Lanterns might not kick off where you think it might. It’s 1996; John Stewart and his brothers are crowded around the TV, and one is on lookout duty. The boys are glued to the screen: a 60 Minutes presentation with none other than Hal Jordan himself, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814. As John’s father pulls into the driveway, his brothers urge him to turn off the TV, but John is fixed to the screen. Stewart’s father is a stern and disciplined man, placing an apple atop his son’s head and pointing a gun in his direction, asking him the very same question Hal Jordan was asked the moment he became one of the world’s first Lanterns: “Are you afraid?”
Learning Curves
Lanterns tells its story through a non-linear structure, primarily jumping between 2016 and 2026, with most of this episode taking place in 2016. John Stewart has been chosen to become the next Green Lantern of Sector 2814, and Hal Jordan is very unhappy to help with that endeavor as he knows the kids being teed up as his replacement. A wonderful reunion from a two-week training hiatus is cut short when Hal passes the ring to John before jumping out of a moving car and sending him over the edge, ya know…part of the training.
Out of nowhere, the humming ring produces a hologram of Hal, dubbed the Halogram, bringing a message for himself that “there’s hail in Rushville.” A message that would send a wave of panic through Jordan, causing him to immediately jet off from their training session.
Kyle Chandler is astounding as Jordan, wielding a smart mouth that may just rival the power of the ring on his finger and an unlimited supply of charisma. Aaron Pierre’s Stewart acts as a perfect foil to Hal, a much more disciplined and focused individual who doesn’t have much time for lollygagging. He struggles with Hal’s way of teaching, if it even is that, with his style even baffling his own Halogram.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle the show has is establishing this corner of the DC Universe and its characters. Comic fans know just how vast the Lanterns corner of DC is, and I’m not just talking about the green ones. This is a story that has potential to be at Star Wars-level scale. The pilot does a good job easing audiences into the lore, especially when you consider Lanterns show has just nabbed the coveted HBO Sunday night primetime window hot off the finale of House of the Dragon Season 3.
There’s Hail in Rushville
Hal, being the incredible mentor that he is, immediately abandons his trainee once again. This time not off of a cliff, but instead rocketing right into the air and across the country to Rushville, Nebraska. Once John arrives, he finds Hal at the scene of a crime, a shooting at a local high school in Rushville and looking to stick his nose into the investigation, in which he’s immediately stonewalled with a lack of jurisdiction. Jordan, of course, bold as all hell, tells Sheriff Kane that each of those victims will come up alien, pointing out several key details that tell him that right away.
John and Hal are able to immediately clock a suspect, one that Kane was already onto as well, giving the fella just enough time to make a dash as the suspicions became increasingly evident. An intense pursuit is quickly ended by John, who efficiently sucker-punches him and knocks him down for the count.
Hal’s first move after the apprehension? Hit the local watering hole, of course! Might as well, if Kane is barring him from any chance of an interrogation. This little moment gives Hal and John some time to bond, and by bond I mean bicker, argue, and question everything. John insists on hearing Hal’s real origins, not the glitz and glamor sold to the public twenty years ago. Hal tells him how it happened, everything: the question, the bubble, the pink alien named Abin Sur. Their time in the bar is cut short when Jordan’s plan is kicked into action, and a bar fight gets him thrown in jail, just where he wants to be.
After Jordan’s swift departure, John finds himself in the company of Zoe, played by Poorna Jagannathan, and quickly in an intimate situation. This is important for later. WINK WINK.
Good Samaritans(?)
Finding Sheriff Kane way ahead of his plan and locked in a broom closet, Jordan tries to bargain his way out of custody with a green card or ring, boasting his status as a Lantern as credible law enforcement credentials. That doesn’t work, but a mysterious benefactor’s money sure does. Unfortunately for Sheriff Kane, it just so happens to be her father-in-law’s money, delivered by her attorney husband, played by Jason Ritter.
Here’s where Lanterns throws a curveball: who the hell are the Macons? Bailed out and feeling bashful, Hal decides to pay William Macon a visit, played by Garret Dillahunt. Macon explains he bailed Hal out as a service, in fear of the aliens walking amongst them, fear of Earth being colonized and seeing how it’s ravaged the very land his compound sits on.
Macon says that he can get Hal a sit-down with the suspect; Jordan questions its price. As they leave the compound, Macon sneaks in a sly comment about “eating off another man’s grill”, alluding to the fact that he knows about his rendezvous with his wife, Zoe. A shocking truth John himself had only learned hours ago.
Jordan finally gets that sit down and wastes no time, but John and Sheriff Kane don’t see it that way at first. Hal’s intuition tells him the individual sitting in front of him has a very basic understanding of his surroundings, learning specific details of this artificial life but not the broader topics. It’s almost like speaking to an AI chatbot, just very general information that fails to really cover anything else. What really tips Jordan off is the “rural Nebraskans” opinion on President Barack Obama, simply stating facts rather than any personal opinion or bias on the matter.
The alien cracks; to the shock of Sheriff Kane, the man in front of Jordan is a bona fide extraterrestrial. The two lock into an intense conversation that results in an explosive confrontation, with the alien reciting the Lanterns’ oath, and leads to a real explosion when the alien self destructs and only revealing that he’s on Earth for “vengeance.”
No Time In the Present
Who has no time in the present? Hal Jordan! Because he is dead. Yes, the final moments of the first episode of Lanterns, a solo Green Lantern project, reveal the untimely and mysterious demise of the one and only, Hal Jordan. Shocking fans across the world and even getting a tear out of John.
After Hal’s interrogation goes a bit explosive, we jump forward ten years to find John Stewart has returned to Rushville. Driving through a blizzard-engulfed prairie, glancing at snow-covered debris and ruins, teasing what’s to come of the area and what’s happened over the past ten years.
John eventually finds Sheriff Kane waiting for him at the football field where the shooting transpired; the two exchange pleasantries before trudging onto the field and up the bleachers to reveal the frozen corpse of Hal Jordan. The only thing that startles John more than the hole in Hal’s head that wasn’t there before? His ring is missing. Gently lifting Hal’s hand and brushing the snow away to reveal an empty set of digits, the ring AWOL, in common Jordan fashion. To think things could not get any more shocking, we see a tear shed for Hal by John.
Up Next.
The final moments of the episode are amongst the best. The mountain of questions rises higher as we jump ten years into the future. What happened to Rushville? What is all of the debris scattered around and outside town? What happened between Hal and John to split them up? And building on that, why did John shed a tear for someone he’s held so much frustration with in the time we’ve known them together? And most importantly, what happened to Hal Jordan?
Check out some of our other coverage of Lanterns and make sure you’re following along week-to-week to stay in the loop with reviews, recaps, and features. Check out the trailer for Lanterns below!
