James Gunn’s DC Universe has gotten itself off to a rather mercurial start; after the pleasant Superman reboot, Phase 1 of the Nü DCU then went immediately… into an animated series with D-list characters, the second season of HBO Max’s Peacemaker, and an incredibly disappointing Supergirl film. It hasn’t exactly been a gangbusters premiere for the “Gods and Monsters” storyline, which sets an odd stage for Lanterns, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King’s attempt to take the massive, operatic Green Lantern saga and grind it down into a gritty, meticulously paced detective series. Thankfully, “Pilot” has too much on its place to really consider its context in the world of the DCU – and although at times it feels like way too much setup for the story it is telling, Lanterns‘s first episode is an intriguing, if occasionally stagnant and a little too self-aware, hour of intriguing potential (and one with more than a little bit of Watchmen‘s DNA built into its first script, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
Lanterns begins in 1996, if only for a moment, introducing us to a yoing John Stewart, whose military father is teaching him to never be afraid by shooting apples off his head, something both father and son treat as completely normal (we also see a young Hal Jordan on TV, wearing his shiny suit and detailing his origins as Earth’s first Lantern). From there, most of the rest of “Pilot” is spent in 2016 (and briefly 2026), as Hal and John embark on an investigation together in Nebraska, only a few months after John became the first Lantern recruit assigned to the Corps (instead of the traditional way, which is to be blessed after the previous Lantern dies, typically in front of them).
As Lindelof pilots tend to be, Lanterns first hour is both dense and allusive; while we learn quite a bit about Jordan’s lineage and John’s infallibly calm approach to life, “Pilot” lays out a pair of central mysteries; the mass shooting of multiple aliens at a high school football game in 2016 – and the death of Hal Jordan in the winter of 2026, found covered in snow on a stadium bench, with a broken nose and a bullet in his head (in the stands of a football field, because who can’t resist a morbid Friday Night Lights callback). Yes, that’s correct; “Pilot” is both a story of identity and legacy, filtered through the grizzled, misanthropic Jordan, as a small town in Nebraska becomes the home for Lanterns stories of faith, identity – and of course, fear, perhaps the most incisively sharp undercurrent of the first episode (seen most acutely with Garrett Dillahunt’s William Macon, a militant cowboy wannabe who mentions that colonization is “particularly bleak if you’re the one being colonized”, in the episode’s most overt scene).
It makes for an intriguing mix of foreboding atmosphere and buddy-cop vibes; Kyle Chandler’s Hal is a wonderful combination of Western archetypes, a reluctantly aging loner whose lack of fear and sense of purpose has turned him into one of the most focused, arrogant, effective assholes in what the Lantern Corps council (known as the Guardians) considers a forgettable back alley of the galaxy. Equally fantastic is Aaron Pierre’s buttoned-up, measured John, a contrast that allows for some archetypal good cop, bad cop generational dynamics – but also alluding to something deeper about what Lanterns is aiming to say about destiny and determinism (and hopefully not about cosmic DEI directives, though I am sure that will be a line of dialogue at some point in these eight episodes), which helps this episode channel something beyond some vague “True Detective season one with more CGI” vibes).
There are some clumsy elements – Kelly Macdonald’s American accent is a bit overwrought, which makes her Kerry Kane stick out a little bit in a Fargo-esque way, and there’s a subplot with John banging a white supremacist’s wife that is an enormous mine field waiting to happen – but for the most part, “Pilot” does a pretty strong vibe establishing the rapport between its main characters, while dumping a metric shit ton of exposition to set up the seven episodes to follow (all carefully and meticulously delivered, but without pretension or desperation). I’m also not a big fan of the show’s beige-washed aesthetic (I get it, you don’t want it to be too green or too goofy; that doesn’t mean we can’t have some color) and its potential for its third act to be sucked into the larger mechanisms of the DCU – but again, with such talent on both sides of the camera, it’s hard not to be intrigued by what Lanterns puts down for audiences in its first hour.
How it will tell these stories in 2016 and 2026, while also integrating characters like Sinestro (being played by Banshee‘s Ulrick Thomsen), Antaan, the Manhunters and the Guardians, remains the big unanswered question; based on the first hour alone, there’s definitely enough juice in the Jordan/Stewart dynamic to build a pretty solid season of television around, but how it balances all of these elements and priorities is the big wild card. With its self-contained, focused first episode, “Pilot” certainly does a good job convincing audiences it can stand on its own two foot – only time will tell, of course, though I’m definitely more encouraged by the first hour of Lanterns than expected.
Other thoughts/observations:
- Welcome to Lanterns reviews! Reviews will typically publish Sunday nights or Monday mornings moving forward.
- Gotta love a cast that includes Jason Ritter and Nicole Ari Parker in its recurring cast – and even features Banshee and Treme‘s Chris Coy (who remains an incredibly underrated actor).
- Melanie’s “Brand New Key” weasels its way into pop culture once again, as the song Hal has play repeatedly on a jukebox to piss off some rednecks.
- “Nothing better than eating off another man’s grill.” There is some Lindelof Weirdness happening with Dillahunt’s William, and I am here for it.
- It appears John and Hal do not have the ring in 2026; assuming this is a Watchmen-esque thing where people in Nebraska have stolen it to channel the powers of racism, but we shall see.