Aaron Pierre and Nathan Fillion Shake Up the Series as John Stewart Returns to the Case of Hal Jordan
Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Season 1, Episode 6.
After spending most of its first five episodes building the 2016 story of Hal Jordan and John Stewart, Lanterns finally returns to the present day in “Bad Optics.”
The result feels less like a conventional sixth episode and more like the beginning of a second chapter.
Ten years have passed since the events that devastated Rushville. John Stewart has walked away from the Green Lantern Corps and built a new life with his brother. Hal Jordan, meanwhile, has served prison time and attempted to make amends for the destruction that followed the Manhunter investigation.
Then Hal turns up dead.
For a series that has deliberately taken its time getting back to that mystery, “Bad Optics” makes the wait worthwhile.
A Very Different John Stewart
Aaron Pierre gets some of the episode’s strongest material.
John is no longer the young man desperately trying to prove he deserves to be a Green Lantern. He has rejected that identity altogether and instead works with his brother on disaster-preparedness projects.
His new career is an interesting reflection of everything that happened in Rushville. John has essentially taken the lessons of his superhero experience and turned them into a civilian profession.
But emotionally, he hasn’t moved on.
His relationship with his parents remains fractured, and the return to Rushville forces him to confront the choices that changed his life a decade earlier. The episode understands that John’s biggest conflict isn’t whether he can become a superhero again.
It’s whether he can live with what happened when he tried.
Hal Jordan’s Legacy Gets Complicated
Kyle Chandler’s Hal is technically dead throughout the episode, but he remains one of its most important characters.
Through John’s investigation and the memories of people who knew him, the episode presents a much more complicated picture of Hal’s final years.
After prison, Hal returned to Rushville and tried to repair some of the damage he had caused. His relationship with Sheriff Kerry Kane adds another surprisingly emotional layer to his story.
That makes his murder more interesting.
The question isn’t simply who killed Hal Jordan?
It’s also why would someone kill a man who was already trying to disappear?
The episode wisely keeps that question alive rather than rushing toward an answer.
Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner Steals the Show
One of the episode’s biggest additions is Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion.
Guy was already introduced in the broader DC Universe, but “Bad Optics” gives audiences a much better look at his personality.
And he’s exactly the kind of character who can make an already tense situation even more irritating.
Guy is arrogant, image-conscious and extremely concerned about how the Green Lantern brand looks to the public. His reluctance to become involved in Hal’s death investigation is summed up by the episode’s title: it’s simply “bad optics.”
Fillion plays the character with just enough comedy to prevent Guy from becoming unbearable.
His chemistry with Pierre is particularly entertaining. John has no patience for Guy’s superhero ego, while Guy seems to enjoy reminding John that he walked away from the very opportunity Guy now possesses.
Their antagonistic relationship could become one of the show’s strongest dynamics going forward.
Lanterns Finally Embraces the DC Universe
“Bad Optics” also makes the show’s connections to the larger DC Universe much more explicit.
John casually references the destruction of Metropolis and other alien-related disasters, while Guy’s imitation of Batman’s signal provides one of the episode’s more amusing jokes.
What’s important is that the references don’t overwhelm the story.
Lanterns still feels like its own series rather than a commercial for the larger DC Universe.
That’s a difficult balance to maintain, and this episode handles it surprisingly well.
The Return to Rushville Works
The destruction of Rushville in the previous episode could have made returning to the town feel like a narrative reset.
Instead, “Bad Optics” uses the damaged community as a reminder of everything John and Hal lost.
The town isn’t simply a location anymore. It’s evidence.
Every conversation about Hal carries the weight of what happened there, and John’s return forces him to confront people and memories he has spent years avoiding.
That gives the murder investigation emotional stakes beyond simply solving a mystery.
The Final Moments Change Everything
The episode’s closing sequence is where “Bad Optics” really lands.
John ultimately confronts Hal’s death in a deeply personal way and discovers a connection to Hal’s Green Lantern legacy that could fundamentally change his future.
The appearance of Hal’s ring projection suggests that John’s story as a Green Lantern may not actually be finished.
After everything he has spent years rejecting, the possibility of John returning to the Corps suddenly feels real again.
And that creates a fascinating question for the final two episodes:
Does John actually want to become a Green Lantern again, or is the ring simply forcing him to confront the part of himself he never truly abandoned?
What Works
- Aaron Pierre: John has evolved considerably, and Pierre sells that transformation.
- Nathan Fillion: Guy Gardner brings exactly the kind of chaotic personality the series needs at this point.
- Kyle Chandler: Hal’s absence becomes a surprisingly effective presence.
- The mystery: The murder investigation finally feels central again.
- The DCU connections: References to Superman, Batman and other events expand the world without overwhelming the story.
- The emotional stakes: The episode is less interested in superhero spectacle and more interested in what happens after the hero fails.
What Could Be Better
The biggest weakness is that the ten-year time jump requires the audience to accept a lot of change very quickly.
John’s new life, his broken relationship with his parents, Hal’s time in prison and his relationship with Kerry all receive attention, but some of those developments could have benefited from more breathing room.
The episode also spends a little too much time establishing Guy’s personality before getting back to the central mystery.
Still, those are relatively minor complaints for an episode that successfully reinvigorates the show’s central storyline.
Final Verdict
“Bad Optics” is a strong reset for Lanterns.
Rather than simply continuing the story from the first half of the season, the episode asks what happens when the consequences of superhero actions linger for years.
John Stewart is older, more guarded and seemingly finished with the Green Lantern life. Hal Jordan is gone, but his mistakes continue to define the people around him.
And somewhere in the middle is a murder that still hasn’t been solved.
The episode’s greatest achievement is making Lanterns feel fresh again without abandoning what came before.
Rating: 4.5/5
Episode Scorecard
Best Performance: Aaron Pierre
Best Supporting Performance: Nathan Fillion
Best Character: John Stewart
Best New Dynamic: John Stewart and Guy Gardner
Biggest Mystery: Who killed Hal Jordan?
Biggest Development: John’s potential return to the Green Lantern legacy
Best Moment: The episode’s final confrontation with Hal’s legacy
Biggest Question: Will John Stewart become a Green Lantern again?
Bottom Line
Lanterns needed a way to make the return to 2026 feel meaningful. “Bad Optics” accomplishes that by turning Hal Jordan’s death into more than a mystery—it becomes the emotional wound connecting the show’s past and future.
With two episodes remaining, the series has once again made the question of who killed Hal Jordan impossible to ignore.
