Lanterns Episodes 1-5: Something Special

Warning: There are obviously spoilers through Episode 5 of Lanterns.

I’m just going to say it. Lanterns is probably the hottest thing DC has made in years.

Yes, I’m including Superman. Yes, I’m including Supergirl and some of the other TV shows as well! But, for me, Lanterns beats both of them by a mile.

And that’s a little surprising because I’ve had mixed feelings about some of the Green Lantern stuff we’ve gotten in this new DCU.

Let’s start with Guy Gardner. I know Nathan Fillion’s Guy is popular. I know his ridiculous look is based on the comics. I know Guy Gardner is SUPPOSED to be kind of an asshole.

I still just don’t like him.

Maybe it’s the look. Maybe it’s his attitude. Maybe it’s some combination of the two, but something about this version of Guy just strikes a nerve with me.

Which makes what Lanterns has done with Hal Jordan even more interesting. Because Hal is kind of an asshole too. And I freaking love him.

Kyle Chandler IS Hal Jordan

Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan is damn near perfect.

He’s arrogant. He’s sarcastic. He’s stubborn. He thinks he’s smarter than everybody else, and half the time he probably is. But unlike Guy, none of it feels forced to me.

Hal comes across like a believable arrogant prick. He’s the guy who walks into a room completely convinced that he’s the coolest person there, and somehow you can’t help but like him anyway. But there’s something much more interesting happening underneath that.

This isn’t Hal Jordan at the beginning of his career. By 2016, he’s already been Green Lantern for decades. The show establishes that he publicly revealed himself as Green Lantern all the way back in 1996. That’s a LONG time to be one of the most powerful people on Earth.

And it shows.

You can see that the power has gotten to him. You can also see that he’s lonely as hell. Those two things are a terrible combination.

Hal has spent so long being Green Lantern that I don’t know if he really understands who Hal Jordan is anymore without the ring. That’s part of why the relationship with John works so well. John isn’t simply his trainee. He’s eventually supposed to replace him, and not in a voluntary manner.

Hal knows it.

John knows it.

The Guardians arranged it.

And Hal clearly isn’t ready to deal with it. Sinestro basically calls him out on exactly that in Episode 4.

Kyle Chandler plays all of that perfectly. At this point, when I picture this version of the DC Universe’s Hal Jordan (whole there aren’t many choices), I picture Kyle Chandler, and I don’t think that’ll change any time soon.

Kyle Chandler IS Hal Jordan.

John Stewart Hasn’t Won Me Over Yet

John Stewart is a little more complicated for me. I’ve never been a huge John Stewart guy to begin with, although I have a really cool personal connection to the character.

At one of the early Denver Comic Con’s I got to meet Neal Adams and he told us the story of how he came up with the idea for John Stewart. John debuted in Green Lantern #87 in 1971 as the alternate Green Lantern chosen to step in for Hal Jordan. That’s one of those comic-con memories that has always stuck with me.

So I WANT to like this John.

Aaron Pierre certainly looks the part, and there are moments when I really like what he’s doing. It’s the character himself that hasn’t completely won me over.

The show seems determined to establish that John has this incredibly strong moral compass. That’s obviously not a bad quality for a superhero, but sometimes they push it so hard that he comes across as a righteous douche. And I actually think Episode 5 accidentally makes that more interesting.

John finally gets the ring.

Then he gives it back.

The episode frames that as John rejecting the Guardians and a system he no longer trusts after everything he’s learned about Hal, the Manhunters and Rushville.

I understand what they’re doing.

But here’s my problem:

I don’t think John has earned the ring yet.

John was raised with the idea that he was going to become Green Lantern. His parents helped build that expectation into him. So there’s a part of John that doesn’t seem like he’s trying to earn the ring as much as he believes he’s eventually owed the ring.

Those are two very different things.

To me, that’s not what being a Green Lantern should be. Obviously, we know John Stewart becomes Green Lantern. The character is already established as one of the great Lanterns in DC history.

Maybe that’s actually the point of this story.

Maybe John has to walk away from believing the ring belongs to him before he can become the person who actually deserves to wear it. If that’s where they’re going, I’m interested.

How the Hell Are We Only Five Episodes In?

This might be the biggest compliment I can give Lanterns.

This show MOVES.

The first couple episodes are a little slower, but even those have action, and once the story gets going, it really gets going. We’re only five episodes in and we’re already getting payoffs that I expected them to save for the finale.

We got the Manhunter reveal.

Zoe IS the Manhunter.

Then instead of dragging that mystery out for another three episodes, THEY KILLED HER! John uses Hal as bait, takes the shot, kills Zoe, and literally removes her heart to prove to the Guardians that she was a Manhunter.

That’s midseason!

Then you’ve got the increasingly screwed-up relationship between Hal and John. The ring. The Guardians. Sinestro. The destruction of Rushville.

And we still have this crazy black-smoke technology hanging over everything.

What is it?

Where did it come from?

How does it connect to everything else?

There are obviously theories floating around about where all of this is headed, but I’m trying not to let theories become facts in my head before the show actually tells us.

And that’s part of what makes this fun. When a show saves every reveal for its finale, you start wondering whether it’s actually going anywhere. When a show starts dropping HUGE reveals halfway through the season, I start thinking:

What the hell are they saving for the end?

This Finally Feels Like the DCU

There was one other thing I was worried about going into Lanterns. Would this actually feel like part of the larger DC Universe? Or would it be another situation where television gets treated like television and the “important” characters and stories are saved for the movies?

I’m still bitter about The Flash.

Grant Gustin IS The Flash to me.

Instead of eventually giving that version of Barry Allen the opportunity to make the jump to the big screen, DC cast another actor and had two versions of The Flash running concurrently. I know there are multiverse explanations and business explanations and every other kind of explanation, but as someone who spent years watching Grant Gustin play that character, it always felt like a slap in the face.

He deserved more.

Lanterns is starting to change how I look at that problem with this new DCU. Because Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart don’t feel like the “TV versions” of these characters.

They feel like THE versions.

And we already know this series is part of the larger DCU continuity rather than some disconnected television universe. That means there’s a real possibility that someday we’re going to see these guys step out of Lanterns and into something much bigger.

Imagine seeing this Hal Jordan standing next to Superman. Imagine John Stewart joining whatever this universe’s Justice League eventually looks like.

Hell, give me Hal, John AND Guy in the same movie and maybe Kyle Chandler can finally convince me to like Guy Gardner.

That’s exciting.

Five Episodes Down…

We’re only five episodes into Lanterns, and somehow we’ve already gotten enough story that it feels like some shows would have stretched this material across an entire season.

That’s probably what has me most excited. The show isn’t afraid to give us answers. It’s not afraid to kill someone. It’s not afraid to make Hal deeply flawed. It’s not afraid to make John frustrating.

And it’s not afraid to dig pretty deep into Green Lantern mythology while still telling a story that somebody who has never picked up a Green Lantern comic can follow.

Most importantly, I have absolutely no idea where the hell the last few episodes are going.

That’s exactly where I want to be halfway through a season.