Created by Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof, and Tom King – Starring Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, and Garret Dillahunt
Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart find themselves investigating a tragic and mysterious incident in a small American town, while events spanning several decades suggest there is much more happening than either man realizes.
There have been a lot of comparisons between Lanterns and True Detective, and after one episode, I can understand why.
We have two very different investigators, a mystery in a small town, multiple timelines, and a grounded approach to material that could easily have gone in a much more traditional superhero direction. But beyond those similarities, Lanterns doesn’t really feel like True Detective to me. It doesn’t have the same philosophical weight or oppressive atmosphere. At least not yet.
If anything, I found myself thinking about the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comics from the early ’70s. That series famously brought Hal Jordan back down to Earth and sent him across America, using a cosmic superhero to explore considerably more grounded problems.
Lanterns isn’t doing the same exact thing, but there are shades of that idea here. Once again, we have Hal on Earth, traveling through America and seemingly questioning the larger institution he’s supposed to represent.
On the surface, the premiere gives us a fairly straightforward mystery. Something strange is happening around this town, there appear to be aliens hiding in plain sight, and Hal and John are trying to figure out how everything connects.
But Lanterns also leaves plenty of room for viewers to speculate about another mystery happening underneath that one.
The episode repeatedly reminds us that Hal was the first human Green Lantern and, more importantly, that the Guardians didn’t choose him. At the same time, there are indications that John isn’t simply being trained by Hal but could be positioned to replace him. The hostility Hal shows toward John also suggests he may not entirely believe the story that this is just about training a backup. That immediately made me wonder whether Hal’s apparent rebellious relationship with the Guardians and their interest in John are connected.
Then there’s John’s childhood. In 1996, a young John secretly watches Hal reveal his identity as Green Lantern on television. His father comes home already knowing what John was watching. Shortly afterward, he puts John through a frightening exercise while using strangely similar language about fear to what Hal had just said during the interview. That seems like a connection that will be revisited as the series unfolds.
Hal is the Green Lantern the Guardians didn’t choose. He no longer wears the uniform, doesn’t appear particularly interested in following orders, and increasingly resembles the rogue cop who plays by his own rules. If John really is being groomed as his replacement, there’s potentially something interesting here about an institution trying to replace someone it could never fully control with someone it believes it can.
Whether any of that develops into something about indoctrination versus free will remains to be seen, but the premiere gives us enough threads to pull on.
That’s one of the things I liked most about the episode. There’s the mystery the characters are actively investigating, but there are also questions about these characters and the organization behind them that I’m already interested in following.
Where Lanterns feels less assured is in its determination to establish itself as a Green Lantern story for a mature audience. I’m completely fine with an adult approach to these characters. But there are moments in the premiere where it feels like certain material is being squeezed in largely because this is HBO and they can do it. There’s a difference between telling an adult story and making sure the audience knows they’re watching an adult show.
The performances give me plenty of reason to stick around. Kyle Chandler is very good as Hal, particularly because I’m not convinced the disheveled rogue we’re seeing is entirely who he is. There’s a confidence underneath the way Chandler plays him that makes it seem like Hal knows considerably more than he lets on. Even the way he carries himself sometimes feels calculated, as though he’s perfectly happy letting everyone underestimate him.
Aaron Pierre takes John in almost the opposite direction. On the surface, he’s controlled and stoic, but Pierre allows little pieces of the person underneath to slip through. John gets angry. He gets frustrated. He can be impulsive and careless. There’s already a tension between the disciplined person he presents to the world and the considerably messier human being underneath.
Kelly Macdonald is also very good as the local sheriff, while Garret Dillahunt adds another interesting human wrinkle as the man running a nearby compound with considerable control over the the community Hal and John are investigating. With so much alien and Green Lantern mythology floating around, those characters help keep the immediate mystery rooted in this particular town and the people living there.
After one episode, I’m not completely sure what Lanterns is going to become. The tone can be uneven, and I’m not sold on every choice the premiere makes. But it has an interesting central mystery, two versions of Green Lantern I want to know more about, and enough questions surrounding Hal, John, the Guardians, and the past that I was still thinking about after the episode ended.
For TV show that presents itself as a mystery, that’s a pretty good place to start.
TV Verdict: I’m On Board
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