TL;DR – The finale does not quite end in a big crescendo, but in the slow release of stress, almost like a pressure cooker being opened after cooking dinner.

End Credit Scene – There is no end credit scene.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Lanterns Review Introduction

As we come into the season finale of Lanterns, there are a lot of unanswered questions sitting around. Such as: Who is the murderer? Who is the jailbreaker? Who committed the genocide? Who is worthy of the ring? Are the Lanterns the good guys? And potentially the most important question: can the show stick the landing?

So, to set the scene, back in 2016, in the ruins of Rushville, Kerry Kane (Kelly Macdonald) finds Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) collapsed under the ruins of the motel. He is sorry for all that he has done, and not done, but also aware that he is about to be hung out to dry by the Green Lanterns. A neat way to sideline him without killing him. In 2026, he has been released from jail, and Kerry is there to pick him up. But Rushville does not forget, and soon that danger will catch up to Hal in many ways. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode and season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

Emotion

If there was one uniting theme from this finale episode, it was internal emotional turmoil. Most characters go through some moment of refinement, where you only understand what is going on through the emotions in their eyes. This choice is not the flashier option, but what it does is it sucks you into the moment, into the conversation, helping you hang on every word. A good example of this is the car ride with John (Aaron Pierre) and Noah (Shea Pritchard), whose name I discovered while writing this, was more appropriate than ever. Much of their conversation is non-verbal; it is looks, emotions, and also unsettling sound effects in the background. But you hang on every word, with the direction of the car being both a literal and metaphorical choice.

Nature v Nurture

The main intellectual exploration throughout the final episode, and which echoes back throughout the entire season, is the battle between nature and nurture, or as the show posits it: programming v conscience, which means that it was probably a good idea that it ended up with John and Noah in that car rather than other combinations. John is probably the only person who could relate to the struggle that Noah is going through, given his own childhood. John has blood on his hands, so he is not a neutral observer, but that gives him the credit he needed to make the right choice. Noah not picking a hat, so that more recruiters would come to the game and see his friends, is such a good character beat, even if it gets a little lost in the emotional whammy that comes just after.

Taking Up the Mantle

Ever since the show was announced, or better, ever since Superman announced that Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) was going to be the Green Lantern, there were a lot of questions as to a) why the hell did you pick Guy of all the Lanterns to go first, and b) wait, can’t there be only one Lantern of Earth at a time? This is the question the episode resolves on, and while I have to say it did feel a touch contrived, it worked for me. Part of that does come from the finale conversation between Lantern-Hal and John, where you feel the sadness, and yet the determination as Hal says John will be the better Lantern than both Guy, of course, and even himself. Also, it was quite fun the patronising way he dismissed Guy, like he was a low-level CIA flunky and not a superhero.

Season Casting

Now, as we take a step back from the finale episode to look back at the season as a whole, I would have to say that one of the most important touchstones of the show’s production was the casting. Kyle Chandler has to play the same character at different versions of his life, and also with different memories and experiences; that is a big call because they must feel both different but the same character. He makes it work. Aaron Pierre is the perfect choice here. Calm and composed in the face of multiple forced car crashes. However, he needed an internal power to land those emotional parts once his character evolved past the antagonism with Hal. The rest of the cast is a delight; Laura Linney was unnerving, Garret Dillahunt and Poorna Jagannathan captivated every scene they were in, Jason Ritter was a fun choice, and I was happy to see newcomer Shea Pritchard land those emotional moments.

Kelly Macdonald

But I want to spend a little more time here today to talk about the one actor that anchored the season for me: Kelly Macdonald as Sheriff Kerry Kane. From the moment she was introduced in Pilot, you could feel a different energy about her. She is the legal authority in a town with many competing power sources, some extraterrestrial. She is both an outsider and a core member of the conspiracy, a voice for reason, and potentially an enabler. She is also the mother of a hero or the worst villain to walk the Earth. It is a whole ball of complexity that Kelly Macdonald nailed. Her moments in the final episode were gut-wrenching because you felt that pain, that conflict between the two parts of herself that snapped in one bad moment. You cast someone else in that role, and the series does not work.

Narrative Time Jumps

When I first watched the Pilot episode, one of the main issues that concerned me was the use of time jumps. Indeed, that first episode ends with the reveal that Hal has been murdered. I am not sure why I was concerned, given that the creators of The Leftovers were at the helm, but still, that concern was there. I am sure someone will put together a chronological cut of the series at some point, but I found the dissecting and divergent timelines worked to further the story, rather than being a distraction. It keeps you both narratively off-balance, while also giving you story beats to hold on to, like handholds on the side of a cliff as you are climbing up.  

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Lanterns? Yes, we do. I came into this show without any real knowledge of the source material, but it captured me. Each week it brought me into this world in rural Nebraska, captivating me to see just how it will all play out. Have you seen Lanterns yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments below.

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.

Feel free to share this review on social media and check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 

Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Lanterns
Directed by – Alik Sakharov, James Hawes, Geeta Vasant Patel, & Stephen Williams
Written by – Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, Tom King, Vanessa Baden Kelly, Breannah Gibson, Justin Britt-Gibson
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, Ulrich Thomsen, Garret Dillahunt, & Poorna Jagannathan
With – Jason Ritter, Nathan Fillion, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Shea Pritchard, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Jared Grimes, Romeo Brown, Hannah Christine Shetler, Matt Rhule, Jake B. Miller, Laura Linney, Paul Ben-Victor, Jason Manuel Olazábal, Mark Espinoza, & Chris Coy
And – Jim Charmatz, Victor Broadley, Michael J. West, Lon Muckey, Jade Ramirez, Cairo Cash Lee, Henry Samiri Amie Mackenzie, Michael Ocampo, Paula Jay Fairbrother, Christine Corpuz, Brooklyn Mackie, Cary Christopher, Liesel Kopp, Chris Rubeiz, Eric Staves, Jayce Eiland, Richard Whitney Gardenhire Jr., Lumi Oniyide, Noah Gibson-Slates, Jaylen Lyndon Hunter, Rodrick Khachatoorian, & Cristina Marie Frias
Episodes Covered – Pilot, Trust Fall, OutKast, The Weenie, Lights Out, Bad Optics, The Jordan Boys’ Legacy, & Dirt and Stars.