It seems that rather than being tasked to save the universe, the Green Lantern Corps have been entrusted to save something far more intimate – the fledgling DCU. After a strong – if eccentric – start, the new incarnation of a combined universe featuring the famous faces from Detective Comics suddenly floundered when Supergirl publicly bombed, despite being nowhere near as bad as you’ve heard. Suddenly, it seemed, James Gunn’s new kingdom was on shaky ground and the only thing around to save it was a superhero whose previous big screen outing is still consistently voted as one of the worst comic book movies ever made.
Worse yet, early trailers had fans angrily demanding to know where all the green was, and why a story about space cops looked like a season of Yellowstone. Simply put, for a hero who knows no fear, we were afraid that Green Lantern was going to let the side down. Again. Well, it’s best that you hold your horses for a spell, because not only is the pilot for Lanterns not bad, it’s bound to get the competition glowing green with envy.
Starting in 1986, we discover that Hal Jordan has been selected to be the first human Green Lantern in history. Given various sectors of space to police, Jordan was given a power ring by his dying predecessor, and years later in 1996, a young John Stewart is determined – along with his intense, military father – that one day, he will adopt the mantle if he trains hard and dispels all fear within him.
A quick zip to 2016 and we discover that a grown Stewart has indeed been chosen to become Jordan’s successor, but much to his barely hidden dismay, the current Green Lantern has proven to be something of a shitty teacher. As Stewart’s frustration grows, Jordan only seems to become more of a curmudgeon, pulling nasty tricks on his protege and passing them off as “training”. However, when a message that Jordan has sent to himself announces that something serious is kicking off in Nebraska, the veteran Lantern streaks off, leaving Stewart to make his own way there by conventional means.
Once arriving in Rushville, Stewart finds that a mass shooting has occurred during a game but strangely no one seems to recognise any of the slain which is weird in a small town; however, while Jordan is itching to interview the sole suspect, he’s being blocked by Sheriff Kerry Kane, who refuses to acknowledge the Green Lantern’s jurisdiction in this very, earthly matter. With that being said, Jordan is convinced that that there’s an extraterrestrial connection at play, and after trying various ploys to get to see the suspect (including getting himself arrested), Jordan eventually makes a deal with the imposing William Macon, Kerry’s father-in-law and the leader of a local militia, who have vowed to keep Earth free of any and all alien presence.
However, after interrogating the suspect and learning that there is indeed a malevolent alien conspiracy in effect after the prisoner decides to detonate himself, and an even further jaunt to 2026 reveals something of a shocking revelation. After returning to Rushville after a decade, John Stewart and Kerry Kane discover Hal Jordan’s frozen body sitting in the same grounds where the shootings happened years before – and his ring is missing.
I’m sure that there are Green Lantern fans out there seething that both Superman and Supergirl get planet and dimension spanning adventures and even Peacemaker got to wander around the multiverse a little, while in comparison the Lanterns TV show ends up being defiantly grounded despite its space faring history. Well, I have to tell you that I totally get it – but while we’re not seeing the planet Oa, or the likes of Kilowog or Tomar-Re (yet), what Lanterns’ opening gambit does present us with is something potentially far more important: a solid bedrock to work from.
When you realise that most people’s knowledge of the character comes purely from the risable 2011 Ryan Reynolds effort, a certain amount of damage control has to be employed, and as a result, Lanterns is primarily a hardened cop show first and foremost, that just happens to contain a man with a magic ring. Yes, the influence of Yellowstone can be keenly felt – it also helps that showrunner Chris Mundy had a major hand in both Ozark and True Detective – but while the notion that the show focuses more of the “cops” part of “space cops” may understandably set off alarm bells, the fact that the first episode contains both a gripping mystery and great characters means that the risk has handsomely paid off. Furthermore, after the positivity of David Corenswet’s Superman, it’s fun to spend time with the passive-aggressive double act of the grumbling, burnt-out Jordan and the rigid professionalism of Stewart.
Playing the classic odd-couple notes, Kyle Chandler inhabits the rumpled Jordan as an egotistical grump, abusing his powers at will and acting openly hostile to his trainee Lantern. On the flip-side of the partner divide, Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart is a far more controlled man than his reckless mentor, but a glimpse at his childhood shows just how much he wants the mantle. An early scene shows that his father has trained him to be fearless by shooting apples off his head with a gun, and that level of dedication can’t help but make the older Jordan a bit wary. Of course, it also means that that their scenes together crackle with comedic tension as their opposing views about what it means to be a hero causes them to clash. Snappy dialogue and Kelly Macdonald’s exasperated sheriff caught in the middle, means that this introduction to this world proves to be the stirring entry that the DCU needs right now, but what really makes Lanterns really spark is the fact that it’s seemingly going to operate on multiple timelines.
Hopping from 1996, to 2016 and containing a prologue set in 2026, it seems that the main bulk of the mystery is going unfold over a span of a decade and will see Jordan and Stewart uncover an alien conspiracy, keep an eye of Macon’s anti-E.T. militia and simultaneously have Stewart investigate Jordan’s murder ten years later. While other cop shows have tried similar tricks over the years, to see it plugged into a superhero show as it manages to give it a sense of grit that grips you enough to ease fears that too much of the cosmic side of things, or the full power of the Green Lantern, is barely covered. From here, more aspects of the comic are bound to creep in (I’m curious to see how Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner fits into all of this, and we already know that Sinestro will feature in some capacity) just as the conspiracy plot expands over the span of the dual time frames – but as of right now, all gauges are clearly showing green at this newest attempt to realise the jade hued space cops.
While you’d think that missing out on all the space stuff would fatally harm a property primarily based out in the midst of the cosmos, the grounding of Lanterns proves to provide plenty of narrative gristle to sink our teeth into. However, while the introduction of most comic book aspects, like a costume, or more alien-looking aliens, will be welcomed, the strength of the pilot suggests that Green Lantern could be entering his brightest day.
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