Tom's Guide verdict: 'Lanterns' premiere
- Rating: ★★★★☆
- Verdict: "Lanterns" delivers the Green Lantern show I had hoped for. It nails the origins of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) while keeping John Stewart's (Aaron Pierre) origins as the focus. There are rings and green objects summoned from nothingness, while keeping things relatively grounded as the Lanterns prepare for an alien invasion. The casting raises eyebrows on occasion, but otherwise, this is a smash hit right out of the gate.
- Premiere date/time: Out now
- Channel: HBO and streaming on HBO Max
Tonight's "Lanterns" premiere shouldn't have had everything riding on it. Sure, there was hype. There were expectations. This was still a major DC superhero being put on an HBO show. It was still Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as not just one, but two Green Lanterns. It was still Damon Lindelof returning to HBO and DC following the acclaim of 2019's "Watchmen" series.
But the future of James Gunn's DCU wasn't supposed to be riding on the success of this show. This was supposed to be a big swing Gunn could take after the surefire success of "Supergirl" earlier in the summer. Except, "Supergirl" was a flop. Now, "Lanterns" was the property that needed to be the success, or the whole DCU could fall apart.
Well, we don't have to worry about the implications of that scenario anymore, because "Lanterns" is a hit. It's great. It's as if Lindelof picked up right where he left off with "Watchmen" and didn't look back, and it delivered exactly what I hoped: a darker, grittier, more grounded Green Lantern series would deliver.
That's not to say it's perfect. While the quality of the actors cast in this series is (so far) unimpeachable, the ages are another matter. I'm willing to play fast and loose with things like this, but there are generations of characters within this show that, frankly, look like they're around the same age. It's not a dealbreaker, but it is a flaw. Still, it's not even close to enough to stop me from declaring this HBO series must-see TV.
Spoilers ahead for "Lanterns" premiere
'Lanterns' is a tale of two Lanterns and three timelines
"Lanterns" (at least the premiere episode) takes place in three separate years, each at least a decade apart. We briefly see John as a kid in 1996, when Hal reveals to the world that he's the Green Lantern. Then, we spend the majority of the premiere in 2016, where it seems our story really begins and when Hal begins to train John.
Finally, as a coda to the premiere, we arrive in the present: 2026. John is now in charge, and Hal is ... well, Hal's fate seems like it'll be a major plotline in this show. I won't spoil exactly what happens in case you haven't seen the episode. You can see what's coming, but it's still a bit of a surprise when it does.
At any rate, it's 2016 where the bulk of the story takes place. It's here that we see John training to be a Green Lantern under Hal, who seems to be going through almost a midlife crisis. He's not handling having a trainee well, especially since that trainee might turn into a replacement.
But that mentor/mentee conflict gets shelved once our heroes suddenly head to Nebraska for what turns out to be a mass shooting where the victims are all aliens. Or at least, that's what Hal thinks.
Turns out, Hal's right. This is the highlight of the episode: Hal interrogating this seemingly ordinary Nebraskan until he can get him to trip up and reveal he's an alien. He finally does, but the alien reveals themself to be a cold-blooded soldier, ready to die for his people. That's precisely what he does when he sets off a massive bomb within himself that Hal only just manages to keep contained with his ring.
But this alien was just an advanced scout, and after meeting with the almost certainly villainous William Macon, it seems the Lanterns are the only ones aware of an impending extraterrestrial invasion.
Verdict: This is the Green Lantern show I hoped we'd get
When does that invasion come? Well, we don't learn that in this premiere episode. The easy guess is that it comes in 2016, but I think, based on what we see, that the main invasion is still to come, and that's why we end the episode in 2026.
Regardless, there's no denying that this premiere has set up a season I can't wait to see play out. I'm already anticipating being devastated by a tragic event at some point in the next seven episodes.
But I'm also anticipating seeing John and Hal get fleshed out more as characters. We've already seen some of John's complicated side, including his relationship with his father (J. Alphonse Nicholson/Sherman Augustus), who shoots apples off his head, and a sexual encounter outside of a bar with someone who turned out to be William Macon's wife (Poorna Jagannathan). We're still waiting to see more of Hal's complications, though hints are already dropping.
Just as important as this character building, though, I'm hopeful the show continues to give us John and Hal using the ring. A real concern going into the series was that the ring wouldn't be used much, so that the show would stay grounded. But that didn't prove to be the case in the premiere, and if Lindelof and company can keep it up for the rest of the season, James Gunn's perch atop DC Studios might just stay safe after all.
Stream "Lanterns" on HBO Max now
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