, I think Sinestro is is playing a bunch of mind games with Hal because he he knows him the best. And when Hal was faced with this dilemma, this 48-hour time clock that they now have on their hands, because this other alien race led by Anton wants the manhunter tracked down and it has tasked Jon Stewart to do it, or a big massive explosion is going to happen. The first thing he did was put on that suit and go and visit Sinestro in the intergalactic prison. And he kind of did it in secret too, because you saw him sneak out of the hotel room, look over his shoulder, and then sort of take off silently into the night and fly off to that planet. And Sinestro is there telling him, you know, he didn't seem surprised, but I almost saw for the first time, and Carl Chandler played it brilliantly, that how Jordan looked vulnerable in that state, because he walked into a whole room full of people in that courthouse and was not nervous at all, presented himself and all of his opinions in front of everybody, didn't care that he was interrupting proceedings at all, but he was in front of one man, Sinestro, in that prison cell, and he was almost like cowering or looking meekly at his former mentor. And I'm wondering if he's there asking for help, or he's honestly there asking for information, is what we got at the end of this episode when he said, What do you know about manhunters? But I think maybe it's almost like a father-son situation where he's kind of lost and he needs a little bit of guidance, and Sinestra was the last person to give him that.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So Well, I I think it I I I think it's him just because he's he's like the his mentorship, this mentorship sort of probably got like thrust upon him.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

And he didn't want to. But so now, but now he doesn't because he's probably by the looks of it, he's been out of the game for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, he hasn't worn the suit for a while.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Yeah, like probably. So I think when he's like, What do you know about Manhunters? And like I think Hal's probably like heard of it, but doesn't actually know anything about it. So when he's like, Oh, what do you have? He's like, Where'd you hear that name? And when sort of John couldn't give him like because John like John knows exactly what they are, he got them genocide, put to his head. Yep. So he he know, like, he knows more than what he told Hal about Manhunters, realistically. Hal. I think Hal has no idea. And when he's like, it's above your pay grade, he was like, because when John was asking more about it, and he's like, nah, it's above your pay grade, and then John flashed the bird thing event. I think it was generally because Hal has no idea, but doesn't wanna doesn't wanna come off as like being a mentor who doesn't know anything.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

So that's when he's like going in secret to find out the information and then present it like a new it all along.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Because he has no idea, and he doesn't want to go to oh I just want to talk to the guardians about it because he he I think they're at the end of the day. I think they've had a relationship breakdown, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

He also he wasn't gonna go to the guardians. Also, probably just want to tip his hands because I think when he's talking to John in the bar about Abbansur, and he's like he's saying there's more to his death than him like that. And when he was saying the first things that like he said to him, and then he's like, I couldn't really make out the rest because I couldn't really understand language. That's bullshit. He had the ring, he can understand all languages.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

So, or you could understand Abansur's language. I reckon Avan Sur spoke about the manhunters to him and said one escaped, and I think that's who killed Avansur and who crashed his plane was the uh was a manhunter. And he has to be how that's the that's the Green Lanton who came and took and captured the manhunter on the planet that Anton comes from that caused Holocaust genocide on his planet. Green Lantern came, got the manhunter, went to leave. Somehow the manhunters escaped, mortally wounded Abensor, they crashed, landed, the ship was fucked, so couldn't obviously uh steal the ship and escape anywhere, so he's like, oh shit. Fucked. I'm gonna have to lay low. I'm gonna have to lay low. I crashed in Rushville, or whatever the fuck it's called.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

And I have to lay low. So he's the manhunter has stayed in Rushville the whole entire time. That's technically where Hal found Abatsouras in Rushville in the comics. I'm not sure if in the in the show they've stated where he found him.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Yeah, he said it was 20 miles away from where they're currently sitting when he was in the bar in Rushville. So it isn't that.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

So I reckon the manhunters the manhunters left the ship before Hal got there and found Amatura and got the ring, and has been hiding out in Rushville ever since.

SPEAKER_01 16:30

Yeah. And online are very torn about who the manhunters are.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

That's why he he gave himself that uh the thing to say, oh, if everything happens in Rushville, let me know.

SPEAKER_03 16:41

Like the hay.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

The Hal Lagram. The Halogram. But I think once I think Hal got a bit wary of the Guardians because I think he he doesn't know a lot about Manhunters, and any I think he's tried to ask about it to the Guardians, and they keep brushing him off. And I think he's sort of located bits and pieces that prove that like the Guardians were involved, and that's why he's sort of distancing himself from the Guardians now, and that's why he said to John, you haven't told the Guardians, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:12

Well, that's an interesting an interesting point as well to me because both John and Hal seem to be operating this investigation without the knowledge of the Guardians to the point where we know Hal has a strained relationship with them. But John was supposed to be their callboy, pretty much. Like they want him to be the next Guardian. They've obviously been in contact with him to be the next Green Lantern to train under Hal. And in this episode, John says a really important line that really resonated with me. He goes, When when Hal asked him if he said this to any of the Guardians, he said, I report to you, which I think is like the start of them starting to trust each other. And John seeing the chain of command, not only because he respects the chain of command, but also he starts to see that there's a little bit of a disconnect between what the guardians perceive as being correct and also what Hal might perceive as being correct. And I also think that perhaps this alien race that's led by Anton that captured John in this episode may have more in common and their ambitions might be aligned with the Lanterns, including Hal, more so than probably the Guardians are in this moment as well. So I think that was very interesting to see that both John and Hal were kind of against the Guardians, but then also Anton and his alien group were acting outside of the Guardians as well to try and find this manhunter who could be anybody in Rushville, Nebraska.

The Mansion, The Plant, The Loneliness

SPEAKER_01 18:34

And I reckon we could move on to talking about how like the loneliness of Hal as well, and how he's been disconnected from the Guardians, disconnected from the Lantern Corpse. And one interesting thing we saw in this episode was his house. Like John got sent to his house, and we met Earl, the carnivorous plant, which was pretty hilarious as well. But that that kind of gave me a little bit of a different opinion or a juxtaposed position about how, because he presents himself really simply in you know, jeans, old jacket, t-shirt, but then you look at his house and it's a frickin' mansion.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

As a gift. Well, so he says. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

But you know, if he's a simple guy and an Air Force pilot and he doesn't really care for authorities or the role of it or anything like that, and he's just kind of doing it and he doesn't like the prestige, as we kind of saw on the 60 Minutes interview, he's just like, I'm an average guy just like you guys, but I also live in a $30 million home and have a carnivorous pet as my in my backyard in a greenhouse, and there's 70 million chandeliers in my front lobby. But I'm just a regular guy like you guys.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Well, I I see I think he is. I think that that that mansion's more probably more of a safe house than anything else. I don't think so. Well, a place where he goes just when he's in town.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Well, it's not too safe because Anton and his bloody aliens came and abducted John from the front doorstep.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

They follow John though. But so like but like, see, his key for that place is in a fucking fake rock in the garden. Yeah, in a potato.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah, a smiling potato.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

And then inside the house, he literally has a TV, a garden chair in front of that TV. He's got a a bed or just seems more like just a mattress.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, no personal items. Well, there was a couple of photos with him and the Pope.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

No, him and the Pope, him and George W. Bush Jr., and the cast of Harry Potter.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

They were the three photos you saw in there.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

I think it was funny to go back to episode one where he's like Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts. He seems alien.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

He he seems like a Harry Potter fan.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

But yeah, next to his bed, he has two crates stacked up with a lamp on top with no lampshade, just the lamp. And then in his closet, he literally has three green rant Green Lantern uniforms and his mark and his face mask. Well, that means And Hal in his box.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

It goes back to what the sheriff was saying last episode as well, how Hal is lonely. And if you look into the signs that you've just talked about here, he's got like three suits in his wardrobe, no clothes or personal effects to see. There's no one really that he's connected to in terms of family or friends.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Like But see, I think it's I think that's more recent.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Do you think that's part of him distancing himself and cutting him off and becoming more detached after Sinestro? That's a very good point. At this point, that betrayal might have cut him.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Sinestro's in jail, which means Sinestro has already betrayed the Guardians, got sent away, came back as a yellow lantern, killed all killed a guardian and a lot of probably a lot of lanterns, and Hal's had to stop him. It's uh it seems like they're going down the same route because sometimes Sinestro isn't his sort of mentor, but it seems like they're going down the route that he was, in fact, Hal's mentor.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

I think it's widely known through the code. Yep, that's correct too.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Um so certain media, which are in certain comics, that's the case. But I think that's what they're leaning on, I think heavily.

Trust Builds After The Abduction

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Let's have a little bit of a chat about John in this episode. In this one, I feel like he goes on what is described as a middling errand where he He feels like Hal sent him somewhere to get him out of the way on a very important quest to collect a lantern, which is important to recharge his ring. But on the way there, he's obviously abducted by aliens. Not aliens. But as you said, like he's put he's gotten a genocidal or an act of genocide just put into his brain, and he's felt all the feelings of that as well. So he's now emotionally invested in finding the manhunters too. But the episode is titled Trustful, and I think that signifies the fact that Hal and John are starting to trust each other. But I feel like the biggest act of trust in this episode, and we kind of touched on it earlier, comes from where John came back to Earth, saw Hal, and then disclosed to him exactly what happened to him. Where I think what I expected when I saw that was for John to hold on to that secret for a little bit longer, you know, holding it close to his chest because it seems like these two have been adversarial, but it also seems like their goals have not been aligned. But I really liked the fact that these two spent most of the episode apart, but the showrunners gave us this really interesting thing in terms of a phone call where they were forced to act cooperatively because they weren't there to take over or for one to take control. They kind of needed to communicate well to each other to get the job done that they needed to do, even if it was as simple as, how do I get into your house? Where is this lantern? What do I feed your stupid pet? So the communication opened up, and then when he came back, he immediately disclosed, you know, we've got 48 hours or Nebraska's gonna get blown to smoothereens, and the manhunters are on the way. So I think John takes the trust fall because I think he desperately wants approval from Hal. And that might come to terms later because he acts really stoically and really like frustrated and dejected when he doesn't get something correct, or when Hal's doing his hazing when he opens the car, for example, and it's full of alien goo. He's just like really frustrated and annoyed at him. But I think deep down, John actually wants a little bit of praise and as he says, a hurrah from Hal for doing all the great things that he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, no, I I don't know. I also touched on when he was going in to get like fetch all the items and stuff like that. I saw a lot of people like saying, Oh, they put another quantum realm into the show, blah blah blah. When realistically, this one's the only one that really makes sense to have it because Sinestro teaches Hal how to create a pocket dimension to store his lantern in. So, well, in in some comics, sometimes some sometimes he hangs it has it as a backpack, and sometimes he has it in a store locker room at Paris. Um what was the thing he said?

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Mongo doesn't socialize or something or MOGO.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

Which is the name of a comic book, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

But also it's the name of a Green Lantern, I think it's the living planet.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Mongo is the living planet, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

That's actually in that comic book is actually also in that comic, I believe John is also officially made a Green Lantern.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

In that in that same comic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

So a couple of little Easter eggs to the comic book there as well. But what are your thoughts on John's attitude towards Hal? Do you think he's desperately seeking approval, or do you think he's legitimately frustrated at this entire situation, or could it be both?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Do you know what I hope? I hope this whole entire time when everyone thinks that they're playing John and Hal against each other, or they're playing John, or they're playing Hal, that at the end it turns out that John and Hal were fucking like this entire time and were just playing at being like at each other's throats so they could find out who the bad guys were around them by finding out who's like pitting them against each other. I actually think at the very end, when they all think that they've got John, like they're closing John, John's like, nope, fuck you guys.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah, I'm actually on Hal's side. I love this dude so much.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

But no, I I think Yeah, there was a there was a point where I I think I thought John may not give up the information. Yeah, but I think then but me then I when he did, I was always like, I was like, okay, this is uh this is good. Like this shows that John's starting to how Howard put it unclench.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah, good quote. Good quote.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

So and and I think that's John's biggest problem so far is the fact that yeah, and that and like he's a good soldier. Yep. But in saying that, John is also like probably the smartest Green Lantern there has been amongst all. Like he his like uh and that's what one of the things that sets him apart from a lot of the other lanterns is his constructs are so meticulously made, it makes them more like usually stronger than anyone else's constructs. The only person who could probably beat him in constructs would probably be B Hal, and that's just Hal has oh has famously has had more willpower than any other man.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Well, I think they're even more meticulously overwhelmed because he's obviously an architect and creates his from the inside out, so he there's more thought that goes into his exact in terms of what he's creating.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah, instead of just like a guy gardener, fucking baseball bat and like his area like more meticulous. So instead of getting hit with a green baseball bat, you're getting hit by a fully formed, probably perfectly accurate 50 cal rifle.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Like, yeah, so he his his contracts always have more brunt to them, and I think that's what Howe sees, and Hal's doing his best to try and train him, but Hal's training was pretty much learning. He figured it out on the job, yeah. Yeah, he did, yeah, he he just had to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Sinestro, but Sinestro was obviously. Not till later.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

So he has initially had to like he would have initially he initially would have had to I reckon, oh I believe, depending on how what they took from where they took it from, he would have had to initially learn what was going on. He probably asked the ring because the ring can talk, the ring technically can't talk. Um so he probably talked to the ring and discovered some things. Yeah. Um so I think Hal's that's why Hal's lean on the whole I just think of flight and I fly.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Like he's just natural call too.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, like he's probably he's probably because he's probably nearly never really he learned how to do a lot of things and then got some training after the fact, but he's never had to train anyone to be a first timer.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

So he's probably like, uh I mean I just I just flew and I I just think of flying and I fly. Yeah. And it's and he's like, whereas John, being the meticulous person he is, he thinks flight, and the first thing his mind goes to is something that he isn't he knows logically can fly, which is a bird.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah. Well, I think as well, I don't know actually whether whether there's any substance to this sentence that was said in the episode or not. But remember when Hal was like, What's with the bird? It's obviously something very significant to you. It comes from your internal will, for example, it's come from your consciousness, what is it? And John brushes that off, which I think is interesting because he literally just trusted him enough to share that the world might end from the manhunters. But when he asked, Hey, what's this personal thing, this connection to you? John was just like, No, I'll close up once once again. I will not share anything personal with you, it'll be all about the mission.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

And that's what I think makes John dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Because he doesn't share personal stories.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

No, no, no, because he's able to brush off, like if that was something that's deeply emotionally personal to him, and he's able to just go, Oh, it's nothing, it's just a bird, and squash it. Yeah, like that shows like it shows that he can't he's not good at showing his emotions. He's probably not good with empathy.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

That's a good point as well. Like, he's not good at expressing his emotions in a healthy way, he just and that has the potential then to bottle that can deviate from being a have it come out in a way that you don't really intend. So, yeah, that's interesting as well. I'll see how that pans out in the later series. I think there's definitely gonna come to a point where the two main characters, Hal and John, come to a head in some sort of collision. But yeah, we'll have to wait and see how

Who Is The Manhunter In Rushville

SPEAKER_01 29:53

it goes. All right, let's go into Brash's best theory for the week. What have you seen? What have you thought? If it was mine, the one I saw online was probably that people are wondering who the manhunter is or which person in Rushville, Nebraska the Manhunter is. Some people said, wouldn't it be funny if the whole entire town of Rushville were manhunters? And everybody's sort of playing against it. But I think it has something to do with the the McCones. But somebody else said, wouldn't it be funny if it was the sheriff all along? Like Sheriff Kerry.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, yeah, I've heard that too, but I I don't believe so, because she's from Gotham and her last name's Kane. But I think she's actually related to Batman.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

Cassandra Cassandra Kane is Batwoman.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Yeah, Kate Kate Kane is Batwoman.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

So I think that she might be either like I don't know, another cousin of Kate or a sister of Kate. And that'll be the time. I don't think people are saying, oh, she's Batwoman. I'm like, no, I don't think she's Batwoman. I don't think they're gonna make her Batwoman. Um, but I think she's gonna be closely tied because she is from Gotham. I think and she was on the phone to Gordon in episode one when they're walking to Sheriff's War because she's like, Oh, um, he was talking about um oh how's Barb or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Barbara Gordon. Good pickup. And she was saying that, oh, I can't disclose police business, you know that. Blah blah blah. So she must be talking to another personal forward. So she must have been. I I believe that she's talking to Gordon. Um, she knows Barbara. I think possibly she might have been working for GCPD at some point under maybe under Gordon, and that's how she knows Barbara as well. And I think that's possibly how she probably gets informed. Like, depending on because it's 2016, it all depends on when they're gonna fit Batman into it.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yeah, how old Batman is too, whether Batman's gonna be an age.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

So if if Batman was around in 2016, then potentially any information that she was able to get about Green Lantern, she probably got from Gordon, who probably got from Batman.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

But uh, because she's like, Oh, you were talking about Sinestro in your sleep. That that's sort of like like I mean, maybe like it's probably a deep trauma for very abrupt somebody who he doesn't talk about. But also in saying that, like, that's probably something that a cop would say if you're got a unconscious person and they're constantly yelling at Sinestro. Yeah, but like Sir What did he do to you Sinestro? And why are you talking to him about him in your sleep? Or more importantly, I guess that's gonna wait, and I think maybe on the phone, like she's going through her phone, so I think maybe she because Hal's probably out for a little while in that time of her saying him saying Sinestro, she's probably like done research, maybe got onto Gordon said, Hey, can you you ask your mutual friend what do you know about what you know about this person, blah blah and maybe got some information. Who knows? Good theory, brash. Good theory. Because yeah, because later on when you see Hal dead in the first episode and she's like hugs John. Still traumatized, and hugs John. They're very close. Yeah, it's close, and I think sort of maybe in this series she becomes like their gor their their Jim Jim Gordon.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Jim Gordon, yeah. Because he even asks about her son. Hey, how's Noah doing? Is he any good at football? That kind of thing. So I reckon it's gonna come to a point where they they rescue him in some way.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Oh, supposedly some way. But uh, your theory of the whole town being manhunters isn't too far-fetched. So, manhunters, when they go undercover, they usually try and create a cult.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

I believe that the manhunter is the benefactor for what's his face?

SPEAKER_01 33:17

McCone's estate. McCones. McCones.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

William. William McCone. William. I actually think William is not his real name, and I think even the actor said that the that William is pretending to be someone he's not. I reckon he's actually the blackhand. Because this has got to my theory of like what I've we've seen so far and what it seems like. I reckon I reckon they're heading towards the blackest night sort of scenario, yeah. Which comes after Sinestro's rampage and all that kind of stuff. So I reckon William's black hand, his wife, potentially, I did hear a theory of this, and I kind of like it, and it'd make it a little it makes sense. So his wife is actually Sinestro's daughter.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Oh yeah, might be a bit younger.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Who's also niece because in the comics he eventually imprint like when he becomes a yellow lantern, he imprints on her, so he's able to basically see what she sees and hear what she hears. So or he's a theory as well. Like and she also eventually, at some stage, be she becomes a Green Lantern first, but then becomes a yellow land. But she may in this straight up be just a yellow lantern and maybe undercover in that area because Sinestro knows more than he's letting on about both Black Hand, the Darkest Knight, or Blackest Knight prophecy that the Red Lanterns foretold, and both told Abansor, like the Red Lantern's told Abensor about his death, and they also told um Sinestro about the Blackest Knight, about the thing. And it just so happens that what the Red Lanterns did caused those things to happen. So who knows it was prophecy or them just playing mind games. But the other theory, the other theory I'll possibly the other one I'm molding around my head is the wife is the manhunter.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

Yeah, well that that's the sheriff too, as well.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

But no, no, no. I I'm talking about the wife that slept with um. Oh, you mean Zoe.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Zoe.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

So I think Zoe is either Sunestro's daughter or or she possibly could be the well, she's kind of done nothing in the series at the moment besides, you know, obviously be a foil to John. She's done everything in this information. No, I don't. She is pitting John against Hal. I think she's saying, Oh, she's like, Oh, do you trust him? And she's he's like, Oh, I'm not sure. And she's like, Well, if that's how you feel, then that's what you answer it. Then you already know your answer. Yeah, well, look, she happens, she just happens to be at the bar, sitting down the bar while Hal goes off and has a fight, and then emotionally and then sexually gets involved with him, and then just happens to be at the cafe when he rocks up back into town, goes in a cafe, and tells him not to trust, no, tells him not to trust Hal. You might call it she is squirming her way around everywhere. And when she's talking to John, and John's like, Oh, why are you with McCone? She's like, Oh, she's like, I like this, I like the secure and the safety and all that kind of stuff. Who else is would be looking for safety and secure than a uh extra terrestrial alien who can perfectly pass off as human hiding amongst people who ate aliens and kills aliens when they come into town?

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Who can also create the technology though?

SPEAKER_00 36:33

The they can they said that they can perfectly assimilate into whatever species that they planet they're on. Oh, yeah, like for yeah, and they also have the ability to create technologies far superior than what is currently on those planets. So she can create maybe that's how she got she can create the tech who that can find out who's an alien that's in the metal detector. Maybe she is the benefactor. Maybe she's the benefactor. I think she's a benefactor, and I think that she might be using a proxy to go through to her husband, but she's actually the benefactor. And maybe she probably well that that's one of my theories.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

We'll save the next one because No, we can't.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

We're gonna end it.

Red Lantern Vengeance And Bigger War

SPEAKER_00 37:19

Anton is atrocitous.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Oh, he's too old for that, I reckon.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

No, not at all. He survived a genocide plant by a manhunter. He's gathered a bunch of people who've also gone through the same thing, and in the first episode, when that alien blows himself up, they're like, Why are you here? And what does he say? The one word he says Vengeance. Revenge. Yeah, so vengeance. And what are the red lanterns? Redans are the lanterns of vengeance. Oh, but Anton may not be atrocitous, he may be like the like the right-hand man of Atrocitus, and we might see another person come through in as Atrocitus. But I firmly believe that those aliens that are on Earth trying to find the Manhunter are survivors of the genocides from Manhunters, and they are led by Atrocitus. So we have Red Lantern, we have the Black Hand, who's a Black Lantern, we have Sinestro who's a Yellow Lantern. Sinestro's Lantern, and we got the Green Lanterns. And there was also talk about possibly the wife, the wife I was thinking might be Sinestro's daughter or the Manhattan of Zoe. There has been speculations that she might be the what are they purple, pink lantern, purple lantern? Purple lantern? Love love violet?

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Well, that was Carol's one.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Yeah, Carol. She and they think that she is, I can't remember her name, that she is like sort of like the probably the second best known violent lantern, purple lantern, violent. I don't I don't know how much about those lanterns. Carol's one of them, and they're all about love and shit.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:48

I don't do love.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

There we go. On that, we will end this episode here of our reactions and breakdowns to episode two of

Weekly Breakdown Plans And Sign Off

SPEAKER_01 38:56

lanterns. If you're liking these breakdowns, we do one every week after the episodes come out. So be sure to like and subscribe on YouTube. And also, we have a bunch of Green Lantern content on our channel already that you can go and find if you click on our channel page. So go and check that out as well where we go into deeper dives and yeah, you can see all about the different characters that are appearing in the show Lanterns, but also who have appeared in many different places in comic book culture already as well. The DCU is expanding, and we'll be here next week to see episode three after a good old watch of lanterns from HBO. Thanks for joining me, Brash. Always. All right, we'll see you next time on the Phantom Portals podcast. Keep learning, keep growing, keep loving fandoms. We'll see you through the next bottle. Bye.