Hal’s remorse is the driving force behind much of what happens in the sixth episode of Lanterns. Sadly, we never actually see Hal’s remorse, we are simply told about it in a variety of exposition dialog. The sad part about not seeing Hal’s remorse is it’s a really great theme.

Remorse is a powerful thematic element filled with potential and yet almost none of this potential is realized in the episode. It is not explored in any meaningful way and that’s pretty much a microcosm of the entire Lanterns series so far. Good ideas, bad implementation.

Hal’s Remorse as a Driving Force

We start the episode off with John in Midway City pitching the ugliest architectural bomb shelter imaginable while throwing a lame attack at gun culture. I digress. He gets a call from his estranged mother who claims Hal wants to talk, to apologize for his actions in Rushville. She tells him Hal is waiting in a Cafe in Rushville. I want to get into the entire timeline of John rushing back and forth between Midway City and Rushville; Hal alive, Hal dead, but I’m trying to stay on target, Hal’s remorse.

Later we hear from Sheriff Kane that Hal contacted her some time ago and expressed remorse over his actions. These two incident drive the plot entirely. John comes back to Rushville and Sheriff Kane’s involvement all grow from Hal’s remorse.

Telling not Showing

The problem is that we don’t see Hal acting remorseful. All we get is exposition about it. We don’t see Hal in the opening minutes of the episode. This means his remorse doesn’t feel real to us. It feels contrived, a way to get the characters where they need to be but inorganically.

In my opinion, we, the audience, must see Hal’s remorse. It’s key to the entire episode. We need scenes of Hal approaching John’s mother and sincerely expressing his remorse, not just mom calling John and telling him about it. We need to see Hal at the Rushville Memorial, the graves, see his anguish, hear it when he expresses his remorse to Sheriff Kane, to Noah. Then it’s real to us.

Remorse as a Theme

To explore the idea more thoroughly let’s talk about using remorse as a thematic backbone to the entire episode. John’s parents could be remorseful about the way they raised him; they should be. We can explore the lack of remorse as well. John’s father is clearly bitter and angry. Show this as a lack of remorse, a scene with John’s mother where she expresses remorse but he does not. He won’t let go and spirals into rage and self-destruction whereas she moves on.

John might express remorse for not taking the ring. John’s brother might express remorse for failing to be a better older sibling. Sheriff Kane might express remorse for her actions. In the Lantern Call scene, Sheriff Kane’s ex-husband might show lack of remorse for his broken marriage and this makes him bitter and angry, without redemption, deserving of the beating that comes his way.

Conclusion

Hal’s remorse is a wonderful thematic idea. A great plot device. Instead of using it, the show simply pays it lip service and moves on, leaving us emotionally detached. We just don’t care, or at least I didn’t.

Tom Liberman