This is not so much a full in depth review of Lanterns Season One, rather it's a collection of my thoughts about the show.
I love the Green Lantern... So much.
It's been really cool seeing the casual fans excited to watch Lanterns and making memes/having conversations about Hal Jordan, John Stewart and the Green Lanterns in general (shoutout Easy Lover by Phil Collins and Philip Bailey). I am genuinely grateful to the Lanterns TV show for making that happen.
It was great seeing that for Superman last year as well.
One of the things I loved the most about James Gunn's Superman was how unashamed it seemed to be of its source material. How much it embraced the fantastical nature of the DCU.
It really FOOLED me into thinking James Gunn's DC Universe would be full of projects like that.
Not that they would all be the same genre and flavor of ice cream but that they would adapt the DC Universe in the same pure way.
Unfortunately, Lanterns adapts Green Lantern lore in a way that makes me think it HATES itself. When you consider how Hollywood has felt about this property since the infamous failure of 2011s Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds, it's not hard to believe this.
You can write off something like the lack of Green Lantern constructs as abudgetary measure. Sure..
But it's just hard to get passed how almost everything that has to do with the Green Lantern is an unseen, off screen reference! As a matter fact nearly EVERYTHING THATS COOL is an unseen, off screen reference.
Earlier in the season, John Stewart is force fed visions of death and destruction caused by Manhunters that only he gets to see.
One might assume we would be shown these visions later on. Eventually, it's revisted in a line of exposition when Hal and John finally do visit the desert empty planet.
Hal takes down a satellite attacking the town of Rushville? Happens off screen.
Bernadette meets a Guardian? We see the back of its head for exactly ten seconds.
Aliens? Manhunter Robots? Well… allegedly!!
Because all we see are normal people that are CLAIMING to be aliens and robots! We're never shown their true forms.
This show does a LOT of telling but not enough showing.
Listen, there was a lot of theorizing about characters like Aanton and William Macon that led to nothing. You can never blame a TV show for wild fan speculation that doesn't meet expectations. But I don't believe this is the same as the disappointment that comes from a rational thinking Green Lantern fan that didn't get what they wanted out of this show. I.e MYSELF.
I'm not some impatient child asking to see the god damned Sinestro Corps War or Blackest Night here man. Adaptation means we're telling a different story based on an older one.
I get it but HOLY SHIT MAN. I'm asking for a Green Lantern to do Green Lantern things on a show about Green Lanterns! Is that really so unreasonable?
We got one really cool construct scene from John Stewart midway through the 8 hours of TV and an episode about a bird.
This is not about some "slow burn" that you need to be patient before they dump some Lantern lore on us. It's a complete story and it never happened!!
I feel like it's unreasonable to ask me to wait until a second season to EARN some Green Lantern things on a show about LANTERNS. (A second season is confirmed to be in early development.)
THERE IS LIKE TEN MINUTES OF FOOTBALL FOOTAGE IN THE FINALE AND NOT A SINGLE GREEN LANTERN CONSTRUCT.
Excuse me if I wanted a Green Lantern show and not Friday Night Lights.
It's been said for years that HBO executives did not WANT a space opera Green Lantern series because of the budget concerns. There were notes from studio heads ASKING for a "True Detective" type series.
Well, they got it. It's a massive success. People are watching a good TV drama. They're hooked. They're making money.
It's a BAD adaptation.
But this is not a bad TV show. It's just not. It's a GREAT one.
Steller performances. A great murder mystery. A twist of a twist at the end.
John Stewart steals Hal Jordan's ring and uses a Rogue Lantern to power himself in the DCU. He's got his own Oath. That's cool.
The oath thing is ironically a rule that comes direct from the comics... Different species have different ways of saying the Oath. Even species that have no mouth can charge their rings.
The biggest tragedy of all for me is Kyle Chandler was the perfect Hal Jordan and we will never see him be the main focus of a Green Lantern project in this DCU.
I'm really not a big fan of the decision to kill Hal Jordan. But I'm already not a fan of the way DC treats Hal in adapted media so this doesn't surprise me one bit.
Ryan Reynolds ten years of whining and complaining about playing Hal Jordan really took its toll on the IP value of the character and for that, Reynolds will always have my hatred.
Then there's the ancient mystery that supposedly ties into the future of the DC Universe?
I'm guessing it's that John let the Manhunter boy Noah roam free when Sinestro is still out there. We'll see where that goes. But I'd be lying if I said I ever cared to see Sinestro again with Hal Jordan gone.
Ultimately, I feel disappointed but I'm glad everyone enjoyed the show. I can't say I didn't enjoy watching my family be entertained by Hal Jordan and John Stewart every Sunday
Maybe in Season 2 they will get a budget increase and they can make a second bird. John Stewart has already declared himself the Green Lantern of Earth, implying he has no desire to head into space, where things can get expensive.