Unlike the increasing groups of lantern corps from the first half of the season, the Manhunters are the type of villains that can neither be reasoned with nor taken down immediately with a strong construct. As the opening of the episode shows, even the combined efforts of Hal Jordan and Tomar-Re (yay, Tomar-Re!) are barely able to stop three Manhunters, let alone the backups that join them. With this knowledge, Hal’s gut tells him that the reactivation of the Manhunters isn’t a coincidence or a series of isolated incidences. He thinks there’s a puppet-master involved and, with the blessings of The Guardians, he gets permission to assemble a small team to patrol Guardian Space.
Unfortunately, getting the band back together isn’t as easy as Hal thinks. Relieving Kilowog of his duties as recruit trainer, Hal and Kilowog board the Interceptor and find that Aya is no longer installed, replaced by Lanos (or Lame-O as Hal deems him). They discover that Aya is scheduled for dissection and reprogramming and go on a mission to rescue her from the science division. Successful in their endeavor, they’re informed by Tomar-Re of a pulse stemming from Biot that may be responsible for reactivating the Manhunters. Once they arrive, chaos ensues.
When we think of a reboot we either get visions of that old computer animated show Reboot (which was awesome!) or we think of the multitude of tech instruments we have and the process of rebooting in order to correct a mistake. As an episode, “Reboot” shows that The Guardians have a terrible record when it comes to the 
latter. The Manhunters are a classic example of a bad decision continuing to come back and bite you in the ass. Though we get just an inkling of The Guardians desire to sweep these incidents under the rug, the relentlessness of Hal’s hunches won’t allow for these enemies to remain forgotten. Plus, he tends to get the approval of other well respected Lanterns. The Manhunters aside, the interest taken in Aya as a program capable of growing and adapting shows that there’s still a concern on the part of The Guardians that history could repeat itself.
“Reboot” does a fine job of setting up the very obvious threat of the Manhunters, but it’s really the Anti-Monitor that the Green Lanterns have to beware. His assembly plant of Manhunters on Biot is a sight to behold as the puppet-master prepares to send his minions to all corners of the galaxy as a means of “consuming” all life. It’s a cliffhanger ending, so it feels like very little is accomplished, but the last five minutes really show the work the GL’s have cut out for them. If the henchmen are hard enough to destroy, imagine how difficult the Big Boss is gonna be to take down! Reboot applies as much to the direction the back half of the season is taking as it does the reactivated Manhunters.
DC Nation Short: The tiny titans in love! Robin researching all languages to get Starfire to kiss him is super cute!
Favorite Moments:
- Hal requesting the Interceptor and his reaction to getting his way.
- Hal vs Ch’p! Best take down, ever! No mas! No mas!
- Tomar-Re’s construct weapon of choice? A trident!
About Samantha Cross
Sam is a self-described "sponge for information" soaking up little tidbits here and there that make her the perfect partner on pub trivia night! Hailing from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, she indulges her nerdy and geeky qualities by hanging out at the local comic book shop, reading anything she can find, and voicing her opinion whether you welcome it or not. An archivist and historian, she will research any and all things and will throw down if you want to quote Monty Python, Mel Brooks, or The Simpsons!
