We all knew a show called Lanterns was coming on HBO based on DC’s Green Lantern comics, but no one saw it coming, if you catch our drift. No one foresaw this grounded take on DC Comics’ emerald space cops was going to be as compelling as it was, with acting and craftsmanship behind the scenes to rival the best of HBO’s “prestige television” greats, like True Detective. A series this show owed a great debt to, as much as any comic book. But with all episodes now behind us, did the Lanterns showrunners, along with the cast, stick the landing? We’re happy to say, they mostly did.
Episode eight of Lanterns had a lot to tie up in one hour. We needed resolution to the season-long “Who killed Hal Jordan?” mystery. We needed to see if John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) would take the power ring and become a true Green Lantern at last. And we needed to know if there were still remnants of the Manhunter threat in Rushville, ten years later. And on an emotional level, we needed to know if John Stewart would make peace with his destiny, and with Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler). Or, should we say, the ghost of Hal Jordan in the form of the Halogram. And we’re happy to say that the episode mostly ties those threads up in a satisfactory fashion.
The episode winds its way all over the Lanterns timeline, starting with Rushville in 2016, Hal’s release from prison in 2026, and right where the previous episode left off, with John and the Halogram interrogating Sinestro (Ulrich Thomsen) on the desolate alien world. Much of the lingering mysteries find resolution in a massive exposition dump by Sinestro while confined to a chair. This comes after a lengthy waterboarding torture sequence performed by John. This confession scene works to solve the various unanswered questions the audience had. If anything, this scene depicts a far more morally gray John than usual. It makes up for the standard “bad guy confesses everything” nature of it all. The writers turned it into a revealing character moment, instead of just a Scooby-Doo unmasking scene.
Of course, the questions the audience really cares about, who killed Hal, and whether John becomes a Green Lantern, find answers in a more emotionally gratifying way by the end of the episode. We won’t spoil the answers to the mystery here. We recommend just watching the episode. But we’ll say that it’s wrapped up with fantastically acted moments from Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, and, surprisingly, Shea Pritchard. The latter only just joined the series in the previous episode as the older Noah Macon. All three actors give their characters a nuance that no one was probably expecting from the “Magic Ring Superheroes” show. We think very few fans of the series are going to be unhappy about how things end for John Stewart.
As for what didn’t work, the plotline with Sinestro definitely remained dangling. This ties into the cosmic nature of the source material, something most of the writers are clearly less interested in. All signs indicate that a potential Lanterns season two will deal with some of these threads. And that takes the sting away a bit. But we still hate that some of that stuff did not receive a better resolution. The finale, and the whole series really, wasted great actors like Jason Ritter. We just don’t get why they cast them at all for such thankless roles. Laura Linney’s Guardian character felt like she needed one more moment, and we just didn’t get it. Those things were disappointing, to be sure.
Nerdist’s Take: Lanterns Season One Was an Incredible Character Study, But Season 2 Seriously Needs More Green Lantern Action
In the end, however, what made Lanterns season one great was how successfully it handled the story of two men, at the opposite ends of their lives and careers, facing their pasts and futures. When it came to its thematic elements and character arcs for its main cast, we think Lanterns succeeded in spades by its conclusion. And if this turns out to be the last episode ever, we’d still say we’re about 75% satisfied, which isn’t bad. But if there is a next time, and we certainly hope there is, we hope they mix in the weighty character stuff with a bit more actual Green Lanterning. We don’t think that’s an absurd request for a show called Lanterns.
All eight episodes of Lanterns are now streaming on HBO Max.