Ranking the Suspects in the Lanterns Episode 6 Murder Mystery

From the beginning, Lanterns has used the town of Rushville to tell two connected mysteries set 10 years apart. Most of the series so far has followed Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) as they investigate an alien conspiracy in 2016. But the last scene of episode 1 jumps forward to 2026, when Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) brings John to Rushville’s football stadium to show him a body sitting in the bleachers.

Lanterns episode 6 finally catches up with that mystery, but the solution remains missing.

Warning: Spoilers follow for Lanterns episode 6.

With three episodes left, Lanterns has moved squarely into the DC Universe’s present day. Back in 2016, John and Hal identified Zoe Macon (Poorna Jagannathan) as the Manhunter hiding in Rushville, and exposing her turned the town into a war zone. John killed Zoe, briefly took Hal’s Green Lantern ring, and then surrendered it to the Guardians. In episode 6, viewers learn that a ringless Hal took the fall and spent 10 years in prison, only to wind up dead not too long after moving back to Rushville to be with Kerry and try to set things right.

Episode 6 explores the fallout from Hal’s murder as John joins Kerry’s murder investigation. He even convinces her to deputize him so he can attend Hal’s autopsy and examine the evidence himself. The medical examiner determines that Hal was shot from the front at point-blank range. No signs indicate that he tried to fight back, suggesting that he knew his killer or never considered them a threat.

Who killed Hal Jordan? The possibilities are ranked below from least to most likely.

5 John Stewart

John is the episode’s most obvious red herring, but he almost certainly did not commit the crime. John now runs a successful architecture company in Midway City. Early in the episode, his mother calls to tell him that Hal wants to apologize, so he drives to Rushville and meets Hal at the diner, only to learn that his mother stretched the truth.

Their argument ends with John punching Hal and seemingly breaking his nose. John storms out, and Hal is killed that very night. Kerry assumes that whoever broke Hal’s nose also shot him, which makes John suspect number one if their meeting comes to light.

The episode never clarifies the exact distance between Midway and Rushville, but when John first drives there, the trip takes at least several hours. John leaves Midway near sunset, reaches Rushville after dark, drives home, and then returns while it is still nighttime. John simply would not have enough time to kill Hal, especially since viewers see him travel all the way back home.

4 Sheriff Kerry Kane

Kerry confronts this possibility herself over breakfast. She asks John to check if she killed Hal, and he refuses, saying she is too real to fake crying. He is probably right, but Kerry has already fired her gun at Hal multiple times. Even so, everything in the episode suggests their love was genuine.

Hal began writing to Kerry from prison and returned to Rushville for her while trying to make amends with the rest of the town. Kerry reveals to John that she and Billy Macon had been separated for three years, mainly because of all the letters Hal sent, and she never told their son Noah about it. They had likely only been dating a few months at best, and she had no motive whatsoever, especially considering how much she helped Hal and John back in 2016 despite her supposed loyalty to Zoe.

3 Maggie

Maggie (Hannah Christine Shetler), the waitress who witnessed John and Hal’s confrontation at the diner, pours coffee for John and Kerry the next morning and deliberately dodges Kerry’s questions about Hal’s final hours. She claims Hal was alone, then gives John a wink. Maggie later approaches John at Hal’s house and demands exactly $314,536.27, claiming that is what the destruction of Rushville cost her. She also reveals that she was the little girl John encountered while walking through the wreckage after Zoe’s death. Back in episode 5, Maggie’s father lay dead on the ground, John said sorry, and then he handed her a watch he found.

Maggie has the motive and opportunity to kill Hal, but if she actually did it, why not tell Kerry everything she knows to frame John? It makes more sense for her to be a witness, though she may also know something else about the real killer. Alternatively, her intentions might be sinister enough that she killed Hal and also wants to punish John as much as possible.

2 Billy Macon

Billy Macon (Jason Ritter) holds nothing but hatred for Green Lanterns, especially Hal. After John activates Guy Gardner’s beacon in the town square, several angry locals confront him, and Billy quickly joins in. John easily beats up the entire group, ultimately leading to his arrest. A motive exists here, but much like Maggie, this reflects the reality that everyone in Rushville hates Hal because their town was destroyed, contrasting with the bliss, peace, and prosperity that the Manhunter brought them.

Billy has every reason to despise Hal even more, since Hal and Kerry’s romance ended his marriage. The animosity deepens because Hal and John’s actions led to the death of Billy’s father and stepmother. Billy almost seems like the too-obvious choice, however, and he has always come across as somewhat cowardly. Is he really capable of murdering someone in cold blood? Probably not.

1 Noah Macon

That leaves the prime suspect: Noah Macon.

Kerry and Billy’s son, Noah Macon, lost his grandfather and step-grandmother during the 2016 disaster. His town was partially destroyed, and years later, Hal returned and began dating his mother. Over dinner with John and Kerry, Noah seems remarkably calm about all of this, acting friendly and charming for someone his age. He is welcoming toward John, even after John beats up his father, and appears unbothered by Kerry’s relationship with Hal. That behavior feels suspicious.

Hal was killed in the bleachers of Rushville’s football stadium, and Noah is a star player on the town football team, making the murder location oddly poignant. Episode 5 also gave Noah two ominous moments. When Zoe says goodbye to Noah, she tells him to promise to remember everything she told him. One of her lessons is to see without being seen, which is the Manhunter philosophy in a nutshell. That also describes how Noah functions within the show, as he is always nearby without drawing too much attention to himself or raising suspicion.

Zoe’s goodbye to Noah in episode 5 was deliberately loaded with meaning. Noah possesses the strongest combination of access, motive, and thematic importance. Hal would likely allow him to get close enough to pull the trigger without perceiving any threat. If Noah is half as smart as his step-grandmother, he knows that the best way to get away with murder is to ensure nobody ever suspects him.

Source: Polygon