TL;DR – This first episode has me intrigued about the show, but not yet sold on it.

Disclosure – I paid for the HBO Max service used to view this series.

End Credit Scene – There is a trailer and a behind-the-scenes documentary after the end credits.

Lanterns Review Introduction

Today is an interesting one. We are continuing through the DCU’s great rebrand that had worked until the recent Supergirl misfire. But we are also focusing in on the one aspect of the DC Universe that I have very little knowledge of. The most I know about Green Lantern is that he appears and can do things with his ring; oh, and there was a version of one in Superman, which makes me interested to see if this show can capture someone who is not familiar with all the lore.  

So, to set the scene, in 1996 it has been ten years since Green Lantern made himself known to the world, and now it is time for Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) to reveal himself. In 2016, Hal has found himself training the next potential Lantern, John Stewart (Aaron Pierre), but they don’t quite get along. I.e. jumping from a moving car and letting John fly off a cliff, sort of don’t get along. But everything changes when an automatic system warns them that:  “There is hail in Rushville, Nebraska”. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Characters to the Forefront

One thing that I did really like from the first episode is how the characters were the ones brought to the forefront. A good example of this is Sheriff Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald). Whenever you hear the words ‘small town sheriff’, you think they are stupid first or deeply corrupt second, sometimes both at the same time. But here we have what looks to be a person who is very clearly working within some external constraints; see her husband Billy (Jason Ritter) and father-in-law William (Garret Dillahunt), but she looks to be actually someone who is very competent at her job. She also has the force of will to go toe-to-toe with Hal, which was interesting to watch. The rest of the cast is filled with notable character actors that make each scene pop.

Understandable Feud

The core tension throughout the episode, or at least the middle timeline part of the episode, we will come back to that a bit later, is the feud between Hal and John. One thing I hate in shows like this is manufactured conflict. Thankfully here, it does feel like that growing feud, or at least tension, has a legitimate core to it. John is a little too eager to become a Green Lantern, and Hal is a little too hesitant to give it all up. These are both legitimate reactions to a coming change and ring true in the situation. It doesn’t help that John might have the worst parent in the DCU, and given that also includes Peacemaker, that is saying something.

I Don’t Think We’re in Smallville Anymore

The characters are a nice addition, and the tension is a nice narrative seasoning, such as adding garam masala to your roast pumpkin soup. But what you are here for is the mystery and tension. Now, I do feel a slight trepidation over that, because the last superhero series to do a sleeper alien invasion was either, best-case scenario, the now-retconned first season of Peacekeeper, or, worst-case scenario, Secret Invasion. The fact that we are working in three different timelines does raise some concerns, though Damon Lindelof’s work on The Leftovers brings a lot of goodwill that this won’t be a problem. There was enough here to leave me intrigued about the mystery, such as the truck driver being outed as an alien because a rural Nebraskan didn’t have an opinion on Obama was a nice touch. But I do wonder if that final death reveal and third timeframe will undercut the main mystery.           

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Lanterns
Directed by – James Hawes
Written by – Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, & Tom King
Created by – Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, & Tom King
Based On – Green Lantern created by John Broome & Gil Kane
Production/Distribution Companies – DC Studios, Man Woman & Child Productions, Warner Bros Television & HBO Max
Starring – Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly MacDonald, Garret Dillahunt, & Poorna Jagannathan
With – Jason Ritter, Chris Coy, & J. Alphonse Nicholson
And – Cary Christopher, Cairo Cash Lee, Noah Gibson-Slates, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Michael Ocampo, & Cristina Marie Frias