I’m still not sure what to make of HBO’s latest DC Comics series, Lanterns. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, and I’m pretty sure that at least some of my issues with it are because I’m not a fan of Green Lantern the character or the comics. I’m not anti-Green Lantern, I just have never been interested in Green Lantern, so I suspect that I’m missing things that more avid fans are spotting.
Then again, I didn’t know a thing about the Guardians of the Galaxy before seeing that film and I loved every second of it, and that’s been the case with plenty of other shows and movies and adaptations from comic books or novels that I hadn’t already read. So is the show simply not accessible to those of us who aren’t really into Green Lantern, or is it something else?
Check out my weekend streaming guide right here.
I already discussed, at length, the problem with expectations last week. The comparisons to True Detective and so forth. This week, I went in with those expectations solidly shelved away. It was incredibly clear that this was not on that level or even remotely close. So I can’t say that I was disappointed with the second episode. I was just . . . bored.
The stakes simply haven’t materialized for me. There are aliens and they’re searching for some powerful cosmic being known as the Manhunter who long ago brought ruin to their civilization and was taken into custody by a Green Lantern and then . . . never brought to justice. They think this being is in Rushville, NE and they recruit John (Aaron Pierre) to help them track it down. This is just one of many Manhunters, synthetic shapeshifters with enormous power. This particular one might just be part of a much larger threat, but right now Hal and John have to figure out who it is in the first place, and they’ve got their eyes squarely set on the ranch, which could be a misdirect.
My guess is that it’s the wife of rancher William Macon (Garret Dillahunt), Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan). She seems very untrustworthy and if film and literature have taught me anything, it’s that you should always pay close attention to the woman standing behind the powerful man. The Manhunter can take any shape. Why not a seductive woman who had absolutely no problem bedding our young protagonist last week. Or it’s Kerry, because she seems so out of place and just way too nice (the tough mom cop from a Coen Brothers movie) to not be a secret villain.
Whenever it’s a shapeshifter mystery-type situation, it has to be someone introduced in the very first episode. I don’t think it’s either of our heroes, and I think Macon is too obvious. So it’s either Zoe or Kerry, or possibly Billy Macon (Jason Ritter). I’m curious, but not edge of my seat curious.
Scattered thoughts about this week’s episode:
- I like Kelly Macdonald, and I still think it’s funny that her character is named Kerry Kane (my mom’s name is Kerry) but either she’s the Manhunter or she’s just . . . an odd choice here. Something isn’t clicking. She tells Hal (Kyle Chandler) that she’s originally from Gotham, but then why does she sound like she’s from Minnesota? (Yes, I know the actress is Scottish so that’s probably part of it, but she really is like a character who just walked off the set of Fargo and got lost on the way to the commode, dontcha know).
- It’s not that any of the actors are doing a bad job, but I just find myself drifting whenever there’s any conversation that lasts any length of time, and I can’t chock this up to my attention span. I watch plenty of slow, dense dramas with lots of dialogue and as long as I’m invested in the story and characters, I have no problem following along. But the whole scene with Sheriff Kerry and Hal in the hospital I just found dreadfully dull.
- This is also where I’m not sure if this is supposed to be mysterious or if it’s just weird. There are no doctors or nurses in the hospital where Hal wakes up and Kerry tells him he can go. That’s either incredibly unrealistic or something is very fishy. I’m leaning toward the latter, but the show’s weird tonal issues make it hard for me to really know what they’re going for here. It’s all grim and serious for a minute and then it’s Hal cracking wise and the sheriff getting very stern with him in an aw shucks Midwestern manner and then suddenly we’re watching John get jumped and captured and blasted with an alien memory trauma taser.
- Four aliens were killed last week. They looked like normal people. They were killed at a football game. There is basically zero media presence, the town seems totally calm. It’s just a very strange, disjointed place. I’m honestly getting some Night Country vibes from it that are creeping me out (and not in a good way). Not that it’s that terrible – it’s not – but just this feeling of an artificial place rather than one that’s lived in and real. It’s hard to explain.
In the end, after Hal is shot and arrested for trespassing and stealing bodies from the morgue, John rejoins his mentor in Rushville (after going to Hal’s mansion to get the Green Lantern to charge the ring) and tells him about his encounter with the aliens and their pursuit of the Manhunter. John also brought the Green Lantern suit and after “Junior” goes to bed, Hal dons the classic green suit (after acting like he’d never wear the thing again) and flies off into space, finally coming to a distant space prison where the old Green Lantern, Sinestro, is imprisoned.
Sinestro tells him that the Manhunter is the second most important thing Hal should be worried about. Now tell me about John Stewart, he says ominously, and the credits roll.
I admit I might have rolled my eyes a bit at this point. It’s played like a cliffhanger but I just don’t really care enough to feel any suspense or thrill. I don’t know enough about this Sinestro to feel anything one way or another about him. I don’t particularly even like John, who is too serious and flat (Pierre isn’t the problem, it’s just the character. In fact, check out the Netflix Original movie, Rebel Ridge, which Pierre stars in. It’s basically a Reacher story but it’s much better than Amazon’s Reacher series and Pierre is fantastic in that movie).
I usually love it when shows release week-to-week because it gives me time to really sit with each episode, write a recap / review of each episode over the course of several weeks or months, and dive into all the fun fan theories and whatnot.
But this show feels like it should have been a binge release, or at least had three episodes out to begin with, because after two episodes I have essentially zero investment in the characters and story. It’s fine. It’s not horrible. It’s entertaining enough. There’s just not much of a hook. Perhaps it’ll reel me in eventually, but for now I remain unimpressed.
I did do some homework, of course, and learned all about Sinestro and his significance to the Green Lantern stories, but I won’t share any of that here. It’s too spoilery, I suppose. But somehow this show needed to make that moment land for non-fans also and it just didn’t at all for me. I’ll try to be patient, but I don’t think I should have to go read wikis after an episode to enjoy an episode of TV.
Even the episode’s somewhat contrived stakes – John has to find the Manhunter within 48 hours or the aliens are going to suicide bomb Rushville – fails to move me. Rushville hasn’t made itself or its citizens very likable and if they were all blown to smithereens by aliens trying to exact revenge and get justice, I wouldn’t bat an eye.
Read my review of Episode 1 here, and watch my video review below:
Stay tuned, I’ll have another video up about Episode 2 soon.
What about you? Are you enjoying this one more than me? Am I just being too impatient? For those of you who are big Green Lantern nerds, is it working for you? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.