Lanterns Finale Theories — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] As the most obvious culprit for Hal Jordan's murder been hiding in plain sight, are we going to see Hal get resurrected using Manhunter technology? And how the hell is this whole thing going to end? Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush, I'm Colton Otford, and the Lanterns finale is among us.

[00:16] It is coming, and all of our biggest questions will finally be answered. I hope. But before we get the finale, I thought it would be fun to go through some predictions and theories for how this whole thing could end. And obviously the biggest question going into this finale is who killed Hal Jordan?

[00:32] At this point, there are plenty of suspects. There's Carrie, Noah, the girl from the diner who's blackmailing John, and there's even the possibility that Hal took his own life. But what if we're overthinking this? What if the most obvious culprit has been staring us in the face this entire time?

[00:47] What if Sinestro killed Hal Jordan? Sinestro and Hal Jordan have a very long and complicated history. In the comics, Sinestro was once a Green Lantern himself, and he became a mentor to Hal Jordan before eventually becoming one of Hal Jordan's greatest foes,

[01:02] and the Lantern series has referenced that very history. But it's just that. History. Exposition. We haven't seen anything. We've only heard about it. I counted it too. Kill one of the bosses. You were the one who took him down.

[01:16] But with how this series has brilliantly used non-linear storytelling, it is not too late to see that Hal vs. Sinestro showdown that landed Sinestro in prison. You see, some have criticized this show for blowing past Hal Jordan's prime and introducing him at the end of his career.

[01:33] And I get that. Hal Jordan is my favorite Green Lantern too. But I'm not going to sit here and complain when this show has given us the best and the most Hal Jordan we have ever seen on screen. Well, in live action, that is.

[01:46] And I think it is brilliant that instead of just having this series open with Hal getting the ring from Abin Sur, becoming Green Lantern, getting betrayed by Sinestro, instead of retelling that origin story, they gave us a story that makes the DCU feel even more lived in.

[02:00] And as we've seen with the DCU, they're not interested in telling origin stories, but instead letting us in on the origin throughout the film. But what Lanterns has the opportunity to do with non-linear storytelling,

[02:12] they are able to tell us the seasoned Hal Jordan story and still give us a Hal Jordan origin episode in the same series without it feeling like some big flashback. It would just feel natural, and I am hoping that that is what the finale will largely be.

[02:28] You know, for a little while there, it seemed like this show might have no intention of actually going back and showing us that fight between Hal and Sinestro. But I'm really hoping they don't skip it, and we'll get to see a glimpse of Hal and Sinestro not only having their big fight, but actually working together as partners.

[02:45] And I think this could be something that they have intentionally been saving for the finale. Like I said, Lanterns, it has been telling its story non-linearly all season. And a lot of the most important information about Hal and his past, even his childhood,

[02:59] it was just now revealed in episode 7. And that was the perfect time for that part of Hal's life to be revealed. The series did not need to open with that scene just because it's chronologically what came first.

[03:11] This show and its ability to slowly fill in the blanks and change our understanding of what has happened, it makes the viewing experience all the better. And I think saving this big smackdown between Hal and Sinestro that has served as a built foundation for the tension between Hal and Sean throughout the series and Hal and the Guardians the finale could be a great place to finally

[03:33] show that. Saving this big fight for the finale would be perfect for this type of show and the way that they have elected to tell the story. This huge fight and falling out between Sinestro and Hal, it can serve as both a history

[03:45] a foundation for the story thus far but also serve as the series big finale battle. It's a best of both worlds situation that you can only achieve with this style of storytelling, which was, I think, made most popular by shows like True Detective.

[03:58] We could see the finale spend a significant amount of time with Hal and Sinestro before everything fell apart. We could see their relationship when they were still friends and partners. We can draw some parallels between Sinestro and Hal and Hal and John.

[04:11] Give us some background for Hal beginning to question the Guardians because of how Sinestro, when training Hal, also began to question the Guardians' authority, and that of course leads to his heel turn. And this would all perfectly mirror Hal and John in 2016. See,

[04:26] there was a time when Hal, like John, was the new guy. He believed in the Green Lanterns, he trusted the Guardians, and he genuinely believed in the institution that he had just become a part of. Meanwhile, Sinestro, he had been doing this for much longer. He had seen behind

[04:40] the curtain, he'd seen the flaws in the system, and he had become increasingly delusioned with the Guardians and the way they operated. And now, Hal has essentially become Sinestro, seeing those same flaws and becoming dismayed with the Guardians.

[04:54] And now John is the young Lantern, like Hal before him, who still believes in the Green Lanterns, and he believes in the Guardians, he believes in the rules, and he takes being a Green Lantern incredibly seriously. Whereas Hal, after all these years,

[05:07] is the one who has become cynical like his mentor before him. Hal has now been doing this long enough to see the cracks that Jon has yet to see. Well, I say that Jon has yet to see, but as we saw at the end of episode 5,

[05:20] Jon also began to see those same cracks when he turned down the ring. Anyway, we are seeing history begin to repeat itself, but the question becomes, will Jon and Hal allow that to happen? But we'll of course also see Sinestro's betrayal,

[05:33] how the suffering, what Sinestro had done, and finally their big confrontation that we've been waiting all season to see. And while some have complained that there's not enough action and blasty-blasty in this series, as well, this could be when we get it.

[05:45] A Hal in his prime, masked, costumed to work, fighting his mentor Sinestro, blasting ring energy at one another. This could be the moment for this series when we finally get all of that. And then we'll see Hal defeat Sinestro and de-ring him the same way that John defeated

[06:00] Hal and de-ringed him. Hell, Hal and Sinestro even both wind up in jail. But from what we've seen thus far, Hal didn't allow for this fall from grace to lead to him becoming a villain. And John, in this moment, when he defeated his mentor, unlike Hal, John realized then and there that it was time to walk away from this corruption that led to both the fall of Sinestro and now the fall of Hal.

[06:20] And John, he doesn't want to be yet another piece of that pattern. And that also mirrors the pattern of legacy that we have seen with Hal Jordan's dad taking his own life and Hal Jordan's grandfather taking his own life.

[06:32] This series, I think, is going to be about breaking those patterns. But how does this all tie into present day, right? Hal being dead and Sinestro being broken out of prison and on this planet alone. Well, as we know, Sinestro, he doesn't stay in prison forever.

[06:46] At some point, somebody breaks him out. Guy Gardner even says that Hal Jordan would have been the prime suspect for who broke Sinestro out if not for the fact that Hal was in prison So who busted out Sinestro and why Well I think yet another classic Hal Jordan villain

[07:00] that we have completely ignored in this investigation of who killed Hal Jordan, Hector Hammond. Hector Hammond was mentioned earlier in the season, and he is the owner of those satellites, that slaughterhouse, and he is still in possession of all that tech that the Manhunter brought

[07:14] to Earth. Despite Zoe being dead, Hammond is still out there, and he still has all of this tech, but maybe he needs a new power source. Something like, I don't know, a power ring? And who could help him get his hands on a power ring? Sinestro. That's right, I think that Hector Hammond,

[07:31] who we have actually yet to meet because this guy was a decoy, I think we could see Hammond free Sinestro and bring him to Earth. And I think together they are working on forging a new ring. So they use one of those Looney Tunes portals that Hammond would still have, because he still has all

[07:46] that pet from the Manhunter, and they will use that portal to travel to this other planet, and I think the real reason they're forging the ring there is for one of two reasons. One, maybe this place where Sinestro is holding up on this planet that Anton and his people

[07:59] were from, maybe they have the necessary equipment to forge a power ring. But I would think that Hanon could likely replicate that on Earth. So maybe the real reason that they're doing it on Anton's planet is because they don't

[08:12] want to get busted doing it on Earth, and they think it would be much safer to do it on a planet where everyone is dead and the Guardians or the Lanterns are patrolling. There is also the fear that resides on this planet, which is the perfect catalyst for Sinestro

[08:25] to create his yellow ring. Fear can be the most powerful force in the universe. Remember, the color yellow in Lantern lore represents fear. Now, Hal, despite not being Green Lantern anymore,

[08:37] I think he will uncover this secret and he could find this portal at Hammond's slaughterhouse, discover Sinestro is there, we could then see the two un-Rainfows meet, They have a conversation, Sinestro experiences evil plans, and he could even offer to forge HAL a ring as well,

[08:51] and form their own Lantern Corps, the Sinestro Corps, the Yellow Lanterns. And Sinestro could even propose to HAL that they eliminate Hammond, and together use their two new rings to take down the Guardians,

[09:03] and oversee the galaxy the way they see fit. HAL, of course, will turn him down because... He'll escape with some crucial piece of text that Sinestro would need to execute his plans, and then HAL will manage to escape back to Earth,

[09:15] he'll collapse the Earth side of the portal, and he'll lock it in this safe, straining Sinestro on this planet. Or, maybe we could learn that Sinestro didn't get trapped on that planet, he's there willingly, and he's making his ring, staying and hiding, because being on Earth would be too risky,

[09:30] but when Hal does attempt to foil he and Hammond's plan, what if we see Sinestro kill Hal Jordan? Now, what led me down this train of thought was the possibility that, like Hal's dad and grandfather, Hal may have taken his own life, but if that's the case, why isn't there a gun at the scene?

[09:45] Well, maybe Hal took Carrie's gun and used it, and Carrie is now, like, covering for Hal because she doesn't want it known that he took his own life the same way that Hal covered up his dad's suicide. But then I had the random thought of, wait, what if Hal used a ring to forge a 9mm, shoot himself in the head with this floating gun, and when he dies, the gun and the bullet evaporate?

[10:06] But then that opens up the door to a bunch of other questions, like, where did Hal get a ring? Well, maybe Sinestro made it. But anyway this idea of a 9mm being a ring construct it got me to thinking who else could have used a ring to kill Hal Jordan and make it look like a random Rushfield resident killed him Who else has a ring There of course Guy Gardner but no there no way that Guy would do that

[10:28] and that's when it clicked. Holy shit. Is Hal's killer his greatest foe and former mentor? Sinestro? No, it doesn't add up. Sinestro, I believe, is stranded on this other planet because the other half of the portal is in Hal's state,

[10:42] and it doesn't appear that Sinestro even has a ring yet because as we saw, he comes up behind the holograms like a knife to his neck. If Sinestro had a ring at this point, I think he would have used it. And maybe Sinestro has successfully forged a ring, but it was taken by his co-conspirator, Hector

[10:58] Hammond, who took the ring and then left Sinestro stranded there on that planet. Hammond then returned to Earth. Hal has been following Hammond, so he finds this portal in Hammond's slaughterhouse.

[11:10] Hal takes the portal and then locks it away in his safe. Hammond finds out, confronts Hal, tells him to give him his portal back. Hal refuses, and Hammond then uses the ring to kill Hal Jordan.

[11:22] And then, I don't know, does Hammond keep the ring and become a yellow lantern? Does Guy Gardner swoop in to stop him? And maybe Guy even lets Jon Stewart charge up Hal's ring with Guy's lantern so that he can help Guy fight Hammond?

[11:35] And does this all somehow end up with Sinestro getting that yellow ring? Or maybe that lantern that Sinestro has forged and that Hammond was using, it could become John's lantern so that he can charge Hal's ring and also now be a Green Lantern.

[11:49] And what does this all mean for Hal Jordan? Is he really dead? Does he stay dead? Could we see Sinestro or Hammond use that same tech that cured John of his burns to resurrect Hal from death?

[12:01] Maybe we could learn that the tech doesn't have the power to undo death, but with the power of a yellow ring, it could. And if they're able to do that, that could explain the shot that we have seen in trailers of Hal Jordan with that circle on his arm,

[12:14] just like John had after his burns were cured. And if we see Hal Jordan get resurrected using the power of a yellow ring, Fear Itself, could this be the path to Parallax, the entity of Fear Itself that was introduced in the comics as Hal Jordan?

[12:30] See, in the comics, we see Hal go rogue, he attacks Ola, and he emerges from the planet's power cord, declaring himself Parallax. And then years later, it's revealed that Parallax was actually a separate entity possessing Hal.

[12:43] So that could then set the stage for a movie or a season two of Lanterns where Hal could be the villain, albeit temporarily, but eventually he is separated from the Parallax entity. Parallax becomes his own, you know, thing,

[12:56] a big far cloud of fear like on the opponent's planet, and then Hal Jordan could be restored and just, you know, alive Hal Jordan. But hey, those are just my thoughts and theories and predictions and hopes for the Lanterns finale. Let me know, what do you think?

[13:09] Do you think Sinestro could have killed Hal? Do you think Hector Hamming could have killed Hal? Do you think we'll see the Yellow Rings get brought in? Do you think we'll see Hal Jordan get resurrected? I would love to know what you're thinking, what you're expecting, what you're hoping for down in the comments below.

[13:24] If you're new here, be sure to subscribe, hit the bell so you get notified every time we upload a new video, and feel free to check me out on my personal channel, link in the description below. For Screen Crush, I'm Colton Ipern.

[13:39] Thank you.