Lanterns

I'mma be honest, I went into this not expecting much. What James Gunn has done to the DCU has been so shitty I was halfway expecting to clown this by episode 2. Not only did that not happen episode 1 hooked me. The interrogation scene is one of the best I've seen in a long time, in any genre. It was tense and patient, and it let the characters breathe then everything flipped. That scene told me this show was trying to be good TV first and a superhero show second, and that's my whole thing. I'm a big proponent of not putting these shows in boxes. You can make a legit good crime drama and still have a guy with a power ring in it. For 5 episodes they nailed that balance. Episodes 1-5 were gas man. The action was good, the pacing was right, and I never knew where it was going. Every episode ended with me having more questions and wanting the next one right then. Episode 5 was the climax and it delivered. Hal talking to the manhunter then letting her know he was bait, then John getting the killing shot right after, was beautiful. That moment let me know John was really like that. Even with all the gripes I had, those first 5 were a solid 9.2. Then 6-8 happened and the show kind of went off the rails. All the stuff I was willing to let slide because the writing was strong came to the surface once the writing slipped. The ring and the flight They barely used the ring man. It was always damn near dead, or it only came out when it was absolutely necessary. I counted only 10 constructs in 8 hours of tv. I get wanting stakes and not making John or Hal overpowered, but the ring is the whole point of a Green Lantern. If you're rationing it like phone battery every episode, it stops feeling like a Lantern show. The flight was so lackluster too. Lanterns are supposed to glow green when they fly, but you could tell these guys were just being hoisted on cables and it looked cheap as hell. This is DC and HBO Max. They have way more money than this, so I really don't know where the budget went! The one thing I'll give them is the concept of making constructs. John being an architect and building stuff from the inside out was creative and different from anything I've seen a Lantern do on screen. That's why it's frustrating they ain’t do it more! They clearly had ideas for the ring and barely let him use it. Where are the aliens? This was a big one for me. Manhunters are supposed to be synthetic, robot-looking beings that run on pure logic, the kind of thing that's scary because it can't be reasoned with. Here they were regular-looking people with advanced tech who never showed any real superhuman ability. They were basically sneaky people with gadgets. The aliens hunting the Manhunter didn't look alien either. One fight with super strength and that was it. We got one shot of the back of a Guardian's head as a tease, and I really didn't know that would be the only real alien we'd see all season. It's a space cop show with no space and no aliens. Space cop vs. town detective We went off world twice the whole season. I didn't mind the detective vibe, it's part of why the early episodes worked. But they could've done the same detective story in space with the same tension, just on a different planet. Instead it felt like a small-town crime show where the main character happens to have a ring. Same with the Corps. Every Lantern we saw was from Earth. Technically that's 3, or 4 if you count Sinestro. They mention other Lanterns but we never see the mainstays, no Kilowog, nobody. If the plan is a 4-5 season thing and they're saving it, cool, I get it. But there's no guarantee this gets that many seasons, so holding back that much on season 1 is a gamble. Hal I actually wasn't THAT against Hal dying. Showing him dead in the first episode was interesting since most of the show takes place 10 years before that. You spend the season knowing where it ends and wondering how they get there, and that's a good hook. I just hated how they fleshed it out. Man survived 40 years as a Green Lantern just to get killed by a woman in Nebraska who had a panic attack, and she wasn't even attractive lol. If you're going to kill Hal Jordan, it needs weight, a sacrifice, something that matches who he is. This felt small and somewhat pathetic. They also made it seem like everybody hated him. Hal could be a dick at times, that's part of his character, but he should always come across as virtuous and as one of the greatest Lanterns ever. This show made him look like a washed-up guy nobody who knew him actually liked. Which sucks, because Kyle Chandler was legendary in the role. Perfect casting, and he deserved better writing. Same goes for Sinestro, who looked like a frail old purple man, and we missed his whole arc. We missed Hal's whole arc too. Honestly I'd love a flashback spinoff with Hal in his heyday, running with Barry Allen and Green Arrow, and showing how he and Sinestro went from partners to enemies. That's what you’d expect from a Lanterns show, sometimes it don’t have to over complicate things. The one loop they did close was the Halogram and John ending on good terms, and I liked that. John John walking away from being a Lantern after being programmed for it his whole life was the first real choice he ever made for himself. When it happened I wasn't enthused, but I understood it. Him picking the mantle back up because he knew it was needed was redeemable, and that's a hero choosing to be a hero. I liked that. But then making up his own oath was just lame as hell lol. The oath is iconic, you don't need to remix it. And him using a lantern Sinestro made with yellow fear toxin made no sense. How does Sinestro even know how to make lanterns?? Then John has zero consequences for using it. That should've been a whole storyline. I also wish they'd put John in the suit. It didn't need to be on all the time, but there were spots where it would've fit. He also never resolved anything with his family. All season there's tension, then he pops up at the end of the finale and everybody's kumbaya. There's no payoff for that. Everything else I'm not a big Guy Gardner fan, but I always respected that he'll fight anybody, anytime. Went from standing up to Superman to now he wouldn't even step to John, just came off timid. The reparations storyline was completely unnecessary and felt like it was added for screen time (lowkey she was the best-looking person on the show though lol). The easter eggs were hella good, but every comic show does that, so it's not much extra credit. Final thoughts The first 5 episodes were a 9.2, easy, gripes and all. The last 3 were like a 6.4. The bones of a great show are there: the interrogation scene, the constructs, Kyle Chandler, John's choice to come back. But a strong first half can't fully carry a back half that forgot it was a Green Lantern show. If season 2 gives me space, aliens, the Corps, and a fully charged ring, I would have no complaints.