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Recap / With This Ring Episode 35

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Episode 35: Spring in Blume

Takes place 13-20 February 2011.

Short version

A Construct-Lantern approaches Earth, searching for the lost rings and the one who called them; Paul stages a fight with the local Green Lanterns and fakes his own death to put Larfleeze off his trail.

Longer version

Several veteran Green Lanterns arrive on Earth for Paul to train them in assimilation resistance. However, before they can properly begin, Lantern Green Man arrives and informs them that Blume, one of Larfleeze's Construct-Lanterns, is approaching the solar system, presumably searching for the rings that were scattered through space when Paul called his ring back from Truggs. Since Lantern Blume would be able to detect orange light usage, Paul hides his rings in the Mountain, which is magically warded against detection.

During this time, he visits Holly again, to check that she's still reformed and not backsliding. After he deals with a local crime family member making trouble at a restaurant, then protects her from being harassed by some of her former clients, and then she learns that he used to suppress his testosterone production and no longer does, she offers a three-way relationship with herself and her girlfriend; Paul considers it, but decides that Holly's emotional health is too fragile to make it a good idea and Karon is less enthused, so he declines.

A plan is then laid to convince Blume, and Larfleeze, that Paul has been killed and his ring destroyed. Paul and the Green Lanterns stage a fight in space, with Paul exiting his power armour just before it is destroyed, and leaving behind Truggs' finger (which has previously worn the ring, and therefore will show traces of orange light use), after which Lantern Gardner takes him on a short FTL hop back to Earth. Larfleeze believes the ruse, but then attempts to attack the Green Lanterns and steal all their rings, until they destroy Lantern Blume with crumbler rounds that Paul taught them to use.

With the danger averted, Paul proceeds to teach each of the Lanterns to resist assimilation, as planned. He is also able to make an under-the-table deal with Lantern Jack Chance, giving him several hundred crumbler rounds and a cold gun in exchange for letting Alan recharge from his personal lantern. He offers Lantern Chance an orange ring, but Chance turns it down; the invitation remains open.

The Renegade, having obtained the Sword of Second and Third, now contacts the President of the United States, seeking endorsement of his plan to kill Klarion. The president can't officially pre-approve a murder, but does indicate that his administration would be pragmatic rather than dogmatic.

An omake shows the Green Lanterns who went to Earth, minus Lantern Chance, reporting to a Guardian.

The title, of course, refers to Lantern Blume.


  • Armor-Piercing Question: Similar to last episode, OL says three in quick succession, this time to Guy in regards to the Guardians' actions against the Martians.
    Paul: There's no way to know what they might have become if they'd been left alone. Would you try and use the worst examples of Human behaviour as evidence that we all needed our brains rewriting?
    Guy: What're you talking about? I read M'gann's report, those things were crazy.
    Paul: We only met one, and the fragments of Guardian reports I read were just the Guardian's impressions. I have no logical basis for concluding that what they said was either absolutely true or the whole of the truth.
    [Guy takes a breath to start arguing]
    Paul: But even if it was, once there were no Burners left, why exactly didn't the other Guardians restore Mars? There wouldn't have been much risk to them.
    Guy: They're busy people. It's a big universe. And anyway, what about the Burners hunting down the other Martians on the ship?
    Paul: If an alien race came to Earth and started altering people to serve them, how friendly do you think the rest of us would be towards the people they modified?
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!: As Paul puts it, Lantern Chance mangled a Wolverine quote.
    Jack Chance: What I do ain't pretty, but I'm the best there is at it.
  • Boring, but Practical: Paul's work improving electricity infrastructure isn't very interesting to Holly, especially compared to his recent fight, but he knows that reducing contention for oil will save a lot of lives.
    Paul: As far as I'm concerned, my job is to help as many people as I can in whatever way I can. That doesn't always mean.. slicing up Satan.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Well, partway, at least. Paul has to leave his rings in the Mountain to avoid detection, but he still wears body armour and a kinetic belt that grants him Flight and force fields.
  • Cosplay: Paul made realistic, functioning costumes of characters from Warhammer 40,000, complete with lethal weaponry.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Slade Wilson may be a formidable mercenary, but he is also limited by the equipment he can acquire. His mundane arsenal proves to be useless against someone as tough as the Renegade and the latter defeats him with little effort.
  • Double Take: Paul does this when Holly propositions him to have a threesome with her and Karon.
  • Fake a Fight: Paul has to have a fake fight with the Green Lanterns to keep Larfleeze's attention away from Earth when Blume shows up looking for anyone using the Orange Light.
  • Faking the Dead: Paul and the Green Lanterns convince Larfleeze that the 'thief' and his ring are gone, so that Larfleeze will recall his Construct-Lanterns.
  • Human Traffickers: Apparently, the government of Kahndaq does this.
  • Mistaken for Cheating: Artemis was angry when she thought Paul was cheating on Zatanna.
  • Mistaken for Romance: It turns out Artemis thought that Paul and Zatanna were dating. Paul has to explain that they aren't.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Played with. Paul identifies himself as "The Cake Man" to an annoying member of an organised crime family. The young man isn't impressed, but his bodyguards know that in Gotham, you always take silly names very seriously. They step outside to settle their differences and Paul trounces him without the ring. He doesn't even bother with his kinetic belt until one of the bodyguards starts shooting.
    Paul: I work for Batman.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: It turns out that Paul knows Zatanna still has feelings for him. He just doesn't seem to know how to get her to accept that he doesn't feel the same.
  • Oblivious to Love: Paul didn't realize February 14 was Valentine's Day until Artemis pointed it out a few days later.
  • Omake: The end of the episode has the Green Lanterns, minus Lantern Chance, reporting on both the Construct Lantern and Paul.
  • Precision F-Strike: When Paul swears in front of Holly, she lampshades it and finds it funny because he never swears.
  • Shirtless Scene: Paul takes off his shirt when baking muffins in Holly and Karon's kitchen. He does this because it is too hot there.
  • Stealth Hi/Bye: Paul does this to Detective Bullock, which the latter lampshades.
  • Visual Innuendo: When asked if he can make a railgun construct, Lantern Chance makes one that is slightly bigger than Paul's.
  • Word of God: Neither Paul nor the Renegade remember Manhunter.

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