SPOILER WARNING: This is a full episode recap, so if you want to avoid spoilers, please watch the episode first.
This episode opens a week into Hal’s training as part of the Green Lantern’s Honor Guard. His mentor is none other than Tomar-Re who specially requested Hal’s aid after his encounter with the Manhunters on Earth. (Last episode.) They find another bunker on an alien planet and inside discover three more dormant Manhunters. Tomar-Re states that he hasn’t been able to find an activation signal on any frequency, but even so, the three robots awaken and start shooting. Just like on Earth, the two Lanterns struggle to defend themselves against the powerful attack-bots. They decide to run, but encounter three more Manhunters! The Lanterns are barely able to escape and realizing that the two of them alone can’t defeat six Manhunters, return to Oa.
Though the Guardians assure the Lanterns that the Manhunters should not be strategically planted around the galaxy, they do allow Hal to assemble a team to map the Manhunter temples in Guardian Space. They even allow Hal to utilize The Interceptor. His first recruit is, of course, Kilowog, who doesn’t seem interested, so Hal offers a wager: he’ll take on Kilowog’s best student and if Hal can beat them, Kilowog goes with him on his mission. This recruit is Ch’p, the squirrel-like GL, who quickly embarrasses Hal! Kilowog reveals that he was going to go along the whole time, but he just wanted to see Hal fight the squirrel.
They are upset to find that Aya is no longer programed into the Interceptor. She has been replaced by a program called LANOS (Lightspeed Astronomical Navigation Operating System). Without warning, Lanos takes off on a roller coaster path. Once they get their bearings, Hal tells Lanos to locate Aya, who is due to be dissected!
After a rough flight, they arrive at the Science Building, where Hal shuts Lanos down and loads his personality program onto a “flashdrive” type device. We get a few more Green Lanterns from the comics here. Kilowog distracts Larvox, the centipede-with-hair that is guarding the facility, allowing Hal, carrying a round container, to sneak in undetected. Hal quickly locates Aya’s deactivated body on a surgical table and opens the container. Ch’p pops out holding the “flashdrive” containing Larnos’ personality program. Hal is confronted by Chaselon, the crystalline Green Lantern with cybernetic arms. Hal tells him he is there to check the power couplings. Hal chats with Chaselon, allowing Ch’p to extract Aya’s personality pod and replace it with Lanos’. They slip away just as a female Guardian arrives to dissect Aya’s body. Despite Lanos’ pleas, the Guardian begins the dismantling process. They return to the Interceptor but are confronted by Tomar-Re who says that he has detected the signal that activated the Manhunters.
Hal reactivates Aya, who almost immediately asks where Razer is. Hal says he’s sure he’ll turn up eventually. Tomar-Re states that the signal he detected is anti-matter in nature and nearly undetectable, but he traces it back to Biot.
The three GLs realize that this is the Manhunters’ grave yard. Tomar-Re detects a pulse and the battered robots reactivate. The heroes fight back, but they are overwhelmed and must flee to a nearby bunker, similar to the others Hal has inspected, but bigger. Tomar-Re traces the anti-matter signal to this building. They soon locate a Manhunter assembling factory. Hal realizes that the other bunkers must be factories too, making this situation worse than they initially suspected.
The Manhunters spy the Lanterns and open fire, just as the Manhunters from outside blast through the door. The Lanterns are surrounded! Aya blasts the structure, destroying the Manhunters in the entrance and causing a cave in that buries the ones inside… and Hal, Kilowog and Tomar-Re! The trio emerge, however, protected by energy shields.
There is a loud rumbling, when suddenly the Lanterns are faced with the amazing presence of the Anti-Monitor who confirms that he’s dispersed his Manhunter army across space and intends to reduce every planet to anti-matter so that he can feed off their energies. The heroes barely dodge his powerful anti-matter burst. Hal orders Aya to fire on the Anti-Monitor full blast, but it doesn’t even scratch him.
As the Lanterns fly back to the Interceptor, the Anti-Monitor unleashes another powerful blast. Hal creates a shield, but the Anti-Monitor’s burst eventually smashes it. Hal encases himself in a bubble, but as Kilowog and Tomar-Re stare in horror, Hal is engulfed in anti-matter and is apparently disintegrated!
That’s it! That’s how it ended! Wow!
So it’s a good thing they brought in Guy Gardner last episode, since they decided to kill Hal off in this one. Just kidding! There’s no way that happened. The tone of this episode reflected that of last season much more so than the last. We’re back to space adventures with Hal and it’s nice to get Kilowog and Aya back in the mix. Plus, we get Tomar-Re, Ch’p and other comic-based Green Lanterns, which should make fans happy.
The story is nicely advanced, but the threat of the Anti-Monitor seems pretty straightforward. I’m sure there will be more twists, of course. As of right now, though we have unstoppable giant with a bunch of unstoppable robots.
Overall, this was a fine episode. We get some of the supporting cast back in action and we move a tad closer to the vibe of last season and we advance the Anti-Monitor plot.
What did you think? Leave a comment below!
