Season 1, Episode 8: ‘Dirt and Stars’
A lot of questions needed answers in the “Lanterns” Season 1 finale, such as, “Who killed Hal Jordan?” and “Will John Stewart ever get to be the Green Lantern?” But the question I kept returning to was this: Why Nebraska?
The question has two meanings. First: Why make a TV show about a galaxy-hopping superhero and then have him spend most of his time in tiny, earthbound Rushville? Was it to keep the budget lower? Or to evoke some kind of gritty Midwestern noir vibe that has never been part of the Green Lantern lore?
Whatever the reason, this season kept circling back to Nebraska, routinely shrinking its scope from science-fiction grandeur to small town crime. That is even true in the finale, which begins on a distant planet, stained by the dark cosmic legacy of the well-intentioned but fatally arrogant Guardians of the Universe. The opening scenes even include an honest-to-goodness supervillain in Sinestro, a power-mad former Green Lantern.
And what do John and the backup version of Hal talk about with Sinestro? Nebraska, of course.
Specifically, they talk about Noah Macon, a high school football phenom and — as we learn in a not-so-surprising twist — a fledgling Manhunter. Noah, it seems, has been behind a lot of what has gone down in Rushville in 2026. He revealed his true nature to Hal after saving him from a firebombing. And when Hal found — and stole — the dark matter portal that Zoe built and then willed to Noah, the former Green Lantern effectively signed his own death warrant.
But it wasn’t Noah who shot him. As Backup Hal suspected, it was Sheriff Kerry Kane who killed Hal, in a moment of impulsive passion, to protect her son’s secret.
This resolution to the season’s big murder mystery mostly plays out in Rushville, at a slow, muted pace that is largely devoid of any thrills. The emphasis is on people, not super powers. Our time on the faraway world is short, and serves mainly to introduce the truth about Noah, who used the portal to consult with Sinestro. Noah asked the rogue to forge him a lantern, to use if he ever he got access to a power ring — like the one John just dug up from Hal’s grave.
Noah isn’t all that Sinestro talks about. He tries to manipulate Backup Hal into seizing the real Hal’s power ring back from John, promising to bring the backup “back to life for real.” (Hal, crankily: “You talk too much. You always have. It’s annoying.”) He also speculates as to why Zoe built a portal to a planet she had already destroyed. Was she admiring her handiwork? Or regretting it?
This brings us back to the question “Why Nebraska?,” but from another angle. Why did Hal move to Rushville after prison? And why did John come running back when Hal and Kerry called him?
Hal came back to make amends for everything that went haywire in 2016 — and also for Kerry. In a charming flashback scene early in this episode, Kerry is getting dressed while Hal lays in bed and half-jokingly says that he is “willing” her to stay. (“Try asking,” she replies.) In Kerry and Rushville, Hal had an opportunity to lead a different life without super powers — and without succumbing to the Jordan boys’ destructive tenacity.
As for John, there is a heavy amount of “what might have been” when he comes back to Nebraska. He may have never fully processed what happened in Rushville, or what happened during his short time as Hal’s trainee/replacement. Likewise for the lingering trauma caused by his parents’ Green Lantern obsession. He is still chasing something he does not totally understand about himself.
Sinestro taunts John and Backup Hal by bringing up the idea of nature versus nurture, suggesting that when it comes to Noah, his Manhunter nature will win out over any “pedestrian human nurture” Kerry provided. It’s an argument relevant to John’s and Hal’s experiences. Before he was killed, Hal was trying to overcome his own family history; and John was turning his back on his parents’ Lantern-focused nurturing.
And what of Zoe? Didn’t she spend decades living peacefully — choosing to be a Nebraskan — before circumstances led her to blow up a place she loved?
These questions are central to what this finale is ultimately about, which is whether or not a young Manhunter should be allowed to keep existing. Hal staked his whole career on wiping out Zoe. Kerry shot Hal because she feared he would do the same with Noah. How will John handle this?
From a storytelling perspective, it does not entirely work to turn Noah into a major antagonist this late in the season. Yes, the seeds for Noah’s importance were sown early: Recall a scene in the premiere in which John helps Noah with his football technique and a scene in Episode 5 in which Zoe tells Noah to remember what she taught him. But the only experience we have of him wrestling with his identity is in this episode alone.
Similarly, although we have heard a lot throughout this season about fear and fearlessness, the show’s writers, Tom King, Damon Lindelof and Chris Mundy, hit that theme too hard in the finale. We get a big speech from Sinestro about how fear is a powerful force (“if harnessed correctly”). At the end of the episode, John decides without the Guardians’ approval to become the Green Lantern of Earth, and at Backup Hal’s urging he comes up with his own battery-charging oath, embracing fear.
This finale does tie off the biggest loose ends and put a button on ideas that have been present throughout the series. Mostly it does so in a way that feels very writerly, where there is a clear and obvious meaning attached to everything the characters do. But the episode also ultimately connects emotionally, too.
It is hard not be touched when John stakes his claim to be the Green Lantern, and then says goodbye to Backup Hal. (For now?) Backup Hal cheekily asks John what Real Hal’s last words to Kerry were, and when John says they were “I love you,” the backup sweetly replies, “I love you too, Junior.” Not “trainee,” his usual term for John. “Junior,” like Hal used to say.
There is even a surprising amount of emotion in Noah’s story arc. Manhunter or not, there’s a lot to like about this young man. Although he has a lantern, he did not try to steal Guy’s ring — which he could have easily done. As an in-demand football recruit, he has delayed his decision about where to go to college so that the scouts who come to see him will also get a good look at his teammates.
Sure, Noah ambushes and beats the heck out of John when he returns from outer space, stealing Hal’s ring. But as they drive together to Noah’s final high school football game, John sees a different side of the Manhunter, who talks about saving Hal’s life and confesses that he agonizes over his choices.
Noah can see a future where he plays college for Navy and makes the political and military connections that could help him conquer the Earth — or another future in which he stays in Nebraska and lives a quiet life. Manhunters are good at manipulating people, but Noah seems genuinely anguished.
We did not spend enough time with Noah in this series. He is less of a fully fleshed-out character than he is a living embodiment of all the other characters’ personal dilemmas. And yet it is still moving to see this troubled young man at a literal crossroads, being asked by John, “Which way?”
In the end, John does not kill Noah. Drawing on his own personal experiences — and maybe also on what he saw from Hal and Zoe — John has faith that Noah can find his own way and not stay locked onto one dark path. As if to prove John right, Noah chooses his college after winning the big football game, putting on a University of Nebraska hat.
Why Nebraska? Because of what it represents.
Brightest day, blackest night …
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I guess we will have to wait for “Lanterns” Season 2 to find out if the Guardians are OK with the plan to divide Sector 2814 into “the stars” (for Guy to patrol) and “the dirt” (for John). But it is an appropriate end to John’s arc in this season to have him become a different kind of Green Lantern: one who stays closely connected to the place he is policing.
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I was skeptical at first about Noah’s being a Manhunter, given that he has two human parents — and given that Antaan established previously that Manhunters are biologically incapable of having children. Well, it turns out that when Zoe re-grew Kerry’s severed finger, she also worked some Manhunter mojo to get her pregnant. Or to put it in TV Tropes terms: A wizard did it.
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There was not much levity in this episode, aside from the scene in which John and Noah pull up to the high school stadium and hear some absolutely miserable band music. “It’s tough to field a good marching band in a small town,” Noah sighs. “I imagine tryouts for third trombone get a little dark,” John quips.
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I bet Coach Taylor from “Friday Night Lights” would have appreciated Noah’s winning touchdown drive.
