It’s penultimate episode time, and when you actually sit back and consider just how much ground Lanterns has covered in the past six episodes, I was starting to wonder just where else it could possibly go. With multiple time hops that took in the unique childhood of John Stewart, an alien invasion plot set in 2016 and a whodunit set a decade later, the show has certainly managed to keep itself busy despite going relatively light on the famously “space” part of the space-cop world(s) of Green Lantern.
However, if there’s one thing that the show has done extremely well (in among all the other things it’s managed to do extremely well) is slowly introduce various aspects of Green Lantern lore into the outskirts of the plot, slowly increasing them in nature until this gritty detective show suddenly became a pseudo-sci-fi superhero event almost completely organically. Well, with the end clearly in sight, it’s time for John Stewart to finally leave earth – but not before we ultimately get to the fracured heart of the late, lamented, Hal Jordan.
After digging up Hal Jordan’s body once managing to convince current Lantern, Guy Gardener, to retrieve Hal’s decommissioned power ring for the funeral, Stewart manages to eke out an extra 5% of power from the thing thanks to a trick Jordan once showed him. Using the remnants of energy, John calls up the hologram construct of Hal to help him get into the voice activated safe that may finally contain the secrets behind Jordan’s recent murder. As the Hal Hologram (Hal-ogram?) hasn’t had his personality updated in over ten years, he has nothing new to offer in ways of insight over his murder, but he certainly proves to be as infuriatingly difficult as the old Hal was.
Refusing to acquiesce to Stewart’s requests until he gets to visit future/former lover Sheriff Kerry (it’s complicated), the Hal-ogram bounces from his various suspicions that there’s a chance that either Stewart or Kerry may have been the one that offed him. However, a flashback to Hal’s childhood tells us that both his flaky, test pilot father, Martin, and his grandfather, all suffered from depression and that Jordan’s father actually commited suicide. With the revelation that Hal may have actually killed himself, both Stewart and the Hal-ogram get the safe open to discover a portable portal to another planet that takes them to a ruined wasteland.
It seems that this once was the home planet of Antaan, the leader of the aliens that attempted to bomb Rushville in order to kill the Manhunter that murdered his entire race. Worse yet, the huge cloud of fear gas that was used to commit the aformentioned genocide is still in the air and almost kills Stewart. However, once they reach their destination, they are greeted not by answers, but one more glaring question. An escaped Sinestro.
It seems that with all the large-scale action contained within episode 5, and the catching-its-breath nature of episode 6, it looks like Lanterns is going to close out its season pretty much the same way it came in – as a grippingly abnormal detective show with a mismatched double-act fueling it’s roaring engine. Obviously, a fair few aspects have changed from the pilot – in a neat flip, ten years have embittered Stewart, while the use of a Jordan hologram with a personality that’s a decade out of date sees the broken down, dead hero in amusingly chipper form. Despite all the shit that’s gone between them, it’s this bizarre shuffle and mix that finally gives both Stewart and Jordan the experiences they needed to actually appreciate each other. Obviously, the show doesn’t do anything as simplistic as just have the Hal-ogram open the voice-activated safe straight away, so the annoying hoops both Stewart (and we) have to jump through to get the aid of a recorded image manages to give us some rather tragic insight into Jordan’s family history.
Vocal Hal Jordan supporters have been fairly upset at how the show has treated their favorite character (washed up, asshole, dead), so the hint that he may have ended his own life is probably yet another issue that isn’t going to endear it much; but it all actually proves to be a genuinely sad glimpse into what being a hero takes out of you – especially when you have a family history of depression and suicide. Never mind flying lessons or learning to hold constructs, the true things that Stewart are learning about what it takes to wear the ring are happening right now now that the earlier walls are down, so it’s actually nice to see both mentor and student finally bonding – even though one has quit and the other has died. That doesn’t stop us marvelling at Stewart’s surprise when the Hal-ogram offers up a genuine compliment, or Stewart learning what Hal actually thought of him when Kerry meets the Hal-ogram.
It’s all good, weighty, meaty stuff and it’s followed up with the show finally taking Stewart to another planet to continue those cosmic detective threads, but it’s intriguing to watch how this battered and weathered team now seem to be working more in tandem now that all the macho, posturing ego has been finally stripped from it. The bickering and banter is still there, and there’s still a tang of bitterness (Stewart sings songs to turn Hal off when he’s annoyed at him), but without the venom of jealousy coursing through their relationship, they prove to be a fairly smooth team. We also get an expanded scale too, with a dead planet to visit, we find that the ruined, dead cities floating in the air and the misshapen, alien skulls of a wiped out race are barely concealed in the sand, and it’s the furthest into sci-fi the show has branched into space opera by far. We even end the show with an appearance from the recently escaped Sinestro, which will no doubt muddy the waters even more – but while actual superhero action is in little abundance, we’re now so drawn into the detective aspect, I don’t even feel like the show particularly needs it. Surely to ultimate badge of quality.
There’s a few missteps along the way, sure. I’m not sure where the blackmail plot concerning that waitress who saw Hal and John together is all about, or why the show feels the need to add an extra shred of earth-bound drama that feels frankly unnecessary in the shadow of dead planets and escaped supervillains. Also I’ve a feeling that if this mystery is finally going to be solved on a distant planet in space, Kerry tearful farewell to Hal’s hologram may be the last full moments we’ll get of Kelly Macdonald’s overworked sheriff, but if you needed any indication that the decision of making Lanterns a detective show first and a space opera second was a good one, you only need to spend some time with “The Jordan Boys” to find out.
Bizarrely getting happier the darker it gets, Lanterns’ penultimate episode delivers regret, loss, suicide and a sizable helping of inner turmoil, and yet still curiously gives us the healthiest pairing of Jordan and Stewart to date. Yes, the return of Ulrich Thomsen’s Sinestro may hint more at climatic machinations rather than a big, blowout fight scene, but Lanterns has more than earned its right to shine it’s light wherever the hell it wants.
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Where to watch Lanterns – Season 1, Episode 7: The Jordan Boys Legacy: