‘Lanterns’ Delivers Compelling Mystery, Solid Worldbuilding

Two men, one younger and one older, looking up with concerned expressions in a dimly lit room. — Source: HBO Max / HBO Max

[WARNING: This recap contains spoilers for episode 2 of Lanterns]

We’re only two episodes in, and it’s clear that Lanterns didn’t come to play. They managed to pack so much into one hour of television without it feeling overstuffed. So let’s just get into it, y’all.

I’m probably going to keep saying this every week, but dear lord, they nailed the casting of Hal and John. Kyle Chandler is Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre is John Stewart. The episode starts with Hal trying to teach John how to fly. John doesn’t fly, but he does construct a bird that manages to stay alive even when Hal takes back the ring. Hal is clearly taken aback by what John managed to do, but doesn’t say much about it. He gives John a plane ticket and sends him back to Coast City to grab his lantern since his ring is running low on power.

The DC nerd in me geeked out simply hearing Coast City. DC has always been my favorite comics to read since I was a kiddo, and having lived through so many failed attempts to bring the DC Universe to cinematic life, I’ve learned to temper my expectations. There’s a real joy in seeing one of my favorite corners of the DC universe brought to life week after week.

Seeing Hal’s house and realizing how empty it is does give us more insight into his life. For better or worse, Hal’s life is devoted to being Earth’s Green Lantern. I’m assuming that this version of Hal never had a Carol Ferris, or if he did, she’s long gone. It makes more sense why he’s not entirely thrilled to be training his replacement.

While looking for the lantern, John finds Hal’s Green Lantern uniforms, and we see John clearly envisioning himself in the uniform. This beat shows how much becoming a Green Lantern means to him.

After leaving Hal’s place, John is attacked and kidnapped by a group of assailants. After a brief foot chase down a highway, John wakes up in an abandoned office and is greeted by Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor), an alien whose species suffered a genocide at the hands of the Manhunters. Antaan tries to recruit John and tells him he has 48 hours to find the Manhunter in Rushville or he will destroy the town entirely.

Back in Rushville, Hal crashes a town meeting held by Sheriff Kane, and once again, Kelly MacDonald is fantastic as Kerry Kane. Her accent is so good I actually can’t believe she’s Scottish.

After leaving the town meeting at Sheriff Kane’s behest, Hal sneaks into the coroner’s office and steals the corpses of the dead aliens from last week. The sight of Hal dragging the corpses around everywhere was consistently funny. He takes the corpse back to the football field, where he discovers that the metal detector also doubles as an alien detector. Kane finds Hal with the corpse, and he learns that Kane knows more about the alien mystery in Rushville than she initially let on. She reluctantly agrees to take Hal back to William Macon’s ranch so he can ask about the alien technology at the football field.

I really appreciate that the show is driving home both Hal’s arrogance and his instincts as a detective. While he may be a more world-weary take on the character, the show still shows why Hal is the Green Lantern.

While Macon put on the charm offensive last week when he needed something from Hal, he quickly establishes that he wants Hal out of Rushville and will shoot him on sight if he comes back to his property. Hal tries to call Macon’s bluff, which leads to one of his snipers shooting him in the shoulder.

Hal then wakes up in the hospital to Sheriff Kane at his bedside. Kane explains to Hal that by continually undermining her authority, he’s giving the impression that Macon is the true seat of power in the town and that’s not a road Hal wants to go down.

I like the idea that there have been problems with Macon’s influence on the town before the Lanterns turned up. We get the little nugget that Kane is originally from Gotham, and I’m curious if that’s going to tie into the larger Batfamily or if it’s just a fun little detail.

John eventually returns with the lantern (though not before once again meeting Zoe Macon at a cafe). If y’all could hear the giggle I made when Hal gave the oath while charging the ring. There were concerns that the more grounded setting meant that Lanterns was going to shy away from its comic book origins, and I’m delighted that only two episodes in the series have proved that’s not the case.

John tells Hal what Antaan told him, and the word “Manhunters” clearly has a chilling effect on Hal.

The episode ends with yet another highlight: Hal in the Green Lantern suit. I was grinning so wide seeing Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, come to life. Not only that, but we see him fly to what I believe is OA, the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps, to visit an imprisoned Sinestro for information on the manhunter threat.

While we’re only two episodes in, and there’s plenty of time for it to go off the rails, so far, Lanterns is giving me everything I could want out of a Green Lantern adaptation. While a mystery set in rural Nebraska wasn’t how I imagined we’d be introduced to the Green Lantern Corps, it’s actually been a smart move to keep the stakes manageable (so far) and still establish the larger Green Lantern world.

See you next week, where it looks like we’re going to learn all about John’s backstory.

Notes

This episode did a solid job setting up the mystery and the cosmic weirdness of Green Lantern lore.
If Hal is the definitive Green Lantern, John is arguably Earth’s best, and I like that they’re establishing that early on.
“White men have the privilege of being eccentric.” BARS.
Is Antaan the man funding William Macon?
ALSO WE’RE GETTING MANHUNTERS OFF RIP, BAYBEE. LET’S GO.
The lack of people in the hospital has me very curious about what’s really going on in Rushville.
I’ma need John to stop giving his life story to Zoe Macon; clearly she’s running game for her husband.